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Chapter Text

Zoro thought this whole business was a waste of time. If the crown prince didn’t want to get married, it would be useless to try and force him into it. But tradition was tradition, and seeing as none of the princes had deigned to marry yet and thus secure the crown’s future by creating more heirs, it fell to the oldest one. Garp, the regent, had at least been lenient enough to give him an extra year to try and find someone he found suitable on his own.  

Naturally, Ace failed to do so, as he was not inclined to find anyone at all. And so the decree of a selection went out.  

The process went like this: When the heir apparent reached the age of twenty one, all twenty one surrounding islands chose a single candidate to send to the mainland of the Goa Kingdom for the prince to consider as a potential spouse. Acceptable primary and secondary genders of candidates was predetermined by the prince- which in Ace’s case meant everybody because he didn’t bother setting any stipulations- although all candidates had to be within the ages of eighteen to thirty. They would then spend their time on the mainland trying to determine who the prince found most suitable. By the end of the year, the prince would either choose a spouse or resign himself to another batch of candidates, and the process would begin again.  

In Zoro’s all too honest opinion, he thought it was likely that Ace would have to go through at least five batches of candidates before agreeing to marry any of them. If not more.  

But Zoro’s opinion hardly counted in such matters, which was why he was waiting on the shores of the mainland for the candidate from Swallow Island to appear.  

Swallow Island was the smallest island, and hardly anyone of import had come from there in centuries. Basically, it was the bottom of the totem pole. No one expected anything or anyone significant from Swallow Island, and that was why the sent him there. Because he couldn’t piss off anyone important.  

A wise move on their part. He was already kind of grumpy that he had to travel to the edge of the mainland in the first place, and now he was stuck there dying of boredom until the candidate showed up. And then, if all went well, he could die further of boredom as they traveled back to the capital. As a best case scenario.  

“Hey, Zoro- race me! I bet I can beat you home! Shishishi!” He smirked. 

Alright, so he was being a bit dramatic. He could never really die of boredom with Luffy around. He could die in plenty of other ways, but boredom was certainly not one of them.  

“Idiot!” Nami squawked as she smacked the other on the head. “No racing! We’re supposed to be escorting the candidate, not playing around!” Spoilsport.  

She, like most of them, had been sent along to make sure Luffy didn’t cause too much trouble. And Luffy was there because he was Zoro’s best friend, and he didn’t want to be separated for more than a day. And everyone back home was forced to go along with it because Luffy was a prince, and Garp was too busy taking care of other business to forbid him from tagging along. So although Swallow Island was the least significant of their territories, it was getting a much larger receiving party than warranted, due to Luffy’s involvement.  

Not that they were going to explain that to the candidate unless they asked. It would be stupid to let them think it was because they were honoring them or something by having a prince join them. Better to just try and brush off Luffy’s importance. Hopefully they would have no idea who he was.  

“So? They can race too!” Luffy protested loudly, rubbing the sore spot on the back of his head.  

Robin sidled up behind him and laughed lightly, patting him lightly on the shoulder. “Luffy, the candidate has to stay in the carriage, and I’m afraid it’s just not built for racing. You’ll have to wait until you make it back to the castle if you want to race with Zoro. Why not look around and enjoy the scenery in the meantime?” she suggested.  

“Yeah, let’s make a sandcastle!” Usopp added enthusiastically. “I bet I can build the best sandcastle in the whole kingdom. It’ll be a sandcastle people will travel from all edges of the kingdom to come marvel at,” he said, puffing out his chest.  

“What? Nuh uh! I’m going to build the best sandcastle!” The two of them hurtled down the beach to dig in the wet sand, the prince thoroughly distracted. Chopper and Franky went tumbling after them to join in on the fun, and Brook trailed along humming merrily. Zoro was left with Nami, Robin, and Sanji on the grassy turf that overlooked the beach.  

He wished he had some rum. Rum would be good.  

He sighed heavily as he plopped down on the grass. Maybe he should meditate. It wasn’t like there was much else to do while he waited. Unlike Luffy, he was supposed to actually keep up professional appearances, so he couldn’t go rolling around in the sand. Not unless he wanted Nami to skin him alive, that is.  

Taking another look at the horizon, he scanned for any sign of the candidate. Swallow Island was too far to see on the mainland, but on a clear day like today, it shouldn’t take more than a few hours for a small boat to make the journey. It would take a little less time on a larger vessel, but the island was so small that he didn’t think there were any around. Besides, candidates were only allowed to take two other people with them as protectors, so bringing a large vessel would have been almost pointless. Some of the more prominent islands sent large vessels to send off their candidates with excessive fanfare, but he highly doubted it would be the case for them.  

“Don’t worry, Zoro. The candidate would likely have left around dawn, so they should arrive soon. We’ll warn you as soon as we see them coming,” Robin said kindly, gesturing for him to go ahead and begin his meditation.  

He nodded his thanks and closed his good eye, drowning out the rest of the world until his mind went blank.  

It was nearly an hour later when Sanji nudged him none too gently in the arm with his foot, matching the glare that Zoro sent him with one of his own. “Someone’s on the horizon, Moss-head,” he deadpanned.  

And sure enough, he could see a speck in the distance. It would be some time yet before the candidate reached the shore, but at least he could keep track of them now.  

Down on the beach he could see that the others had given up on their sandcastles. Franky’s was obviously the most developed one- he’d always been good with his hands- but Usopp’s was a close second. Chopper and Luffy’s looked more like piles of sand that were near indistinguishable from the area around them, other than the fact that they had little twigs sticking out the tops. Instead of creating more sand monuments, they seemed to be having the time of their lives burying Franky’s hulking form up to his neck.  

Slowly but surely, the speck grew until they could make out three figures in the small boat. The guys on the beach continued goofing around, completely oblivious to the approaching party. That was okay though. Better not to have Luffy notice too soon, lest he do something rash like swim out to meet them.  

Luckily, they all became distracted when a flock of swans flew ashore, trumpeting as they landed. Luffy immediately went sprinting to them, and the others happily followed.  

It would have been fine if Luffy knew how to keep his hands to himself, but of course he tried to pick one of the smaller ones up, which resulted in an awful lot of honking and pecking and flapping that had the rest of them hurrying down to help out. Naturally, this ended in even more mayhem, and he was saying plenty of colorful curses for all the scratches he was going to have from the experience.  

By the time they extracted themselves from the swans, the boat was a mere twenty feet from the shore.  

“Shit,” he grumbled, shaking loose feathers from his hair before wading toward the newcomers.  

Two of them were almost as bulky as Franky- the protectors, he assumed. Both of them were clearly alphas, but that was hardly a surprise. Most protectors were alphas. One of them had violently red hair, an ugly scar that went over one of his eyes, and an even bigger and uglier scar that extended from his forehead down his exposed chest. He was also missing one of his hands, although there was a jagged blade attached to a cuff where his skin ended. The other one had a mane of blond hair, but other than that, it was hard to tell. He wore a strange mask with blue stripes that was dotted with holes and covered the majority of his head.  

He always figured he’d have to keep an eye on protectors regardless of where they came from, but he definitely wasn’t letting his guard down around these two.  

As for the last figure, he wasn’t sure what to make of them. He’d sort of been expecting some bright eyed, hopeful kid who was eager to meet the crown prince. The man in the boat did not look like that at all. In fact, he looked about as excited to be there as Zoro did. Perhaps even less so.  

His tan skin was broken apart by pale swatches where all the color seemed to have been bleached out, and he had hair so dark it almost looked blue in the light. Even though he was hunched over, he could tell he was tall. His long legs were proof enough. Despite being slouched over, there was still something about his casual posture in the presence of so many alphas that spoke of confidence and ease. He would have guessed alpha, maybe even beta, but when the breeze rolled by he got a whiff of the other’s scent that was too sweet to be either. An omega then, by the name of Trafalgar D. Water Law, or so he’d been told before he left. He wondered briefly if it would bother him that Zoro’s entire party consisted of alphas and betas, but brushed it off. It’s not like they could do anything about that.  

Curiously enough, his hands were covered in their entirety by bandages. One hand partially obscured his face, but under it Zoro could see the pinched look on it as if he were in pain.  

“Hey, are you alright?” he asked gruffly. He may not have wanted to be there, but he also wasn’t going to be a complete ass to someone who had done nothing to earn his ire. And he didn’t like seeing people in pain, unless he knew they’d done something to earn it. You know, like try and murder someone or something. And he couldn’t imagine one of the islands shoving a murderer at their crown prince as a candidate to be his bride.  

Now, he’d never been around for a selection before, seeing as the last one had been back when Garp needed to get engaged, but based off what he’d heard so far, islands didn’t typically send anyone less than their best. They wanted their candidate to become the next king’s spouse. So usually they sent whoever they thought would win him over. So it just seemed kind of weird that Swallow Island would send over this injured, displeased man to be their candidate. Honestly, were they trying to insult the crown, or was there something about this guy that really made them think he was their best chance? Or maybe Swallow Island was worse off than he thought, and everyone else was even worse off than this omega. Who knows. Not Zoro, that’s for sure.  

The redheaded protector barked out a laugh and slapped his hand on the side of the boat. “He’s fine. It’s just his time of the month. You’ll be okay, won’t you Law?” he said, leering at the other. Zoro’s fingers clenched around the edge of the boat, trying to hold back his annoyance. He didn’t like assholes, and his opinion certainly didn’t improve when he was waist deep in cold water.  

The candidate moved his hand for a moment so that he could glare at his protector in full force, and if looks could kill, Zoro knew the alpha would be nothing more than pile of ashes ready to blow away with the next gust of wind.  

After a moment though, he replaced it, massaging his temples a bit as he did so. The masked protector leaned over to close the short distance between them and remove it. He swept the hair from Trafalgar’s forehead and hummed as he put his own hand against it. “Hot today. You want more medicine?” he asked, voice a low rumble.  

Trafalgar Law waved him off, although he flipped his other protector off for good measure when he let out a disparaging snort.  

“Aw, don’t be so pissy. You ought to be nicer- his royal highness’s schmuck is even wading through the water to greet you. But maybe he just thinks we’re too stupid to reach the empty shoreline on our own,” he sneered.  

“It’s tradition to have the escort lead the candidate in,” Zoro snapped. A little quieter he grumbled, “Although I’d happily dump you out of the boat and leave you behind, if you want.” 

The two of them leveled their best glares at each other.  

Someone cleared their throat behind him on the shore- sounded like the shitty cook- and Zoro snapped back to the task at hand. Carefully, he led the boat towards the others until it scraped against the sand and water sloshed around his knees once more. All the while, he refused to break eye contact with the redhead.  

He was forced to look away first however, when Trafalgar swayed unsteadily to his feet. Zoro’s outreached hand stopped him in his tracks, and he saw a look of annoyance flash across the omega’s features.  

“Sorry, but candidates aren’t allowed to touch solid ground on the mainland until they reach the palace grounds. Something about not soiling you or making you impure,” he explained.  

That earned him a look so incredulous he almost laughed, but the redheaded asshole guffawed loudly again, and any good humor he felt evaporated.  

“Too late for that,” the redhead gasped out, a wicked grin splitting his face. Trafalgar rolled his eyes, but gestured to Zoro in a manner that he assumed meant,  what the hell do I do then ? 

“We’ll carry you. Or one of your protectors could if you’d prefer,” he said, throwing the noisy one a dubious look.  

He snorted. “No can do. I’m an arm short, and Trafalgar’s too damn tall to be carrying one handed. Unless you don’t mind losing a foot or so off your legs,” he said, smirking at the omega.  

The masked one was so quiet and still in comparison, Zoro wasn’t sure if he’d even been paying attention to what was going on. But he must have been having some silent conversation with Trafalgar because next thing he knew, the alpha was stepping out of the boat with a couple of packs slung over his shoulders, as well as a large wooden box in his arms.  

“Come on, Kidd,” he said, tilting his head toward the remaining pack at the bottom of the boat and stepping over the side into the shallow water beside Zoro. There was a long moment he simply stood there staring at him- he may have worn a mask, but their proximity left little doubt in Zoro’s mind that it was what the other was doing. He straightened his spine from where he was still half crouched over Trafalgar, and it was only slightly annoying that even at his full height, he still had to look up at the other alpha.  

Whatever he found by staring at Zoro must have satisfied him however, because he simply nodded to him once before walking away to the rest of the welcoming party.  

The redhead- Kidd- gave Zoro a much less polite lookover before jumping into the water with a resounding splash that spattered him and the candidate with cold droplets. It was a mild nuisance to Zoro, but the jump had also been rough enough to rock the boat and therefore the omega in it as well.  

He teetered precariously before Zoro caught him around the waist with an arm, and as soon as he was stable, he glared venomously at his protector again. Kidd barked out another laugh, but it was cut off shortly by the arrival of the swans.  

In all the happenings, Zoro had quite forgotten about them and the grief they gave his group, but he was happy to see they were still there- if only because a trio of them ran over to peck at Kidd’s unsuspecting legs.  

“Ouch! Fucking feathered bastards- stop it!” he shouted, trying to kick at them as he splashed ashore.  

He had to hide his smile at the sight.  

“Kidd, don’t kick them. They dislike you enough already. And Law will be pissed if you hurt them,” the other protector said, sighing in exasperation.  

Wait a second.  

“Are these swans yours?” Nami asked, voicing the question that sprang to Zoro’s mind. She was looking at them with a lot more suspicion now that she thought they were domesticated. Behind her he could see Usopp’s horrified face, clearly imagining having to put up with their attacks in the future.  

Kidd huffed, sidestepping another peck. “They’re Law's. Or they might as well be,” he amended when he peeked back and saw the expression on the omega’s face. “They fucking follow him everywhere. He insists they’re not pets though.” He rolled his eyes at the last bit. Obviously, he had other opinions on the matter.  

Zoro didn’t know how to feel about this new information. While there were no rules against bringing pets with them to the mainland, he certainly hadn’t expected a troupe of swans to join them on their journey back to the castle. Said swans had also attacked his group, but he guessed that was also kind of Luffy’s fault. He hoped they weren’t normally as prone to violence as they had been so far. He didn’t want to have to ward off birds every day, or have nobles come crying to him to protect them from the blasted animals either.  

“Yo Marimo, how long are you going to stand there being useless? We’ve got a castle to get back to,” Sanji called. He and a few of the others were getting the masked man situated and explaining their travel arrangements.  

Zoro growled low in his throat but didn’t rise to the bait. Well, not much anyway. “Stupid ero-cook,” he grumbled, startling a small huff out of Trafalgar that he thought might be a laugh. Zoro felt some of the tension ease from the omega and glanced at him from the corner of his eye.  

“You okay with me carrying you then?” 

A slight nod was his only reply, and Zoro scooped him up carefully as he wound his arms around the alpha’s neck. He was a good few inches taller than Zoro, and he could see some muscle definition in the exposed skin of his torso through the loose shirt he wore, but he was surprisingly light. He could definitely stand to gain a few pounds. Maybe he’d ask the shitty cook about it.  

“You guys decide who else is riding in the carriage?” he asked as he approached the others. He hoped they had. He didn’t want to have to wait while they sorted themselves out. He wanted to go home and get this all over and done with.  

“Eustass here will be riding in the carriage with Trafalgar,” Robin said, pointing over at Kidd. He supposed Eustass was his surname then. Better refer to him by that then. Didn’t want to sound too familiar with the jerk. Even in his head.  

Zoro fought off the frown that threatened to take over his face. He hadn’t thought about it before, but now all he could think about was how he wished they’d chosen the other guy instead. Sure, the mask was kind of weird and sketchy, but at least he wasn’t a dick. Or if he was, he did a lot better at hiding it than his fellow protector.  

Trafalgar didn’t seem perturbed by this however. He simply huffed lightly and gestured for them all to get on with it.  

He wasn’t a very talkative sort. Zoro could appreciate that.  

Clearly he wasn’t the only one who took issue to arrangement though because Nami piped up, “Now how come you got to decide that all on your own? You barely let Usopp explain things before you blurted out that you’d be the one riding inside. Shouldn’t you talk it over with your fellow protector? Or your charge?” 

She had a look on her face like she was hoping one of the other two would argue with him about it and force him to ride outside on horseback. A few of them did actually. They must not have liked the way he treated Trafalgar either.  

Eustass glared at her, body going taut and scent ripening with anger. “I don’t have to. They agree with me,” he snarled.  

Zoro resisted the urge to get between them since he had his hands full at the moment, but he saw Franky and Sanji step closer to her in support. He was surprised Luffy wasn’t right there with them. He was usually the first to defend his friends from any untoward behavior, but Zoro didn’t see him anywhere.  

He didn’t see him anywhere.  

Oh no.  

“Where’s Luffy?” he asked. His voice cut straight through the tension, breaking everyone out of the would be fight as he turned this way and that to try and get a glimpse of the prince. 

“Shit- Luffy!” Sanji shouted as they all spread out to look for him. Zoro hastily deposited Trafalgar inside the carriage before joining them, although Chopper attached himself quickly to his side to keep him from getting lost. Then the group would be stuck looking for both of them.  

Trafalgar’s protectors took this all in stride, merely shrugging and organizing themselves. He glanced back to see Eustass hop inside the carriage alongside the omega while the other one checked Trafalgar’s temperature again.  

Zoro didn’t bother worrying about them after that, far more concerned with finding Luffy. Firstly because they were best friends, and he’d never forgive himself if something happened to the idiot while he wasn’t there. Secondly because Garp would never forgive them either. Or Ace and Sabo. If Luffy got hurt, they were going to murder him.  

Fortunately, Luffy didn’t stay missing for long.  

He came thundering out of the trees with some poor stunned creature slung across his shoulder. It looked like some sort of wild boar.  

“Sanji, look what I caught! We can eat it for lunch!” he said, scampering along without a care in the world, completely oblivious to the stress he’d put them through.  

“You idiot!” Sanji scolded him with a knock upside the head. “We’re not taking that with us! We don’t have time to be fooling around- we have to get back home!”  

Nami and Usopp were also berating him for wandering off alone. Ordinarily it wouldn’t be a big deal- they all knew him well enough that he could handle himself just fine for the most part. But today they had an actual deadline to meet. Today they had a responsibility to deliver one of his brother’s potential brides to him, and they were not to delay under any circumstances.  

Zoro let out a sigh of relief. “Alright, whatever, can we just get going?” he asked above their yelling. He jerked his head meaningfully in the direction of the carriage.  

“Oh is that Ace’s new friend? I wanna see!” Luffy exclaimed, springing away and hurtling toward the horses like his life depended on it. Calling Trafalgar Ace’s friend was… Well, it was a very Luffy thing to say. They’d tried to explain to him that they were picking up a potential spouse, and Luffy paid attention- he really did- but he knew full well that Ace didn’t intend on marrying anyone. So naturally he decided this meant that anyone coming was just going to become Ace’s friend instead.  

Although Zoro wasn’t so sure that would apply to Trafalgar. None of their new travel companions seemed the friendly type.  

Instead of ruminating over Luffy’s stubbornness to see everyone as a friend, he probably should have been trying to stop him from introducing himself without the others to keep him in line.  

He was so lost in thought, he almost missed it when Luffy practically threw himself into the carriage to meet the newcomers.  

Almost. It was difficult not to notice when Eustass was yelling expletives at the top of his lungs.  

Franky, who had been closest to the carriage, burst out into laughter. “Luffy, your energy is SUPER! But you probably shouldn’t jump at people like that before you get to know them! Now give them a little room, and tell them your name before Eustass skewers you, hmm?” he said, pulling him back by the scruff of his jacket.  

Luffy laughed too, as he always did, squirming out of the other’s grip to lean into the carriage again. “I’m Monkey D. Luffy! My brother Ace is the one you’re all here to meet! Let’s be friends too! Shishishi!” 

Well, so much for not telling the candidate about Luffy being a prince. On the bright side, Trafalgar didn’t seem to care either way- definitely wasn’t about to get a big head from being in the presence of royalty, if the way he pushed Luffy’s face unceremoniously away was any indication.  

It was probably time for Zoro to go over there and drag Luffy away before one of the protectors really did try to kill him. It would be treason to try, of course, but that certainly didn’t keep people from trying to at least knock his teeth out. Maybe things would be different if Garp wasn’t so… Garp. But the man was definitely one for tough love and getting beat up as a way of growing character. If someone actually tried to kill one of his grandsons, then they would be dead before the hour was out, but other than that… Well, it was what it was.  

“What’s your name?” Luffy asked, beaming up at them. 

The masked one managed to hop out of the carriage without dislodging Luffy from the door and replied gruffly, “Killer.” 

Some of the other’s faces made it clear that they didn’t appreciate the name, nor did they know if it was real or some joke, but whatever the case was, they did not like it. Well, most of them anyway. Luffy was ecstatic, and Usopp also had a pondering look on his face as if he trying to imagine a scenario where he could steal the name for himself.  

“Wow, that’s so cool!” Luffy exclaimed. Killer and his companions exchanged a look- probably wondering what was up with the weird kid in front of them. Trafalgar nudged Eustass with a foot and shot him a look, prompting the alpha to roll his eyes and grumble something under his breath.  

“I’m Eustass Kidd and this bastard over here is Trafalgar Law. He’s the one who got sent to tie the knot with your brother,” he said, putting an emphasis on the last word like he found it odd.  

Who knows. Maybe he was starting to expect Ace to be like Luffy.  

“Do you ever let him talk for himself?” Nami snapped, stalking up to the carriage. She hadn’t forgotten her dislike for the other alpha in all the hubbub searching for Luffy apparently.  

Eustass growled, lurching to his feet, but Trafalgar reached over with surprising swiftness and tugged him back down. It was Killer however, that answered. “Law can’t talk. He’s mute,” he said simply. A nod from the omega confirmed what he said.  

They stood there gaping at them for a moment, at a loss for words themselves.  

“Oh,” Nami said, blushing furiously.  

Luffy’s bright laughter broke through the tension. “That’s okay! I bet you’re a great listener! Hey, want to hear a funny story about my brothers?” he asked excitedly, as if nothing weird or embarrassing had happened at all.  

Nami snapped out of her stupor, and pinched his cheek hard. “There’s no time for stories! We need to be heading back! Get your butt on your horse, and let’s go!” she said, dragging him away. “I still think that red haired asshole shouldn’t be left in there with Trafalgar though,” she muttered under her breath.  

Luffy snickered as he pried her hand off his cheek. “Don’t be silly, Nami! That jaggy guy can’t ride- he’s probably never been on a horse, and he’s only got one hand!”  

His words almost stopped her in her tracks. She’d been so preoccupied with what a jerk that alpha was, she’d totally forgotten to consider how his disability would have affected his riding capabilities. It would be hard enough for a beginner to ride all the way to the palace, let alone one that was missing a hand. Now she felt doubly stupid. But at least she wasn’t the only one, judging by the guilty looks on the others’ faces.  

“Let’s just go,” she grumbled.  

Riding in the carriage was…weird. It was a lot bumpier than riding in a boat, that’s for sure. But it wasn’t awful. Well, okay, the three of them all suffered from what Robin called “land sickness” the entire first day, and that was awful. Turns out their bodies weren’t so jived to be on solid earth after years of sand and water. Law kind of wished Kidd would quit his bitching though. He hadn’t shut up about what bullshit this was since they got in.  

Privately, Law agreed with him. He certainly hadn’t volunteered to be uprooted from the island to go court some prince, and definitely not to be violently ill.  

Unfortunately, he’d been unanimously voted off the island. Not because the other islanders thought he was a good choice- in fact, he doubted they were thinking of the prince at all when they chose him. No, they were definitely getting rid of him. And Kidd and Killer by extension. They weren’t exactly a popular bunch back home.  

As soon as the decree for a selection went out, the rest of the island got together and plotted how to get rid of them once and for all.  

Law hated them for it, but he had to admit that it was also kind of relieving to be away from there. They were all equally terrified and furious that he lived there for the past five years. They thought he was going to murder them all.  

The idea did seem appealing from time to time when the more vocal of his opposition showed up to badmouth him.  

But there wasn’t much that he could do to convince them to give up their hatred of him, so he had just ignored them for the most part. He knew they were scared, and that’s why they regarded him with such vitriol, but that didn’t mean he had to pretend to like them for it.  

Getting sent away was almost a blessing. If not for the fact that it made his task so much harder. He reached over to curl a hand protectively around the chest Killer had placed beside him on the bench. He could hear the contents inside of it swishing around as the carriage ambled along and let it soothe his nerves. Somehow he was going to have to find more of them, but it was going to be tricky. The mainland was so much bigger than Swallow Island, and already he couldn’t even see the ocean any more. But he would find a way if it was the last thing he did.  

The view was lovely though. He’d never seen so much green in his life. The landscape was sprawling with hills and trees and villages peppered here and there. Swallow Island was home to barely three hundred people total, spread over their dinky, sparsely covered land- if you could really call it that. It was more of a loose conglomeration of sand strips that people had built their houses around than an actual island. It was more wood than sand at this point, and had been for the last two centuries. 

The mainland was far more beautiful. It was almost enough to distract him from the cramps that had been plaguing him since he woke that morning.  

But even more than just the physical beauty of the land was the magic that he could feel, permeating every nook and cranny. He could feel it whistling through the wind, fluttering with the heartbeat of every creature that skittered past, singing from the very earth itself.  

Back on Swallow Island, the only magic he ever felt came from the occasional sea creatures that swam by from farther reaches. Magic was rare. Worse, it was smothered. Like Law.  

It was why he was sent here.  

On the mainland though, it was like he finally got the chance to breathe. His particular kind of magic was still banned, and they’d lock him up if they caught wind of it, but being able to feel any kind of magic at all, outside his run down little house… It was wonderful. 

They made two short stops for meals, both of which Law had to put up with staying inside the cariage for, despite the fact he wanted nothing more than to sit down in the grass and run his hands through it. There was so much of it, he wanted to be able to feel it himself.  

But no. He wasn’t allowed to touch the ground until he was at the palace. Dumb rules.  

He could tell the man in charge of their escort felt bad about it. What was his name- Roronoa Zoro, that’s right. They hadn’t interacted much, but Law could tell that he wasn’t one for pomp and circumstances. Too bad he was still determined to follow the rules of tradition this time.  

He supposed it could be worse. Besides, there would probably be plenty of grass for him to run his hands through when he got to the palace. As long as there were no rules against that. And the group seemed friendly enough- to him anyways. They definitely didn’t like Kidd, and they had mixed reactions to Killer. Except for the odd prince that bounced around them like they were about to become best friends.  

He was certainly an excitable little thing. He reminded him a lot of Lami actually.  

But he had to admit, it was kind of nice to be around someone that wasn’t afraid of him. And Luffy seemed more than willing to indulge in Law’s curiosity.  

Despite the fact that Law did his best not to gawk at how different things were here, it must have still been obvious to the mainlanders. Luffy would ride up alongside the carriage from time to time to drop things in the window. A handful of leaves, a pine bough, wildflowers he found growing along their path. Law tried not to preen at the indulgence. He was used to people holding him at an arm’s length, and he typically preferred it that way. He wasn’t exactly a sociable person, even before he lost his voice. But it was kind of nice to have someone trying to do nice things for him, for no reason other than that he was curious.  

He could do without the dumb nickname though. 

He really hadn’t seen much of….anything on Swallow Island. Even before he moved there, his home hadn’t been anything like this. Flevance had been beautiful in its own way, but it had been a world painted in shades of white. He had a few books that explained the medical uses of certain plants and the like, but seeing them drawn on paper was nothing like holding them in his hands.  

Hell, he hadn’t even seen a horse before coming ashore. He liked them well enough though, even if he couldn’t imagine riding on one like they were making Killer. Sometimes after he was done examining the things Luffy gave him he would hold them out to the prince’s horse to munch on. Sunny didn’t seem to be a picky eater.  

The trip was practically a dream come true, if not for the fact that he was being offered to Luffy’s brother like some sort of prize.  

They stopped at an inn for the night- evidently the mainland was so vast that it would actually take three more days before they reached the castle. Law tried to reign in his disappointment when he realized that meant he was going to have to spend three more days in the carriage.  

At least he didn’t have to sleep in it. He did have to put up with being carried to and fro, however. There was some arguing between the escort party about what whether or not the inn’s floor constituted as solid ground or if the rules were specifically talking about the natural earth. Law voted for the latter option. He’d really prefer walking than having to rely on others to carry him. Unfortunately, the escort party decided to err on the side of caution, so he had to be carried. Yippee.  

The beds were nice though. Springy. He’d never slept on an actual mattress before. He was used to sleeping in simple cots or in nests of blankets on the floor. Kidd and Killer were having a similar experience, and he held back a smile at the way Kidd was clearly resisting the urge to jump on and off the bed just because he could. 

The following days passed much the same, and he was starting to grow bored of the landscape when they finally arrived at their final destination. 

Even if he were able to speak, he would have been speechless at the sight of the castle.  

It was carved straight out of the mountain side, a towering marvel all of its own. It rose thousands of feet in the air, and he couldn’t even see the tops for the clouds that blanketed them.  

“Welcome to your new home!” Brook called out cheerfully through the window. 

Chapter Text

Law’s eyes darted incredulously between Zoro and the impossible staircase that wound up the mountain side. There was no doubt in his mind that magic was used to construct the castle and that ridiculous array of stairs. Zoro, to his credit, merely scratched the back of his head and said apologetically, “It’s probably best if one of us carries you up. Technically speaking, you’re not allowed to step foot on the ground until you’re actually inside the castle. And no offense to your protectors, but climbing up the stairs is pretty brutal when you’re not used to doing it often.” 

“It’s plenty brutal for most of us who have to do it often anyway,” Usopp whined, pouting at the sight of the stairs carved into the mountain face. 

Nami shared a look of exasperation with him. “Yeah, not all of us are insane like you and Luffy, running up and down those things like it’s great exercise.” 

“It’s fun!” Luffy exclaimed with a blinding smile.  

“It is good exercise,” Zoro grumbled. He shut his mouth when Nami swiveled around to glare at him.  

This was the only time in his whole journey that Law thought he was grateful for the stupid rule about not being able to touch solid ground. There was no way in fuck he was going to climb all those stairs himself. Not that he was particularly fond of the idea of someone else having to carry him up all those, but he would probably die if he tried to do it himself.  

He gave Kidd and Killer each a consoling pat on the shoulder for the way their legs were going to be killing them.  

Kidd shrugged his hand off and spat to the side. “Can’t believe we got sent for this bullshit. Shut up, Law,” he said, giving him the finger when he saw Law’s smirk. 

He pantomimed sewing his lips shut and let Kidd storm off to kick a rock. Killer just shook his head at them and started gathering their belongings. Law’s lips pinched into a frown when he realized that Killer was going to have to carry the chest up the mountain. It wasn’t exactly light, and if it were anything else he would have insisted that one of the escorts carry it up, since at least some of them were more suited to the task. But the chest was too important, and they both knew that Law wouldn’t trust it in anyone else’s hands.  

“We’ll be fine,” Killer said, sensing his concern.  

If he could talk, he would have told him that this was all ridiculous, but if he could do that, then they wouldn’t even be in this mess.  

Behind their party, wailing broke out.  

The group turned to see what the commotion was about and saw three more bands of escorts arriving with their charges. It was pretty obvious where the candidates were, seeing as they were traveling in carriages like Law. It became even clearer when their protectors stepped out and the candidates had to wait patiently for someone to pick them up.  

Two of them seemed fine, if a bit skeptical at the sight of the stairs. The third one was responsible for all the wailing.  

“I cannot climb up those! What a monstrosity! Who do they think they are that they think they can order me to go up all those godforsaken stairs!” he howled, stomping his feet and making his carriage rock beneath his rotund form. His escorts all tried in vain to get him to calm down, attempting to explain that he didn’t have to walk up the steps himself. 

“What a fucking idiot,” Zoro muttered, making Law snort. Even the good natured and professional Robin was rolling her eyes at the display.  

Things reached a head when the candidate kicked one of his escorts in the face, screaming about how incompetent they all were. The next thing Law knew, Luffy was running over and yelling at him to knock it off before he punched his lights out.  

Zoro sighed heavily, leaning his face into the side of the carriage and shaking his head while Sanji and Franky ran over to go collect him. It may have only been a few days since they met, but Law knew by now that this was a regular occurrence for the group. No one had confirmed it, but he suspected that his escort group would only be half its size if Luffy hadn’t been involved.  

“How dare you talk to me so disrespectfully!” the candidate screeched, face growing bright red.  

His escorts began losing their damn minds for a whole new reason. “Saint Charlos! That’s Prince Luffy!” they gasped scandalized.  

At their words the candidate- Saint Charlos- finally stopped his tantrum. “Ah, the prince!” he said, sniffing disdainfully. “I see- you’ve come to personally welcome me to the castle. Very well then, I suppose I can forgive this. I take it you’ll be taking me up to the castle then?”  

“What?! I’m not carrying you! You’re a jerk!” Luffy shouted, wiping the smug look straight off the bastard’s face. Law hid a smile behind his hand, but it disappeared with the prince’s next words. “I’ll carry Torao instead! He’s way nicer than you! And I’m gonna tell Ace to pick him instead!” he said, running back to Law’s carriage and leaving everyone else in shock. 

“Torao, let’s go!” he said, reaching up to wrap his arms around Law’s waist.  

Law braced his arms against the doorway and shook his head vigorously.  

Oh no, he was not going to be a part of this. It was funny to watch Luffy piss off a spoiled brat, but Law wasn’t about to get dragged into some sort of feud. Although he sort of had, just from Luffy’s words alone. He could tell that the other candidates were already calculating what to do with the prince’s favoritism, despite the fact that they knew nothing about Law, much less that he didn’t even want to marry Luffy’s brother. He didn’t need to make it worse by allowing Luffy to carry him all the fucking way up to the palace. He hadn’t wanted any attention drawn to him whatsoever, and here the little idiot had to go and ruin it.  

When Luffy continued to try and pull him out, Law managed to shove a knee between them and shove him in the chest to get him to let go. If he had his voice he’d tell him to get the hell off, but that wasn’t really an option.  

“Quit fighting!” Luffy huffed, reaching out again.  

Zoro pulled him back before Law could kick him again. “Luffy, calm down. How about you carry Usopp or Nami instead, huh? I’ll take Trafalgar,” he said gruffly.  

Luffy frowned at Law one last time but followed Zoro’s suggestion and grabbed Usopp before he could say anything, sprinting towards the stairs while Usopp cursed Zoro out for not warning him.  

“You’re lucky he chose Usopp instead, or I would have killed you for encouraging him to carry me up the mountain like that,” Nami said, sidling up to the carriage. She eyed Luffy and Usopp as the latter flopped around over the other’s shoulder as he ran up the stairs. Law winced, silently agreeing.  

Zoro pinched the bridge of his nose. “Yeah, well, I had to get him to stop somehow.” He sighed, then turned back to Law. “Ready?” 

He glanced at the other candidates, all of whom seemed to be sizing him up still. Saint Charlos was as red as ever, but there was a calculating gleam in his eye that Law didn’t like. No doubt that man was going to try and get back at Law somehow for this. Even though it wasn’t even his fault.  

Law bit back a sigh of his own and nodded. 

If he was slightly less nice of a person, Zoro would have found it funny to watch the newcomers struggle up the mountain. They were three quarters of the way up, at the final resting platform available, and almost all of the protectors were doubled over, panting for breath. Some of them did so with a little more dignity than others.  

Killer sat with his feet dangling over the edge of the platform, unperturbed by the sheer drop. He kept the wooden chest behind him, but Zoro knew he was still keeping a close watch on it. Whatever was in there, it must have been important. He’d refused to let anyone else carry it for him, even when it was clear that he was tiring. As for Kidd, the rude asshole plopped himself right next to his friend and immediately began cursing the stupid mountain air. Nonetheless, although he was a little winded, he still fared better than some of the other protectors.  

The protectors from Zou and Mystoria were all huddled close to their charges near the other side of the platform that wouldn’t result in a deadly fall if they leaned over. Their candidates talked quietly with them whlie they rested in their palanquins.  

Zoro hadn’t bothered with bringing a palanquin when he left to fetch Law. He hadn’t thought it necessary, but he wondered briefly if Law would have preferred having one. Then he realized that he was being stupid, and Law would have found the whole thing as unnecessary as he did. He may not have cared to be carried everywhere, but he definitely didn’t like being treated like a delicate valuable thing either.  

Having Zoro stand there and hold him while everyone else caught their breath was kind of annoying though. He could tell that Law would rather go sit with his protectors by the edge, but Nami said that it counted as touching solid ground.  

At least in the palanquin, he could have sat down.  

Zoro thought she was being kind of strict about something that none of their party cared for, but since they were back with other escorts he held his tongue. Being so close to the prince, they were supposed to set good examples for the others. Or so Garp said.  

Law shifted restlessly in his arms, peering at something over his shoulder.  

Zoro turned his head just in time to see the candidate from Mary Geoise whip his head away as if he hadn’t been glaring daggers at Law. Now, there was someone he could happily go the rest of his life without seeing again.  

What was galling to see was that his protectors were sitting in the palanquin with him, as if they couldn’t be bothered to try walking up the stairs themselves. Zoro really didn’t blame the islanders for being daunted by the climb, he really didn’t, but he still thought they ought to try. Or at least be grateful to the escorts for carrying them. As it was, Saint Charlos and his protectors continued to sneer at their escorts like they were less than the dirt they refused to walk on.  

He wished Sanji and Franky had let Luffy punch that jerk. It’s not like the candidate would be able to do anything to Luffy for it. Maybe then he’d be so offended that he’d refuse to continue with the selection. It was little more than a fantasy, but he’d hold it close to his heart whenever the brat got on his nerves.  

Unfortunately, while Saint Charlos couldn’t do anything about Luffy, he was undoubtedly willing to hold a grudge against Law for what Luffy had done. He probably figured that Law made a much easier target. Which he did.  

Luffy was a prince. Law was a nobody from Swallow Island. No offense to Law. 

He’d have to keep an eye on the representatives from Mary Geoise. He thought Kidd and Killer were people to watch out for, but at least they seemed like straightforward people. The ones from Mary Geoise were the scheming kind, and he disliked those much more. They were a lot harder to deal with.  

“Boy, you guys are taking forever!” Luffy’s voice rang out over the hushed conversations on the platform. He must have gotten bored waiting for them at the castle and come down to meet them. 

Zoro turned back around to watch his friend come bounding down the stairs. “Yeah, well, we can’t all run the entire staircase at once like you,” he joked. Zoro could, but he didn’t think Law would appreciate it much. Besides, he was supposed to stick with the others.  

Luffy skidded to a stop beside them, all sunshine and roses again as if he hadn’t gone running up the mountain in a huff.  

“I still think you should have let me carry you, Torao,” he said matter of factly. “But don’t worry! I told Ace and Sabo all about you, and they’re both excited to meet you!” he said cheerily as if it would please Law.  

It did not. The omega sighed in annoyance and let his head drop to Zoro’s shoulder while he massaged his temples with one hand.  

Zoro knew Luffy meant well, but he was making it a lot harder on Law. He could see the other candidates watching their every move, clearly trying to decide how they ought to treat Law in the future. Either they thought getting close to him would improve their own chances or they saw him as another obstacle in their path.  

Luffy didn’t notice. “Zoro, I’ll race you to the top!” he said, a sparkle in his eye.  

“You absolutely will not!” Nami shouted. She stomped up behind him and grabbed him by the ear, shaking him angrily. “Do you know how much fucking trouble we would be in if your grandfather found out?! And what if Law got hurt? Don’t say it would never happen- need I remind you of the time you tripped and broke your arm in three places last winter?” she said, glaring at Zoro. Which was totally unfair. It was icy, and he had a cold. Neither of which applied to right now.  

Luffy laughed as if he found the whole thing hilarious, plucking her hand from his ear. “Fine, fine. We can walk, but let’s go!” 

Everyone else on the platform looked like they still wanted to rest a little longer, but Zoro was getting bored. “Well?” he asked Law, who merely shrugged. It’s not like he needed resting. Besides, when they got to the top, maybe he’d finally be able to stand on his own.  

Robin walked up and put a hand on Luffy’s shoulder. “We’ll let you guys get started. The rest of us won’t be far behind,” she said tactfully, well aware that the rest of the groups would likely wait for at least another ten minutes before moving. The only ones who looked interested in joining them were Sanji and Law’s protectors.  

“Great! Let’s go!” Luffy said, pushing Zoro towards the last round of steps.  

They may not have gone as slow as acceptable when they were out of Nami’s sight. But hey, what she didn’t know, she wouldn’t hurt them for. And Zoro totally won the race, no matter what Sanji said.  

“Sorry,” Zoro apologized for the umteenth time since they reached their destination.  

Law obviously didn’t reply, too busy trying to keep the walls from spinning and losing his lunch on the castle floor. He’d been nauseous enough as it was with his heat, and their little sprint up the last stretch of stairs didn’t help. He was grateful to be on a bench and not in the other’s arms, but he couldn’t fully appreciate it yet. Reckless idiots. He really should have paid more attention to Nami’s warnings. To think they actually had a race up the last chunk of the mountain- fucking unreal.  

Don’t even get him going on the one moment Sanji had shoved Zoro with his shoulder as the other tried to pass him on the narrow walkway. The only thing that kept them from careening over the edge into open air was Kidd, who had barely reached them in time as he and Killer pounded up the steps behind them. He swore his heart had jumped straight into his throat. The absolute worst. He took back every single charitable thought he’d ever had about Zoro- he was clearly insane.  

Kidd was heaving for breath beside him, mumbling expletives every now and then. He’d probably try to kill the mainlanders for making him run up the steps like that if he weren’t so out of breath. Even Killer was hunched over them protectively.  

When he finally got his head to stop reeling, he glared at Zoro. At least he looked a little repentant.  

“Here, I brought you some mint tea. That should help with the nausea,” Sanji said, appearing at his side with a steaming mug. Law took it with thanks, although he hadn’t forgiven the blond for the stunt he pulled on the stairs either.  

Killer handed him the small bag of powder he ground from a special coral that helped suppress the worst side effects of his heats. He took a couple pinches and mixed it into his tea, sipping at it tentatively while he eyed their surroundings. 

He wasn’t exactly sure what he expected the castle to look like. His siblings had always dreamed of coming here, and had spent many a night chattering excitedly as they imagined what it would look like. Being from small islands, none of them had actually been to the mainland before. None of their ruminations had ever pictured it being a part of the mountain- or even near a mountain at all. They barely knew what mountains were. It was something else, that was for sure.  

He’d been relieved to hear that all six swans had made it safely to the castle. They’d never had reason to fly so high before, and he was worried that some of them wouldn’t be able to make it on their own, but they did alright. They were a little tired, but they had plenty of energy to heckle Zoro, Luffy, and Sanji when they came barreling up to the palace gates with Law looking worse for wear.  

Lami rested her head on his thigh and looked up at him imploringly. He stroked her head gently with the back of his fingers, smiling a little as she closed her eyes and sighed.  

Bepo, Penguin, and Shachi were all pacing around him defensively, eyeing anyone that came too close. Sugar and Monet were taking a nap by his feet on the marble floors.  

According to Nami and Robin, the entrance hallway on this side of the mountain was alright, but the real beauty of the palace lay farther in. He was sure they would love to point out the best sights to see as soon as they arrived with everyone else. In retrospect, it would have been safer- if more boring- to wait with the rest of the group. 

“Ace and Sabo can’t make it right now because they’re busy,” Luffy said, popping up out of seemingly nowhere. “I guess Ace has to wait to meet everyone at once anyway, but it’s too bad that Sabo’s busy. Come on, Torao- let’s go to the gardens! I’ll bet you’ll like those!” he chirped, taking Law by the hand and hauling him to his feet.  

Law’s stomach gave an unpleasant lurch, and he swayed unsteadily as his siblings waddled away to avoid getting stepped on.  

“Uh, Luffy, I’m not sure that’s such a good idea right now,” Sanji said, eyeing Law’s pale complexion uncertainly.  

The prince was about to argue with him about it, but before he could do more than open his mouth, a loud voice boomed across the wide hallway, “Luffy, you irresponsible little runt- WHO SAID YOU COULD GO AS PART OF THE ESCORT?” 

Monkey D. Garp, the regent of Goa Kingdom, was an imposing man with a voice that seemed to fill the whole mountain. His large frame towered over them as he glowered down at his grandson- who wasn’t repentant in the slightest. 

“You never said I couldn’t go!” was his only explanation.  

“YOU NEVER EVEN ASKED! Your brother and I have been taking care of all the candidates coming in while you went galivanting off to the coast! You’re getting cleaned up and made presentable for them tonight, even if I have to tie you to your damn chair!”  

And just like that, he went storming off with Luffy squirming in his iron grip, complaining all the while.  

Sanji scratched his head. “So uh, that’s Garp. Anyway, how about we get you settled in. Your rooms are this way-” 

“SANJI WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!” 

“Aw, shit,” he groaned as a large muscular man came barreling down the hall towards them, brandishing a knife. He didn’t seem perturbed that the other man was waving a sharp knife through the air and spewing obscenities at him.  

He waved half heartedly at Law and company while he walked leisurely away, letting the other man rail at him as they made their way back to the kitchens. Law heard the stranger say something about how he had to hear about Sanji being back after he went to the kitchen to get some tea before immediately disappearing again.  

Zoro grunted, peering back at the gates to see if anyone else was going to walk through anytime soon. At the pace they went up the last stretch, it seemed unlikely that there would be. “Guess I’ll take you to your rooms then,” he said nonchalantly.  

The three islanders shook off the other two’s abrupt departures and followed his lead.  

If only they had remembered how horrible Zoro’s sense of direction was.  

Nearly an hour later they were finally directed to their rooms by a furious Nami who had found them wandering around in the completely wrong section of the castle.  

After that they were allowed to unpack and quickly get ready for the reception that was being held to introduce Ace to the candidates. Apparently, they were part of the last outsiders to arrive at the castle- and they were definitely the last ones to make it to their rooms. 

The three of them barely knew what to do when Nami shoved them into their adjoining rooms. She quickly explained that the smaller one was for the protectors and then scampered off to go get ready herself.  

The protectors’ room was little more than a closet with a small bathroom and barely enough room for two medium sized cots. It was about half the size of their one room home back on Swallow Island, but it could have been worse. The candidate’s room however, was a different story.  

It was easily three times the size of their house, and that wasn’t even including the bathroom that connected to it. The massive bed was large enough that it could probably fit five people on it comfortably, and it was placed so that it lay halfway in an alcove, painted with little stars on the ceiling. There were curtains tied off to the sides that he could use as a canopy if he wished. It was piled with pillows and blankets, all in soft shades of blue.  

The bathroom was another wonder. It was almost as big as his room, and had a bathtub built straight into the floor that was so big all three of them could probably lie in it at the same time. There were knobs on it that sent water flowing into it, that could make the water come out as hot or cold as they pleased too. It was stocked with dozens of bottles full of shimmering liquids and salts and dried flowers.  

They unanimously agreed to all share Law’s room. After all, there was more than enough space, and it’s not like Law needed it all to himself.  

Nami had said there was less than an hour before the reception started, and she’d send someone to collect them when it was time. She’d also taken a long look at them and said she was going to send one of the royal tailors in to bring them something acceptable to wear. He would have bristled at the idea that they needed to present themselves as more than what Swallow Island could provide, but she was right. It was probably not the best to show up in their worn out clothes.  

He didn’t particularly care about appearances, but he figured that looking presentable to everyone else would give the other candidates one less reason to hate him.  

They washed up quickly, although it was hard not to get distracted by the grandeur around them. Killer waited patiently for his turn, saying that someone ought to be ready to let the royal tailor in when they showed up. And sure enough, when the tailor came knocking, he was the only one prepared to greet them. Law and Kidd were busy trying to wash the suds that Kidd had so carelessly gotten into his eyes.  

The tailor introduced himself as Merry and, to his credit, only balked a little when Killer greeted him at the door.  

He looked up and down at Killer’s much larger frame, scribbled down some notes, and asked if he could take their measurements. Killer did so without protest, and neither did Law once he came plodding out of the bathroom in one of the bathrobes provided. Kidd however, snarled at the man and only let him come close enough to estimate his measurements with eyes alone. He went scampering off after that, not wanting to test his luck.  

Usopp came to their room a short while after with a pile of clothes in his hands and a trio of kids following in his wake with similar loads. Killer was washing up, so Kidd was the one to open the door. The kids hid behind Usopp as soon as Kidd flung open the door, but they peeked around him when Kidd didn’t immediately murder them on the spot.  

They looked surprised to see the flock of swans lounging on the bed with Law, but curious all the same.  

And there was absolute adoration on their faces as they watched Usopp talk to Kidd without trembling. The guy puffed a bit at their attention, and Law got the distinct feeling that he was something of a role model to them. 

“We’ll just wait in the hallway for you guys, and then we’ll all go to the banquet together, alright?” he said, directing them to place their piles on the floor next to Kidd’s feet. The trio behind him squawked quietly at that, but put on brave faces.  

Kidd just rolled his eyes and shut the door in their faces. 

For having so little time to prepare, Merry sure did a good job at making their outfits. They were exquisitely made, and perfectly tailored to them. Despite his unassuming look, he must have honed his magical abilities to suit his needs as a tailor. There was no way he could have made their clothes without some magic up his sleeve, and the little reminder that there were others like Law around with supernatural abilities made him the slightest bit more at ease.  

Even if he couldn’t let anyone see him use his own abilities.  

The clothes were admittedly more effort to put on than they were used to- so many layers. But he supposed they needed them. It was an awful lot colder up there on the mainland than it was on their little island. The thicker material held in heat a lot better than the thin stuff they wore back home. Of course, back home you didn’t want to hold in heat. You wanted to let it out so you wouldn’t get heat stroke. 

Kidd and Killer’s outfits were mainly black, although the first got a wine red cloak, and the second, one in indigo. Everything else from double breasted jackets to trousers to boots were in black. Although Kidd took the liberty of cutting off his left sleeve to make it easier to attach his cuff to his arm. 

Law’s outfit on the other hand, consisted of cream colored pants, and a periwinkle tunic that crossed his chest in a V with a connecting cape that was embroidered with golden thread of shooting stars that trailed all the way to the floor. There was a matching sash of white gold that they tied around his waist. Even his slippers fit perfectly, made of supple leather that had been dyed to a similar light blue. Merry had even provided a strip of golden ribbon to replace the ragged gray one he kept tied around his throat and white gloves to cover his bandaged hands. 

The swans honked approvingly at the ensemble, waddling around to admire him.  

It was an almost unnervingly nice outfit. He couldn’t help but feel it was somewhat wasted on him, seeing as he had no intentions whatsoever of marrying Luffy’s brother.  

Oh well, at least the other candidates wouldn’t get to sneer at him for dressing poorly.  

He probably should have anticipated the way people stared at them when they entered the ballroom. Due to Zoro’s marvelous directional skills and everything that followed, they were the last to arrive. Which would have been fine, but apparently everyone else had taken the extra time to spread the word of Luffy’s preference for him.  

He wanted to punch that loud mouthed idiot so bad.  

Usopp led them over to Zoro and Sanji, who were already at each other’s throats for some reason or another. They abruptly cut off their bickering when Law’s little group walked up, blinking at them as if they weren’t quite sure what they were seeing before promptly going back to their usual selves.  

“Huh. Maybe the other candidates should be worried about you after all,” Zoro said gruffly before Sanji smacked him in the back of the head with his leg. 

“Moss-head, that’s no way to talk to him! Don’t you know how to give people real compliments?” the blond snorted, holding out a tray of bite-sized delicacies. “Care for an hors d’oeuvres? They’re squares of pastry with a fig jam and stilton. There’s also plenty of other options around, but I must warn you that most of them involve bread,” he said conspiratorially. The cook had learned early on that bread was the one food that Law flat out refused to eat.  

Law plucked one off the tray, ignoring Zoro’s grumbled protests that yes, of course he knew how to compliment people, stupid ero-cook. He took a small bite, all too conscious of the finery he wore, and how annoying it would be to get crumbs on it.  

It was, not surprisingly, good. Sanji had yet to feed him anything remotely inedible in their time together. He raised his brows at him and gestured vaguely at him with the remains of his pastry.  

“Nah, can’t take credit for these ones. The shitty geezer prepped these himself. I think he wanted to make sure he’d have a hand in feeding you something after he heard how much Luffy likes you,” Sanji said flippantly. The reminder of how his entire reputation at the castle seemed to revolve around the youngest prince made him grimace. The idea that he had any sort of reputation at all was bad enough. His greatest wish had been to be forgettable, but that obviously went out the window at the foot of the mountain. 

The shitty geezer to Law’s understanding, was the head cook and Sanji’s adoptive father. A pirate turned chef believe it or not. He’d taken Sanji in after they got stranded at sea together, and taken up cooking for work after he cut off his own leg to survive.  

Law wasn’t quite sure he wanted to be in the eyesight of someone with such an intimidating past, but what could he do? Convince Kidd to find Zeff and tell him thanks but no thanks for the attention on his behalf? Yeah, that would go great. 

He elected to ignore the issue for the moment, taking in the room at large.  

Robin and Nami were right- the entrance hall was nothing compared to the ballroom. It wasn’t even the only ballroom they had, for fuck’s sake. According to Sanji this one had been a favorite of Garp’s late wife, and they’d chosen it to honor her memory and the last selection where she’d been picked to become his queen.  

The room was spacious and grand, the walls and floor covered in pink streaked marble. The ceiling was coated in frescoes of sunny blue skies, with painted clouds and white winged birds enchanted to drift across it. Peach colored drift rose bushes grew on the edges of the walls, as if they were hedges planted to keep them on path in a garden and not walled in by rock. And in the center of the room stood a massive fountain of crystalline water that cascaded down a series of silvery white steps and into a basin that was large enough for a child to swim in. Above it was a chandelier of pale pink and white flowers that hung so close to the top of the fountain they nearly dipped into the water. White light twinkled in and out between the blossoms, and Law found himself drifting closer unconsciously.  

He should have brought his brothers and sisters with him. They would have been over the moon. But bringing a flock of swans with him to the reception hadn’t exactly seemed like something the regent would have approved of. 

Garp himself hadn’t arrived yet, seeing as he and the crown prince weren’t supposed to show up until everyone had a chance to mingle for a bit. Law imagined they had to make a grand entrance and all that.  

Luffy on the other hand, didn’t seem to be beholden to such rules. 

“Torao, you look great!” he said, popping up beside him and immediately shoving handfuls of hors d’oeuvres into his mouth. He obviously didn’t have the same concern for his finery as Law. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the other newcomers whispering and pointing at the young prince, shocked at his lack of decorum.  

Law simply rolled his eyes and went back to observing the fountain. The journey to the castle had been scenic, but there had been very little water to look at. It was somewhat unnerving to him, having grown up surrounded by the ocean his whole life. On the mainland it was the opposite. There had been small rivers the others had used to refill their waterskins, but other than that it was land everywhere- all rocks and grass and trees and dirt.  

Obviously the fountain was as different from the ocean as a pebble to a mountain, but seeing running water in front of him was still soothing.  

A white flower fell free from the chandelier as if someone unseen plucked it from the hanging branches and dropped it there for him. He watched as it drifted closer, carefully scooping it out of the water to hold it in his hands. It looked vaguely familiar- he’d probably seen it in one of his old books.  

The smell reminded him of something- or rather someone. It was the exact same scent he’d always associated with Monet, although he’d never had anything to compare it to before. To him it was just Monet’s scent and nothing else. Now he realized his sister’s natural scent was of this particular flower. Or it was back when she was human. He’d have to bring it back to the room and show her. He knew for a fact that she’d never seen or smelt one of these before.  

He turned around to Sanji and Zoro, holding it up in askance. Fortunately for him, it wasn’t difficult for them to figure out what he was asking.  

Zoro was unhelpful in the classification of any plant life whatsoever, much less flowers, but Sanji had no issue identifying it for him. “It’s a gardenia,” he said. “Pretty, isn’t it? And they smell great too.” 

He nodded his head absentmindedly, lost in his own thoughts of what his siblings would think when they saw it. The others continued talking behind him about scents and the like, but he wasn’t really paying attention to the conversation. He was so preoccupied, he almost missed it when Luffy’s famliy made their entrance.  

Five things happened very quickly after that.  

First, he turned his head to watch Garp waltz in with Luffy’s brothers in tow.  

Second, he heard Sanji make some sort of remark about smell determining how things tasted, and how he could really only make sure things smelled delicious if he tasted them as well.  

The third was Luffy loudly declaring that he’d prove it- what he was proving, Law had no idea. Only that the other was determined to do so. If he’d been paying attention to the conversation, he would have known exactly what Luffy was talking about, and might have prevented what happened next. But he hadn’t, so he didn’t realize that the delicious smelling thing Luffy was talking about was a person. Himself, namely.  

Fourth, he found himself being tugged backward slightly so Luffy could get as up close and personal as possible. By licking right over the scent gland on his neck.  

Fifth and finally- and one must understand that in the split second decision between fight or flight, Law’s instinct was usually fight- the regent, the crown prince, the second prince, and virtually everyone in the ballroom turned just in time to watch Law hurl Luffy over his shoulder and into the fountain. 

Chapter Text

It probably shouldn’t have come as a surprise that Luffy did something stupid at an important event. Honestly, they should have expected it. It was basically guaranteed. Zoro just hadn’t expected it to be  that .  

Leave it to Luffy to cause a commotion right as his brothers showed up at just the wrong moment for them to assume that their precious little brother was being attacked for no reason.  

Ignoring the rest of their numerous guests, Ace and Sabo sprinted up to the fountain to help Zoro haul the troublemaker out. He was fine of course. Luffy was whining loudly about how he- meaning Law- hadn’t needed to do that. He had a big pout on his face as if he couldn’t understand why the omega had done such a thing. Which, knowing Luffy, he probably  didn’t  understand.  

Zoro was hardly an expert on manners, but he still knew you didn’t just  lick  people without asking. Especially if they were an omega, and you were an alpha. Seriously, Luffy was his best friend, but the kid really needed to get his head on straight sometimes.  

Law looked damn near ready to tackle him for the stunt, but he only took one menacing step before Killer got his arms around him and sandwiched Law between him and Eustass, effectively blocking him from the prince.  

Sabo was busy asking Luffy if he was alright, but Ace was glaring daggers at Law and demanding that he apologize. Zoro didn’t think he was imagining the smug looks on some of the other candidates when they realized the crown prince was yelling at the candidate that they’d had the most cause to worry about up to that point. Maybe if Law was lucky they’d all assume that Ace hated him and leave him alone. Not that Zoro wanted Ace to actually hate Law, but he was starting to feel pretty bad for the guy.  

“It’s really not Trafalgar’s fault,” Sanji cut in across Ace’s tirade. “He only threw Luffy in the fountain after your brother licked his neck-” 

“You said I had to prove that he smelled good!” 

“I didn’t mean you should lick the poor bastard! For fuck’s sake, Luffy, I was kidding!” He threw his free arm up in exasperation- the other was still carefully balancing his tray of delicacies. He threw an apologetic look over his shoulder at Law.  

“Shouldn’t have goaded him on, Shitty-cook,” Zoro grumbled and then dodged the kick that Sanji aimed at him.  

“Hey, watch it, Black Leg!” Ace snapped, finally dragging his little brother out of the water and dropping him onto the floor, where he created a sizeable puddle on the pink marble. The crown prince looked distinctly put off, scowling as he shook out some of the water off his pant legs. Ace hated dressing up, and it wasn’t improved by taking a walk through the fountain no matter how pretty it was.  

Sabo had a little more tact than his brothers, well aware of the scene they were making at the welcoming reception. The royal family wasn’t exactly making the most dignified impression at the moment, but there was little to be done about it now. “Lu, did you really  lick  him?” he sighed.  

Luffy continued to pout. “Yeah, but I don’t see what the big deal is.” 

“Oh for- you can’t just lick people!” Ace knocked him on the head with his fist. 

Sabo closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath to remain composed. “Okay, we’ll have to talk more about this later. Right now, we’re supposed to be mingling with people and meeting the new candidates,” he said, glancing briefly at Law.  

The expression on his face was positively thunderous, but he seemed to be glaring at one of his protectors for snickering at the predicament they were in. His other protector- whose face was covered in its entirety by a mask- was adjusting the ribbon around his throat and talking in low tones to him. Whatever he said must have been enough to keep him from committing murder because the omega’s shoulders lost a little of their tension, and he merely reached out to flick the other protector in the eye.  

“Oi- what the  fuck , Law?!”  

Sabo turned away to focus back on the task at hand. “Ace, you have to start making your rounds with the old man. Lu, you should probably try to change into something more presentable,” he pinched the bridge of his nose when Luffy immediately started complaining. “You know what, never mind. I don’t have time to force you into it. Just try not to cause any more incidents, will you? I’m going to try and do some damage control.” 

“What do you mean ‘incidents’, I haven’t done anything wrong!” 

“Lu-” 

“ARE YOU DONE YET?” Garp bellowed as he marched up to them. Sabo held back a wince. Monkey D. Garp had exactly two volume settings, and those were either loud or  extremely  loud. Sometimes Sabo feared he would go deaf by the time he reached thirty.  

“We were just about to start doing rounds, weren’t we guys?” he asked pointedly. His brothers both nodded slowly, clearly deciding not to incur Garp’s wrath for the time being.  

Ace elbowed Luffy not so gently in the side. “Yeah, we’ve got people to meet, huh?” 

Luffy elbowed him back. “Maybe  you  do. I wanna hang out more with Torao,” he started to say, only for Garp to grab him by the collar and haul him away.  

“YOU’RE DOING YOUR ROUNDS TOO, RUNT.” He ignored the way Luffy squirmed and complained, only pausing briefly to tell Sabo and Ace to hurry up.  

The two shared a commiserating look before striding after him to meet the candidates.  

“Sorry about that, Torao,” Sanji said. “Luffy’s just… Well, you know.” 

Law did know, unfortunately. The little fool seemed hellbent on causing Law problems, even if it wasn’t on purpose. He just wanted this whole debacle to be behind them, but he doubted the rest of the candidates were ever going to let him forget it. Already he could see the snide looks they tossed his way, like he was the butt of some joke they were all in on. Like he was sand that stuck to their clothes and chafed their delicate skin.  

He hid his scowl in Killer’s collar and let out a disgruntled huff. He needed a drink. Preferably something with a lot of alcohol in it. He didn’t have a whole lot of experience with alcohol, but palm wine was a fairly popular import for Swallow Island, and after they distilled it themselves it was great for getting drunk. If he was lucky, they’d have something that strong here.  

He was sure the nobles could afford it; in fact, they could probably afford something that strong that tasted much better. The bigger question was whether or not they’d be serving it at this function. He turned around to see if he could mime out his question to Zoro and Sanji, but before he could he caught eyes with someone across the room and froze.  

His lips mouthed her name, and even if he had his voice, he wasn’t sure any sound would have come out with how shocked he was.  

Next thing he knew she had barreled across the ballroom floor and flung herself at him, tears pouring down her face and arms squeezed around him in a vice like grip. “Law!”  

He wheezed, prying her arms off so he could get his breath back. The men around him looked confused, but none more so than Kidd and Killer, who had known Law for years yet had never seen this girl in their entire lives.  

“Who the hell are you?” Kidd asked, ever polite.  

He stepped forward to pull her away, but she merely threw herself at Law again and glared at him. “We’re family!” she said loudly, sticking her tongue out at him for good measure.  

Kidd and Killer both whipped their heads to Law, the former snarling in outrage. It was clear that this would take some explaining, and for the millionth time in his life he mourned the fact that he couldn’t speak. It would have made things so much easier. But nothing could ever be easy for him, so he sighed and resigned himself to the longest night of his life.  

She tossed her long black curls over her shoulder triumphantly and smirked. Kidd’s face twisted into a sneer, and a growl rose from his throat, but Killer held him back. They’d caused enough of a ruckus for the night- best not to push it any further.  

“Buffalo! Dellinger! Look, it’s him! I was right!” she called across the room to her companions. Law hadn’t even noticed them before, but there was no mistaking them now. Part of him was annoyed at having to deal with them, and another far more worrying part was terrified of seeing the three of them again. He tried to push that part down, insisting that he had nothing to worry about, and that everything was going to be fine.  

“Stop yelling, Baby 5, we can hear you just fine,” Dellinger said, rubbing his ears as if her shrill voice actually hurt him. 

“Well, well, it really is him though, hmm?” Buffalo said, hunching down to leer at Law, who had to force himself not to punch the other in his huge obnoxious buckteeth. “Still looking like an artist’s scrap paper, huh?” he guffawed, reaching over to slap Law heartily on the back.  

His hand never made contact.  

Killer had intercepted it, holding it away from the omega, grip tight enough to make Buffalo’s brow scrunch up in discomfort.  

“Hands off,” was all Killer said.  

Buffalo scowled, yanking his arm back. “Hey, didn’t you hear what she said? We’re his  family , asshole.” 

“Funny. We’ve known him for years, and he’s never mentioned you before.” Never mind the fact that Law couldn’t even if he’d wanted to. Still, he wouldn’t have told them about his other “family” if he were able to speak. He’d left them years ago, never to see them again. It was just his rotten luck that this would happen. What were they even doing here anyway? 

He waved his arm between the two alphas to get their attention and keep them from fighting. Then he gestured at the three newcomers and raised an eyebrow in question.  

Baby 5, Dellinger, and Buffalo frowned at him. Kidd and Killer got the gist of what he was asking though.  

“He wants to know how you all got here,” Kidd said shortly. He finally got close enough to rip Law out of Baby 5’s hands, and she glared at him furiously.  

“We’re here for the selection! Why do you think?” she said, reaching out to grab Law’s arm and pull it. He didn’t particularly like the way things had turned into a game of tug-of-war, where his own body was the rope. But knowing the two of them, there was little he could do about it.  

Her words his him like a rock. The selection. Of course. It was the obvious answer, yet somehow it had never occurred to him that he’d know any of the other candidates. But of course he knew the one from Punk Hazard- stupid! He should have realized. Doflamingo practically ran the whole fucking island, of course he would send one of the family members to be the candidate for a future royal. The man was obsessed with power- as if he’d give up the chance to throw one of his lackeys at the throne.  

He glanced around the room furtively. He wasn’t here was he? No, he couldn’t be. Candidates were only allowed two protectors, and the spots were already taken by Buffalo and Dellinger. But exceptions could be made. He could have weaseled his way in somehow.  

He scanned the room for any sign of pink feathers, and suddenly the rosy hues of the marbled room and all its flowers wasn’t so appealing. If the room weren’t so damn pink it would be easier to spot someone wearing it.  

Was that laughter his? No, it wasn’t sharp enough. Not cold enough. Not like icy shards that dug into his skin and scraped at his bones. The room began to spin.  

“ Hey ,” a gruff voice sounded in his ear, making him flinch.  

He blinked rapidly as Kidd’s face swam into view, and he found himself leaning into the other for support. He really wanted that drink now.  

“Alright, enough of this shit, we’re finding you someplace to sit down,” he said, leading him to a cushioned bench that was already occupied by a pair of dainty ladies. “Move it or lose it,” he growled at them. They gave him a scandalized yet terrified look and scampered away as he shoved Law onto it.  

Sanji reappeared with some more tea- where and how he’d managed to procure it so fast was beyond Law, but he wasn’t going to complain. He sipped at it tentatively as Sanji and Zoro herded the trio from Punk Hazard away. They’d be back to pester him sooner or later he was sure, but for the moment Zoro and Sanji succeeded in giving him space from them. He might have been grateful if he had any energy to devote to emotion. As it was, he was too busy trying to plot an escape route in case Doflamingo actually showed up at the palace.  

It was just- he was  so close . Being shunted off the island had already delayed him, and he wasn’t sure if he could even finish when he was so far from the ocean… And adding all the prying eyes of the other candidates along with  Doflamingo…  It was just another hurdle atop the mountain he had to overcome. Gods, he wanted to go drown himself in the fountain.  

Killer and Kidd were hovering over him like large, burly guard dogs that would bite anyone that came too close. If there was anything good about his situation, it was that he had them with him.  

Not for the first time, he thanked his lucky stars that they’d been thrown in his path. They’d only met each other about five years ago, but it felt like he’d known them his whole life sometimes.  

Now was not one of those times, the difference between what they knew about him and what had never been brought to light as clear as day. To him at least. Kidd and Killer must have had plenty of questions for him, but they held back for the moment. Somehow, he’d have to try and explain things to them later. He’d always planned to- it was just that the plan was for him to do so in another year. When his siblings could explain for him. Hopefully.  

He didn’t know how long he sat there stewing in his thoughts before the royal entourage approached him again to make proper introductions. Honestly, he almost didn’t notice when they walked up, except Sanji had cleared his throat rather pointedly and reached around Killer to nudge Law quickly in the leg with his shoe. 

There was barely enough time for him to gather his tumultuous thoughts and blink at them before Luffy hurled himself at him.  

“Torao! These are my brothers, Ace and Sabo!” He waved one arm unnecessarily at the two and wrapped the other around the omega’s shoulders. “Oh, and Gramps,” he tacked on belatedly, shooting the older man a petulant frown before turning back to Law with a wide smile.  

It probably wouldn’t improve their first impressions of him to shove Luffy away by his face, so he settled for trying to peel the other’s arm off and scooting away.  

Unfortunately for him, neither of these worked, as they merely encouraged Luffy to tighten his grip and move closer. The alpha scrunched up his face and whined, “Aw, you’re not still mad about before, are you? I won’t do it again! I only did it cause Sanji said to anyway!” 

“I did not!” 

“You smell so nice though!” Luffy said, completely ignoring Sanji. “Like the sea! And rain…and something else too, but I’m not sure what.” He punctuated this statement by leaning in  even closer  and trying to sniff at Law’s neck.  

That time he did push the little idiot away, and none too gently either. Seriously, someone had to teach the guy about  boundaries.  He looked beseechingly at the others, but Killer was turned away- possibly glowering at Buffalo, who had been inching his way back over- and Kidd was far too amused for someone who was constantly snapping at Luffy under normal circumstances. It was probably his way of getting back at Law for not warning them about his extended family. Asshole.  

Garp reached over to grab his grandson by the collar and keep him from reattaching himself to Law like a persistent barnacle. “MIND YOUR MANNERS.”  

“Uh, nice to meet you. It’s Trafalgar, right?” Sabo said, edging his way between Law and the argument Luffy and Garp were starting.  

Law nodded slowly. He wasn’t actually sure what proper etiquette was for meeting royalty. It’s not like Luffy cared about decorum or societal expectations, and that was all the experience Law had ever had with nobles. Should he get up and bow? Kneel on the ground or some other shit? He’d really rather not. He didn’t want to dirty his new clothes on the floor. Also he thought it was kind of stupid, but that seemed unwise to bring up at the moment.  

If he was making some sort of faux pas, Sabo didn’t make any indication of it. He merely smiled at him- not in the bright, eager way that his little brother did- but in a polite, professional way.  A princely way,  Law thought to himself.  

“Sorry about Luffy. He means well, he’s just a little…slow on the uptake when it comes to personal boundaries.” He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, shrugging in a way that suggested that he was embarrassed but fond of him regardless. It seemed casual enough, but Law suspected that it was a calculated move. Somehow managing to be self-depreciating, despite the fact that Luffy’s behavior had nothing to do with Sabo himself. Trying to neutralize the playing field and make it feel as though Law was on equal footing with the royal family. It was only instinct telling him this, but Law was positive that Sabo’s courteous and nearly deferential behavior was something he did as a way to make people let their guard down. Law had known others like him before, but Sabo was definitely the most convincing of the lot.  

He didn’t think there was anything particularly sinister about the prince, but he was sure it was there all the same. It was probably a carefully cultivated behavior that he’d developed out of necessity. Law could respect that. Being royalty couldn’t be all fun and games, no matter how much Luffy made it seem that way.  

He offered Sabo his hand to shake- that seemed like a reasonable thing to do. If he could speak, he would have told him that it was fine, made his own reassurances that there would be no bad blood between them for the incident. He’d tell him that it was nice to meet him too because that was the polite thing to do, and he’d already made more enemies here on the mainland than he’d ever wanted to. No reason to add royalty to that list.  

Sabo took it with another gracious smile and ushered the crown prince forward. “I’m sure you already know who Ace is, but it’s high time you were properly introduced.” 

“Not the talkative sort, are you?” Ace said, clearly veering closer to Luffy’s lack of decorum than Sabo’s courtly manners. He hardly waited for Sabo to drop Law’s hand before grabbing it and shaking it firmly. 

Law fought off a scowl, but he wasn’t sure he was entirely successful at suppressing it.  

“Oh, Torao can’t talk. He’s, uh, what do you call it? A mutt?” Luffy said, wandering over and scratching his head in thought now that he was finally done fighting with Garp about princely behavior.  

Kidd barked out a laugh, and Law leaned forward to jab him in the kidney for it, relishing in the curses that spewed from the redhead’s mouth.  

Sanji and Zoro both sighed audibly. “Mute, Luffy. Torao is mute,” Sanji corrected tiredly.  

“Oh yeah, that.” 

Ace and Sabo both looked a bit taken aback at this information, but Sabo covered it up quickly with another self-depreciating smile and looked like he was about to apologize for the mix up before Ace spoke up. “Huh. So I guess long, heartfelt talks are out of question. Good. I hate those. Why’d they bother sending you anyway? You’re not the usual kind of candidate,” he said with the blunt force of a brick through a glass window.  

Law had been in the process of taking a tentative sip of his cooling tea, but at Ace’s words he choked. Killer came over to thump him on the back a few times while he coughed and tried to recover.  

“Ace, you made Torao choke!”  

“How come it’s my fault?” 

“Who else’s fault could it possibly be? And what did I tell you about thinking before you speak?” 

“Oh, he’s fine.” 

“Look at his shoulders shake- I swear, if you make another candidate cry tonight-!” 

“Torao, are you okay?” 

He waved a hand loosely in the brothers’ direction, too busy trying to get his breath back, but he just couldn’t help it. Ace’s frank appraisal and the horror in Sabo’s eyes at it were too funny. As was the thought that they thought Law was crying over it, and that Ace might make someone else cry that night from his brusque behavior.  

Killer took Law’s mug from him and went to dispose of it before he could spill it or inhale any more of it into his windpipe. Kidd took his place and kicked him lightly in the shin. “How long are you gonna sit there laughing, asshole?” His voice was as prickly as ever, but Law could tell he also found the situation kind of amusing. It wasn’t every day that people worried about the omega being so…sensitive. Back on Swallow Island, they probably would have liked nothing more than to see Law cry and feel humiliated. Of course, back on Swallow Island, they all thought he was a murderer.  

He finally gathered himself enough to catch his breath, wiping a tear from his eye.  

“Oh, you were laughing!” Luffy said, brightening up immediately. “That’s good. You should smile more, Torao, it looks nice on you. Hey, Sabo, you don’t have to beat up Ace after all- Torao thinks Ace is funny! See, I knew you would like each other!” 

That seemed like a bit of a stretch, but Law knew it would be pointless to try and convince Luffy otherwise.  

Sabo’s relief was practically palpable, and he muttered something under his breath that Law didn’t quite catch, but he thought he heard the words, “stubborn”, “idiotic”, and “brothers”.  

“WELL, THEY SURE SENT OUT A DIVERSE BUNCH FOR THE SELECTION THIS TIME,” Garp boomed out, startling Law. The older man had been so quiet after he and Luffy had finished their argument that he’d quite forgotten he was there at all. “BACK IN MY DAY, THEY ALL SENT PRETTY OMEGA WOMEN, AND THAT WAS IT. OF COURSE, IT MIGHT’VE BEEN THAT WAY FOR YOU TOO ACE IF YOU’D PUT ANY REQUIREMENTS ON CANDIDATES. IF YOU DON’T LIKE WHAT’S BEEN OFFERED THEN YOU HAVE ONLY YOURSELF TO BLAME.” 

“I didn’t want anyone to come at all,” he grumbled, wincing when Sabo elbowed him in the side.  

They shared a heated look before Ace finally looked away. Sabo turned back to his grandfather, polite smile back in place. “Well, it’s good to have so many different options, isn’t it? If they were all similar, it would easier for Ace to turn them all away. At least this way he has to actually get to know them, right?”  

Ace shot him another glare, but he ignored it. He was far more focused on their grandfather, who seemed to be mulling over the statement seriously.  

“YOU’RE RIGHT,” he said at last. “IF THEY’D ALL BEEN PRETTY, WELL BEHAVED OMEGA WOMEN, YOUR BROTHER WOULD HAVE SCARED THEM ALL AWAY BY NOW. BETTER TO HAVE SOME PEOPLE AROUND TO CHALLENGE HIM.” 

“I don’t need anyone to-” 

“QUIT YOUR YAPPIN’, BOY. I DON’T CARE HOW MANY ROUNDS OF SELECTIONS WE HAVE TO GO THROUGH- BY THE END OF THEM, SOMEONE IS GOING TO BE ENGAGED, AND IT BETTER BE ONE OF YOU THREE.” 

All three princes faces developed long suffering looks. This appeared to be part of a conversation they’d had with Garp many times before, all of which must have ended the same way.  

“Ugh, Gramps, don’t you ever get tired of telling us that?” Luffy whined, flopping down onto the bench beside Law once more.  

“NO.” 

The princes sighed in unison.  

“This is your fault, Ace. How come Sabo and I have to be dragged down with you?”  

“Hey! It’s not my fault I was born first!”  

“No, I agree with Luffy on this one. You could’ve just chosen one of your friends to get hitched to, and then none of this would have been necessary.” 

“I’m not gonna marry anyone! Even if they are my friends!” 

“It’s not like you’d actually have to sleep with them or anything- you’d just have to be legally married to them, and then Gramps wouldn’t be so hung up on this whole selection business-” 

“Oh, well why don’t you marry one of your friends then, Sabo? Or Luffy! How come it’s just me?” 

“You’re the one that doesn’t care about falling in love! Luffy’s friends would never agree to it anyway, and just because I actually have standards-!” 

“Hey! Are you saying my friends wouldn’t marry me? That’s mean! Zoro, Sanji, would you marry me?” Luffy jumped out of his seat, hands on hips to address them.  

They looked at him, then each other, then back to him. “Absolutely not,” they replied, completely deadpan. 

Law was caught between amusement and deep discomfort at being stuck in the middle of all this. Seriously, all he wanted was to lie low for the evening- or you know, forever- but he now realized this to be an absurd pipe dream. Would it be too conspicuous for him to run away right now? 

Suddenly, he was being tugged out of his seat by strong hands gripping his, and he stumbled into Luffy’s chest. “Torao, you would marry me, right?”  

His face was surprisingly earnest, those warm charcoal eyes boring straight into Law’s. It was also way too fucking close to his own face for comfort. He squirmed out of the alpha’s grip once more and stepped away. He would like very much to tell Luffy to keep his fucking hands to himself and not put him in such awkward situations, but obviously that would never work out.  

Still, maybe something could be said for trying anyway. Maybe he could mime out what he wanted from Luffy, and then Sanji and Zoro could interpret for him. That sounded reasonable enough.  

A loud snarl drew his attention away from the prince.  

The delegation from Punk Hazard had returned, along with a collection of candidates and protectors from other islands that hadn’t gotten to introduce themselves to the crown prince yet. Buffalo was attempting to loom over Killer to intimidate him, but his friend wasn’t so easily deterred. And Kidd had somehow managed to piss off some other protectors- he thought they were protectors anyway, what with the way they placed themselves squarely in front of a strange looking blond man with tattoos instead of eyebrows- hence the snarling.  

What was even worse was that the delegation from Mary Geoise had joined the crowd, and that spoiled brat Saint Charlos was glaring right at Law. He glared right back, but it didn’t make the other stop. His lips drew up in a sneer, and he took a step forward as if he was planning to walk over and punch Law.  

Honestly, he kind of wished he would try it. Law also had a strong desire to punch something at the moment, and Charlos’s face seemed like a perfect target.  

But first, he had to keep Kidd from killing anyone at the welcome banquet.  

Holding back a sigh, he strode over and attempted to pull Kidd away. Key word being “attempted”, as Kidd was a stubborn ass, and merely planted his feet and continued to glower at his new acquaintances.  

“Why don’t you try saying that again, asshole?” he growled at the other alpha in front of him. He looked familiar- one of the ones they traveled up the mountain with perhaps. He sure was a weird looking guy- with a large mouth, full of odd looking teeth, and his hair pulled tightly into a series of knots that went down to his waist. The mouth though was really weird. His teeth had strange black rectangles on them, and Law couldn’t help but think that the guy needed to take better care of his teeth if they looked like that.  

Weird teeth guy didn’t look at all perturbed by Kidd’s hostile attitude. “Really, there’s no need to be so unruly,” he said, “Aren’t we all here for the same reason? This isn’t a competition, you know.”  

It sort of was, even if no one wanted to admit it. Officials could talk about the crown prince finding true love all they wanted, but for the candidates, it was basically an unspoken expectation that they were competing to win the prince’s hand and become the next queen.  

“Then why don’t you slink back the way you came and get lost, Tooth Rot?” 

Law let his head drop into his hands. It was no fucking use. Kidd was determined to make enemies.  

Weird teeth guy flushed bright red. “To-tooth rot?! There’s nothing wrong with my teeth! They’re completely natural for my family, I’ll have you know! And you’re one to talk about strange appearances! With the scars and the- whatever that thing is on your arm! And your companions are no better with the mask and the patchy skin-!” He slapped a hand over his mouth at the last comment, eyes going bug-eyed at his own rudeness.  

He actually looked like he was going to apologize for insulting Law’s skin discoloration, but the omega couldn’t care less. It had been that way for well over a decade, and he’d gotten quite used to people’s judgmental looks for it. At least here they just assumed it was some unusual skin condition, and not… Well, not the actual, much worse reason, that would probably get him executed on the spot.  

“Apoo, that’s enough. Let the Swallow Island candidate rein in his protector. There’s no use trying to reason with wild animals anyway,” his companion piped up, throwing a haughty look over them. 

Well fuck that guy. Apoo- what an unfortunate name- seemed alright if not for Kidd aggravating him, but his fellow protector was a real bastard. He looked every bit as snooty and stuck up as Law would’ve pictured all the delegates to look like before he arrived. Hair and skin so dark they were nearly black, but bright yellow eyes that shone keen intelligence, and something almost catlike about him.  

Law instantly hated him.  

Unfortunately, he didn’t hate him enough to let Kidd try and gut him in front of all these people. He grabbed Kidd by the back of his collar, propriety be damned, and dragged him in the other direction. Kidd was forced to follow or be strangled. He chose the former option.  

In the meantime, the royals finally decided to step in and diffuse some of the tension. And by the royals, he meant Sabo. The prince quickly came forward to introduce himself to Apoo’s candidate, apologized for getting distracted, and hurriedly ushered his brothers forward as well. Garp hung behind them, but his massive frame and suddenly imposing presence made certain that they couldn’t forget he was there.  

Law didn’t bother to try and appease anyone else. He doubted it would have been any help anyway. Instead he grabbed Killer’s wrist and towed his protectors away to the other side of the ballroom, where there were mercifully less people milling about.  

Even better, at their approach, everyone else shied away and left them to their own devices. He knew he should probably be worried about that, but at the moment, he was far too grateful for it. He just wanted to be left the hell alone.  

He sank onto a newly vacated bench and threw an arm over his eyes. Fuck this. Were they allowed to leave yet? They met the crown prince, so that was all that really mattered, right? 

“Yikes. That looked rough.” 

He peeked up from beneath his arm at Nami, not bothering to hide his frown. Keeping up appearances wasn’t really important when it came to his original escort party. He was pretty sure they preferred it that way too.  

“You know, you guys could at least try to get along with the other candidates,” she said pointedly.  

That seemed like way too much work. It wasn’t even Law’s fault this time. What was he supposed to do? babysit Kidd every hour of every day? That definitely wasn’t going to happen.  

“Well, at least Ace seems to like you. Enough as he can, all things considered.” 

He raised an eyebrow at that, and she rolled her eyes. “I’m just saying. He came into this determined to hate every single one of you, but it looked like he thought you were alright. Oh, don’t give me that look- you didn’t even see him with the six candidates he met before you. I thought he was going to run off while he was talking to the one from Thriller Bark. Scooch over.” 

She plopped herself down next to him, spreading out leisurely on the bench. The rest of Luffy’s ragtag group of friends ambled on over to join them, with the exception of Zoro, who appeared to be on Luffy watch.  

Robin placed herself next to Nami on the bench and gave him a kindly smile. “It’s certainly been exciting tonight, hasn’t it?” 

Yeah,  exciting . That was totally the word he would use to describe that evening. Right along with frustrating and eviscerating. 

“Yohoho, yes it’s quite lively!” Brook said cheerfully. He had a violin perched on his shoulder and was playing something slow and soothing that made Law want to close his eyes and take a nap.  

“It could be worse,” Sanji said, holding out a new tray of delicacies for them to pick at. “Ace and Garp seemed to like you. And Sabo too, but that’s not as surprising.”  

They seemed to have a lot of opinions about the royal family liking Law, despite their rather limited interaction together. The first of which, Ace had spent yelling at Law, thank you very much. It hardly seemed like a basis for friendship, much less marriage, if Garp were to have his way. But he supposed they knew the royal family better than he did.  

To be honest, he wasn’t sure if the royal family liking him was a good thing or not. It definitely ruined his plan for lying low, but that was plan was pretty much done for at this point. There was probably perks to being friendly with the crown, but Law didn’t know what yet. It looked like he was going to have plenty of time to learn in the future.  

“It’s SUPER! Should we be hearing wedding bells soon?” Franky joked, laughing raucously when Law removed his arm to scowl at him in full force.  

Kidd let out a low growl in his throat, making Usopp and Chopper shy away from him, but Franky just laughed harder. Killer nudged him lightly in the side and gestured with his head for Kidd to follow him. They stayed close, not wanting to leave Law on his own, but far enough that they could talk in private. He was sure Killer was trying to convince him that he had to suck it up and acknowledge the fact that while all of Swallow Island knew they were pawning Law off as a way to get rid of him, everyone here thought Law was sent to try and marry the prince like all the other candidates.  

Kidd would get used to it eventually. He was just used to being protective because they were forced to look out for each other constantly back home. One careless moment on Swallow Island could have meant a knife in the back or a swift drowning.  

It’s a big adjustment to make for them. But none of their original escort party has given them reason to distrust them. They may be a little brazen, but they weren’t bad people.  

“It’s hard to picture Ace willingly marrying  anybody,  but I am looking forward to watching candidates throw themselves all over him to try and woo him,” Nami said with a wicked grin. “Anybody want to start making bets on who is going to try and get in his pants first?” 

Usopp groaned loudly, “Please no. I don’t want to picture anyone trying to get in any of their pants.” 

“Too bad, you have to anyway,” Nami shot back.  

“What?! Why’d you bother asking then? Besides, we aren’t supposed to be gambling in front of candidates!” Usopp said, pointing rather unnecessarily at Law as if it would help his case.  

She merely snorted. “Garp said we’re not allowed to gamble with  money ,” she countered. “He didn’t say anything about gambling with, say, whoever has to watch Luffy while Ace gets to know the candidates. And it’s not like Torao would rat us out anyway.” 

He wasn’t sure whether she meant he wouldn’t do it because he didn’t care or because he was incapable of voicing such concerns to the regent. Either way, she was right.  

“Wh- I thought we all agreed that Zoro should just do it!”  

Nami gave him a scathing look. “Oh, please. As if that meathead could be trusted to keep Luffy from doing stupid shit. Zoro has to train sometimes anyway. We only said that to Garp to get him off our backs while we actually figure out who has to deal with the little monster while Ace courts people.” 

“Aw, Luffy isn’t  that  bad,” Chopper said, climbing onto the bench beside Robin and snuggling against her side.  

The rest of the group made various sounds of disagreement.  

“You do remember what happened earlier today with Saint Charlos, right?” Sanji said, making them all grimace. “Just imagine if he showed up while Ace and Charlos were together. Garp would have our hides.” 

The kid didn’t have anything to say to that, so they continued with their bets.  

“I’d say that woman from Ennies Lobby is already scheming to find a way into our dear crown prince’s bed,” Robin said. She gestured across the room to a tall blonde woman standing off to the side of the group that surrounded Ace, although she was clearly planning her next move to introduce herself to the prince. She was showing an awful lot of skin, and there was a shrewd look about her and her companions that made Law’s skin prickle.  

Nami hummed thoughtfully, scribbling down Robin’s bet onto a notebook that she must have hidden somewhere on her person beforehand.  

“Oh, Kalifa? Yeah, she probably would. She’s a real piece of work from what I remember. We used to trade a lot with Ennies Lobby back on Water 7. She was even Iceburg’s secretary for a while. Speaking of which, where is that asshole anyway? He was definitely on the list of candidates, but I haven’t seen him yet. You’d think he’d have time to say hello to his old buddy Franky, but nooooo.” 

“As if you were buddies,” Nami snorted. “And he’s over there by those creepy guys from Thriller Bark. If you want to start a fight with him so bad, now’s your chance. He might actually thank you for it if it gets him away from those weirdos.” 

He scoffed, then struck a dramatic pose. “No way! Garp said no fighting, and I’m being SUPER diligent about it!”  

“Ugh, you’re so boring. Are you going to at least bet on him trying to get in Ace’s pants then?” 

“Well, that’s SUPER gross, Nami, but also hilarious, so YES!” 

“Fabulous. Anyone else? I’m picking Pudding. Sleeping with Ace was probably one of the first things her mom ordered her to do, and there’s no way any of them would disobey her. Momma’s girl,” she muttered under her breath, and Robin patted her consolingly on the shoulder.  

Usopp eyed her skeptically. “You’re not still mad at her about the wedding, are you? I mean, Sanji’s the one who jilted her at the altar, and you were with him the whole time, so of course she thought you were having an affair.” 

The look she gave him would have melted lead, and he skittered behind Franky when he realized his mistake.  

“For the last  fucking  time, I am not mad at her for calling me a man-stealing whore! In front of the whole wedding! And it’s not my fucking fault that she’s too stupid to realize that Sanji and I are only friends! Or that he ran out because we realized the whole marriage was a sham, and she was just going to divorce him and take half his money or murder him in his sleep!” She had leapt to her feet while shouting, and it was all Usopp could do to cower behind their larger friend while she ranted.  

Sanji looked like he wanted nothing more than the conversation to be done with. “Can we please stop talking about my ex-fiancé before you summon her over here like a gremlin.” 

“Fine,” Nami huffed, throwing herself back onto the bench. “Who are you betting on, then?” 

He peered around the room for a moment before deciding. “I’m actually going to say the one from Punk Hazard. She’s your… well, you’re something, isn’t she Law? What do you think? Am I totally off base?” He knocked his shoe gently against Law’s to prompt him.  

It had been quite some time since he’d last seen Baby 5, but he wouldn’t put it past her. She’d spent most of the time professing her undying love to random men that claimed to need her help when they were younger, but he sincerely hoped she’d grown out of that. He doubted it, but he hoped nonetheless. If Ace offered her a hand after she tripped onto her face, she’d probably start writing him sonnets and throw herself into his bed as a way to thank him, so maybe Sanji’s guess wasn’t horrible.  

He shrugged in a way he hoped conveyed his feelings on the matter.  

“Okay, Sanji bets on… what’s her name again? Baby 5? What kind of name is that anyway?” It sounded like a rhetorical question, so Law ignored it. Being mute and all would have made it far too difficult to explain that her mother hadn’t bothered giving her or any of her sisters real names as children, as the woman had deemed it- and Baby 5- useless.  

“What are you guys betting on now?”  

Zoro reappeared with Luffy in tow, Kidd and Killer also returning. “Whatever it is, I bet on Torao!” Luffy piped up, crashing in between Law and Nami, much to their mutual displeasure.  

“Luffy, we’re betting on who’s going to try to convince your brother to have sex with them, and somehow I don’t think Torao is going to be on that list,” Sanji added helpfully.  

“Oh, well, I guess he could try if he wanted.” 

Law shoved him off the bench for that remark, and thankfully the royal family didn’t come running over to berate him for it. Luffy pouted at him, but didn’t bother to try and get back on the bench, choosing instead to spread his legs out on the floor.  

“Zoro, who’s your pick? And you have to pick one- no wimping out, and no choosing someone that someone else has already bet on. We’re gambling with our babysitting time,” Nami said, right back to business.  

“Who are you babysitting?” Luffy asked. He laughed cheerfully when they all told him it was him.  

Zoro grabbed a few hors d’oeuvres from Sanji’s tray and stuffed them in his mouth. “Who’s taken then? Besides Torao,” he smirked through the food in his mouth. Law raised a finger at him that he was sure didn’t need translating.  

“The ones from Ennies Lobby and Punk Hazard are already taken, as well as Pudding and Iceburg,” Robin said.  

“Hmm. I’m going to say that creep from Mary Geoise. He looks stupid enough to try it.” 

“Alright, that leaves Usopp, Chopper, and Brook. And Jinbei whenever he gets back I guess,” Nami said, writing down his answer. “Usopp, stop being a baby and choose someone.” 

He gave a huff of mock offense. “Fine. I pick, uh, that creepy girl from Thriller Bark.” 

“Ugh, really? Are you even trying?” 

“You said I had to pick one!” 

“Whatever, lose if you want to. Brook, Chopper, how about you two?” 

Chopper peeked from under his fluffy brown bangs at the candidates milling around the room. “How about that one from Mystoria? His group seemed interested in meeting Ace.” 

“Well, I’ll choose the one from Amazon Lily then!” Brook said cheerily. “Although I dare say she doesn’t look particularly interested in any of the princes,” he laughed heartily. Clearly, he didn’t mind if he was put on babysitting duty. But Law supposed he was running out of obvious choices anyway.  

Nami nodded as if this was all perfectly normal for them- which Law realized, it probably was- and finished writing everyone’s choices in her notebook. He was less than pleased to see that his name was written down for Luffy’s pick. As if Luffy was actually part of the group that needed to choose who was going to watch him.  

“So if we’re all taking bets to see who tries first and nobody tries tonight, then who has to watch Luffy tomorrow?” Usopp asked with trepidation in his voice.  

They all traded similarly concerned looks. “Well, who’s Ace supposed to be meeting with this week? He has to spend an hour with two each day right? At least for the first few weeks,” Sanji said.  

Nami pulled a different notebook out of the folds of her dress and flipped to a set of pages with a neatly written schedule on it. “Tomorrow he’s supposed to meet with- oh, gross- Saint Charlos in the morning and Baby 5 in the evening.” 

“Yikes. Can you imagine having to deal with that first thing in the morning?” Zoro said.  

“I wouldn’t laugh just yet if I were you, Moss-head. After all, you might be on babysitting duty tomorrow.” 

Zoro scowled. “Nah. Garp said I had to patrol for the next week. Said it was common for people to try and sneak in during the selection and cause problems.” Apparently, he wasn’t particularly taken with the idea of having to do patrol for the next week. Particularly after he’d just returned to the castle.  

“Sucks to be you,” Nami said. “Pudding and Reiju are both the next day, so I’d say it’s best if Sanji isn’t on babysitting duty that day.” Reiju was his sister, Sanji explained, and left it at that. There didn’t seem to be a whole lot of lost love between them, so Law didn’t pry. “Shirahoshi and Vivi are after that. At least it won’t be a problem if Luffy’s around Vivi- you can’t be around Shirahoshi if you make her cry though.” She addressed the last part to the prince, who seemed entirely unaffected at the thought.  

He scratched his nose and rolled his eyes. “Aw, it’s not my fault she’s such a crybaby. Besides, we have fun together! But not as much fun as with Vivi- hey, I haven’t gotten to say hi to either of them yet! Where are they?” 

“You’ll have plenty of time to talk to them for the next year. Don’t wonder off or someone will have to follow you, and we don’t want that until we figure out our schedules,” Nami snapped. “Now, it’s Hiyori from Wano and Kalifa the next day. Then Rebecca from Dressrosa and-oh! It’s Coby last on Friday. Too bad you’ll be gone, Zoro, you guys would have had fun.” 

Law was starting to get the feeling that a lot of the other candidates were far better connected to the mainland than he was. It wasn’t exactly a surprise, given the state of Swallow Island, but so many of them had ties to Luffy’s group that he was starting to feel like even more of an outsider.  

Franky volunteered to take one for the team and spend the first day with Luffy to make sure he didn’t try to yell or hit Charlos, much to the others’ relief. Both Nami and Sanji were declared unfit for duty when it came to Pudding and Reiju, so Robin was assigned for her more diplomatic attitude. Wednesday involved a lot of arguing because apparently they all wanted to be there with Vivi, but eventually it was Chopper that got the spot, largely due to the fact that he was too adorable to turn down. Franky refused to be around Kalifa, and since he was already taking the worst spot, they agreed to let him skip that day. There was some more bickering, but eventually Nami agreed to watch Luffy that day. Friday went to Usopp, who also knew Coby. Sanji knew him too, but he had a lot of work in the kitchens that day, so he wasn’t able to take the spot.  

“So we’re all agreed that unless someone wins the bet, this is our schedule this week?” She said it as a question, but they all knew there was no changing it. “Good. Should we look at next week too then?” 

There was little else to do at the moment, so they continued. “It’s the candidates from Jaya next Monday,” she said.  

“You mean the candidates from Skypiea and Shandia,” Usopp corrected her. “We’re not supposed to call it Jaya anymore- especially not during the selection.” 

“How dumb,” Zoro grunted. “It’s not like everyone doesn’t know they’re supposed to be one island. They don’t even like being called two islands. It’s just because those stupid traditionalists are all obsessed with having twenty one islands and twenty one candidates.” 

Robin sighed. “Yes, it is a shame. The Skypieans and Shandians love their individuality, but they do hate the official split of their islands in the records.” 

“Nothing else to do to appease those tradionalists though. No other island could be split like theirs, and Garp wasn’t about to go conquer another island just for that. Other islands are too far out to hold effectively anyway, which is why the kingdom has stayed at twenty one islands for hundreds of years. I guess it always seemed like it would stay that way. No one could have predicted what happened to Flevance,” Sanji said, shaking his head morosely.  

Law’s spine tingled, and he clenched his hands in his robes, forcing himself to act normal. He absolutely could not draw attention to himself when people talked about Flevance.  

“Since Zoro doesn’t have to be on babysitting duty the first week, I think he should be the one to watch him next Monday,” Usopp suggested, swiftly moving on from the topic.  

Law released a breath he didn’t realize he was holding.  

“It looks like Iceburg is Tuesday, so that means anyone but Franky. And it’s the candidate from Mystoria in the evening. Hawkins? Hmm. Sanji, are you doing anything important that day?” He wasn’t. “Good, that one’s you then. It’s Wanda from Zou and Hancock from Amazon Lily after that. Jinbei should be back by then, so he can take that day. Ko-koala? Who names their kid that? Never mind, it’s Koala from Raftel and Perona from Thriller Bark. Brook, you’re from Thriller Bark, and you haven’t had a day yet. Can you take that one?” 

“Yohoho! But of course! I’m sure I can keep an eye on our young prince and keep him from causing trouble with my old acquaintances from Thriller Bark!” He punctuated his statement with a flurry of musical notes on his violin.  

She rolled her eyes fondly and continued. “Well, that means everyone has taken at least one day. All that’s left is Friday with…. X Drake from Little Garden and Urouge from Raijin Island. Don’t know much about those two,  but  Dorry and Broggy are apparently his protectors, so at least we know they can keep Luffy from doing anything too stupid.” 

“Hey!” 

“This Urouge guy is weird though. He didn’t bring any protectors at all. I mean, maybe he doesn’t need them when he’s jacked like that,” she said, pointing discreetly at a large, burly man that was currently greeting Ace. “Still, kind of an odd pick. Who sends a male alpha to marry another male alpha when Garp made such a fuss about the royal line needing heirs? It’s not like they can have any kids together.” 

“Maybe they’ll adopt,” Robin suggested.  

Nami hummed. “And then of course, Torao is the last one that final Monday. If it were someone actually interested in getting selected, I might feel sorry for them, but in your case I don’t think you’ll mind.”  

She was correct. Most people would have been disappointed to be last. After twenty other candidates, the prince was sure to be tired of getting to know new people, and would likely have lost most interest in meeting anyone new. It was therefore the least desirable slot for first dates, and often went to Swallow Island. Being the poorest meant they didn’t have the money or connections to weasel their way into getting a better meeting time. Many a candidate from Swallow Island had been disappointed by the outcome. Law was fucking thrilled.  

Perhaps if he was really lucky, Ace would just forego their stupid date altogether, and they could go about their own lives. It was unlikely that Garp would allow such a thing, but he could dream.  

“That’s okay, Torao! They say to save the best for last! And I’ll get you lots of time with Ace and Sabo even without the official meetings!” Luffy said, slapping Law’s knee as if he was doing him a favor.  

Law let his face fall into his hands once more. It was going to be a long fucking year.  

Chapter Text

The first week of the selection wasn’t too bad. Granted, Zoro had missed most of it since he had to do patrol, but the rest of the group filled him in on what he missed.  

They’d managed to spend the first two days distracting Luffy and keeping him away from Ace’s dates with the candidates. It involved a lot of food and a lot of not so safe activities, but at least none of them involved the candidates. They had, however, had to apologize to a lot of the servants for all the ruckus they caused. Still, it was a small price to pay if it kept Luffy from starting any diplomatic incidents.  

The third day was the easiest because they didn’t have to keep him away from Shirahoshi or Vivi. Neither of the women seemed particularly disturbed at his intrusion either. Marrying Ace wasn’t one of their top priorities, especially since they’d both heard enough about him from Luffy that they understood he also wasn’t interested in marrying them either. Both women had more or less been sent because they were the obvious choices from their islands, coming from wealthy families that spouted noble heritage.  

Thursday morning was okay because Sabo was there to keep his little brother in line, but he had meetings in the afternoon, and Luffy was a handful because he got bored.  

What ended up being the only thing to distract him was Torao. Robin gently suggested that he hadn’t seen the omega in a while, and that he might like a tour of the castle. Luffy took the suggestion with zeal and proceeded to drag the poor man around the castle until dinner.  

They did feel a little bad about throwing Torao to the wolves- well, wolf- like that, but they didn’t have any better options. 

Sadly, Luffy’s persistent favoritism wasn’t helping Law make friends with the other candidates. Not that he seemed interested in making friends anyway, but it would have made things easier for him if the other candidates didn’t hate his guts.  

By Friday, Luffy was practically vibrating out of his skin. Not being able to spend time with his brothers or Zoro meant he had a lot of pent-up energy he couldn’t let out through sparring. Zoro could relate- he also felt like he could use a good fight by that point in the week.  

The afternoon went well though. According to Usopp and Luffy, Coby had really grown up since they last saw him. He was also extremely awkward anytime he had to talk directly to Ace, but that seemed like it was more about talking to royalty that wasn’t Luffy than it was about being madly in love with the crown prince. At least, he hoped it wasn’t. He wasn’t sure he could handle watching Coby fumble around Ace like a lovesick preteen.  

On Saturday morning, all the candidates and their guardians were invited to breakfast with the royal family. Luffy was thrilled he got to stay with his brothers and his reunited friends. Robin told him that he’d eaten with as much vigor as usual and scandalized more than a few of their guests. Zoro could only imagine the looks on some of their prissy faces.  

Now it was Sunday evening, and Zoro was finally back in the castle for good. The only downside was that he was required to join everyone for dinner. And he meant  everyone .  

Once again, all the candidates and their protectors were invited to the meal, so the dining hall was packed.  

He was pretty sure it would have been an upper class only event if it were being held back in Garp’s day, but Garp was…a touch more informal than his predecessors. Hence why Zoro and his friends got to attend affairs like this. Being largely made up of delinquents and former criminals, Luffy’s closest friend group wasn’t exactly the height of society. The only person in their circle who’d been born into the upper class besides Luffy was Sanji, and he’d been disinherited by his asshole father when he was a kid. 

They weren’t the only ones that got to reap the benefits of royal friendships though. Ace had a giant band of friends that expanded across almost every island, and Sabo had a select few friends that popped in occasionally. They didn’t hang around nearly as often as Zoro and company, but that was their deal. It wasn’t like Garp would chase them off if they wanted to stick to Sabo like leeches.  

…. That may have been a bad example. The point was, they could butt into Sabo’s life a lot more if they wanted to, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.  

Hell, just look at Luffy- they never left him alone. Everyone called them the Straw Hats just because Luffy never took his off, and they were always with him- never mind the fact that none of  them  wore straw hats. There was always at least one of them with him at any given time, and Garp damn near encouraged it. Granted, Luffy was a lot more prone to starting trouble than Sabo was, but it wasn’t like any of them were that good at keeping him out of it. They probably got him into as much trouble as they prevented.  

He wasn’t going to complain though.  

Except maybe, in situations like this, when he had to have  class . Bullshit. His manners were perfectly fine, no matter what Sanji and Nami said.  

He went through a mental list of the things Nami liked to remind him whenever they had to attend important functions.  Don’t   scowl .  Don’t  frown.  Don’t  even look mildly displeased. No yelling, no challenging anyone, and  definitely no  fighting. If someone important comes up to talk to you, just smile and nod along.  Don’t  say  anything.  Just let the rest of them handle the talking.  Don’t  even open your mouth if Sanji’s nearby, or you two boneheads will screw everything up.   

She had great faith in him like that.  

On the other hand, he’d also managed to get lost on the way to the dining hall, despite having been there a zillion times. So clearly he wasn’t getting any points for punctuality. He was sure she was going to berate him for being late- they must have been done with the appetizers by now, but maybe he could make it on time for the main course.  

Luffy spotted him across the hall at the head table and called him over loudly, making Nami reach over and pinch him in the side. She whispered something furiously in his ear, and he pouted as she pushed him back into his seat.  

Zoro was on his way to them when he spotted something out of the corner of his eye.  

Law was sitting at the end of one of the far tables, which was nothing unusual in it of itself, however he was noticeably guardian-less. Kidd and Killer were nowhere to be seen. This also wouldn’t have been a big deal if it weren’t for the fact that the vultures had taken the moment to close in on him while his guard dogs were absent.  

His least favorite candidate Saint Charlos was sitting at the next table over, along with a gaggle of other candidates that had flocked to him in the past week. He doubted it was because of his oh so charming personality- Robin said the Saints were one of the wealthiest families across the whole kingdom. If he thought back on it, he was pretty sure he’d seen the slimeball before, at parties and the like. Being rich meant he had plenty of influential connections. No doubt that was the reason the other candidates were interested in getting closer to him.  

The jerk said something that had those nearest to him laughing, all of them shooting Law snide glances. As for the omega, he didn’t seem to notice nor care. Whether or not either of these things were true were another matter.  

He couldn’t ignore them forever though, which became all too apparent when one of Charlos’s protectors- his sister, Zoro thought- slipped out of her spot beside her brother and planted herself next to Law instead. He couldn’t hear what she said, but judging by the stony expression on Law’s face, it was nothing pleasant.  

She sneered at him, and her hand snapped out to grab him by the forearm. Even from that distance, he could see Law grimace. 

Usopp said that Merry had taken it as his divine purpose to make sure that Law was as well dressed as possible. When it became apparent that none of the Swallow Island residents had suitable clothes for the colder weather up in the mountains, he had gone into a frenzy to remedy the issue. The tailor rarely got the chance to flaunt his skills for anyone besides the Straw Hats, so he’d been thrilled at the prospect of someone new being added to their little group. No one had corrected him on the matter, not even Law. Perhaps he had resigned himself to his fate of being lumped together with Luffy for the foreseeable future.  

Whatever the case was, Merry couldn’t have been happier. Law had even taken to joining the tailor on occasion while he worked. Robin said he seemed fascinated by watching Merry use his magic for the most mundane things like making scissors cut bolts of fabric on their own and watching needles thread themselves.  

He supposed Swallow Island didn’t have a lot of magic users on it. They were plenty common up on the Mainland, but for somewhere as small and isolated as Swallow Island, it must have been a new experience for Law.  

She said it was kind of cute how focused Law got and how Merry’s chest would swell with pride.  

In short, Merry adored him. So it only made sense that he tried to make clothes that the omega would actually appreciate wearing. By that same token, the tailor had made some notes about certain items that always belonged with Law’s outfits. Number one was the ribbon around his throat. None of them knew why Law wore it; they just knew that if Merry didn’t set him up with a matching one, he’d use the original one he arrived with. Number two was the gloves. They covered up the bandages wrapped over his hands and forearms. If Merry didn’t give him gloves, he didn’t bother covering the bandages up, but if Merry added them, he would use them.  

It seemed that others had noticed these specific fashion choices as well. Charlos’s sister waved Law’s arm around like it had personally offended her by existing. She grasped his glove by the tip of his forefinger and ripped it off, exposing the bandages beneath it. Tossing it away without taking her eyes off Law, she then reached for the ribbon around his throat.  

Zoro had seen more than enough by that point.  

He stalked in their direction, dead set on throwing the girl out of the dining hall, manners be damned. He would have too if not for what happened next.  

As soon as her fingers brushed the ribbon at his throat, Law took his free hand and wrapped it around hers, halting its progress. Then in the blink of an eye, he slipped his other hand free and used it to grab her by the back of her head.  

And because Nami had apparently not given him a lecture on decorum or courtly etiquette, Law slammed her face first into a bowl of mashed potatoes that the servers had put there moments before.  

It got so quiet; you could have heard a pin drop.  

She emerged from the dish sputtering and flushed red as a tomato. At least he thought so. Her neck was anyway. It was kind of hard to see her actual face, since it was covered in mashed potato. An improvement if you asked him.  

Charlos and his other protector sprang to their feet, matching looks of outrage on their faces, but before they could take a step, boisterous laughter rang out.  

Everyone turned to stare at Garp, who laughed so hard the table shook.  

Luffy of course, joined in immediately, because why would he not. He was pretty sure Ace was snickering behind his hand too. Sabo was the only who looked mildly apologetic about what had just happened, but he was biting his lip as well. Others might have interpreted his expression as embarrassed or repentant, but Zoro knew him well enough that he could tell he was also trying not to laugh.  

With the royal family cracking up, the rest of the diners joined in as well. Some were polite enough to try and hide their amusement, like Vivi and Coby, but many others were simply laughing outright. There were also some not so amused guests like Charlos, but they knew better than to try and reprimand the regent. 

“Zoro,” Garp boomed, “Bring that one to my table. It’s been ages since I’ve shared a meal with anyone interesting.” He gestured at one of the servers to set up another spot between him and Ace.  

Wasting no time, Zoro quickly pulled Law out of his seat and hustled him towards the head table. Already some of the other candidates had stopped laughing in favor of gawking at the regent in shock for his decision. 

“Where are Eustass and Killer?” he asked in a low voice.  

Law peered at him from the side of his eye and painted an invisible line down the left side of his face and neck- his way of saying Kidd’s name- and mimed gagging.  

“He’s sick?”  

Law nodded.  

“Well, how come Killer isn’t with you then?”  

He pointed to himself and shrugged. Zoro took it to mean that Law had told the other protector to stay with Kidd. Maybe if Law weren’t one of the least popular candidates, Zoro wouldn’t have minded. In any other scenario it would have made sense for him to stay and watch over a sick friend. As it was, if Killer had been at dinner that evening, he doubted the incident with Charlos’s sister would have taken place.  

“Why didn’t you stay with them then?” he hissed.  

Law gave him a withering look. Oh. Right. Mandatory dinner for the candidates. He guessed the protectors didn’t have to come if they didn’t want to, but Law was required to. Boy, he must have been having a real shitty night. If it had been Zoro, he would have just faked sick and stayed with them.  

He would have pointed this out to Law, but unfortunately they had reached the head table. He deposited a reluctant Law into his new seat and then fled to his own spot.  

“What, no fair! I want to sit with Torao! Ace switch seats with me!” Luffy leaned over Sabo so he could yell across his grandfather and Law to his other brother. Sabo raised his eyes skyward, as if praying for someone to save him from his family.  

On Ace’s other side, his friend Marco hid his smile behind his wine glass.  

“For fuck’s sake, Lu, you’re not going to die if you don’t sit next to him. Don’t you see him all the time anyway?” 

“No!” he yelled, flailing his arm and smacking Garp in the face in the process. “And I don’t know why you care! You get to see him for the selection anyway. I only get to see him when you’re not with him!” 

Ace lobbed a dinner roll at his youngest brother. Honestly, Zoro didn’t know why Nami and Sanji were always harping on him about propriety when the royal family behaved the way they did. “Stop waving your arms everywhere! I haven’t even had any assigned time with Tor-Tral- fuck-  with him!” he said, gesturing needlessly at Law. “And don’t act like you’re not just going to show up once I do anyway- you were already with me when I was with those other friends of yours!” 

“That’s different!” 

“ How?!”  

Garp raised his massive fists and smacked both of them in the back of their heads. Law and Sabo had wisely been paying attention and ducked as soon as they saw what was coming. “Quit yapping and start eating!”  

This succeeded only in making them argue with him instead, although both princes took to shoving food in their mouths between sentences. He wasn’t sure he’d ever attended a meal with the royal family that didn’t involve a lot of yelling and throwing punches. If he ever did, he’d have to ask someone to pinch him to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.  

On the bright side, it did take most of the attention away from Law.  

Most of the other candidates and their protectors had gone back to their meals and conversed politely amongst themselves when it became apparent the whole dinner was going to have the royals arguing with each other in the background, and Garp wasn’t actually going to spend the evening talking to Law.  

Some though, continued to send the omega venomous looks throughout the evening. Charlos and his protectors among the most prominent. His sister had cleaned herself up, but he thought he still saw potato clinging to her hairline.  

And because Law wasn’t a complete idiot, he noticed as well.  

Once dinner concluded and Garp excused them all, Zoro was quick to attach himself to Law’s side and offer to escort him back to his room. Shooting a look down the tables, Law took his arm without protest. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Charlos whip his head around and stomp away.  

The rest of the week passed without much incident. Well, mostly.  

Since Zoro didn’t have to patrol, he spent most of his time with Luffy. They sparred, they goofed off, they did anything and everything to keep him from butting in on Ace’s dates with the candidates. Because he didn’t know any of the ones personally that week, it was more imperative than ever to keep him from interfering.  

Privately, Zoro thought Ace wouldn’t have minded if he did. He might have even appreciated it.  

Marco was staying for the next week, and Ace had begged him to stay with him during his assigned dates. Garp allowed this since Marco was a well mannered person who wouldn’t scare any of the candidates off. Unlike a certain little brother that would undoubtedly do so if he showed up.  

He told Zoro that Monday had been a little tense. The candidates from Skypeia and Shandia arrived to both of their allotted times together and refused to be parted, on the grounds that they were from the same island.  

Ace had bluntly reminded them that technically their islands were split now, and the Shandians had nearly bitten his head off for it. The Skypeians were much more subdued, but they didn’t try and stop their fellow islanders from arguing with the crown prince either. They left after their first hour that morning with steam billowing from their ears, and when they returned in the afternoon, the Shandians sat in stony silence while the Skypeians tried to make polite small talk. 

Needless to say, he didn’t think Ace was off to a great start with the candidates from Jaya.  

As for Tuesday, he said that Iceburg had played the role of the perfect candidate. Courteous, charming, and not swooning all over him. He doubted the beta was particularly interested in wooing Ace, but that was for the best. If anything, he’d probably been chosen for being so popular back home. Of course they’d send him. It was the logical thing to do. Most islands chose their candidates that way.  

Excluding perhaps Law, but maybe the residents of Swallow Island were just weird like that.  

Tuesday afternoon was a different matter. Marco was generally an easygoing guy, and made sure to watch his mouth. If he talked poorly about someone, it did well to listen to him.  

He didn’t come right out and say that he disliked the candidate from Mystoria or his protectors. There was a very pregnant pause however, when he first brought them up, as he attempted to figure out something diplomatic to say about them.  

“They seem very….invested in the selection,” was all he said.  

Wednesday was the only major blip that involved Luffy.  

Zoro and Jinbei had only turned away from him for a moment when he went sprinting across the southern courtyard to go yell at one of the candidates. She had shoved a servant out of her path and tried to ground her heel into the poor man’s face before Luffy accosted her.  

Being a prince and all, there was little she or her protectors could do besides argue with him, although he noted that her protectors seemed more interested in letting everything ride out than joining in. The candidate didn’t seem to care that she was yelling at a prince, and said some very rude things that couldn’t be repeated in polite conversation.  

Luffy naturally didn’t let this deter him, and yelled at her even more.  

Somehow, by the end of it, Luffy no longer hated her guts, and the candidate was smitten with him. Zoro truly had no idea how that happened, and neither did anyone else in the courtyard by the looks of it. Her protectors even had matching expressions of shock on their faces.  

By the time she arrived for her date with Ace in the afternoon, she was so infatuated with Luffy that she refused to speak of anything else.  

Ace definitely thought she had a screw loose, but didn’t complain about her not being interested in himself. Instead he complained about the fact that she wouldn’t stop waxing poetic about his little brother and belittling Ace and Sabo in every other sentence for not being as good as Luffy.  

She certainly was something else.  

Zoro mentally took Brook out of the running for the who’s-going-to-try-and-seduce-Ace-first contest.  

The next morning went well though. Nami still thought Koala was a weird name, but no weirder than Baby 5, Iceburg, or Pudding. Koala proved to be a cheerful and friendly young woman, and didn’t mind a bit that Ace couldn’t even bother to pretend like he was interested in their date. She was also a bit of a neat freak according to Brook. She kept finding things to straighten up or clean wherever they went on their walk, never pausing her upbeat chatter.  

The afternoon with the candidate from Thriller Bark was not to be discussed, Ace stringently declared. Marco looked like he was trying not to laugh in his friend’s face, but kept his mouth sealed all the same.  

Friday was fine. Luffy and Zoro got to spend the morning catching up with Dorry and Broggy off to the side while Ace talked to X Drake. Zoro didn’t pay much attention to the couple, but they both looked.…awkward.  

Neither of them spoke much, and when they did it all sounded awfully stilted and petered out soon after. Marco was the only one to keep conversation going on their side, and it was probably the only reason they didn’t just sit there in uncomfortable silence for the entire hour.  

He imagined that Ace would have run out of there if he were allowed to, but Garp would have had his hide if he tried anything of the sort.  

By his twentieth date with the candidate from Raijin Island, Ace was near catatonic. Marco was the only thing keeping him in line. On the plus side, the candidate didn’t get offended by the crown prince nearly falling asleep in the middle of their date. He had a constant smile on his face, and a jovial personality.  

Marco liked him at least.  

Ace had no opinions whatsoever, but in comparison to the other candidates, that was practically a raving recommendation.  

Then it was the weekend. Everyone was invited together for lunch on Saturday, and fortunately there were no more mishaps with people smashing other people’s faces into the food. Garp almost looked disappointed that things went so smoothly. Not for the first time, Zoro felt pity well up in him for Luffy and his brothers for having him as a grandfather. Not that he thought Garp was all bad or anything, but well…. It certainly wasn’t easy for them.  

Marco decided to head out as soon as lunch was over, and all the begging in the world from Ace couldn’t convince him to stay another day. He had some sort of business to attend to back home or something.  

He bade a tearful Ace farewell, promising that he’d be back eventually. In the meantime, their mutual friend Izo was supposed to come visit. He was mostly there to visit with his sister Kiku, who was one of the protectors from Wano, but he’d have more than enough time to keep Ace from going insane too.  

If he thought that was as eventful as his day was going to be, Zoro was sadly mistaken.  

It all started out so innocently.  

“You see this? A Flevancian pearl. The rarest and most expensive kind of pearl on the market. I’m going to attach a chain to it, and give it to Nami for her birthday.” 

Zoro snorted. “She’s probably going to sell it as soon as you turn your back.” 

Sanji kicked his chair. “It’s the thought that counts.” 

“I don’t know, sometimes she likes keeping expensive things to show off. This could be one of them,” Usopp said helpfully.  

Luffy scratched his nose and peered closer at it. “How come it’s all weird colored?” 

Sanji swatted his hand away when he poked at it. “Didn’t you listen to what I just said? It’s  Flevancian , meaning it comes from Flevance. This is how all their pearls look- that’s why they’re so valuable. Well, that and their scarcity.” At Luffy’s blank look he sighed. “Don’t you know your history at all? This wasn’t even that long ago!” 

“Why would I know the history of pearls?” 

“It’s not just pearls, you uncultured ape!”  

“Oh, boy, okay, everyone calm down for a second,” Usopp cut in before the two of them could start going at it. “Luffy, think about it for a minute. What is Flevance famous for?” 

A dark look crossed his face. “The White Sickness.” 

“Right. It affected the whole island, even the landscape. So the reason Flevancian pearls are so special is because of their unique discoloration. I mean, colored pearls can be pretty valuable on their own, but only Flevancian ones will have these white marks on them,” he said, pointing redundantly at the pearl in Sanji’s hand. This specific pearl was a pale blue, broken by swatches of pure white. It reminded him, oddly enough, of Law, and the way that Merry liked dressing him in blue. Which was silly because Law of course, was not a pearl, nor from Flevance.  

After all, everyone from Flevance was dead.  

He’d been young when it happened. The end of it anyway. He supposed it had been a long time in the making, but he’d been too young to understand a lot of what went on. But he remembered enough.  

He could recall so clearly, huddling with Kuina under the blankets while they pressed themselves to her door, trying to eavesdrop on her parents as they talked. The worry that was etched in their faces as they spoke in low voices about riots. About the White Sickness. About the quarantine, and the few who managed to escape it.  

In hindsight, he felt sorry for them. To be trapped on their island while people died in droves around them, when no one knew how to help- or even wanted to. Fear did terrible things to people.  

Still, he understood why people were afraid. Even now, the thought of someone from Flevance walking among them sent a shiver up his spine.  

Some things were better off gone, and soul magic was one of them.  

Flevance had been the only place where soul magic was regularly found. Those that had the ability and lived elsewhere could almost always trace their roots back to the island.  

He remembered hearing what happened during the first major riot. A Flevancian man had escaped quarantine and fled to Mary Geoise with his husband. When he was discovered, the locals attacked them. Like any sane person, they fought back. Two to a mob were hardly fair odds for normal people, but one of them had been a soul mage, and he used his abilities to horrifying effect.  

He had killed eight of them, right where they stood. Didn’t even have to touch them. Yanked their souls clean out, and there was nothing anyone else could do to save them.  

His husband died in the skirmish, but perhaps it was more merciful than the alternative.  

All mages have limits, even soul mages. Killing all those people must have taken a lot of energy because he collapsed in the street, and the survivors strung him up. There was naturally a lot of concern about the White Sickness spreading with their presence, so they took anything and everything that might be infected from the Flevancians, piled it in the town square, and torched it.  

Including the soul mage.  

They called it witch burning, and the craze caught on. After that, any time a Flevancian was found, the locals banded together and put them to the torch. It didn’t matter if the Flevancians fought back or not. It didn’t matter if they were young or old. Children and grandparent alike were burned alive. No mercy.  

It got so bad that within half a year, anyone who had soul magic, or had family members that practiced it, were burned at the stake. Sometimes even the suspicion that someone had come in contact with the White Sickness was enough to sign their fate.  

Luffy’s father was still around at the time, and he and Garp reportedly argued about what to do constantly. Everyone was scared. The combination of the White Sickness and soul magic made Flevancians twice as dangerous, and the entire kingdom was up in arms. But of course as the royal family, it was their duty to protect and serve all their people, which included Flevance. Yet there were no easy solutions in sight. It was a delicate situation to say the least.  

In the end, neither of them made the final decision.  

The islands closest to Flevance took matters into their own hands and razed the entire island to the ground. Every last person on the island was killed under the guise of the rest of the kingdom protecting their own. Because to them, as soon as the White Sickness took Flevance, the island was no longer part of them.  

Soul magic and its terrifying capabilities made him feel like that scared little kid that huddled under blankets with Kuina, but the knowledge of what happened to Flevance still made his stomach roil. No one deserved that. Especially not those who had done nothing wrong. How many innocents had died in that blaze? How many children, in horrible pain and afraid, had watched their whole world go up in flames, until the fires consumed them too? 

The incident had ended with Garp banning soul magic in its entirety, and Dragon choosing to leave the kingdom indefinitely. He left everyone behind, including a four year old Luffy and his adopted brothers who weren’t much older, without even a goodbye.  

Sometimes Zoro imagined that if the man ever did return, he’d have a lot to answer to.  

“So…the pearl is sick?” 

“Wha-no! The pearl is a pearl. Pearls don’t get sick.” 

“Well, yeah, but you just said that the White Sickness turned everything white, like the colored pearls.” It did make sense in a very Luffy sort of way.  

Usopp sighed. “I mean…yeah. I did say that. But the pearl is fine! It’s not, you know, contagious or anything. I’m just telling you why it looks the way it does.” 

“Oh, okay.” Luffy kicked his feet up onto the coffee table and slouched back in his chair. “It’s nice. I think Ace has one of those in his room somewhere.” 

That was kind of strange to picture. “Why would Ace have one?” he asked.  

“I think it was his mom’s? Hmm. I’m not sure. Hey, we should go look at it and compare!” he exclaimed, grabbing Usopp and Zoro without waiting to hear their opinions on the matter. Sanji, shitty bastard that he was, managed to slip away from Luffy’s grasp with a light hearted reply that he’d wait there for them.  

Zoro flipped him off as Luffy dragged them down the hall. He very pointedly didn’t think about the smug little grin he’d gotten in return before disappearing around the corner.  

On the bright side, most people knew to expect the unexpected where Luffy was concerned, so the majority of the staff had quick reflexes when it came to getting out of the prince’s way whenever they heard him coming. And you could  always  hear him coming. Luffy wasn’t exactly a quiet sort of person. On the downside, this didn’t include the newcomers to the castle, such as the islanders there for the selection or the new staff that was hired to help with the extra work it took to take care of them.  

Every once and a while there would be a shriek as someone dodged out of their way, or items strewn about when someone dropped them in surprise. So far nothing had broken, but who knew if that would hold up.  

Ace wasn’t in his rooms when they arrived. Whether that was better or worse was a tossup. On one hand, it was too bad he wasn’t there to show them where the pearl was or wrangle his little brother in. On the other hand, that meant he wasn’t there to see Luffy rifle through all his things.  

Cleanliness and order weren’t exactly high on Ace’s list of priorities, but Zoro doubted that meant he’d be pleased to find that his brother had thrown all his crap around willy nilly. 

“Aha!” Luffy said about ten minutes later, holding his fist up triumphantly from where he’d been digging through the drawers of Ace’s desk. “I found it! Look!” 

He thrust it under Usopp’s nose, and he had to push Luffy’s hand back, so he could look at it properly. “Oh. Wow. You were right. It really is a Flevancian pearl.” 

Zoro crept closer to see it. Unlike Sanji’s gift for Nami, this one was a soft pink with little speckles of white that were hardly bigger than a pinprick- with the exception of one larger patch that almost looked like a flower.  

“Let’s go show it to Sanji!” 

“Uh, you know, maybe we shouldn’t be taking something of Ace’s without his permission. Especially if it’s something he thinks is important. Like a keepsake from his mo-” 

“Come on!”  

Luffy grabbed them without further ado, and off they went, the pearl clutched in one hand, Zoro and Usopp’s sleeves caught in the other. All the complaining in the world from them couldn’t stop him.  

Of course, because life hated them so much at that moment, they came across Ace and Sabo in one hallway. “Hey Ace! I’m going to show your pearl to Sanji so we can compare them with the one he got!” Luffy shouted at his brother at the other end.  

“My what?” Ace asked before realization dawned on him. “Wait a second, you took my- Lu! Get back here!”  

He charged after them, but Luffy just laughed as he sent them careening around the corner. Ace spat out a few choice curses as he ran, and Sabo was shouting something behind them about not going down that specific hall, but none of them paid him any mind.  

Ace almost caught up to them, stretching his arm out to snag Usopp’s flailing free hand for a split second and tugging on it, which made Luffy trip, and the pearl go sailing out of his grip.  

They watched with strangled breath as it arched through the air until it hit the ground rolling. Straight under the crack beneath the door in the intersecting hallway.  

“OPEN THE DOOR!” Luffy yelled, scaring the shit out of the poor guards passing through on their rounds. It probably didn’t help to see the three princes, one of said prince’s personal guard, and one of his other close friends come barreling toward them. Honestly, Zoro couldn’t entirely blame them for throwing the door nearest to them open on instinct.  

He could still blame them a little though.  

The trio went crashing into the room, landing in an ungainly heap on the floor. Just ahead of them, the pearl rolled to a stop. Right at Law’s feet.  

“Hi, Torao!” Luffy chirped, beaming up at the omega like there was nothing strange about the situation at all. Zoro might have considered apologizing for bursting in unannounced, but any words he had quickly dried up in his throat. Usopp seemed to be in a similar situation if the incoherent sputtering was any indication.  

He could hear Ace and Sabo’s protests abruptly cut off from the hallway too.  

Oh, they were so fucked.  

All he’d really expected after emerging from the bath was to sit down and brush out Killer’s hair. He certainly hadn’t been expecting Luffy, Zoro, and Usopp to come tumbling in at his feet.  

He had wrapped himself in a robe, not bothering to towel off as he padded out of the bathroom. It still felt a little weird to him to be so dry all the time up on the mainland, so he’d taken to air drying after bathing, even though it was a lot colder up on the mountain than it was back on Swallow Island.  

He’d probably catch a cold one of these days, but at least he’d be well cared for here.  

Kidd was already hunkered down on the bed amongst the swans and attempting to comb his own hair. They both glanced at the door when they heard yelling in the hallway, but Law hadn’t thought much about it. Not until he heard Luffy shout, and a single pink pearl came rolling in under the gap between the door and the floor. Then all the sudden there was a pile of men on the floor, looking up at him in varying degrees of shock and delight.  

The delight was obviously Luffy because he saw nothing unusual about throwing himself into someone’s room without being invited, right after they got out of the bath and were still dripping wet, while his friends, the guards outside, and his older brothers looked on in horror.  

Frankly, he didn’t know what to think about the little terror sometimes.  

His little brother had gotten into plenty of shenanigans over the years, so Sabo thought he couldn’t be phased by them anymore, but he was wrong. He was so, so wrong.  

Watching Luffy pelt down the hallway with Usopp and Zoro scrambling after him was one thing. It was an entirely different one to watch the startled guard at the end of the intersection throw open the door beside them at Luffy’s command, allowing the trio to stumble over themselves and land in a jumble of limbs at Law’s feet.  

It looked like they’d caught the omega right as he got out of the bath. He was soaking wet, one hand paused where it had been raised to wipe his bangs from his forehead, and the only thing he wore was a thin blue robe. It wasn’t even tied shut properly- he was holding it shut with his other hand, and the shoulder nearest to them was exposed where the fabric had slipped down to his elbow. A dark tattoo coiled over his skin, breaking up the swatches of golden brown and white.  

He did note that his hands and forearms looked freshly bandaged however.  

If it had been anyone else, they probably would have started screaming by now. Or at least tried to cover themselves more effectively. Maybe make some remarks about propriety and manners and all that. Sabo’s brain was already going into overdrive on how to do damage control for the situation- and although it wasn’t a very kind thought, he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t grateful it hadn’t happened to someone from one of the more important islands. 

If it had happened to, say, Saint Charlos from Mary Geoise, he was sure the snotty little brat would be demanding compensation. He’d probably demand that Ace choose him as his future spouse, disregarding the entire selection process completely. Just imagining it made his brain hurt.  

At least Law didn’t seem the type to throw a fuss about it. From what he’d heard and observed himself, the omega was already fairly used to Luffy’s special brand of chaos.  

To Law’s credit, he merely tilted his head in question, raising a single eyebrow pointedly at the men on the floor. Even if he wasn’t mute, Sabo thought he wouldn’t be berating them for uncouth behavior. Or if he did, he’d do it in a way that was more amused than annoyed.  

His protectors weren’t nearly so entertained. Kidd was glaring daggers at them, his good arm clutching the cuff with his jagged metal attachment in a white knuckled grip. Killer had burst in from the bathroom a second after the trio had, towel around his waist, and swords gripped in his hands. He had relaxed after he noticed who it was that came barging in, but Sabo didn’t bet on him being pleased either.  

The fact that all three of the room’s inhabitants had clearly just got out of the bath didn’t escape his notice, but now wasn’t exactly the time to bring it up.  

Killer grunted, stabbing his swords carelessly into the floorboards before striding forward to reach around Law’s waist and tie off his robe for him. He couldn’t see into the mask, but he was pretty sure the other alpha was glaring at them. Which would have been, you know, understandable.  

Law huffed out something that might have been a laugh, dropping his hand to adjust the robe so his shoulder and chest weren’t out on full display anymore.  

“What the hell are you doing in here?” Kidd asked in that ever so pleasant tone of his.  

“We were racing to get the pearl!” Luffy said, smiling all the while. He was not at all deterred by Kidd’s gruff behavior, and was unlikely to be in the future. “I need it!” He squirmed on top of the other two, jabbing elbows and knees into their bodies as he tried to detangle himself.  

Glancing down at his feet, Law bent to retrieve the pearl, giving it a cursory inspection before tossing it lightly to them.  

Luffy let out a squeal of joy, fumbling with the small treasure for a moment before catching it securely between his hands and leaping to his feet. Usopp and Zoro let out some muffled complaints about the way Luffy managed to untangle himself, but seemed more or less okay as they too picked themselves up off the floor.  

Suddenly realizing that he’d been holding his breath, Sabo let it out in a long sigh of relief. It was, of course, a shortly lived relief because he had let his guard down way too soon.  

“You’re the best, Torao!” Luffy exclaimed.  

Then he promptly threw himself at the older man, sending them both crashing to the ground. A sound escaped Sabo’s mouth, and he didn’t know what to classify it as, but it didn’t sound remotely princely or dignified at all.  

A loud snarl from Kidd sent them all into action. Zoro quickly shoved himself between the protector and his best friend, clearly trying to keep him from ripping off Luffy’s head. Usopp, Ace, and Sabo all went straight for Luffy. They grabbed him roughly off of Law as fast as they could. Usopp was wailing incoherently, and Ace was cursing up a storm. Sabo had yet to regain his ability to speak, so he remained silent.  

Killer crouched beside Law, helping him sit up. The omega rubbed the back of his head where it had collided with the floor- thankfully padded with thick rugs where he landed, but still unpleasant to fall on. He looked a bit more disgruntled than when they first showed up, but not too worse for wear. There was an awful lot of one long, slender leg revealed from the fall however, which Sabo very pointedly refused to linger on.  

Judging by everyone else’s flushed faces, he wasn’t the only one.  

Except for Law’s protectors, Luffy was the only one unaffected. He was simply whining about being manhandled for no reason.  

Some of the swans had scurried off the bed to gather around Law in a protective huddle, although one of them raced over to Luffy’s legs and began pecking and squawking at him while another hovered nearby, equally agitated but more wary of his little brother’s flailing limbs.  

That got Law’s attention. He let Killer haul him carefully to his feet, then swept over to the swan that was assaulting Luffy, gathering it swiftly in his arms.  

He deposited it gently on the bed while the rest of them flocked around him, and leaned down to kiss it right on its feathery little head. It calmed down after that, roosting into the blankets as its fellow swans either hopped up to join it or let Law pick them up and place them there himself.  

The last one butted its head against his leg affectionately, trying to push him onto the mattress first.  

It was an oddly sweet scene that was only ruined when Kidd grumbled loudly about poultry taking up too much room and flopped onto the bed gracelessly. More than one bird was displaced by his weight, and they made their displeasure known loudly. 

Taking it as their cue to hightail it out of there, Sabo quickly stuttered out a weak apology and basically shoved everyone else out of the room. It was as Killer closed the door behind them that his eyes caught on something unusual.  

He hadn’t noticed it in all the commotion before, but was impossible not to look at once he did.  

Around Law’s neck there was a ring of bright, blood red. 

For a split second, he had the horrifying thought that someone had slit his throat. But then he realized it wasn’t dripping and was imprinted into his skin like a tattoo. It curved around his throat like a sick imitation of the ribbons he usually wore, with intricately detailed knots scattered in even intervals around its length. Even though he’d only seen it for a moment, there was something about it that just felt…. wrong.   

Curse marks weren’t a common sight, but he wasn’t entirely unfamiliar with them. And he knew a curse mark when he saw one.  

Now wasn’t the time to voice his concerns however, so he filed the information away for later. Not for the first time, he wondered why it was Swallow Island had chosen to send Law or the selection. Perhaps it was time to try and get in touch with Dragon again.  

Killer slammed the door shut behind the intruders, locking it for good measure. They really should have locked it before, but he guessed it slipped their minds. Unlike Swallow Island, people weren’t always trying to break into their home and attack them. Not yet anyway.  

Charlos and his family rose up in Law’s mind, and he pushed their ugly sneers out of his head. He’d have to watch himself around them. One wrong move here, and they’d be calling for his head on a pike.  

Or his body tied to a wooden stake.  

He thanked his lucky stars that Killer had wrapped his hands before he’d left the bathroom. He didn’t want to risk them recognizing his tattoos for what they were. That his throat had been uncovered was bad enough. They didn’t really seem to notice it, as they’d been a little more concerned about other things, but he thought he saw Sabo’s eye snag on it before the door closed.  

Frankly, he was the last one he wanted to notice it of the group that had shown up. But of course he did. If it had been Luffy, or even Ace, he figured they would just brush it off as unusual and go about their days. But no. It had to be the observant one, who actually seemed to employ his brain.  

He sighed. There was nothing to do about it now besides wait and see if the prince did anything. He swept over to the dresser and grabbed the first ribbon he could see and wrapped it around his neck.  

Killer’s hands replaced his own and tied it off. “That could have been very bad.” 

“Yeah, no shit, genius,” Kidd spat, shoving his cuff on roughly. “It was bad enough as it was. The fuck kind of place are we that this shit happens?” 

He sighed again and waved a hand flippantly. None of them could turn back the clock and undo what had happened.  

That being said, worry still crawled up his spine at what could happen in the future. He moved past them and opened the door to the protectors’ room, which had gone almost entirely unused since they got there. He fumbled his way through the darkened space on all fours, not bothering to light one of the lamps. What he needed wasn’t hard to find.  

His hands bumped into the chest, and he quickly pulled it towards him.  

He glanced back into the larger room where Killer was outlined in the doorway. He gave Law a short nod and gently closed it, cutting off all the light.  

Law let out a long, slow breath. And opened the chest. 

Chapter Text

He hadn’t touched the chest since he’d stowed it in there, away from any prying eyes that might come through. When it became clear that the three of them were all staying in Law’s room, the maids had all but stopped going in there to clean. They just came by and dusted it once a week. Maybe swept if they felt like it, but they had a lot of work to do around the rest of the castle, so they usually just let it be. Why do more work when it wasn’t needed?  

All the same, he had kept the chest sealed tight. Being on the Mainland, let alone the fucking castle, hadn’t done anything for his nerves when it came to the chest. If anyone saw what he was doing…. Well, suffice to say, he doubted it would go well.  

His fingers brushed against the metal clasp that kept it sealed. He closed his eyes and did his best to push all his worries from his mind and let it sink into that calmness between the waking world and the subconscious one.  

Soft strands of light began to glow behind his eyes, and he reached out mentally to grasp one and weave it through the invisible pattern that kept the clasp closed, until it popped open in his hand. He opened his eyes, but the strands of light remained, swirling around him in the air. The brightest, thickest ones, all curled under the door, leading back the way he came.  

Carefully, he opened the chest, and more light exploded from it in shimmering waves, dancing through the surface of the water within. A soft rainbow of colors whorled around each other, ingrained into the contents of the chest. Yellow for Lami. Red for Sugar. Lime green for Monet. A peachy orange for Bepo. Mint green for Shachi. And light blue for Penguin. A thousand tiny strands that spilled over the sides of the chest and wove together into thicker cords that slipped beneath the door to where the swans lay.  

He knew he should close the chest and be done with it for the day, secure in the knowledge that it was still there. Killer had just wrapped his hands again, and if he didn’t leave now, he’d have to do it again.  

But a small, scared part of him that screamed to be heard, told him to do it anyway. That he wouldn’t really feel secure until he had his hands wrapped around them, until the pain bit into his flesh and reminded him of the cost of what needed to be done, as if he wasn’t aware of what it had been for the past five years. Killer would understand.  

He ripped the bandages off his skin, barely noticing the dull ache there. Honestly, his hands were looking far better than they usually did. Because he’d been too afraid to get caught before now. He rubbed the poultice that stuck to his skin off on his robe and dipped his hands in the water, letting the cool feel of it soothe his skin. And then his hands hit one of the strands floating inside it.  

Pain lanced up his fingers, but he ignored it, grabbing hold of the object and lifting it free. His flesh cried out in agony, but he savored it, letting that frightened part of him finally breathe a sigh of relief.  

It was an unfinished sleeve that he grabbed. The end of it was starting to pull apart, so he carefully tightened up the threads, creating another inch of the sleeve for good measure. The sleeve was only long enough to reach Shachi’s elbow at that point. At least, he figured that’s where it would hit. It was sort of hard to tell when he wasn’t able to actually use Shachi’s human body as reference.  

Shachi’s shirt was almost finished. There was less than a year left, but he still had to complete two more for Lami and Monet. He had some thread prepared for them- not enough for full garments, but enough to get started. He would have to begin making their shirts soon.  

Time was running out.  

If only he hadn’t been picked for this ridiculous selection, he’d be able to work much faster. He’d still have to wait for the proper materials to come along, but his chances of finding them on Swallow Island were certainly better than finding them at the palace.  

They were at the top of a  mountain  for fuck’s sake. Far away from the ocean. And far away from the one thing he so desperately needed.  

He reached into the chest again and pulled out a loose thread. Although calling it thread would probably be a stretch to most people. In reality, it was a tentacle. A long, stinging tentacle that he had harvested off a specific jellyfish called the sea nettle.  

Even detached from its long dead host, the tentacle continued to burn Law’s skin, kept alive by his own magic.  

It felt like a lifetime had passed since that day Cora took him by the shoulder and explained what he had to do in order to save his siblings. Law had sat there shellshocked on the floor of their small home, his newly feathered siblings crowded dejectedly around him, while Cora told him what needed to be done.  

Six years. That was the deadline. Six years to turn them back. Not a day less, and not a day more. 

The task ahead of him would be hard, but he was the only one that could do it, for a number of reasons. Not the least of which was the fact that it required soul magic, and all the other soul mages were unfortunately dead or deep in hiding. Or in Lami’s case, unable to do jack shit after being turned into a bird.  

He had six years to make six shirts- one for each swan- out of sea nettle stingers. Why sea nettles specifically, Cora wasn’t quite sure. Something to do with sacrifice, and with the magical properties of the jellyfish themselves. What was magical about them, Law didn’t know how to explain either. He could sense it whenever one of them swam by though, as if their life force held something special inside it that couldn’t be found in any other living creatures he’d come across.  

The sacrifice came in two parts. 

First, there was the pain. The tentacles couldn’t be allowed to dry out or die completely, otherwise they would become too brittle and lose their magic. Thus, Law had to keep them moist and alive. Which also meant that the tentacles would continue to sting him until his task was finished.  

His hands would likely never recover from the abuse he put them through. They were constantly covered in angry red welts, and any time he wasn’t working on the shirts, he had to smother them in a special poultice and bandage them up just to keep the pain at a dull roar. Back at Swallow Island he would work on the shirts during the weekdays, and on the weekends he was forced to rest. He had attempted to work on them every day for weeks on end in the beginning, but his hands just couldn’t take it. It was usually around the five day mark that they stopped being able to function well enough to weave the shirts, so he learned to take breaks.  

Also his siblings didn’t like watching him push himself past his limits. When they noticed that his hands wouldn’t stop trembling and he was near feverish from the pain, they had put up quite a commotion.  

The second part of the sacrifice came from his silence. During his six years making the shirt, Law could not utter a single word or the magic would be undone.  

It was a daunting prospect, but Cora had helped him out. Although his method of doing so was questionable at times.  

In order to make sure that Law wouldn’t speak by accident, Cora had laid a curse of silence upon him. That way, no matter what happened, Law would be incapable of talking. He could not speak, he could not yell, he could not sing, nor laugh, nor hum. Being a curse and all, this also meant that he could not explain the details of the curse to anyone. It might have made his life easier if he could. If he could simply write out what had happened to him, maybe then the residents of Swallow Island wouldn’t have hated him so much.  

But perhaps not. He would never know.  

Law didn’t mind for the most part. Yes, not being able to speak made life more difficult- and not just because he couldn’t tell anyone about what happened. It made communicating with people so much harder in general. He either had to take the time to write everything down or try and pantomime what he wanted.  

But it was worth it if it meant turning his family back into humans. Six years of silence was nothing in comparison. It was an easy sacrifice to make.  

Less easy, was the knowledge that while his task only required six years to break the curse on his siblings, the curse of silence that Cora placed on him was permanent.  

He’d made sure that Law understood that before agreeing, fretting over the whole thing. And while it was…unpleasant to imagine going the rest of his life as a mute, Law still chose to do it in the end. He wasn’t going to be selfish and force his siblings to live out the rest of their days as swans just because he missed talking.  

There was one thing, Cora said, that could break his curse.  

It was the one thing that could break all curses, no matter how powerful. It was also the one thing that Law had no delusions of ever experiencing himself.  

True love’s kiss.  

The most powerful force of magic in the world. Supposedly. Law thought it was a hoax. Love was a powerful thing, but breaking a curse with a single kiss? That was the sort of thing that belonged in fairy tales, not real life.  

And let’s be honest, Law was hardly the romantic type.  

Sure, he had Killer and Kidd around to help out during his heats, and they were all close, but none of them would call their arrangement romantic. Maybe if Law was out of the picture and it was just Kidd and Killer together. They’d probably cast a curse of silence on him themselves if they thought he’d ever say such a thing out loud. Stubborn alpha idiots. They couldn’t go pretending forever that they didn’t have deeper feelings than friendship. Not while Law was around anyway. He’d hardly let them go through their whole lives like that. Their stupid yearning stares would be the death of him.  

Law though- he’d never had romantic feelings for anyone in his entire life, and he doubted that would ever change. Suffice to say, he was certain that he’d never speak again. 

And it was fine. Really. But he was going to be seriously pissed off if he got cursed to silence for eternity for no  godsdamned  reason. He had accepted the curse in order to save his family. That was his one consolation. And now he was in the middle of a fucking mountain, far away from the sea, and far away from any fucking sea nettles, and he needed more of them! The few loose stinging tentacles he had left were not enough.  

Maybe he could run away. Maybe he and Kidd and Killer could just run off without waiting for the selection to end. Ace wouldn’t mind, right? The prince didn’t want to get married, so there was no reason to keep Law there.  

Even in his head, the excuse sounded flimsy. Like it or not, he was part of the selection, and he had to wait until the year was up before leaving.  

Stupid selection.  

He sighed, carefully replacing the shirt back beneath the water in the chest. He’d have to find a way to get more sea nettles. Soon. He shut the chest and the clasp latched back into place. It took a few more minutes before Law was able to convince himself to push the chest back beneath the bed and return to the others.  

Killer rebandaged his hands without a word.  

Monday morning found Law seated on a bench in the Lily Garden, waiting for Ace to show up for their allotted date time.  

He had planned to sneak out of his room early and conveniently disappear for the day, but sadly it was not to be. Nami was waiting outside his door before the sun rose, and she not so gently insisted that he get back in his room until it was time to meet up with the crown prince. She even had breakfast sent to his room, so he had no excuse to leave.  

It was with great reluctance that she dragged him out of the room afterwards, Kidd and Killer trailing behind. Part of him figured that between the three of them, they could probably escape and make a run for it. The other louder part of him said that Nami would never allow it. She had a gleam in her eye that promised incredible violence if they attempted anything she didn’t like.  

So there he was, sitting amongst the swarms of lilies, praying for the ground to open up and swallow him.  

At least the garden was nice. He assumed all of them were, as he had been informed that there were dozens of them sprinkled around the palace. The ceiling above them was made of glass, and there was a sizeable hole carved out of the mountain in such a way that sunlight could fall upon the garden. It was a charming little pocket of solitude, full of life and green things that he hadn’t seen much of back on Swallow Island.  

Such a shame he was only there to meet up with Ace. 

He hadn’t seen any of the princes since the little pearl debacle a few days ago- although that was at least partially due to the fact that he’d spent the weekend holed up in his room. And since they made sure to lock the door from that point onwards, there were no princes bursting in to fall at his feet.  

He wasn’t sure what to expect. If someone had asked him last week, he wouldn’t have put much thought into it. Ace seemed thoroughly uninterested, Sabo distantly polite, and Luffy…. Well, there weren’t really words to describe Luffy accurately. If you asked him last week, he would have figured that he and Ace would spend the forced hour together letting Luffy do all the talking. The younger prince had made it perfectly clear the past two weeks that he would be with them for their silly little date, and neither Law nor Ace cared about preventing his presence.  

Of course, that was before the whole pearl situation.  

While Law found the whole ordeal mildly annoying, he didn’t care much about it. He doubted Luffy did either, but apparently as a prince, he was supposed to. And his grandfather the regent took great offense that Luffy didn’t care, and the two had been at odds about it all weekend. Or so he heard from Nami.  

Fortunately, they were trying to keep the incident hush hush. Law certainly didn’t care about propriety or his reputation, but he hardly wanted to be at the center of some other scandal involving the royal family.  

If Saint Charlos ever heard about it he’d probably throw Law straight off the mountain.  

While Luffy could be a little….overenthusiastic at times, he certainly thought having him around was better than sitting through some awkward date with Ace alone.  

He did his best not to fidget while he waited.  

Kidd had no such qualms and was poking at the flowers around them like he expected them to perform tricks for him. He paced back and forth, and once he almost kicked at a group of bright orange lilies, but Killer pulled him back before his foot could make contact. If Ace didn’t show up soon, Law feared that Kidd would go on a rampage to see how many flowers he could stomp on before the prince arrived.  

Luckily for the flowers, all three of the princes showed up shortly after he thought this.  

Ace and Sabo both looked moderately uncomfortable, but Luffy looked as cheery as ever.  

“Torao!” He threw himself onto the bench beside Law. “We’re gonna have so much fun today! Since Ace doesn’t have to meet up with any of the other candidates today, we get to spend the whole day with you!” 

Law tried not to grimace at that, he really did, but he wasn’t sure he succeeded.  

“What the hell are we doing that takes the whole day?” Kidd grumbled.  

Luffy simply beamed at them. “We’re going into town! I haven’t been since this whole selection thing started, and you’ve never been there ever, so I talked Gramps into letting us go! It’s gonna be great! I can show you all these great places to get food, and there’s this cool weapon shop we can go to-” 

“Lu- breathe.” Ace flicked his little brother in the ear, and Luffy took a huge gasping breath.  

“Anyway, let’s go!” He grabbed Law by the hand, yanked him off the bench, and away they went.  

Luffy didn’t pause or slow down until they reached a grand door that Law had never seen before. There was a multitude of guards around it though, and plenty of other people as well. He saw commoners and noblemen and merchants and all manner of folk. Many of them bowed hastily when they noticed the princes, but others took their presence in stride.  

They passed through the doorway into the fresh air, and Law was startled to see that they were actually outside the castle. Or on the doorstep, he supposed. He hadn’t left the interior of the castle since he arrived, and it was certainly refreshing.  

There was a dirt path that wound down the mountainside instead of the hundreds of stone steps he had expected to see. They must have been on a different side of the mountain. While there were some people hiking up the path, there were far more people coming and going an easier way.  

There was a set of platforms and lifts. The lifts were sort of like carriages without horses, although far larger, and they were suspended on ropes that appeared to go all the way down the mountain. At the first platform, people would hop down from the carriage and go into the palace. From there, the empty carriage would make its way over to the second platform, where people would proceed to climb aboard as it carried them down the mountain.  

Sabo noted his curiosity and explained that the carriages- or gondolas, as he called them- came in batches of threes, and that it took about half an hour between each batch to arrive. The stairs on the other side were one thing, but they hardly made it accessible to their people. The lifts made it easier for their people to come and go, and they ran from dawn to dusk. Each platform had a booth where the operators worked from, and they were responsible for making sure that the lifts worked correctly, who timed out the spaces between each batch, and who made sure each one didn’t have more than it was built to carry.  

He wanted to ask how long it would take each carriage to reach the bottom from where they were, but he wasn’t quite sure how to. Actually, he had a lot of questions. How did the rope keep from fraying? When was this system first set up? Could anyone use it? If it ran from dawn to dusk, did that mean they didn’t run as often in winter? What happened if there was an emergency? Was there someone manning the stations in case something popped up? He had dozens of questions that he wished he could ask them, but sadly, he was incapable of doing so in a coherent manner.  

Stupid curse of silence. Necessary and yet so fucking annoying.  

The operators must have known they were coming because they simply nodded at the princes and gestured toward the lift at the end where a small group of palace guards waited.  

Nami hustled them along as they all piled into the carriage, and as soon as they were all in, the lift began to move.  

It was only their small party in the lift, and for that he was grateful. There was easily enough room in the carriage to fit thirty people sitting, and plenty more for standing. He might have felt a little guilty if there had been more people waiting to get down the mountainside, but it was early enough in the morning that few people seemed interest in making the descent. Since it was only Law, Kidd, Killer, the princes, Nami, and the five guards that accompanied them, there was plenty of room to spread out.  

He didn’t recognize any of the guards, but they seemed friendly enough. One of them- a tall, dark haired woman- had the casual sort of air about her that bespoke familiarity with the princes. Particularly Ace, who she literally kicked off the padded seats after he made a plaintive comment about having to go on all his ridiculous dates with the candidates.  

“Ow! What was that for?!” 

She sniffed, crossing one leg over the other and tilting her chin up as she looked down at him. “That’s for not remembering your manners, you little snot. It’s not like you  have  to marry any of them. But they came all this way to get to know you, so the least you could do is be polite.” She ended with a stern look that made the rest of the guards shrink away. 

Ace however, was not so affected. “Oh please. They don’t care about getting to know me, they just want to plant their greedy asses on the throne or live a life of endless luxury where they can shut themselves away from the common masses,” he snorted and rolled his eyes.  

“Come now, that’s not true,” Sabo said placatingly, shooting a quick glance at Law. “Take Torao for instance. You don’t really think he came here for those reasons, do you?” 

“Well, no, but that’s because he’s weird.” 

Sabo’s eye twitched. “ Ace.”  

Luffy scrambled over in front of his brothers. “He’s a good weird! Not weird people are boring!” he said, as if it were a great compliment. For Luffy, it probably was.  

The guard uncrossed her legs and reached over to smack the back of Ace’s head. “Listen to your brothers. You’re being a paranoid little wimp.” She ignored Ace’s protests and ruffled Luffy’s hair. “Don’t you ever change, Luffy, you hear? I’m glad you like making friends with all the misfits. Gods only know where Pickle-brain would be without you.” 

Luffy laughed and plopped down on the floor next to Ace.  

“How come you’re so nice to my brothers and not to me, huh? Aren’t you supposed to be my personal guard, not Luffy’s?” Ace whined.  

She shrugged. “I don’t have to bully Luffy into behaving. That’s what Nami’s for,” she said, pointing a thumb over at the other woman.  

Nami looked flattered by this, although Law wasn’t sure she ought to be.  

There was some more talking after that, but Law tuned it out. He was more interested in watching the landscape move by. The lifts moved surprisingly swiftly- as fast as any horse drawn carriage, he figured. It was certainly a fascinating mode of transportation. There wasn’t nearly as much turbulence as traveling with aid of horses, or even that of sailing through waters. It was an oddly smooth ride. He figured the weight of the lift would cause more friction on the rope, but it seemed like the whole carriage was merely floating instead. But the rope was obviously there for something. Perhaps it was used more as a guide. Oh, the things he would ask if only he were able.  

Up ahead he saw that they were approaching a massive drop. The rope led right the edge and curved downward in a sharp plunge into open air.  

He glanced back at their escort, but none of them looked the least bit concerned. Clearly this was to be expected, and Law didn’t have anything to worry about. Even if just looking at it made his stomach twist. Kidd and Killer noticed his apprehension and took a peek outside themselves.  

“What the fuck is  that?”  Kidd exclaimed.  

Luffy bounced to his feet and squeezed himself between Killer and Kidd to peer out the window. Why he decided that was the best place for it, Law didn’t know, seeing as the entire gondola was covered in windows. “Oh, that’s nothing. Don’t worry, the lift will keep us from falling. Or, well, I guess from falling too quickly? I don’t know, it lowers us at about the same speed we’re moving at right now.” 

They were at the drop soon enough, so they were able to see what happened for themselves. Just as Luffy said, the lift continued on without letting them free fall, though the wood beneath Kidd’s fingers creaked from his grip.  

“How come it moves like this and not….” Killer struggled to get his words right and had to resort to miming like Law instead. He moved his hand in a line that gradually sloped instead of plummeting straight down vertically.  

It took a second for Sabo to figure out what he meant, but he got the picture. “They actually used to for a while. But uh, the problem with that was if anything went drastically wrong with the lifts- say, the parts keeping the gondola connected to the rope- then the whole gondola would drop. And with the amount of time each one spent over open air, it was eventually deemed safer to rig them in a way that would keep the gondolas closer to the ground if possible. That way if it happened again, the people inside were less likely to be injured badly.” 

“If the part breaks now though, won’t we still be falling?” Kidd asked, scowling at the rope outside.  

“Yes, but there are security precautions in place. There’s a network of spells set up near the bottom that’s designed to slow the descent of any falling objects. We also keep earth mages employed at the base of any major drops like this one. Each gondola is created with stone flooring, so the mage is able to gain enough control of it in case of an emergency. So long as they’re not too far away, at least. All the mages we hire for the position go through extensive training too. There’s not enough mages to go around if we did it the old way, but like this we have enough for the larger dips.” 

Against his will, Law was impressed. It was clear that a lot of thought had been put into this. Although he had a strong suspicion that it had gone through its fair share of trial and error.  

“There’s still one really big one that you go straight across!” Luffy said brightly. “That one’s too hard to do much about.” 

Well, there went Law’s sense of security.  

Sabo took a visible breath. “It’s really not that bad. It only takes a few minutes to cross the gorge. Nobody’s quite figured out any better ways to deal with it due to the river and all.” He said this as if Law had any idea that there was a river there at all.  

The knowledge that there was a river nearby was promising however. It sounded as if it was a rather large river, and if that was the case, perhaps then it led to the sea. And maybe, in turn, he’d be able to find more sea nettles. It was a long shot, but it was also his only hope of finding anymore since he arrived on the mainland, so he’d take what he could get.  

“How much longer are we going to have to ride on this thing anyway?” Kidd asked with his usual surliness.  

Ace stretched out on the floor, for all intent and purposes, looking like he was about to take a nap. “We still have about an hour left. Might as well settle in and enjoy the view.” 

That was the most reasonable thing he’d ever heard come out of Ace’s mouth.  

He spent the rest of the journey listening to Luffy chatter off and on about whatever tickled his fancy, some of their other travel companions joining in now and then.  

About half an hour later they came to the gorge, and Law couldn’t stop his jaw from dropping. Hundreds of feet below, the river rushed between them and the other side. Further along the canyon wall he could see bridges strung up, but he had to admit that he wouldn’t have cared for walking across them himself. The river had to be at least a couple miles wide. He wasn’t sure the exact distance.  

It was breathtaking.  

He’d never seen anything like it. Certainly not on Swallow Island. Not back in Flevance as a child either, or even during his stay on Punk Hazard. In Fairness, the last one was hardly known for being scenic. Rather the opposite in fact.  

His fear of plummeting to his death was quickly overshadowed by his awe.  

Like Sabo said, it didn’t take too long to cross the gorge in its entirety. But surprisingly, Law was forlorn when it was over. Kidd and Killer didn’t share his sentiment however, with the former grumping about the whole trip in general and the latter finally unclenching every muscle in his body once they were on the other side.  

“You okay there, Jaggy?” Luffy peered closer at Kidd. “You look kind of pale. Don’t like heights, huh?” 

“Heights are fine,” he snapped. “I just like them better when my feet are on stable ground for ‘em.” 

Luffy patted him on the shoulder. “Aw, it’s okay. Lots of people don’t like it. Nothing to be ashamed of.” 

If not for Law’s intervention, Kidd would have strangled the prince for insinuating that the alpha was anything other than confidant and fearless. As it was, Law had the foresight to see where their conversation was headed and made sure to get a good grip on Kidd’s collar to pull him away from Luffy before he upset the guards.  

Not that Kidd appreciated it, but oh well.  

The alpha spent the rest of the ride silently sulking on the other side of Law while Luffy continued on as if nothing was amiss.  

Stunning view and all, he was still glad when they disembarked the lifts. It was nice to properly stretch his legs out and walk around. That being said, he wished that the lifts had let them off somewhere that wasn’t so crowded. He supposed it was inevitable though, since they were well into the city, and there were plenty of people who wanted to board the lifts to make their way to the palace.  

There were a lot of shouted greetings towards the princes, and more bowing as well, but few people seemed shocked to see them. They must have come pretty regularly into town, otherwise Law imagined there would be more simpering.  

Luffy barely waited for everyone to step onto the ground before he was tugging Law down the streets, chattering away. He must have had a destination in mind, but of the many things he told Law, that wasn’t one of them.  

Fortunately for Law, it became clear once he saw a familiar blue cowlick standing atop a table and striking a ridiculous pose.  

As soon as Franky caught sight of them, he let out a booming, “SUUUUUUPER!” that rang out far above the noise of the crowds. Nami immediately surged ahead of them and ran up to him to berate him and order him to get off the table.  

The rest of the Straw Hats were already situated around the restaurant’s patio, and they all gave a warm welcome at seeing the group. They were obviously expecting them since there were empty seats scattered among them. Luffy wasted no time, sliding into the chair next to Zoro and pulling Law into the adjacent one. Kidd and Killer ended up across from them, and Ace and Sabo sat at another table with Sanji and Brook. Nami ended up near Usopp, Chopper, Robin and Franky. Most of the guards ended up at a table with a stocky man with curly black hair tied into a topknot that he assumed was the mysterious Jinbe he had yet to meet. He looked upon the Straw Hats with an almost fatherly sort of fondness.  

The only guard that sat elsewhere was the woman who acted as Ace’s personal guard. She sat down across from Zoro and punched him good naturedly in the arm. “So Pickle-brain, how you been holding up since the selection started? Haven’t seen you in a while.” 

If it were possible, Zoro’s eyes would have rolled straight out of his head. “Like you really have to ask. Besides, it’s not my fault you haven’t been around, Kuina.” 

“Some of us are responsible enough that we have other duties to attend to.” She flicked him lightly in the ear and laughed when he swatted her hand away.  

“I’m  plenty  responsible. Garp sent me to pick up a candidate, didn’t he?” 

“He also sent me to pick up candidates four separate times, Pickle-brain. Your  one  barely even counts. And give me that menu- I’m dying of thirst.” 

He handed one over before turning to Luffy with an extra one. “What are you going to get this time?” 

Luffy didn’t even look at it before passing it on to Law. “Strawberry banana smoothie.” 

“That sounds good. I think I’ll go with blueberry acai this time though,” Kuina said, handing her menu to Killer.  

He and Kidd peered at it for a minute, but neither of them said anything. Eventually, they gave up and set the menu down.  

“You guys not thirsty? Luffy’s paying. Or well, I guess Sabo is.” Zoro scratched his head.  

Killer only hummed noncommittally, and Kidd just scowled.  

“Is that a no?” Kuina asked.  

There was a pause before Killer replied. “Not good at reading.” After which followed a much longer pause.  

Zoro and Kuina both slapped hands over their faces and apologized. It was almost funny how they did both things in tandem. Based off what he’d seen so far, he figured they were friends, but now he was wondering if they had grown up together as well. There was something about it that made it seem like this sort of behavioral reaction was something they had both learned from the same place.  

“Here, I can read out the options for you guys. I can take that back, Torao-” 

Law moved the menu in his hand further away from Zoro and shook his head. He pointed at himself and then pointed at one of the items on the sheet.  

Luffy rubbed the side of his nose with a finger. “You want lychee juice?” Law nodded then pointed at his protectors, then pointed at another item. “And they want mango juice. Okay!” He took the menu from Law so he could put them all in a small stack at the end of the table between Zoro and Kuina.  

Kidd and Killer didn’t complain about what Law ordered for them, so he figured it was fine. He knew they liked mangoes, at the very least. Their reading skills were rather lacking, and while they knew most of the basics, asking them to recognize a bunch of words they’d never seen before was a stretch. They probably wouldn’t even recognize half the fruits listed on there if someone read them out loud to them. Swallow Island was hardly a booming trade route, and from what he’d gathered about where they’d lived before arriving there, neither was their hometown.

“You can read?” Zoro asked. His eyes darted to Kidd and Killer before returning to Law. “Huh. That’s….good. Can you write too?” Law nodded again, but Zoro didn’t get the chance to ask any more about the topic when the waitress came to take their order. Luffy ordered for their whole table with zeal, earning an affectionate look from her. She took the menus after they explained they only wanted drinks and went back inside.  

Zoro, Kuina, and Luffy talked about the selection and their thoughts on it so far- mostly how nonsensical they found it- while Law, Kidd, and Killer took in the sights around them.  

The capital was a bustling hub of activity, people coming from far and wide for the selection, although he suspected it was usually very busy anyways. Everyone flitted to and fro, merchants shouted their wares for the street to hear, people haggled back and forth about prices, children were running and screaming in joy. It was all a huge shock to Law’s system compared to the life he was used to.  

Back on Swallow Island hardly anyone ever came near his humble home. But the islanders barely interacted with the rest of each other either. They were a solitary sort of people. And he supposed there weren’t really any streets for people to be running down either. People either swam or paddled their small boats to each other, and they gossiped quietly rather than chattered excitedly. Children were also a rarity there, so even the bright laughter of a child was something he hadn’t heard often.  

Even in the palace- while full of people and busy as ever- was an entirely different kind of busy.  

It was nice though. He rather liked it. Being in a crowd like this made it easier to feel unimportant and therefore unnoticeable, regardless of there being three royals with him.  

He wished his life at the palace was like that.  Everyone  noticed him there.  

He pushed his morose thoughts aside when their drinks arrived, choosing instead to revel in the joys of fruit juice that came with  ice . They never got ice on Swallow Island. They didn’t get really get much fruit either, much less enough to make juice out of it. Suffice to say, the diets of the residents back there was sorely lacking.  

But every now and then when the traders came around, Law’s household had been able to barter for the occasional fruit that was offered. The residents may not have liked him, but the traders didn’t share the opinion. Even tucked in the middle of nowhere, Law’s extensive medical knowledge was useful, and he used it to make remedies out of whatever he could find. The traders were more than happy to swap him goods for medicine and poultices and the like. He doubted they’d be pleased to find out he wasn’t there anymore.  

Ah, well. That was a problem for the people on Swallow Island.  

There were some perks to being chosen for the selection.  

After finishing their juice, they walked around the city, half sight-seeing and half exploring places Luffy wanted to drag them to. At one point he caught a glimpse of a bookstore, and his heart filled with longing to go inside, but sadly Luffy was too busy tugging him along to some weapons shop or other.  

They got lunch from a cart that was selling noodles, and he watched Luffy suck down four bowls worth of the stuff before they moved on. 

Despite the fact that Merry was more than capable of making Law enough clothes to last a lifetime, Nami and Sanji insisted that he go into a clothing store and try on a million different outfits for them to judge. He was rather tempted to make a run for it when they weren’t looking, but any time they looked away from him, the shopkeeper was there to pin him in place with her needle-like gaze instead. He had a feeling that Nami and Sanji often came through the store and had grown a good rapport with the owner, and said owner wouldn’t appreciate it if Law pulled a disappearing act and made them leave before they bought anything.  

He kept very still and followed all their annoying instructions. Even though it took hours, and most of their party had split up halfway through. Including Luffy, Zoro, Kidd, and Killer. The traitors.  

It was early evening by the time the others returned to the shop, and Law was nearly at his limit for being treated like a life sized dress up doll.  

“That looks nice on you, Torao!” Luffy piped up. He circled around the pedestal that the omega stood on, a cheery smile on his face. Probably because he hadn’t been the one trying on a zillion different outfits all afternoon.  

“You look like a mango.” Kidd’s comment was less flattering.  

He couldn’t quite say he was wrong though. The flowing robes they had shucked him in formed a gradient from yellow to red that did remind him of the fruit now that Kidd had mentioned it. Maybe that’s why Luffy liked it. The man did love his food.  

“A lovely mango,” Robin added, as if that made it any better. She had a coy smile on her face that only deepened when she heard him sigh.  

Nami and Sanji excitedly exchanged notes with her and the shopkeeper about the outfit, and ten minutes later he was back in his normal clothes, the mango robes carefully folded into a box with a bow that Sanji carried. He was pretty sure the seamstress had made some magical alterations on it in the back before they left, but neither Nami nor Sanji seemed interested in showing him what. Not that he cared. It was just…. They had clearly bought it with the intention of him wearing it, and he wanted to know what he was in for.  

They grabbed a quick dinner of shrimp tempura from another food cart and then made a mad dash for the lifts. By the time they got there, it was not the  final  call to get on the lifts for the day, but it was the second to last one.  

Kidd and Killer kept to themselves in a corner of the gondola. Apparently, Sabo had given them money because they were technically being paid for protecting a candidate for selection, which was therefore an official service to the crown. Law didn’t know how true that was, as he had trouble believing the crown was paying any of the other protectors, but he wasn’t going to complain about it.  

At least his friends were happy. They had each bought new whetstones and some oil to sharpen their swords with when they got back to the palace. They had been running low on the latter by the time the trio had been shuffled off the island and were pleased to get some more.  

Law was exhausted. He dropped his head onto Killer’s shoulder and let his eyes drift shut. He must have drifted off at some point because the next thing he knew, Killer was nudging him awake so they could disembark.  

He was not ashamed that his protectors practically had to carry him back to the room. If they didn’t like it, they shouldn’t have left him to Nami and Sanji’s clutches for the afternoon. It was a miracle that his soul hadn’t completely departed from his body after the ordeal.  

When they reached the hallway to their room however, Luffy grabbed Law by the elbow.  

He startled at the contact, blinking owlishly down at the prince until his vision cleared from its blurry sleepiness.  

“For you,” he said, tucking something under Law’s arm and pressing it to the omega’s chest. “So we can talk to each other.” He smiled and dashed down the hall before Law could figure out what he meant. 

Kidd pulled him along into the room, and locked the door behind them. He and Killer immediately began getting ready for bed, shuffling the swans around. The birds had been patiently waiting outside the door in the hallway for them to return. They liked to wander the palace during the day, and Law didn’t mind so long as they arrived in a timely manner in the evening, so he knew they’d all be safe.  

Lami waddled up to him and pecked lightly at his sleeve, a questioning look in her eye.  

He slowly uncurled his arm to look at what Luffy had given him. It was a small wooden case. He set it gently on the bed and opened it to find a simple writing kit inside. There were a couple of quills, a bottle of black ink, and a beautiful leather-bound journal inside that was engraved with a plethora of sunflowers. He ran his fingers lightly across its surface, marveling at the craftsmanship. It had been a long time since he’d gotten a gift. A far longer one since he’d gotten one of such quality.  

He’d always figured that Luffy didn’t mind that Law couldn’t talk. He certainly acted like it. And Law appreciated that about him. But it was nice to know that Luffy still wanted to know what Law had to say.  

Paper was another luxury that they couldn’t afford much of back on Swallow Island. It honestly hadn’t occurred to him to even ask anyone at the palace for something to write with. For all his inner whining about his inability to communicate with others, he hadn’t thought much on how to solve it. But it appeared that someone else was looking out for him.  

He fell asleep with the journal tucked against his chest, dreams full of sunflowers and sunshine. 

Chapter Text

The journal Luffy gave him was a true blessing. He finally got to tell everyone exactly how fucking stupid he thought they were. Much to Kidd’s annoyance. His reading wasn’t great, but he got the gist. Anything he didn’t get, Law supplemented with their usual hand signing. Robin offered to teach them, but the two hadn’t decided whether or not they should take her offer.

“Yeah, I get it, I’m a fucking idiot,” he snapped, glaring down at the desk where Law sat. “You don’t have to keep telling me.”

Stop being stupid then, he wrote.

Killer snorted softly as he read over his shoulder. “Don’t get your hopes up.” Kidd punched him in the shoulder for that, but Killer just laughed quietly under his breath.

If you can’t play nice, then can you please just TRY and ignore them? I don’t want to spend every day in the room just because you keep getting in fights with everyone.

That one required more signing to get across, but again, they got the point.

“It’s not everyone! And it’s not like it’s all my fault people don’t like you. You’re an asshole too, you know!”  

He wasn’t wrong there. A number of people did dislike Law for his less than outgoing disposition. And for his popularity with the princes. Never mind the fact that Law did not care for his newfound popularity with them either, seeing as it made his life so much more difficult.  

Just the other day, the Straw Hats got it in their heads that Law and his protectors ought to learn how to ride horses properly. Having been the only one to ever sit astride one before, Killer had the upper hand there. Not that it was much of a lead. Their journey from the coast to the castle was his only experience with the beasts, and while it hadn’t been altogether pleasant for him, the Straw Hats had definitely been taking it easy on Killer to ensure that he made it to the castle in one piece.  

Kidd didn’t even want to try until Franky revealed that he’d been working on a gift for him- a prosthetic arm. It was the most advanced technology that Law had ever seen- barring Franky’s own bodily enhancements. Although rather large, and a bit clunky, it functioned almost as good as his other arm did. It had a few special tricks of its own though that a regular arm couldn’t do. For one, if Kidd moved his wrist and arm just so, his hand would transform into a long metal blade.  

He spent almost half an hour switching between the two after Franky first showed him. Needless to say, he didn’t bother much with his old cuff anymore.  

The gift had endeared Franky to their trio, even if they weren’t very good at admitting it. Fortunately, Franky understood that they did appreciate it greatly. He told Law privately that it was pretty obvious to anyone that got to know them. All he had to do for Law was pay attention to his facial expressions. Killer had grunted out a very quiet and terse thanks as he watched Kidd play around with his new arm. Evidently, it was the first time he had spoken directly to Franky ever , which was something that Law hadn’t noticed, but that was a talk for another time. As for Kidd, well, he obviously liked the arm. And he no longer glared daggers at Franky. High praise, in Law’s opinion.  

Anyway, with two arms and a group of people dedicated to teaching them, Kidd didn’t have an excuse not to learn horseback riding. Other than not wanting to, but that excuse didn’t work with the Straw Hats. If it had, then it was all too likely that all three of them would have refused the lessons.  

As it was, the Straw Hats had insisted that the three of them learn, regardless of whether they wanted to or not. Hence, why they had all been dragged away from Law’s desk to the stables again.  

It could have been worse. Law liked the horse they picked for him, at least.  

Polar Tang was calm and sturdy, and she had a gleaming yellow coat, although her mane was black. She also tried to bite Kidd when he said something rude and got too close to her face, which made him spew a boat load of curses and almost trip into the dirt. In other words, she was perfect.  

Law could gladly spend all day feeding her apples and standing near her, but again, the Straw Hats insisted he learn to actually ride. Much more daunting.  

At least Polar Tang didn’t mind. Or Tang, as most people referred to her. The stablemaster Gan Fall had a habit of giving the horses long names, but they all got shortened for ease of use. Just like Luffy’s horse Sunny’s full name was actually Thousand Sunny, even though Law had never once heard the prince refer to him as such. 

Tang was very patient with Law. Robin said that Tang was wicked fast, and strong enough to crush a mountain lion’s skull with her hooves. Not that Law was going to need any of that for his training, but it was impressive. She held stock still whenever he had to mount, and she always started off walking slow so that he could adjust to the change as well as he could. Granted, anything more than a walk left Law clinging to her neck for dear life- he doubted she enjoyed that- but she didn’t try to buck him off or shy away from his fumbling attempts.  

It was more than could be said for Kidd or Killer’s horses.  

Killer’s horse wasn’t awful, for the most part. He didn’t seem overly fond of people though. With a name like Kamazo the Manslayer, that was hardly surprising. Brook said it was just a joke, and that Kamazo hadn’t actually killed anyone….yet. He was temperamental though. One minute he seemed fine having Killer ride around on his back, and the next he was throwing him off into the fence. But other than that, he was okay.  

Kidd’s horse on the other hand, was a whole different monster. Her name was Victoria Punk, and she was a damn menace.  

Even the Straw Hats objected when the stablemaster first brought her out to be Kidd’s mount, but Gan Fall’s word was law when it came to the stables. He said that the two of them had a connection, and they would just have to work on it.  

If Law had been given Vic to ride, he would have walked out of that corral and never returned. Kidd was stubborn though.  

She was black as night, and had a golden mane that made her look like the demonic inverse of Tang. She was lovely to look at, but personally, that was all that Law thought she had going on for her.  

Vic bit anyone who came near her- including Gan Fall, but he had thick leather gloves he wore whenever he had to go near her. She hardly ever held still long enough for Kidd to mount properly, and if Kidd did make it on her back, he usually ended up in the dirt in the following five minutes. She bucked him off all the time and would run rampant, not even bothering to avoid any other horses in the corral.  

She came rushing towards Law and Tang once, and it was the only time Law had actually fallen off. He’d been quietly running his fingers through Tang’s mane and mentally telling her sweet nothings, completely ignoring Kidd and his demon horse until he heard people worriedly shouting his name. He had jerked in panic when he saw Vic charging straight at him and fell right off Tang’s unmoving side. Nami told him shortly after that it had done nothing to calm any of the Straw Hats’ nerves, and they all expected to take him to the medical wing.  

Miracle upon miracles, they didn’t have to take him to the doctors for getting stomped on by a very bitchy horse.  

Tang- wonderful, beautiful, perfect Tang- had held her ground against Vic, and placed herself squarely in front of him. Law had never seen horses fight before, and he didn’t care to experience it again. Tang reared herself up on her back legs and kicked at Vic with her front ones, and the two of them had fought like that in a flurry of hooves and teeth while Law tried not to get trampled.  

Zoro had jumped over the fence and hauled him back over to safety in a matter of seconds, but it was still nerve wracking.  

The fight ended after Tang got a good bite of Vic’s withers, and Kidd’s demon horse decided she wasn’t interested in violence anymore. Not if it had to with Tang anyway.  

Vic caught sight of a mouse or something on the other side of the corral and went to go and try to stomp it to death, and Tang trotted over to the fence where Law was. She nudged him with her head and blinked languidly at him until he took the last apple he had swiped from breakfast that morning and fed it to her. It was a well deserved treat. He’d have fed her a hundred apples for that if he’d had them on hand.  

Basically, Tang was the best, and Vic was the worst.  

After that day however, Vic didn’t bother challenging Tang again, so Law got some peace of mind. The same couldn’t be said for poor Killer and Kamazo, who were still rushed at routinely. Kamazo wasn’t quite as protective over Killer as Tang was with Law, so Killer’s solution was usually to dismount and run for safety as soon as Vic looked ready to attack.  

Her temperament didn’t exactly make for an easy training field. It did make great entertainment for others though, particularly the other candidates and their protectors once they got wind of what was happening. It took less than a week for them to start parading around the paddock, sticking their noses up and laughing at the trio’s attempts.  

The corral they trained at was under the open sky, and it was one of several, so there was plenty of room for onlookers. Much to Law’s dismay.  

Once again, it seemed as though Swallow Island was way behind everyone else. Most of the other candidates already knew how to ride, and they rejoiced in mocking the trio’s lack of skill.  

Some of them weren’t so bad though. The ones that were already friends with the Straw Hats prior to the selection were all pretty nice. Vivi was actually a former Straw Hat herself, or something of the sort. She fit in with them perfectly, and she seemed to like Law as much as the rest of her friends did.  

Shirahoshi was a shy thing, but a kind one too. She was deathly afraid of Kidd and Killer though, so she didn’t spend much time around the trio. But she didn’t glare at Law or bad mouth him, so she was okay in his book.  

Coby was friendly, even when Kidd was at his worst self. He just kind of frowned for a moment, then brushed off whatever rude thing Kidd said and continued on like it didn’t matter. He even tried to give them pointers along with the Straw Hats. It was too bad that the Straw Hats method of teaching involved them all shouting over one another, so that Law and his protectors could barely discern what they were saying. He assumed there was useful information somewhere in all the ruckus though.  

Even Iceburg tried to help. He was Franky’s….something. Brother? Friend? Law hadn’t quite figured it out. Every time he tried to ask one of the Straw Hats, it only succeeded in confusing him more.  

Iceburg was one of the only people that had actually been able to give Law good advice. Law had been sitting on Tang by the edge of the corral when he approached, and everyone else was distracted trying to make sure Vic and Kamazo didn’t kill each other. He had calmly introduced himself and then gave him some polite tips about posture that Law vaguely remembered someone shouting at some point. It was much easier to understand when it was just one on one.  

That was pretty much the only interaction he’d had with Iceburg so far, but it was a positive one, so he’d take it.  

Those were the nice ones.  

The rest of them were either indifferent to Law and his struggles, or flat out hated him. The indifferent ones outweighed the ones that wanted to see his head on a pike, but that could easily change. Particularly if Kidd didn’t learn how to stop butting heads with everyone he came across.  

Unfortunately for Law, the ones who hated him were the most invested in being there to mock him. They kept from outright yelling abuse at him, but they were often there chortling at the trio’s struggles and loudly commenting about how they hadn’t had such difficulties when they first started riding as children.  

If Law could use his voice, he would have told them that as children, there was no way anyone would try and stick them on Vic or Kamazo. If someone did, they would surely be arrested for child endangerment.  

“SHIT!” 

Law winced as Kidd hit the ground for the nineteenth time that hour. Yes, nineteenth. Nami was keeping track in that little notebook of hers. She had some sort of bet going on.  

A delicate, high pitched laugh rang out nearby. Saint Shalria was cantering around a different corral, riding a horse that her family had brought from their home on Mary Geoise. Nami and Usopp had begrudgingly admitted that it was an admirable horse, though they thought it deserved a better rider. She and her awful brother Charlos had been there for the past three days to torment Law.  

“My, they still can’t get control of that beast? We have the best trainers back in Mary Geoise- such an unsightly thing would never happen back home!” she crowed. “We can send for someone to come break the horse, if it would help. And I’m sure one of the children’s instructors could be spared to come teach as well.” Her eyes slid over to Law and practically glowed in triumph when she saw that he was only standing beside his horse.  

Some of the Straw Hats looked about ready to pop her head clean off her shoulders.  

It was probably for the best that Robin was the one to intervene.  

“That’s kind of you, but the crown has no need of your services. Our stablemaster was handpicked by the regent himself when he was king, and Gan Fall has been a well respected trainer for many years. But if you really believe your judgment is better than the regent’s, I’m sure you could bring it up to him.” Robin was too classy to smirk at Shalria condescendingly, but it was clear by the woman’s embarrassed flush that she got the point.  

Robin climbed up the fence to sit on it. “And Prince Luffy is quite invested in teaching Torao himself. I fear that taking the opportunity away from him would upset him greatly. He and his brothers are so close, I can only imagine the repercussions such an upset would cause.” 

Shalria’s face was beet red at that point, as she realized how easily her own petty words could be turned against her. Truly, Robin was a treasure, and Law would make sure to cherish her from now on.  

Speaking of Luffy, he had been conspicuously absent that morning. Vivi claimed that all three of the princes had been snatched up after breakfast by their grandfather for family business. She said it with this somewhat pitying look that always crossed her face when she thought of the four of those men in a room together. Not that Law blamed her. It was a miracle that they had all survived this long together when they caused such chaos. He wondered if Luffy’s father Dragon was similar. He’d have to ask someone about it one day.  

The downside to Shalria getting dressed down was that it only added fuel to the flames of her hatred for Law’s group. Something that he couldn’t help thinking about when she turned her eyes on him again and narrowed them as though plotting something.  

“Come on, Torao. You should get back on Tang. You need more practice,” Zoro said, walking his horse up to Tang’s side.  

Law eyed Vic on the other side of the corral where several people attempted to get her to calm down. He scooted around Tang so she was between him and the demon horse.  

Following Law’s movement with his sight, Zoro barked out a laugh. “We don’t have to stay in the corral with Vic. Come on, you and Tang are good enough together that we can go on a little trail ride. The others will watch over Kidd and Killer. Don’t worry, we’ll go on an easy trail,” he said when Law frowned at him.  

Law sighed, but stuck his foot in the stirrup and pulled himself astride Tang once more. Zoro was right about one thing. He did need practice.  

Zoro grinned and swung up into Pirate Hunter’s saddle and waved for Brook to join them on Soul King. Not for the first time- and he assumed not for the last time- he wondered what went on in Gan Fall’s head when he named these horses.  

In all the commotion with Vic, not many people noticed their entourage leave. Law prayed that it would hold until they were out of sight. He much preferred to practice this whole horse riding business without spectators. And maybe he could get some peace and quiet for once.  

True to his word, Zoro took them on an easy trail to traverse, so Law didn’t have to go faster than a walk, nor did he have to be overly concerned about keeping his balance. Only if they walked through somewhere a little rockier or steeper, but that wasn’t often. He just leaned a little closer to Tang’s neck if it happened. Not so bad. He was actually kind of enjoying it.  

Fall was fast approaching, but it hadn’t arrived just yet. The weather was warm and sunny, but not uncomfortably hot. The green of the trees that surrounded them was starting to turn into a riot of reds and yellows, as if they were turning to flame. He’d heard about it happening, but he’d never been able to see it before. It was beautiful.  

“Enjoying the view?” Zoro called over his shoulder. Law nodded absent-mindedly. “It will look even better in a couple of weeks when we go on the group ride with everyone.” 

That got his attention. He wished he had his journal on him to ask him what he meant by that. Group ride? He clapped his hands once to get the alpha’s notice. He wasn’t sure how to explain his question, but luckily Zoro seemed to know what he wanted anyway. 

“The group ride. With all the other candidates. Didn’t you know? It should be on that schedule Nami gave you when you guys first got here. It’s got all the important stuff on it. Activities, meals, one on one time with Ace….” 

Oh. That schedule. Law had set it aside and forgotten all about it. He hadn’t even bothered reading the whole thing through. He just figured he didn’t have to pay attention to it since he didn’t care about marrying Ace. Kidd and Killer wouldn’t have known anything about it either, since they couldn’t read very well. They usually just left the reading to Law.

No wonder the Straw Hats had been so insistent that they all learn how to ride.  

He needed to tell Kidd and Killer when they returned to the corral. Killer would probably be alright, but Kidd would have to learn how to ride his demon horse by then, or they’d be screwed.  

A loud shout rang out behind them, the voice familiar.  

Luffy came galloping up, grinning and laughing wildly. “Hey! Robin said she saw you guys head out on your own! She figured you guys would take this path since it’s easy, and Torao’s still learning. Isn’t this great, Torao?” He slowed as he approached so that Tang and Sunny walked side by side.  

Luffy didn’t seem like he was actually looking for an answer, so Law didn’t bother with one. He decided his focus was better spent on staying upright when Tang’s hoof slipped on a rock.  

Zoro, Luffy, and Brook chatted back and forth while Law took in the scenery. Breathing deep air that didn’t smell of the sea was still strange to him at times, but he couldn’t say he minded it. The mountain air was cool and crisp, and carried all sorts of different scents. There was pine and oak, sage and rosemary, columbine and lavender, and so many more.  

Luffy tapped him on the shoulder and dropped something in his lap. With utmost care, he released his reins from one hand and picked it up. It was a maple leaf the size of Law’s hand, the color a brilliant sunset red.  

“Pretty, right? You can save it!” Luffy smiled brightly at him. “Chopper likes to press plants in for his medical journals, and Robin likes to use the flowers Franky gives her as bookmarks.” 

It was pretty. And it would be easy to take with him too at the end of the year when….when the selection was over. Once the year was up, Law’s siblings would be free, and Law’s time as a candidate would be finished. He didn’t really know what was going to happen after that. Going back to Swallow Island wasn’t really a viable option. But what else would they do? He supposed they’d just have to pick a place and take their chances.  

He hated to admit it, but he would miss this place. The palace and all its wonders. The people that filled its halls. He hadn’t been there for that long, but already it felt like more of a home than Swallow Island ever had.  

It would be nice if he could stay there forever, but that was just a pipe dream. There would be no reason to keep Law around after his round of the selection passed, and what about his siblings? They couldn’t just pop up as humans and demand to live there. Plus there was the not so little detail about him being a soul mage- a very important secret for him to keep if he wanted to stay alive. He had no illusions- if anyone found out what he was, he’d be dead within the week. Kidd and Killer too most likely, just by association. Keeping his magic hidden for a year was difficult enough, but his whole life?  

Impossible.  

The life he’d been enjoying these past weeks was nothing more than an illusion of safety. It would never last.  

No matter how much he wished it could.  

“Torao?” 

He startled when Luffy’s hand came to rest on his shoulder. The alpha was staring at him in concern, a slight furrow in his brow. It was not an expression that he could recall ever seeing on Luffy’s face before.  

“Are you okay?” He leaned closer to peer at his face and squeezed Law’s shoulder.  

With so little space between them, he could smell Luffy’s scent clearly. Not that he’d never had the chance before. Luffy was a very physical person, and he was constantly invading people’s personal bubbles. Law had simply failed to think about it before. Luffy smelled like a fragrant dessert, full of cinnamon and cloves and nutmeg, and a dash of that mountainous smell that surrounded them. Pine and grass. 

Law swallowed past the lump in his throat and nodded slowly.  

What was wrong with him? One little trail ride and Law was suddenly thinking of all sorts of unnecessary things. None of it mattered. The only thing that he should be thinking about was saving his siblings. He had to focus. The clock was ticking.  

Despite all evidence to the contrary, Luffy wasn’t actually an idiot. Not all the time anyway. So when he removed his hand and began babbling about fishing, Law knew it was because the prince was respecting his privacy and not that he believed Law was alright.  

But he never pushed him.  

Law spent the rest of the ride lost in a daze, only half listening to what went on around him. The other three chatted back and forth, and left Law to his thoughts. Every now and then, Luffy would drop something else in his lap. Trusting Tang’s steady gait, he kept one hand off the reins so he could hold onto what the prince gave him.  

A year from now, he would be gone from this place. But small trinkets and simple memories like these, he would hold onto those as long as he could.  

Kidd and Killer were understandably displeased when they were told about the group horse ride. But if one good thing came out of the knowledge, it was that it drove the two of them to become better riders. Sure, the ridicule had already made it so they wanted to prove they could do it, but now they had a deadline to with it.  

Killer lived up to his name and started putting as much killing intent into his presence as possible whenever Kamazo bucked him off. Manslayer or not, the horse had enough sense to recognize that Killer wasn’t going to put up with his shit any more.  

Not to say that he became perfectly docile or anything, but he was certainly less hostile than before.  

Unsurprisingly, Kidd had a much harder time of it.  

Vic was still constantly trying to murder him- either by throwing him into the fence or stomping on him or some other means of blunt force trauma. One memorable time, she even tried to crush him with her entire body by falling to her side and rolling over him.  

Kidd was constantly covered in bruises. But he was determined. Even if Gan Fall could be convinced to let him use a different horse, Kidd probably would have refused. If he was going to learn to ride, then he was going to do so on the most horrible horse on the face of the earth.  

Perhaps Gan Fall really did know what he was doing.  

It was two days before the group ride, and Kidd still hadn’t gotten Vic to carry him for more than a handful of minutes. Law was starting to believe that it really was a fruitless endeavor, and he’d have to see if he could convince Tang to let Kidd ride behind him on her back for the group ride.  

Given the way Tang still tried to bite Kidd when he came within a foot of her, his hopes were not high. He held back a wince when Vic ran up to the fence and slammed her side into it, effectively bashing Kidd’s leg between herself and the wood.  

“DAMN IT ALL, YOU STUPID HORSE!” he yelled, gripping the reins and the pommel of his saddle tightly when she proceeded to gallop straight towards the other end of the paddock. Sadly, neither helped prevent Vic from throwing him over her head and into the neighboring corral. A neighboring corral that was also occupied.  

High pitched screaming pierced the air as the candidate from Thriller Bark’s horse shied away from Kidd’s groaning form. He had missed them by a good foot or so, but the girl continued to scream her head off as if he had come at her with a knife.  

“Gods, shut up!” Kidd snarled. He dragged himself to his feet and trudged back to the fence.  

Perona gasped and threw her fan at him. It bounced off the back of his head, and Law said a silent prayer for someone to go stop him before he tried to murder her. “How dare you! Such a brute doesn’t deserve to be part of the selection process! Who raised you? They ought to die of shame for having such a son!” she shrieked.  

Kidd’s shoulders stiffened, but he didn’t turn back around and pull her off her horse to beat her face in, so Law considered it an impressive display of restraint.  

“Too late, they’re already dead. Think of a better insult.” He flipped her off over his shoulder and hopped back into Vic’s corral, avoiding his demon horse and walking over to Law’s side for now.  

Perona spewed a litany of colorful insults, but Kidd ignored her. Law wished Killer was there to speak with him, but the other alpha had gone with Zoro on the easy trail now that Kamazo could be trusted enough for it.  

Law knew enough of Kidd’s history that he could tell that Perona’s words hit harder than he let on. He also knew however, that Kidd wasn’t one for public displays of vulnerability, and if Law acknowledged any weakness on Kidd’s side, the alpha would one hundred percent blow up in his face about it. If Killer was there, he probably could have just bumped his shoulder or something, and all the tension would seep out of Kidd’s body. They had a weird bond like that. Maybe it was an alpha thing. Law wouldn’t fucking know.  

But of course, Killer wasn’t there, so it was up to Law. Swell.  

Kidd muttered something under his breath that he didn’t catch, rubbing at his shoulder. He made a biting motion when Tang turned her head to stare at him balefully. She snorted but let him be.  

Law didn’t though. He flicked Kidd in the eye and waited for him to stop cussing him out before looking pointedly across the paddock at Vic. He raised his brows and jerked his chin at her in challenge. 

As he hoped, Kidd scoffed and said, “I’m not giving up. I was just giving Vic a breather so she had a fighting chance.” He stomped across the paddock to where his demon horse was eyeing him with disdain.  

He almost regretted egging Kidd on like that when Vic began pawing at the ground, amping up to charge at him. But when she came rushing at him this time, instead of jumping out of the way and running for dear life like a sane person, Kidd ran straight at her, shouting at the top of his lungs.  

Vic almost didn’t seem to know what to do about that. Almost. Then she decided the best way to deal with it was the way she normally dealt with problems. By crushing them with her hooves. She reared up on her hind legs and kicked out, but Kidd was prepared for this too. He stood firm and batted her hooves away with his heavy, metal prosthetic. Once again, Law thanked Franky for building it.  

When she was back on all fours, Kidd didn’t waste a second. He propelled himself forward and headbutted her straight in the forehead. “STOP BEING SO FUCKING DIFFICULT!” 

All the breath left Law’s lungs in an instant, and he had to wrap his arms around Tang’s neck for support. If he weren’t cursed to silence, the whole palace would have been able to hear him laughing at the absurdity of it all.  

But it worked. Vic was so stunned, she finally stopped trying to trample Kidd. Nobody watching the corral could find a word to say. Although Usopp made a strange strangled sound that made him sound a bit like a drowning cat.  

Kidd stood there, panting while Vic stared at him in bewilderment. When he realized that Vic wasn’t going to try and pulverize him again, he grabbed her reins and walked around to heave himself into her saddle. She held still the whole time. And when he lightly kicked her sides, she began to walk slowly around the paddock. It was the calmest Law had ever seen her. Still, Kidd proceeded with caution. His posture was way too stiff, still waiting for the moment she would get over her surprise and buck him off.  

Ten minutes later, she had shaken off the dazed look about her, but continued to let him ride on her back. Kidd’s triumphant grin was blinding.  

It was with no little sense of pride that the trio saddled up for the group ride. They were still beginners, true, but at least they could handle walking. Even trotting was a possibility. Nami said that it was unlikely that they would go any faster than that, so there should be nothing to worry about. Garp may have been unusual as a noble, but she doubted that even he would attempt to do something as stupid as making the candidates try to race each other or anything.  

He probably knew all about the trio’s lack of skill in such an area- Kidd’s training exploits had been hot gossip ever since he started. That he had managed a tentative sort of respect between himself and Vic was an achievement in and of itself.  

Plus, Luffy told his grandfather about Law all the time, according to Nami. She said it was because Garp kept pestering all his grandsons about how they were getting on with the candidates, and Luffy naturally ignored that his grandfather was clearly digging for romantic ties, and therefore spent all his time talking about his friends instead. He kept it to his friendship with the candidates of course, but mostly because Garp forced him to. The man had spent years listening to him harp on about the Straw Hats- he was more interested in his other relationships. It was already abundantly obvious that Luffy wouldn’t be marrying any of the Straw Hats, so he had to look elsewhere.  

Unfortunately, this made Law one of the prime candidates in Garp’s eyes. Sure, Luffy’s other friends like Vivi and Coby were also included in this, but they had already known Luffy before the selection. If his youngest grandson was going to show romantic interest in either of them, it probably would have happened already. Law was new though, so he was still fair game.  

Nami told him all of this with ruthless efficiency, as if doing so didn’t make him want to lock himself in the protectors’ room for the remainder of the year.  

He’d already been spending plenty of time in there as it was. Every night he made sure to set aside at least an hour where he could weave the shirts for his siblings. It had been over a month since the selection started, and Law was woefully behind where he wanted to be. Logically, he knew that it couldn’t be helped. Back on Swallow Island, he had been able to devote whole days to working on the shirts. Here, he had no choice but to save it for when he got time alone.  

Luffy and the Straw Hats had grown on him during their time together, and he liked them, he really did. But it only made his task that much harder. They wanted to spend time with him- a lot of time with him. And if he was being honest, he wanted to spend time with them too. The problem was that he shouldn’t. It was far more important for Law to finish the shirts in time than it was for him to stave off the loneliness that had eaten away at him for years.  

He wouldn’t trade Kidd and Killer for the world. He would always be grateful for them washing up on his doorstep when they did. But having them as the only people he could spend time with- along with his swan siblings- still left him yearning for more on occasion.  

Spending time with his siblings was always tinged with sadness. And everything with Kidd and Killer always had a note of seriousness to it that they couldn’t quite get rid of. They were all outsiders. They had been brought together by their mutual need for survival. It was all they had known for years.  

It was different with the Straw Hats.  

They were goofy and ridiculous. They pulled pranks, chased each other around the halls, got into shouting matches that held no heat, made bets against each other, and traded punches, laughing all the while.  

They made him feel lighter.  

He hated it. He hated it because he knew that he was going to have to give it all up at the end of the year, and he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to stop missing them afterwards.  

He tried to push such gloomy thoughts aside though. They wouldn’t do him any good. And they had no place when he was out in the sun, picnicking on the grass with the other candidates.  

They had ridden for an hour or so until they reached the clearing, and Law was starting to feel the effects of it. It was good to dismount and stretch his legs. Kidd and Killer agreed, even if they were too proud to admit it. Vic had fortunately behaved herself, but she did have a habit of bumping into trees- the sole purpose of which seemed to be to annoy Kidd. She certainly didn’t have to be that close to the trees she came across on the edge of the trail.  

Sanji distributed food among the Straw Hats and their friends, although for some reason he enlisted Zoro to help him, and the two spent the entire process trying to wail on each other as they passed stuff out.  

Other than that, it was surprisingly nice.  

With so many people on the ride, it was easy to split up into smaller groups. Law of course, ended up with the Straw Hats, as well as Vivi, Shirahoshi, Coby, and their protectors. Luffy wanted to sit with them too, but Garp threatened to pancake him into the side of the mountain if he didn’t sit with his family.  

It was probably for the best. Ace looked like he needed as much support as possible to keep from throwing himself of the edge of the next cliff they came across.  

The candidates surrounding the royal family were not all the most pleasant. Charlos and his ilk were there for one, and so was Kalifa. Baby 5, Dellinger, and Buffalo had also managed to squeeze their way in, so that didn’t help. Hiyori from Wano was there because her protector Kiku was the younger sister of Izo, one of Ace’s friends.  

Law noted that Hiyori was the one that got to sit closest to Ace, and that the other candidates were shooting her menacing looks when they thought no one was watching. Truthfully, he was glad that some of the hostility was finally directed away from him. Not that he had any issues with the residents of Wano, but it was nice to be able to eat his lunch in peace without any of the other candidates shooting him death glares every other minute.  

Someone tapped his shoulder.  

“Here, Torao. Would you like to try one of these cupcakes? I made them myself. You don’t have to if you don’t want to though! It might not be very good…. I’ve never tried baking before, but my brother Manboshi said that alphas want wives that know how to cook.” Shirahoshi looked far too fretful about offering Law a cupcake than she ought to be.  

It did look a little….crisp. But it looked fine for the most part. It was just one edge that was a questionable color. He could only see it because she had only put a small dollop of frosting in the middle that didn’t reach to the sides of it.  

Manboshi was also one of her protectors- apparently they had gotten special permission so that all three of her brothers could come along as her guardians. True to their name, they were very protective of her. The three of them argued about whether or not what Manboshi said about alphas wanting wives that cooked was true, and whether or not it was important for Shirahoshi to actually learn.  

He took it and nodded his thanks. She beamed at him, and sniffled a bit as she wiped at her eyes.  

Luffy was sort of right about her. She did cry a lot. Law got the feeling that maybe she got bullied a lot as a child, despite her protective older brothers.  

She was so moved, she timidly offered up two more to Kidd and Killer on his other side.  

Killer took his with a quiet thank you, and Kidd stared at the cupcake like it was poisoned. Shirahoshi’s scent spiked with anxiousness, and her lip began to wobble, so Law grabbed it and shoved it in Kidd’s hand before the idiot made her start bawling.  

He took a bite out of his and glared at Kidd until he got the picture. The alpha huffed but followed suit, grunting out a thanks through a mouthful of cupcake.  

Shirahoshi looked like she might faint. From relief or happiness, he wasn’t sure.  

All things considered, lunch was a peaceful affair. Law actually believed that they might make it through this group activity without any major hiccups.  

Then it was time to ride back.  

Naturally, there was a problem.  

Midway through the lunch, a messenger had come from the castle to fetch one of the protectors from Whole Cake Island. Like Shirahoshi’s family had done, Pudding had also gotten permission to have three protectors instead of the regular two, so one of them leaving unexpectedly wasn’t a big deal. The problem was that when her protector left, he had taken the wrong horse. Apparently.  

Pudding was wailing about how she couldn’t ride her brother’s horse because he was a big dumb brute of a beast, and she could never be seen riding something so unseemly when she was such a delicate flower herself. Tears poured down her cheeks, and she sobbed uncontrollably, even when her other protectors offered to switch horses with her. She cried about how their horses didn’t suit her either instead.  

This prompted others to offer their horses as well, in the hopes that she would accept someone’s horse so they could all return to the palace.  

She managed to find a reason to reject every single horse that was offered to her.  

Off to the side, Nami was muttering uncharitable things under her breath, and Sanji looked like he was trying very hard to will the earth to open up and swallow him.  

Remembering how Sanji had almost ended up married to Pudding, he saw how narrowly he had avoided that disaster.  

“Well, how about Tang then? She’s a dependable, magnificent horse,” Usopp said after going through all of the Straw Hats’ horses. Law’s head snapped over to him at that, and the beta gave him an apologetic shrug.  

After a long, searching look, Pudding finally acquiesced to a trade.  

Law held back a sigh. He couldn’t really blame Usopp. They did need to head back, and if it got Pudding to calm down, then he supposed it was fine. As long as Katakuri’s horse wasn’t evil like Vic, Law ought to be fine riding back. He wasn’t particularly fond of trading away Tang though. He stroked her neck before handing her reins over to Usopp.  

The horse that Smoothie led over to him was plain. Brown. Taller than Tang by a couple hands. Empty headed, but not murderous, so Law could handle that. He walked around its flank and climbed into the saddle, letting Smoothie adjust his stirrups for him.  

Most of the others had mounted and started to walk back down the trail, so there was only a handful of people left when Law pulled himself into the saddle. Nami, Zoro, and Sanji had all been at the head of the group with the royals, eager to get out of there. The rest of the Straw Hats were interspersed here and there, so only Usopp and Chopper were left to bring up the rear. Aside from them, there was only Law, Kidd, Killer, and Pudding’s remaining protectors. Even Pudding had gone ahead to the middle of the group, speaking animatedly with Reiju as if she hadn’t spent the last ten minutes bawling her eyes out.  

He reached down to take the reins from Smoothie’s hand, resigned to missing Tang for the ride back. Smoothie smiled benignly at him, but Law felt a shiver run down his spine. There was something about the protector’s smile that put Law’s teeth on edge.  

Just as he was about to take the reins, his horse screamed, rearing back before bolting down a different path. Shouting broke out behind him, but he couldn’t turn to look.  

He had reflexively gripped onto the horse’s mane, but maybe he should’ve just let himself fall out. Dignity aside, crashing through the trees on a horse losing its damn mind was not a great option.  

Even clinging to the horse’s neck as he was, branches still whipped him in the face. If he was capable of whimpering or screaming, he would have gladly switched between the two at the moment. Or yelled at the horse to stop because what the fuck had even happened? 

His brain scrambled for a solution, trying to recall what the others had told him about getting his ride to stop. Obviously, he didn’t get the luxury of using voice commands, so those were off the table. Pulling on the reins was what he would have normally done, but he hadn’t actually gotten a hold of them before his horse went wild. They were flapping somewhere around its shoulders where Law didn’t have the confidence to reach. He tried tugging on its mane, but he didn’t think the horse could really differentiate it from the way Law was already clinging to it.  

He changed his mind. He hated horses. They were the worst. Except Tang, who would never do this to him, but all other horses were clearly monsters that couldn’t be trusted.  

His stomach leapt into his throat when the horse went airborne to jump over something. Law wasn’t sure what, as his eyes were screwed shut tight.  

Somewhere beyond his blood roaring in his ears, he heard someone calling his name. Calling his nickname, that is.  

“Torao!” 

He peeled his eyes open and immediately regretted it when a thin branch threatened to blind him. Blinking past the tears in his eye, he carefully turned his head to peer over his shoulder.  

Zoro, Luffy, and Sanji were thundering through the trees behind him, closing the distance as fast as they could. Their horses must have been faster than his to be able to catch up so quickly. Thank the gods for that.  

Luffy caught up first, and tried to reach for Law’s wayward reins before Sunny was forced to jolt away to avoid running headlong into a tree. They almost careened straight into Zoro and Hunter though. Sanji ducked in on Prince and snagged the reins, pulling them back and yelling, “Whoa!” so that Law’s horse finally stumbled to a stop.  

“It’s okay, everything’s going to be alright,” Sanji spoke softly, and it took Law a minute to realize that the alpha was talking to him and not the horse.  

Luffy and Zoro circled back around to trot up to them. Law simply did his best to remember how to breathe and maybe stop shaking.  

“What the hell happened?” Zoro asked. Given Law’s inability to speak, he assumed the man was being rhetorical.  

Luffy walked Sunny right up to Law’s side and leaned over to rest his hand on the back of the omega’s neck, squeezing gently. Law’s eyes slid shut of their own accord, and he felt some of the tension drain out of his shoulders as the alpha pumped soothing pheromones out.  

“Do you think you’ll be okay riding back?” Sanji asked. Just the thought of riding another hour on this crazy animal made Law feel sick. That may have been a delayed reaction from his previous exertions though. He shook his head minutely. “Fair enough. What about riding double with one of us? Would that be okay?” 

Law took a deep breath and opened his eyes once he was sure he wouldn’t lose his lunch. Luffy’s hand moved down to rub circles on his back as he watched him in concern. “Torao?”  

He nodded. He just wanted to go back to his room, curl up in bed, and go to sleep. 

Sanji helped him untangle his fingers from the horse’s mane since Law didn’t seem able to do it himself. His hands were still shaking. The adrenaline rush had faded, leaving him exhausted.  

Luffy brought Sunny as close as possible, then pulled Law out of his saddle and onto Sunny. Because Luffy was somewhat of a wild thing himself, he had been riding bareback, so there was no need for them to work around a saddle. It took a little maneuvering, but in the end Law sat chest to chest in Luffy’s lap, legs hooked around the alpha’s, arms wrapped securely around his shoulders, and face buried in his neck.  

Kidd would probably tease him for it later, but Law couldn’t give a flying fuck right then. The asshole would be doing the same thing if it had happened to him.  

In the meantime, he closed his eyes and left his well being in Luffy’s hands, dozing off to the prince’s humming.  

Back at the stables, the Straw Hats puzzled over what happened.  

“I’m telling you, no one else was around. The only ones I could sense were from our party,” Usopp said, pacing back and forth. Nami had to extract his fingers from his mouth, where he had gnawed down his nails.  

Sanji finished brushing down Mr. Prince and closed the stall behind him. “It had to be them then.” 

“But how? We didn’t see them do anything. Smoothie was about to give Law the reins, and Cracker wasn’t anywhere near him.” Chopper refilled the oats in his pony Cotton Candy’s feed bucket. She chose to chew on the ends of his hair instead.  

“Well, who else could it be?” Zoro dragged a stool closer with his foot and plopped down on it. “If there was no one else around besides you guys and Eustass and Killer- and I don’t think his protectors are the type to attack him.” 

The two had looked like they wanted to charge after Law themselves, but their own lackluster riding skills prevented them from doing so. If they had gone chasing after him, they would likely have needed to round them up too. Kidd had only just got that monster Vic to tolerate him- there was no way he could go galloping around in the mountains unsupervised at that point.  

“We can’t jump to conclusions,” Brook warned. “Attacking another candidate is a serious accusation.” 

“Well, maybe they didn’t mean for it to be that bad?” Usopp didn’t look like he entirely believed that, but he was trying to be reasonable.  

Robin tapped her lip as she leaned against Mr. Prince’s stall. “It’s possible. If they were trying to embarrass him instead by making him fall off, that could have been their aim. People have been grumbling ever since Kidd robbed them of their entertainment by getting Vic under control.” 

“He could still be hurt by that though. People have died from less. Kidd’s just damn lucky he never got any serious injuries after everything Vic put him through. That man’s tougher than an ox,” Franky pointed out. 

“Okay, but none of this explains how they got the horse to freak out in the first place,” Sanji said.  

“Actually,” Nami cut in, “I have a theory. Ninjin was the one that the Charlotte’s got to untack Katakuri’s horse- and by the way, he also said that Pudding wasn’t even riding her normal mount today. She was riding a spare one they brought with them for their stay here. Anyway, when he was untacking him, he said he had a scratch on his rump like he got hit with something. Now, I know he was running through those trees in a panic, but it does seem unlikely that he got a scratch that deep in a spot like that.” 

Jinbei stroked his chin thoughtfully. “So someone hit the horse with a stone or some other object to make it startle like that.” 

“What about Katakuri though? He actually left to return to Whole Cake Island for the time being. Would they really go so far for a prank like that?” Zoro liked Katakuri as much as he liked anyone in the Charlotte family. Which was to say, not much, but out of the whole family, Katakuri was one of the more decent ones. Then again, Pudding was on that end of the spectrum too, and she was a nutjob.  

Sanji sighed, sagging against Jinbei. “I don’t know. If it was to further the family’s interests, they’d do just about anything. And I don’t think Katakuri cared to be here anyway, as much as he likes sparring with Luffy.” 

Speaking of the prince, he had been unusually quiet since they returned.  

They all turned to look at their friend, who was so lost in thought that he didn’t even notice. He just sat on the stepping stool he’d claimed and stared off in the direction of the palace proper, chin in hand. It was plain to see that Law’s unplanned excursion in the mountains had affected him.  

“Did Torao really look that bad when you guys found him?” Nami whispered with a worried expression. Not that she needed to keep her voice down. Luffy didn’t hear a word.  

Sanji and Zoro nodded solemnly.  

Law really had looked awful. He’d been so pale that the white patches on his skin hardly stood out in comparison, and looked extra frazzled from all the scrapes he’d gotten. He’d been clutching that horse for all he was worth, and he shook like a leaf even after Luffy pulled him onto Sunny. The poor man looked like he was this close to bursting into tears and/or hocking up his lunch. Even if he had thrown up all over Luffy’s back, Zoro didn’t think the prince would care just then. And unlike their friend Shirahoshi, Law wasn’t the crying type.  

That he’d been willing to ride back in Luffy’s lap like that was enough alone to prove how shaken he’d been. Far more than he’d been when Vic tried to trample him back in the corral. Maybe it was because he’d had Tang with him then. The omega really did get along well with that horse.  

“It must have been planned,” Zoro murmured. “They specifically went out of their way to make sure that he wasn’t riding Tang. There’s no way she would have bolted like that. That’s why Pudding wouldn’t trade horses with anyone else. She must’ve figured out that we’d end up offering Tang up eventually.” 

“Oh gods, it’s all my fault,” Usopp moaned, burying his face in Mr. Prince’s neck when the horse poked his head out of his stall.  

Robin patted him on the shoulder. “There, there. I’m sure Torao doesn’t blame you for what happened.” 

“Neither do we, for that matter,” Nami snapped, whacking him in the back of the head and making him yelp. “So no wallowing in self pity. It’s no one’s fault except the Charlotte’s.” 

“Or whoever was involved,” Franky said. “We can’t rule out someone else being involved. If Usopp and Chopper didn’t see the Charlotte’s doing anything, there’s every chance that they had help from another candidate. Torao’s not exactly popular with the rest of them.” 

This wasn’t news to any of them, but the fact that the other candidates had already resorted to attacks like this was a development they’d been hoping to avoid. They’d really have to be on the lookout from now on.  

He’d talk to Kuina about it too. And Ace and Sabo. They had gone on ahead with the rest of the party when Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji had turned back, but he knew they would want a run down as soon as possible. The only reason they hadn’t gone back with them was because they knew it was better to continue on with the other candidates. Luffy was one thing, but the older princes showing special interest in Law would only fan the flames of other candidates’ hatred for him.  

It had been a good call. He could only imagine the outrage that would have happened if the other candidates had seen Law riding around in Luffy’s lap like that. Fortunately, it was only the Straw Hats and the stable hands that had seen it. Plus Kidd and Killer, but that was a given. Cracker and Smoothie had ridden on to catch up with their little sister when it became clear that the Straw Hats were going to take care of the matter with Law, so they didn’t have to worry about the pair blabbing to the other candidates about it either.  

Luffy almost hadn’t let Kidd and Killer take Law from him when they got back to the stables. Those two brain cells of his must have knocked together or something though, since he had enough sense to pass Law over to Killer after only a second of hesitation.  

That there was any hesitation at all was astounding. Luffy wasn’t really the possessive type- unless it came to food, but they doubted he saw Law as something to eat- so seeing it rear its head for a person was a new experience for the Straw Hats.  

None of them knew what it was about Law that made Luffy behave the way he did. Don’t get it wrong, they all liked Law, but they could also see why others didn’t. Law was moody, never tried to socialize with anyone, and had a severe case of resting bitch face. But for some reason, Luffy was obsessed with him.  

It wasn’t just because Law was an omega. Luffy knew plenty of them, and had befriended his fair share. Whatever it was, it wasn’t because of biology. He just seemed specifically attuned to Law. Somehow.  

Maybe Garp wasn’t so far off after all when he hounded his grandson for details on his relationship with Law.  

“Do you think a horse has ever tried to eat a swan before?” Luffy suddenly piped up. 

….Then again, maybe not.  

Thoughts for another time, Zoro supposed. 

Chapter Text

Dear Old Man,  

I’m sure you’ve heard about the selection by now, but I also realize you’re probably not going to show yourself for it. For the record, it would be nice if you did, if only to tell Gramps to give it a rest.  

We’re all doing okay, even if the whole thing is ridiculous. Ace is constantly looking for hiding spots these days. Since the selection is technically for him, he’s the one who has to deal with the most attention. The one saving grace of the process is that not all the candidates are actually interested in marrying into the family.  

A lot of Luffy’s friends were chosen for candidates. Vivi came for Alabasta, Coby for Marineford, and Shirahoshi for Fishman Island. None of them care about being selected, although I think the scrutiny that comes with being a candidate around Ace makes Coby nervous. If we stuck them alone in a room together, the poor kid would probably have a heart attack. Then again, if I was in his shoes, I’d probably do the same- you should see some of the other candidates they sent. They’re like vultures.  

Still, some of them aren’t too bad. Iceburg is a decent guy, even if Franky acts like the man personally spit in his shoes every time they make eye contact. Reiju is….tolerable, but it’s hard to let your guard down around the Vinsmokes (Sanji obviously doesn’t count). X Drake from Little Garden seems okay too. A little awkward, and too serious to get along with Ace though. Wanda of Zou, Rebecca from Dressrosa, Koala from Raftel, and Hiyori from Wano seem decent enough.  

Ace managed to offend the Shandians and Skypeians so badly their first day together that they refuse to meet alone with him again. Not that he minds. Gramps was furious though. Big surprise there.  

There are some real weirdos around for the selection. Raijin Island sent a male alpha as their candidate, so I can’t imagine what was going through their heads when they decided that. Urouge is alright though. Just odd. Certainly not as odd as Perona from Thriller Bark. I’ve been informed that she actually told Ace her ideal world would be one where everyone was stuffed toys, and she was developing a curse that would allow her to convert people one by one. She then tried to cast it on him, but was unsuccessful. Seeing as it did nothing besides make Ace scream like a little girl, we aren’t pressing any charges. Gods, I wish I could have been there for that though.  

Even Perona is a better option than some of the other candidates skulking around. Kalifa of Ennies Lobby is a real slippery minx. I don’t know how, but she broke into Ace’s rooms and draped herself across his bed to surprise him one evening. Needless to say, he was not a fan, and we’ve had to tighten security for his room.  

Baby 5 seems harmless enough, but there’s something about the Punk Hazard residents that makes me uncomfortable. I can’t put my finger on it just yet, but I’ll get there. It’s the same for the ones from Mystoria.  

The Saints from Mary Geoise are in a league of their own. Truly, I believe the kingdom would fall to ruin if they reached the throne.  

One of the strangest developments is Boa Hancock’s undying love for Luffy. They had a screaming match, and somehow it ended with her swooning over him, and him thinking she was alright. I mean, Luffy has weird tastes, so I guess it’s not unusual for him, but someone falling head over heels for him is new.  

What’s even stranger than that however, is that Luffy seems to have developed romantic feelings of his own. I don’t think he’s aware of it. Hell, I’m not even sure that’s what’s going on, but it’s all I can come up with.  

Torao Law comes from Swallow Island, and he definitely didn’t come here of his own accord. He’s not anyone’s ideal image of a candidate, and is wholly disgruntled at the selection process, so I have no choice but to believe they sent him here to get rid of him. He’s an irritable asshole, but the Straw Hats pretty much adopted him from the get go. It’s a bit unfortunate actually, since Luffy’s attention has made it so that many of the other candidates hate him.  

He’s the real reason I’m writing you. You see, I’ve noticed something unusual about him. Torao is mute- which wouldn’t be unusual on its own, but there’s a mark on his neck. I only caught a glance at it, and it wasn’t a situation in which I could ask to see it better. (Don’t ask.) He usually keeps it covered by wearing ribbons. But I’m convinced it was a curse mark.  

It was red, wrapped all the way around his throat, and had little knots depicted on it.  

Have you ever come across anything like that before? I don’t know for sure if it’s the cause of his muteness, but it seemed a logical assumption.  

I hate to be suspicious of Luffy’s new friend acquaintance crush whatever he is, but I thought you’d understand my concern. It’s not every day that you stumble across curse marks after all, and they’re usually not a good sign for anyone.  

I would really appreciate if you could look into it for me, or give me some advice.  

Let me know,  

Your Second  

Shachi’s shirt was finally finished. Four shirts down, two to go.  

He sighed, leaning back against one of the small beds and letting his eyes slip shut. He was fucking exhausted. Ever since the horse ride incident, he’d been on edge. Honestly, he wouldn’t have thought it unusual- his lack of experience with horses made him assume that running off for no reason was just a thing they did- but then Zoro showed up at his room to tell them about the Straw Hats’ suspicions. So now Law spent every day worrying about the other candidates scheming to get rid of him.  

Granted, he had already been concerned about that happening, but he’d also chalked it up to his own paranoia. The horse incident revealed that his fears were not so unfounded after all.  

Kidd and Killer were none too pleased with this development, nor his siblings. The swans had taken to following him around whenever he left his room, so he always had at least one of them waddling after him no matter where he went. Depending on who it was, this meant interactions with other people ranged from having a silent feathered presence watching them to having to hold back a swan to keep them from pecking someone’s eyes out.  

Needless to say, things went smoother if Shachi and Penguin went their own ways for the day. Sugar wasn’t as bad, but she did chase people off if she decided they were getting too close to Law’s bubble. Monet usually functioned as a silent observer, keeping track of everything that passed. He wished they had a proper way of communicating so he could find out everything she noticed. Bepo mostly fretted whenever he was around, huddling at Law’s legs and nervously squawking at anything he found suspicious. Unfortunately, Bepo was even more paranoid than Law was, so he was often shouting at shadows and potted plants.  

At least Lami didn’t change much. She followed, but she didn’t hover as close, and she only interfered if it looked like Law was uncomfortable.  

One memorable moment was when Apoo came up to him in the Lily Garden. Law didn’t exactly have a deep dislike for the guy, but he didn’t particularly enjoy his company either. He kept going on and on about the selection- Law’s least favorite topic- and how he was sure his candidate, Hawkins, was going to end the year with a proposal from one of the princes. Having spent some time with all the princes, Law could safely say that the man was delusional if he truly believed that.  

Despite their grandfather’s wishes, none of the princes seemed particularly inclined to get hitched anytime soon. Ace was violently against the idea as a whole, and openly proclaimed it. Luffy only seemed to care about making friends, not having romantic entanglements with them. More to the point, he had told Law on more than one occasion that he didn’t like Hawkins. As for Sabo, while he wasn’t opposed to marriage, he wasn’t in a rush to find a spouse. And like Luffy, he wasn’t overly fond of the candidate from Mystoria.  

He considered explaining this to Apoo, but then he remembered his current predicament and decided stepping on the alpha’s toes wasn’t a smart choice. No need to antagonize one of the few that didn’t actually seem to hate him. Although why that was, he had no clue. Hawkins and his other protector, Faust, clearly didn’t like Law.  

Still, being around Apoo was exhausting in a whole different way. He didn’t think the alpha was going to attack him or anything, but for fuck’s sake, he was annoying.  

Lami was a fucking godsend. She must’ve noticed that Law was sick of hanging around Apoo, and took it upon herself to get rid of the alpha in Kidd and Killer’s absence.  

Unlike Penguin or Shachi would have, she didn’t start honking at him or try and bite him. Instead, she decided that all she had to do was be as unsettling as possible.  

She waddled over, jumped up on the bench between them, and stared relentlessly at Apoo as he talked. He had a habit of moving a lot as he spoke, so Lami took the opportunity to get under his skin by mimicking him as best as she could in her bird body. He would sweep an arm out to emphasize a point, and she would mirror it with a wing. He tilted his head just so, and she followed. It didn’t take long before Apoo noticed, and the way he froze made it look like he was experiencing brain failure.  

It took all Law’s effort not to laugh.  

As it was, he merely pretended that he hadn’t noticed. When Apoo pointed out Lami’s behavior and tried to demonstrate to Law, she stopped mimicking him and acted like a clueless bird. Apoo left shortly after, undoubtedly questioning his own sanity, and Law almost collapsed onto the bench in a fit of silent giggles while Lami hopped about, smug as can be.  

Since that day, Apoo eyed the swans with a healthy wariness that Law pretended not to notice. His protectors and the Straw Hats needled him for answers, but he feigned ignorance. He would have told them about it, but he was uncertain that they’d be able to keep it secret.  

Times like this were when he missed Lami the most. Which was ridiculous because she was right there. But she couldn’t speak to him, nor he to her. He couldn’t hold her hand and trace familiar scars that he had memorized over the years. She couldn’t pull faces to make fun of him, or tell bawdy jokes. He knew that if Lami hadn’t been cursed with the body of a swan, she would’ve been trading knowing smirks with him every time Apoo appeared.  

Knowing what she would have done and experiencing it were two different things though. He missed being able to see her smile.  

There was just over ten months left before their time was up. Ten months, and this would all be over. Either Law would succeed and his siblings would be saved, or he would fail and they’d be cursed to live out the rest of their days as swans.  

His hands curled into fists around Shachi’s shirt, the sharp sting of the tentacles keeping him grounded.  

Ten months to make two shirts. It had taken five years to make the other four. Although circumstances had changed over time.  

In the beginning, he’d had no idea what he was doing. It took time and experimentation to harvest and preserve the tentacles properly. Once he’d figured that out, he needed to learn to weave- which meant he also had to learn how to make jellyfish tentacles into usable threads. They were unwieldy, slippery, and he had to cut them into thinner strips, all while they wreaked havoc on his hands.  

And it took so many tentacles to make them. Each shirt took hundreds of yards of thread to make. He was lucky that sea nettles were on the larger side; imagining the difficulty of trying to make clothes out of the tiny jellyfish he’d seen that spanned no larger than an inch nearly made him cry. Fortunately, sea nettles usually gave him ten to fifteen feet per stinging tentacle to work with. Even so, it took around ten sea nettles to make each shirt.  

Truly, Law had no idea what he was going to do to acquire twenty more of the damn things to finish making the shirts. Finding a single sea nettle this far inland would take miracle, let alone the number needed.  

If the gods took pity on him and did grant him a miraculous bounty of sea nettles, he could probably finish in time. Probably. His experience over the years had made him much faster at the whole process. Which was good, because if he had been stuck at the same level of incompetency as when he first began, there was no way his siblings would be human again.  

Those had been rough days in the beginning. Those first months where he struggled to reorient his life with his new reality had been hell. He worked himself to the bone and only produced the most pathetic results. He had no one to talk with, was cursed to silence, and in constant pain. There had been an awful lot of crying.  

It wasn’t until Kidd and Killer washed up outside his home that things had started to feel more manageable.  

Their arrival had been a real blessing, even if none of them felt that way at first. Now here they were, five years later, and Law couldn’t imagine life without them.  

He wished they didn’t have to suffer through this selection business with him though. Well, he didn’t care to be part of it himself either, but they were only there because of him. And the people of Swallow Island.  

If only this stupid selection never happened. Then they’d all be back in their small home, disliked but mostly unbothered by the other residents. Law could continue his work on the shirts without having to worry as much about finding sea nettles, Kidd and Killer wouldn’t have to play nice with all these people, and no one had to worry about Law getting burned alive by a mob of terrified citizens.  

Sure, there had been a chance that the people back on Swallow Island would try and kill him, but it had been slim. And burning was out of the question, since there was nowhere suitable for it. Drowning was far more likely.  

He sighed again and dragged himself over to close the chest and push it beneath the bed again. The lamp he’d brought in with him was just enough light to make out the tattoos on his hands. He turned them over in the flickering light, watching the shadows dance over the marred skin.  

He traced the letters on one hand, remembering a time when he’d done the same to his mother. His tiny fingers had traced over the ink on her skin with reverence, and she had taken his hands in hers to kiss them with a smile.  

DEATH was an unusual thing to have tattooed on one's body. At least, it was nowadays. Back in Flevance, before the White Sickness that took almost everything from him, it had been a regularity. Roughly half the soul mages around had the exact same tattoos he now sported. They were a mark of recognition for those that had completed their training as soul mages. Or more correctly, they were one type of mark.  

There were two types that designated which branch your magic leaned toward, and what training you had undergone.  

When she’d been human, Lami had the word LIFE tattooed across her palms. Her specialty was in the transfer of energy, from one living thing to another. Back in Flevance, she would have been known as a life weaver. 

It was one of two branches of soul magic. On the one side was the life weavers like Lami, and on the other side the death wardens like Law. One side was about the transference of energy, and the other stopping its flow entirely. A soul mage’s natural ability usually skewed one way or another, although they could nurture both skills with time and dedication if they so wished.  

Lami literally held life in her hands. Law was the one that fought off death’s grasp. They were a pair, two halves to a whole.  

When they were younger, they had planned to work at the hospital together. It was not uncommon for life weavers and death wardens to create partnerships that way. Usually mages were paired up to work anyway, but not always. Their father had been a life weaver like Lami, and he didn’t have an assigned partner. He merely worked with whoever needed a life weaver at the moment. Their mother had been one of the rare few that had equal talent in both branches. She had both DEATH tattooed on her fingers, and LIFE written on her palms. It was his mother who figured out how to cure the White Sickness. But she did it too late.  

Her last service had been healing her children before she hustled them away. By then the island had been set ablaze. The screams of their neighbors dying filled the air, along with the stench of burning hair and flesh. People with goggles and masks over their faces ran through the streets, shouting and waving swords every which way.  

Purging the sickness from their bodies had taken all her energy, so she could do nothing more than hurry them out the back door. He could still remember the haunted look in his father’s eyes as he ran off with them in tow, leaving his wife behind to face those masked strangers. He had smiled at them and told them everything would be okay, squeezing their hands in reassurance. Law had almost believed him, if only because he had faith in his father.  

That faith had crumbled to dust when his father was cut down in front of them.  

But he didn’t want to think about that right now. After all, it was a long time ago. Wishing things had been different wouldn’t change what had happened. He had to focus on the present. That was what was important.  

He emerged into the bedroom, patting Bepo’s head absent-mindedly as he sank onto the massive bed. Killer immediately appeared in front of him to wrap his hands, and Bepo shuffled out of the way.  

“You finish it?” 

Law nodded tiredly. Shachi gave a happy little squawk and bumped his head affectionately against Law’s back. Killer merely hummed and continued smearing poultice over the angry red welts on Law’s hands.  

Kidd lounged behind him on the mattress, already settled for sleep. “That’s four, right? You got enough to make more?” 

He didn’t answer, but he was sure the tension in his shoulders and the hard set of his mouth told Kidd enough. Monet pecked him gently in the shoulder. She gave him a look that said not to worry so much. If only he could take her advice.  

“Maybe we could visit the river. I’ve heard that jellyfish travel upriver sometimes.” 

Kidd snorted. “Where the hell did you hear that?” 

Without his mask on, it was easy to see the frown that Killer directed at him. “Chopper mentioned it. They use them to make potions, I guess. Or sometimes they eat them.” He shrugged.  

Well, it was their only option so far, so Law would look into it. If he asked the Straw Hats, they would probably take them. After all, they’d taken them into town for his so called “date” with Ace, so it didn’t seem like Law had to be restricted to the palace. There must be some part of the river that would be accessible- surely, the whole thing couldn’t have been stuck at the bottom of a canyon. He hoped so.  

He’d bring it up to someone tomorrow. For now, he could really use some sleep. His hands stung, his eyes burned, and the rest of his body felt stiff and bruised. He’d spent longer in there finishing Shachi’s shirt than he expected. No matter. It was worth it. Any effort he put into saving his siblings was worth it. Even finding enough sea nettles all the way the fuck up here in the mainland. Although he refused to think about it anymore for the night. Those were thoughts for later.  

Tomorrow was a new day.  

It was a shitty day.  

Law regretted the optimism he’d had when he fell asleep the night before because it lowered his guard to the absolute nonsense he was forced to face during the day.  

The other candidates seemed to have made it their new mission to make Law’s life at the castle miserable.  

Not in so noticeable ways that they could be told off for. Oh, they still made their snide remarks and shot him nasty looks, but that was nothing new. They’d escalated their attacks; however they were all done in a way that couldn’t be traced back to anyone, or could be brushed off as unfortunate accidents.  

It had been going on all week, so Law really should have known better, but alas, he was still disappointed.  

When he entered the library that morning, one of Perona’s protectors had dropped a stack of books on top of his fingers and claimed he hadn’t meant to. Law might have believed him if the man didn’t smile so fakely at him.  

Later on, someone had knocked a book off the shelf behind him and straight onto his head. They had been on the other side of the shelf and disappeared before Law thought to look. The stupid book had been heavy too. If the person had stuck around, he probably would have chucked it at their head to give them a taste of their own medicine.  

He’d gone on a walk through one of the gardens afterwards, and while he enjoyed strolling through the colorful columbines, even that had been spoiled. It was only Monet’s quick reflexes that kept him from getting bitten by what he later learned was a rather venomous snake. Thank the gods that the swans had decided to stick around him. He might be dead if she hadn’t been there to protect him.  

She killed it with ruthless efficiency, and when she was positive it was dead, she let Law pick it up and carry it to the Straw Hats. They were all waiting at the eastern courtyard to eat lunch together, along with Kidd and Killer. Law dropped the snake unceremoniously in front of Robin and made a questioning gesture.  

Chopper flipped out at the sight of it and immediately began peppering him with questions as he looked Law over for snake bites. The rest of the Straw Hats looked on in varying degrees of anger and concern.  

Robin had stared at it silently for a second before she gathered herself and calmly explained that it was a very deadly breed of snake, and a bite from it would have either put him through serious health issues or straight up killed him.  

So that was great to know.  

She also explained that they weren’t native to their part of the mountains, and that it had no place being in the palace. That prompted Franky to ask him where he’d found it, so Law had mime it out as best as he could. He’d left his journal in his room, but perhaps it was time for him to start carrying it around.  

They figured out what he meant eventually, and traded serious looks. Kidd was practically apoplectic with rage, and Killer had to hold onto the collar of the other alpha’s shirt to keep him from running off to search the gardens.  

“There’s no way that snake got into that garden without someone putting it there,” Nami said darkly, scowling at its lifeless body.  

“How did you kill it?” Zoro asked, poking at it with his boot.  

Law pointed at Monet, who was busy preening her feathers. They all gave her respecting looks and congratulated her as if she was as human as any of them. She was- but they didn’t know that. It made something warm bubble up inside Law.  

Luffy patted her on her feathery back- gently, as instructed- and beamed at her. “Good job!” He plunked himself down on her other side. “You sure you’re okay, Torao? You didn’t get hurt?” 

He shook his head, but Luffy only looked half convinced.  

“Still, this is getting way out of hand,” Sanji said as he distributed food. “We definitely have to talk to Garp about this. The horse ride was one thing, but someone setting a poisonous snake on the grounds is inexcusable. Security measures will need to be reworked. Maybe it’s best if you don’t go around without another person at your side, Torao. Just until we get this sorted.” He gave him an apologetic look, but Law didn’t blame him.  

He was probably right. Although he wasn’t sure having another person around would have saved him from a snake bite. But maybe it would deter people from the other petty offences.  

They were so caught up with the snake situation that Law completely forgot to ask them about taking him to the river. He resolved to ask them about it another time. He was supposed to meet up with Ace for another stupid date that neither of them was interested in. He wished the Straw Hats could have come along like last time, but most of them were busy that afternoon.  

It was just Law, his protectors, and Usopp. Zoro and Luffy would be joining them later, but they had to go spar or something with Kuina.  

It could’ve been worse. Usopp was talkative, so at least he could keep Ace entertained. Still, Law preferred more of a buffer between him and the prince during these occasions. He hardly considered last time to count, given the size of their group and how little he and Ace actually interacted that day. And he liked it that way. There was no godly reason why Ace and he should ever get married.  

Law and the others had gone to the city a few times since then, but today they were stuck in the castle. Someone decided that for their date, Law should teach Ace how to swim. Evidently, neither he nor Luffy knew how. If they got tossed in the water, they would sink like bricks.  

Sabo had learned ages ago, but sadly, he was unable to convince his brothers to take up the practice. Law suspected that he was the one to suggest this activity. Although why he thought Law was the one suited for the task was beyond him. Maybe he just chose it because Ace wouldn’t be able to wiggle out of it.  

A manmade pool inside the castle was a hard concept for Law to wrap his head around. Having grown up on islands his whole life, he’d never considered the idea before. Why go through the effort to make one inside when you had the whole sea right outside your door? It made more sense this far up on the mainland, but it was still weird. As was the idea of someone not knowing how to swim. He really thought they ought to learn when they regularly passed over that massive river to make it into town.  

Granted, he didn’t know if someone could survive a fall like that, but it seemed prudent to learn nonetheless.  

Even after the nearly two months he’d spent there, there were so many places in the palace that Law had never seen. He was going to have to ask Nami to draw him up a map of the place one of these days. It was fucking ginormous, and Law didn’t want to rely on other people leading him places forever.  

Kidd had all but given up on trying to figure out the layout of the place, but Killer was pretty handy at figuring out their general placement whenever they got lost.  

It was safer to let Usopp lead them though, so they trailed behind him as he strode through the halls, rambling about this or that as they made their way to the pool. One of the pools, anyway. Nami said there were a few of them sprinkled throughout the palace, but they were going to the private one reserved for the royal family.  

The architecture of the castle was an eclectic conglomeration of styles that only sometimes went together. According to Usopp, many architects had added to the royal home over the centuries, and that was why it looked the way it did. It was a vast mountain, so there was plenty of room to expand as the royal family saw fit. No one had bothered in the last hundred years or so though. Maybe they finally decided the place was big enough.  

They came upon a long stairwell that Usopp said would be the most direct route to take to the pool. Going down wouldn’t be so bad, but he rather disliked the thought of returning up these stairs later. There were a lot of them.  

There were also no railings to keep someone from falling down off the side, which seemed like a safety hazard- particularly given the size of the stupid staircase. He supposed it wasn’t a problem so long as they kept to the wall. Either that, or they just had steady enough feet they didn’t need to be concerned about such things. Monet certainly didn’t mind. All she had to do was jump off one stair and glide down to the bottom.  

From an artistic standpoint, it was a pretty impressive sight to look down the stairwell as a whole. It was tiled in a colorful geometric pattern that hadn’t worn away, even after who knows how many feet had trod over it. Perhaps it was through magical intervention.  

He was so busy admiring the stairwell that the others had made it down a level and a half before he noticed.  

If he’d been paying more attention, then maybe he could have prevented what happened next.  

A hard shove to his back sent him sailing over the edge of the staircase, and because of its ridiculous lack of railings, there was nothing for Law to even attempt to grab onto.  

A scream worked its way to Law’s throat before the curse mark ruthlessly quashed it in his windpipe. He smashed into the stairs opposite where he’d started, but bounced off without being able to try and stop himself. All his breath rushed out of him at the impact, and there was a terrible snapping sound from his right arm. He hit a few more times before he finally slammed into the bottom of the stairwell, with another crack that he suspected came from his leg.  

He lay motionless on the floor, chest heaving for breath as he tried to get his bearings back. It took a while before he heard the shouting through the ringing in his ears, but eventually the trio’s concerned faces swam into view as they charged down the stairs toward him.  

Something prodded gently at his face, and he turned his head to Monet’s ruffled form. She honked up a storm until the others reached him.  

“Oh my gods- hang on, Torao! We’re going to get you to the infirmary! Oh gods, look at his leg- we should get a stretcher. Hey, you! Go get a- what, you don’t think we should wait for one? AAAAHHHH- don’t hurt me! It was just a suggestion! You can carry him if you want!” 

“Kidd, let him go. It’s not his fault.”  

“I KNOW IT’S NOT!” 

Hands reached under his body to pick him up, disturbing his broken limbs and making him wince. His vision blacked out for a minute before returning blurrier than before. Someone brushed gently at his cheeks- oh, he was crying, that’s why it was blurry- and Killer whispered, “Sorry.” 

This had easily become one of his least favorite days in existence- and he had serious competition for that.  

“Um, sir, is there anything I can do to help?” 

“Huh? Oh! Yeah, actually, can you go find Prince Ace? He’s supposed to be in the royal pool waiting for us, but we obviously aren’t going to be able to meet him now. No point in him waiting there for no reason. We’ve got to go to the infirmary. Thanks!” Usopp said to someone out of Law’s line of sight. “Come on, uh, let’s go this way! It will be easier than going back up this stairwell.” 

Killer tried to be as careful as could be, but it was impossible for Law’s limbs not to get jostled. He passed out before they made it there.  

Zoro really needed to cut something right now. 

“Is he going to be okay?” Nami paced back and forth around the infirmary bed. “How did this even happen?” 

Most of the Straw Hats had rushed to the healer’s wing as soon as they heard what happened. Only Robin was missing- she was in an important meeting with the minister of transport, so they had a messenger wait for her to finish before telling her the bad news.  

It was a good thing they’d gotten him into a private room, otherwise the other patients would be annoyed to have so many people around. 

“He’ll be alright with some rest. His arm and leg have both been set, and we’ve begun the healing process, but it will still take time for them to be completely healed,” Chopper replied.  

Usopp’s breath flooded out in a huge sigh of relief. “Thank the gods. How long do you think?” 

“A couple of weeks? We’ve done the best we can, but no one here is a soul mage, so our ability for the healing magic required for this is limited.” 

Kidd and Killer tensed up at that, the first plastering a terrifying scowl on his face. “I thought soul magic is illegal?” he ground out.  

Chopper blinked up at him. “Well, yes, that’s more or less true. But it’s more complicated than that- after all, many of our intensive procedures work best with soul magic. And although we are not soul mages, we magical healers still learn many of the principals that were created with it- since healing magic and soul magic used to be synonymous with each other. It doesn’t come as naturally to us as it would with a soul mage, but we do our best to maintain the side of it that our kingdom used to respect.” 

Huh. Zoro didn’t know that. Then again, it didn’t look like anyone else had either. Besides Brook, Jinbe, and maybe Franky. They were the only ones old enough to remember a time before soul magic became taboo. Chopper probably only learned about it during his studies.  

Kidd and Killer traded a look that Zoro didn’t know how to interpret.  

The swan that had been with them all day made an unhappy snorting sound and pecked Kidd in the knee. He glared down at it but didn’t kick it away like Zoro expected. “What?” 

It took his prosthetic hand in its beak and tugged him towards the bed where Torao blinked awake.  

Instantly, they all crowded around to pepper him with questions. 

“How do you feel?” 

“What happened?” 

“Usopp said you fell all the way down the stairwell!” 

“Do you want some water? Or maybe some tea? I can go whip some up real quick if you want- there’s some green tea we just got in that I think would really help.” 

“Can you hear us okay? You’ve got a concussion, two fractured ribs, and a broken arm and leg. I’ve set the bones and begun the mending process, but it will take a couple weeks to heal fully, so no strenuous activity in the meantime, alright?” 

“Need help sitting up? Here.” Luffy carefully pulled the omega into a sitting position, ignoring the way Kidd glared at him. 

Torao waved them all away, rubbing at his eyes with his good hand, then stared forlornly at his broken arm. It suddenly occurred to Zoro that it was his dominant hand, and he wouldn’t be able to write with it until he was healed up. Damn.  

“What happened?” Nami asked again, pulling up a fold-out chair. “I know those stairs are dumb, but it’s not like you to have an accident like that. You’re not clumsy or careless enough for that.”  

His face scrunched up as he mulled it over. Then he gestured for Luffy to come closer.  

Luffy instantly complied, only for Law to push him away. Then he made Luffy come closer again, and pushed him a second time.  

“Someone pushed you?” Killer growled, and a lot of angry alpha pheromones filled the air. He wished he could say it was just Law’s protectors doing it, but he knew that he and at least a few more of the Straw Hats were contributing as well. At least until Chopper reprimanded them all and told them to knock it off or he’d kick them out.  

It took some effort, but they managed to rein in their murderous instincts.  

“Did you see who did it?” Kidd asked, pacing around the others furiously. Torao shook his head, and the alpha snarled.  

“It appears that our discussion with Garp is more paramount than ever,” Jinbe said. He rubbed his beard thoughtfully as he looked to the door. “Hopefully, he will have some ideas for how to handle the situation. Being a major component for the last selection, he must have some experience with situations like this.” 

Usopp fretted, darting between bodies to peer into the hallway for any eavesdroppers. “You think? I mean, attempted murder is pretty extreme- we all agree that’s what this is, right? The snake, and now this- he could have broken his neck in that fall! I think the only thing that saved him was that he hit some of the other levels first instead of just straight down.” 

“Never underestimate the thirst some people have for the crown,” Brook said.  

“Yeah, plenty of terrible things have happened to candidates in the past. More than a few deaths, even.” Franky scratched his head. “It’s gotten tamer since the selection first started, but I wouldn’t put it past some of the candidates we’ve met. Who knows, maybe Garp had something similar during the last selection. We probably should have researched more about the last one.” 

“I’ll send a runner to arrange a meeting with Garp as soon as possible,” Jinbe said, stepping into the hall to find one. 

He narrowly missed a collision with Ace and Sabo when they ran into the room. “We just heard- is he okay?” Sabo asked breathlessly, sagging in relief when he noticed Torao was conscious.  

Usopp tilted his head and scratched his nose. “You just heard? I thought that guard told you about it right after it happened. I told him to tell you we couldn’t make it.” 

“He did!” Ace burst out. “And that was it! Just that something came up, and you wouldn’t be there. I just thought maybe Torao had decided to run off and hide to avoid it.” He gesticulated wildly with his arms to make his point.  

“Piiman told us about it. He thought it was odd we hadn’t come to check up on the situation after he saw Sanji and Brook racing separately down the halls,” Sabo added.  

That made sense. Catching more than one Straw Hat running around like their ass was on fire while they weren’t with anyone else was suspicious. The last time it happened was probably last winter after Zoro fell down the mountain steps and broke his arm. Not one of his finer moments.  

They caught the older princes up to speed with the situation, and by the end of it, they looked just as ready for murder as the rest of them. Sabo had to hold Ace back from running off down the halls and declaring war on whoever did the deed.  

Fat lot of good it would have done when they didn’t know who the culprit was.  

The selection sucked. Sure, it had brought Torao to them, but good grief. He’d rather the guy live out in nowhereville without meeting Luffy than force him to fend off continuous murder attempts.  

Torao wasn’t interested in staying in the infirmary any longer than necessary, so Chopper reluctantly agreed to let him go. But only if he went straight back to his room for the remainder of the afternoon and got some more rest. He went to fetch a wheelchair for him and instructed the rest of them not to let him get up on his own.  

The omega didn’t look excited about the wheelchair either, but concessions had to be made. Crutches were out of the question with his arm and ribs busted up, and Zoro doubted he wanted someone to carry him everywhere.  

His protectors wheeled him off to their rooms just as Jinbe returned to tell them Garp agreed to meet with them. 

Zoro needed a damn nap. 

Chapter Text

Law was going to go out of his damn mind.  

Stupid leg. Stupid arm. Stupid unknown bastard that pushed him down the stairwell and broke his bones.  

He couldn’t do anything these days. He couldn’t walk because of his stupid leg, he had to be actively conscious about his breathing because of his stupid ribs, and his stupid broken arm meant that he couldn’t work on the shirts. Not that it made much of a difference without more sea nettles to harvest.  

He tried to start with what he had left. Emphasis on tried. Cutting the tentacles into strips had been a trial. He spread each one out on the floor and did his best to hold it in place with his busted arm while he cut with his left hand. Now, Law was able to use his non-dominant hand better than most, but he was still far better at using his right hand than his left. The thread he made that round wasn’t up to par with his usual work, but it would do.  

Unfortunately, that was the most success he’d had with the shirts since his fall. Weaving with one hand was damn near impossible for him, and if he’d been capable of it, the whole castle would have heard him cursing to the high heavens.  

He was sorely tempted to speed up the healing process with his magic, but that would have been highly suspicious. If they still lived on Swallow Island, he would have done it without hesitation. They all had their suspicions there anyway.  

Here in the palace was different though. Nobody suspected the truth. They just assumed the white patches were a skin condition or birthmarks or something. Law was hardly going to tell them otherwise.  

Chopper was a smart kid, and a very diligent healer. He would notice if Law recovered faster than expected. He might even be able to tell that soul magic was used, even if he’d never seen soul magic in effect before. Apparently, much of his studies as a healer went into great detail about how soul magic was supposed to work.  

Law couldn’t risk it.  

At least the healers were capable enough to speed up the recovery process compared to normal healing without magic. Healing time was cut almost in half with their help. He just had to suck it up for a couple more weeks. That was all.  

It sucked.  

His date with Ace had been rescheduled, so he, his protectors, and his entire gaggle of swans, found themselves in the royals’ private pool one afternoon.  

Obviously, Law couldn’t do much to actually teach Ace or Luffy how to swim himself, so Kidd and Killer were going to be doing it instead. All that mattered was that Law was physically there for their necessary bonding time.  

The trip to the pool was much more peaceful than his last attempt. He didn’t break any more bones, so that was nice.  

The chair they gave him wasn’t the typical sort of wheelchair that he’d have found on the islands. While it did have wheels, it was also enchanted to hover about three inches off the floor at all times. The wheels were more of a failsafe in case the enchantment wore off. There was a medium sized sphere set into one of the armrests that he used to steer himself. It took a little practice, but it was mercifully simple to figure out.  

Honestly, the chair was much preferred to walking up and down the endless amounts of stairs in the palace. He had been worried about getting around after the incident, but it turned out he had little to be concerned about in that regard. If all else failed, he could still hobble along on one foot anyway.  

The pool was nice though. It was large enough for all the Straw Hats to join them if they wished, and plenty more as well. They could probably fit half the candidates and their guardians there comfortably.  

The room was tiled in pale blue, and the bottom of the pool itself was filled with colorful mosaics of sea creatures. A wide variety of fish, sea turtles, starfish, dolphins, jellyfish, seahorses, and even an octopus unfurling its long tentacles decorated the dark blue bowl of the pool. The ceiling was painted in an enchanted fresco of gently churning waves that made Law a little disoriented when he stared up at it.  

H wished he could climb in for a dip, but sadly he couldn’t with his busted limbs. He didn’t want to compromise his casts for that. He’d just have to wait until he was healed, and then maybe they would invite him back for a swim. Ace and Luffy would probably need more than one lesson, so it was a possibility.  

In the meantime, watching Kidd and Killer try to teach Ace and Luffy was entertaining.  

Ace staunchly refused to remove himself from the shallow end, and Luffy had almost drowned by falling into the deep end completely by accident before the lesson even started.  

Currently, Killer was teaching Luffy how to float on his back as a starter. He kept his arms beneath him the whole time, but they had moved on from practicing breathing techniques. They were doing better than Ace, who was reluctant to try even that much.  

“Nope. Not happening. I’ll just never go that deep in the water, and I’ll be fine.” He clung to the railing by the steps and glared at Kidd when he stepped closer.  

“Oh yeah? What happens if you fall in like your brother?” Kidd jabbed a finger in Luffy’s direction.  

“Won’t happen! I’m more careful than he is!”  

Sabo snorted from his spot at the edge of the pool where he was cooling off his feet. “Not by much.”  

Ace glared at him but continued to cling to the railing.  

Kidd sighed. “Look, just sit your ass in the water at least. On the bottom of the pool, not the stairs,” he said with an exasperated look. “You just have to be able to dunk your head in. You can stay in the shallows.”  

Ace didn’t look thrilled at the idea, but he scooted himself further into the water until he was crouching, submerged up to his chin. “I don’t like this,” he mumbled.  

“You don’t have to,” Kidd said. “Just practice holding your breath under the surface for now.” At Ace’s dubious look, he snapped, “I’m not going to hold you under! It’s just to get you used to having your face underwater. You can come up for air whenever you want.”  

With another unhappy glance, Ace complied.  

Law turned his attention back to Luffy and Killer. His protector had the prince on his stomach, kicking while Killer kept him steady with his arms beneath him. Lami and Monet swam nearby, eyeing the whole lesson with amusement. Sugar darted across the pool in restless laps, while Shachi and Penguin wandered closer to watch Ace. Bepo sat snugly by Law’s side, head and neck draped across his lap.  

Law couldn’t get his left leg wet, but his right leg he dipped into the pool and traced invisible circles.  

“No way! I’m not going any deeper!” Ace loudly declared.  

Kidd looked like he was two seconds away from personally drowning the prince. “You’re not going to learn shit if you don’t! You’ll knock your damn feet on the bottom of the pool if you try over there.”  

“Come on, Ace! It’s not that bad!” Luffy called. “We can learn how to swim real fast for races!”  

Killer shook his head and looked to the ceiling. “Let’s stick with dog paddling for today. Our goal is to keep you from drowning immediately if you fall in again.”  

Luffy pouted a little, but he brightened up when Killer suggested he keep going and Law’s protector would carefully move his hands away to see if he could handle it.  

Ace and Killer continued their shouting in the shallows.  

“I don’t need to! I’ve gone twenty two years without learning, and there’s no point in doing it now! I’ll just avoid the pools! It’s not like there’s anywhere else I’d drown around here.”  

“Oh, yeah? What about that bigass river you have to cross to get into town? Imagine if you fell off one of those lifts over that huge gorge.” Kidd crossed his arms and glowered.  

The poor prince’s face went white as a sheet. “That wouldn’t happen!” he sputtered, although his tone and coloration suggested he still found the idea horrifying.  

“It may not be very likely, but you still ought to learn,” Sabo said, standing up and making his way to their side of the pool. “We do travel to the other islands occasionally. If something went wrong and you fell overboard, it would be good for you to at least know the basics. Just stay by the wall if you’re worried.”  

“Easy for you to say! You learned when you were like an itty bitty kid. You were too dumb to be afraid of drowning.”  

Stepping into the pool, Sabo took the opportunity to splash his brother in the face with a handful of water. “Sure, whatever. Now do as Kidd says and go a little deeper. Up to your shoulders while standing, at least.”  

“Since when are you my teacher, huh?” Ace grumbled, but did indeed move further into the water.  

Sabo rolled his eyes. “Since never. You always refused to come when I offered to teach you, so now I’m siccing Kidd on you. And if you don’t behave, I’ll let him throw you in the deep end.”  

Ace whipped around to gape at him. “You would not!”  

“There are some people who learn to swim that way,” Killer said.  

“There’s also people who just drown instead,” Kidd added ever so helpfully.  

Law feared that this kind of talk would have Ace running for the hills, but to his surprise, it actually seemed to convince him to try things the easier way. He took a deep breath and walked along the wall until his shoulders were at the same height as the water that lapped at them.  

“Don’t you dare throw me in the deep end,” he warned them.  

While saying he was comfortable was a stretch, Ace was definitely more open to instruction for the rest of his lesson. By the end of it, he could dog paddle well enough that he didn’t have to worry if someone did throw him in the deep end. He didn’t have the same enthusiasm that Luffy did, but that was alright. It was a good start.  

“Man, this is a lot of work,” Luffy gasped out as he reached Law’s spot. He clung to the wall and panted for breath.  

“Dog paddling isn’t very energy efficient, so it’s best for short distances,” Killer explained, swimming up alongside them and pulling himself onto the lip of the pool.  

“Torao, you can swim, right?”  

He nodded. Law was a fantastic swimmer. Anyone who lived in a place like Swallow Island had to be.  

Luffy gave him a very serious look. “When you’re all better, you have to teach me how to swim fast.”  

Law huffed out a tiny silent laugh and gestured over at Killer with a raised eyebrow. He wished he could have written what he wanted to say, but with his broken arm, Luffy’s gift sat unused on his desk.

“Killer can help Jaggy keep Ace from drowning,” he said matter-of-factly. He raised a hand to block his mouth from the side while he stage whispered, “He needs a lot of help.”  

They glanced over at Ace, who had returned to the shallows so he could stand there and bicker with Kidd and Sabo about how dumb he thought swimming was.  

Law hid his smirk behind his good hand in case Ace or Kidd looked their way.  

Luffy beamed up at him. “We’ll go swimming when you’re all patched up again. Promise.” He reached out to hook Law’s pinky with his own and shook them once.  

He couldn’t help the smile that rose to his lips at that.  

The days trickled by. There hadn’t been any group activities for the candidates since the disastrous horse ride, so Law was thankful for that. He wasn’t exactly itching to spend time with them before the attempts on his life, and he certainly wasn’t after.  

According to the Straw Hats, Garp had tightened security inside the palace in the hopes that it would prevent any more incidents like the snake attack. He said there wasn’t much to be done about things like shoving candidates down the stairs, even if that was what had actually injured Law. The best solution for that was simply to have someone guarding him at all times, like his protectors were already doing.  

After what felt like an eternity, Law’s bones finally healed enough that he could take the stupid casts off. He still had to take it easy, but it was better than nothing.  

Unfortunately for him, by the time his dumb casts came off, it was only days before his heat hit.  

For an omega’s long term health, it was best to go through heat at least once every three to four months. Law had been using suppressants since the day he arrived on the mainland. He was expressly forbidden from doing so for this next heat though- Chopper’s orders. They took stuff like that seriously at the palace.  

If he was back at Swallow Island, he would have simply ignored the general rule of thumb. He usually spaced his heats out to once every six months or so. Never longer than eight months between, and he never went through more than two heats a year. He had much larger concerns than his reproductive health. In fact, if he had his way, he’d forgo them altogether until the shirts were done, but his siblings took issue with that, as did Kidd and Killer.  

He supposed he was lucky that Chopper hadn’t insisted on him going through his heat sooner. To the younger healer’s knowledge, Law’s last heat had been the month before he arrived for the selection. So about four months ago.  

In reality, Law’s last heat had been almost seven months ago. If Chopper found out, he’d flip.  

He was already in a tizzy as it was, what with Law’s still fragile body. He kept asking if they needed anything from him and if they were well prepared. It was sweet of him, but Law was almost a decade older than the kid, so he knew plenty about how to deal with heats.  

Until his heat actually hit, Law was determined to get as much sunlight and fresh air as he could.  

The other day, Robin had shown him a lovely spot that was perfect for just that. It was a secluded little stretch of land that jutted out of the cliffside like a balcony- albeit a balcony where grass and other greenery grew. There were a few aspen trees speckled here and there, but most of the space was filled with neatly trimmed- if somewhat yellow- grass. There was one plum tree that grew near the edge, and through magical intervention, it still grew fruit this late in the season.  

He spent most of his time the next few days there.  

It took some effort to get to the spot. His leg was technically healed, but it was still weak after weeks without being used. He stubbornly refused to use the wheelchair, so he spent much of the journey leaning on Killer for support.  

The Straw Hats had gotten it in their heads that it was the perfect day for a picnic, so they were taking their lunch out there. Vivi and Coby had joined them as well, along with their protectors. All in all, they made quite a merry bunch.  

Law tipped his head back to soak in the sunlight, letting his eyes drift shut as he breathed in the crisp mountain air.  

It was admittedly, a bit on the chilly side for them to be outside. Fall had come fully upon them, and many of the aspens had already lost a number of their leaves.  

Most of the mainlanders didn’t seem to mind, as they were used to much colder weather. Unlike some of the islanders.  

Coby and his protectors were fine, although Helmeppo complained about the temperature constantly. In comparison, Smoker was so wholly unaffected that he didn’t even bother wearing a shirt under his open coat.  

The poor Alabastans probably had it the worst. Their island mainly consisted of desert, and winter was a foreign sort of concept that couldn’t be fully understood until it was experienced. All of them were bundled up tight, and it wasn’t even near the coldest point of the year yet.  

Kidd and Killer had likewise never seen snow before, so they were anxiously awaiting the day it would become reality. Swallow Island was a very warm place, so it didn’t get much colder than what they were experiencing during their picnic. Law hadn’t been subjected to a real winter since he lived in Punk Hazard, and to be perfectly honest, he hadn’t missed it much. Still, he was more prepared than they were for what was coming.  

“It’s freezing out here,” Helmeppo whined for what felt like the millionth time.  

“Quit being such a baby,” Smoker said, taking a deep drag of his cigars.  

Coby patted him on the shoulder. “Come on, it’s not so bad. It’s not even winter yet, and we’ve been through much worse.”  

“Here- now seems as good a time as any to have some hot cocoa,” Sanji said, opening another basket that was full of thermoses and mugs. He passed them around, and everyone got a nice mug of steaming cocoa.  

Kidd sniffed his tentatively, clearly trying to work out just what he was holding in his hands. Chocolate in any form was a rarity back at Swallow Island, and from what Law gathered over their years together, hadn’t been something he was too familiar with back when Killer and he used to live on the outskirts of Dressrosa. He’d tried it a few times in desserts since their arrival on the mainland and like it well enough though.  

He perked up once he took a sip and realized he liked it.  

Killer lifted the bottom of his mask and took tentative sips here and there when there was little attention on him. By that point, everyone understood that he wouldn’t eat or drink anything around them if they were looking at him, so they only turned his direction if they wanted to speak directly to him.  

Law drank a little of his cocoa, but he was more interested in breathing in the fumes and letting the mug warm up his hands. He never had much of an appetite, and it only worsened the closer he got to his heat.  

“Torao, don’t you like your cocoa?” Luffy asked, popping up beside him to peer over his shoulder at his full mug. Unlike Law, Luffy’s appetite never seemed to wane. He had already finished two cups of hot chocolate, downing one right after the other and declaring them heavenly.  

The alpha’s warm scent flooded his nostrils alongside the cocoa, mingling into a chocolatey, cinnamony delight.  

He didn’t realize he was leaning in towards that welcoming scent until Killer casually threw an arm around his shoulders and drew him back into his protector’s side.  

It took him another second after that to figure out what had just happened. And then….  

Oh.  

Oh.  

He was very glad that the others were kindly looking away from Killer’s spot- and by extension, Law and Luffy’s- so they didn’t see his cheeks flush in embarrassment. Thank the gods that Killer had intervened before Law did anything truly stupid. Like bury his nose in Luffy’s neck.  

It looked like his time enjoying the outdoors before his heat was up.  

If it was any consolation, Luffy looked just as confused as he had been up until two seconds ago. There was a small furrow in his brow as he stared at Killer’s arm draped over Law, his head tilted slightly to the left as if he was trying to determine how it got there.  

In the hopes that it would prevent the younger alpha from questioning what had happened too much, Law pushed his mug into Luffy’s hands and gestured for him to finish it.  

Never one to pass up free food or drink, Luffy took it happily and went back to his usual chatty self.  

Law nodded along absently, although he didn’t process a single thing the other said. His own turbulent thoughts were swirling around in his head in a veritable whirlpool, calculating every fucking second it would take before he was locked in his room for the foreseeable future.  

“Torao, are you okay?” Luffy asked after a while. He peered at him curiously, and set a hand against his forehead. “You’re kind of warm. And you’re acting weird. You not feeling good?”  

He most certainly was not- in fact, he felt rather sick to his stomach. Whether this was because of his fast approaching heat or because of his general surliness that he was going to be locked up inside was unclear, but either way, it was wholly unpleasant. Not that he was going to explain any of that to Luffy though.  

Unfortunately for Law, Killer had been paying attention, and wasn’t going to let him just sit out there a little longer while his temperature rose and other more annoying symptoms started popping up.  

“Time to head back,” he grunted, pulling Law to his feet and signaling the unofficial end of their gathering.  

Nami checked her watch and sighed. “Sanji and I have a meeting to get to, so we should get going too.” The two of them gathered the supplies to drop off at the kitchens and bade their farewells.  

Usopp and Franky scampered off to go work on some sort of project together, Coby and his group left to do who knows what, Vivi’s group went with Brook to listen to a music piece he’d written for them, Chopper scurried back to the healers’ wing, Jinbei went to a meeting elsewhere, and Robin simply sauntered off with a wink and a smile in Law’s direction.  

All that left was Luffy and Zoro. The younger alpha seemed intent on following Law’s group back to their room, and Zoro was naturally glued to his side as his personal guard.  

He supposed it was a good thing that Killer insisted that they leave before his symptoms got too bad. If they stayed out much longer, someone probably would have had to carry him back, and Law wasn’t sure his dignity could survive such a blow so soon after he’d been cleared for walking.  

At least he didn’t have to try and make small talk. Small perk of being mute. Mostly, the walk to their room was filled with bickering between Kidd, Zoro, and Luffy. Killer kept mercifully silent, focused primarily on getting Law out of the open.  

By the time they made it back to their room however, Law was feeling quite under the weather. It was probably for the best that he hadn’t eaten much for lunch. If he had, he might’ve hocked it back up with how nauseous he was feeling. The sudden and persistent cramps didn’t help either, and it started to feel like his skin would boil off soon.  

Killer had to pick him up and carry him the last couple halls. Damn it.  

He leaned his spinning head against the alpha’s shoulder and tried to keep his breaths steady. Luffy must have finally caught on as to what was happening- either that, or he figured Law had come on with a sudden illness- and trailed along behind them fretfully. Zoro mentioned something about how they should go see if Kuina and Ace wanted to spar, in what Law assumed was an attempt to get his charge to leave Law alone, but Luffy insisted on staying with them until the very end.  

Lami and Bepo were both camped outside the bedroom door when they arrived, and they fluttered around restlessly when they set eyes on their party.  

“Damn birds- move it, will ya?” Kidd nudged Bepo out of the way with his foot. While it may not have been a harsh gesture, it was not necessarily gentle either, so it spurred Lami into pecking him forcefully on the ankle as punishment. Naturally, this only made Kidd curse louder. He managed to get the door open though, and wasted no time shoving his way inside.  

Before they could follow, Luffy snagged one of Law’s hands. Killer was polite enough to stop walking and not smack his hands away, although Law suspected he considered it.  

Luffy’s face got this- dare he admit it- cute scrunched up expression, like he was thinking really hard about something and wasn’t sure what to do next. Based on their time together, this seemed like a rather novel experience for him. Luffy wasn’t exactly the hesitant sort, nor the kind of person that thought their actions through very deeply.  

After a couple seconds, he finally seemed to make up his mind. He unwound the scarf that hung from his neck and shoved it into Law’s unwitting arms.  

“Here! You can give it back next week! Bye, Torao!” he chirped before hightailing it out of there, Zoro scrambling after him with a dumbfounded glance over his shoulder as they disappeared from view.  

Thank the gods Killer was holding him and moved immediately to deposit him on the bed, otherwise Law would have been stuck there staring after the younger man for who knows how long.  

Kidd swung the door shut and locked it with a definitive click. He shucked his boots off and kicked them towards the wall, then hopped onto the mattress beside Law. “What the hell did he give you this for?” he snorted, reaching over to grab the scarf.  

Without thinking, Law snatched it out of his grip and bared his teeth in a silent growl. Then he froze when he realized what he’d just done.  

Kidd’s eyebrows climbed toward his hairline. He glanced between the stupefied look on Law’s face and the bundle of yellow fabric clutched to his chest and scowled. “Oh, come on. No. No way. You’ve got to be shitting me. That guy?”  

Law chucked the scarf away and buried his burning face in his hands. If he could, he would’ve screamed.  

Bepo waddled over to the scarf where it landed on the floor, poking at it cautiously with his beak as if trying to figure out what was so special about it that it had Law wishing the ground would open up and swallow him whole. Lami was clearly trying not to laugh at him in all her honking glory.  

Killer picked the scarf up and dropped it back in Law’s lap. “Could be worse.”  

“How?!”  

He whacked him in the arm. “Don’t be an ass. The kid’s not that bad. He’s just a little….weird.”  

That was putting it pretty mildly, but he did have a point. There were certainly worse people for Law to….grow an attachment to.  

But for fuck’s sake, he didn’t want to grow an attachment to anyone at all! Not like this anyway. Oh gods, just when he thought his life couldn’t get any more complicated at the palace, this had to go and happen. Fuck. Fuck.  

No, no, no, no, no, no. This couldn’t be happening. He refused. Wholeheartedly.  

Or so he told himself. But even as he did so, he couldn’t help the way his fingers wound their way back into the soft yellow fabric.  

“Here, let’s take these off before you overheat,” Killer said, helping Law out of his numerous layers. Ever the practical one, even when Law was having a meltdown about his newly discovered feelings.  

Ugh. Feelings. No thanks. He had way more important things to be concerned about, and he was not going to be diverted by something so- so unnecessary.  

If he had his way, he would scrub every memory he had of Luffy out of his mind until the week passed. His heat addled brain did not need to focus on anything like that, contrary to whatever most people said. All he needed was a little help to relieve him of some of the symptoms, and that did not need to involve Luffy in any sense.  

If he told himself this enough times, maybe it would work.  

Unlikely. He couldn’t even let go of the damn scarf after Killer gave it back to him.  

“He did what?” Kuina whispered loudly. She tossed a look quickly over her shoulder at the spot where Luffy and Ace were wrestling on the training mats. Fortunately, neither of the princes heard her outburst.  

Zoro ducked in closer and tried not to grimace. “He gave him his scarf and told him he could give it back in a week.”  

Kuina pressed her hand together as if in prayer, placing them in front of her lips as she took a deep breath. “I don’t suppose there’s any way that he….didn’t know Torao was going into heat?”  

He shook his head. “Nope. He definitely figured it out along the way.”  

“Okay. Well, then maybe he just gave it to him as like, a friend? Some people do that.”  

While it wasn’t impossible, and probably would have been Zoro’s first guess if it had happened with literally anyone else besides Torao, he knew better than to lie to himself about this. “It’s different this time. He’s…. possessive when it comes to Torao.”  

It was physically painful for him to get the words out of his mouth, and he wished he could take them back as soon as they were out. Kuina stared at him as if he’d grown a second head.  

“Are you telling me,” she said slowly, pointing unnecessarily in his friend’s direction, “that Luffy- that Luffy- who I saw picking his nose yesterday, and whining about how he wanted to live in a chocolate castle- is in love with one of the candidates that got shipped here to court his brother.”  

He rubbed a hand roughly across his forehead. “Please, don’t make me say it out loud.”  

She slapped her cheeks as if trying to wake herself up. “Oh my gods. I never thought I’d see the day.” Her gaze turned razor sharp. “We cannot let anyone else find out about this.”  

“Well, it’s not like I was going to go shouting it from the mountain top,” he grumbled.  

She punched him in the shoulder much harder than he thought was warranted. “I am dead serious, Pickle-brain. I mean, I know the rest of the Straw Hats are going to find out about it, but that’s it. No one else. Maybe Sabo. Definitely not Ace.”  

“What? How the hell do you expect Ace not to find out? Luffy can’t keep a secret to save his life- and that’s if he thinks it’s a secret to begin with. You know he never keeps his mouth shut.”  

“Look, he’s obviously going to find out eventually. We just have to make sure that it’s not until after Torao’s heat is over.” At his blank look, she continued. “You think that hothead is going to act rationally when he finds out? He’d probably try and break down the door to get the dumb scarf back, so he could pretend that none of it ever happened,” she hissed.  

Ah, yeah. He could see that happening.  

“Not really sure how we can keep anyone else from finding out after the fact though,” he said, scratching behind an ear.  

“Well, we have to. They’re already trying to kill Torao- can you fucking imagine what will happen if they discover that one of the princes gave him a personal item slathered in their scent to help him get through his heat?”  

Nothing good, that’s for sure. Someone would probably try to set his room on fire while he was inside or something. Maybe just give up all pretenses and try to slit his throat.  

He pinched the bridge of his nose and held back a groan.  

Why, oh why, did this stupid selection have to happen?  

“Okay, I have to ask,” Kuina said with another quick glance over her shoulder. “Do you think that Torao….reciprocates?”  

Well, wasn’t that just the million beri question? Zoro honestly didn’t know. Torao wasn’t the easiest person to read, but at the very least, he at least tolerated Luffy. If Kuina wanted a better answer, she was going to have to wait until all the Straw Hats were back together to put it to a group vote. He was sure the rest of them had their own theories.  

“Maybe?” He sighed. “I don’t know. I don’t think I want to know.”  

“Alright, well, fair enough.” She patted him on the shoulder in consolation. “And to think- we all figured that if any of the princes fell for someone during the selection that it would be Sabo.”  

“It would certainly make things easier if it had been,” he grunted. Sabo knew how to keep things discrete.  

She nodded solemnly. “Yeah, good luck.”  

They watched Ace and Luffy roll across the mats, the younger laughing raucously, blissfully unaware of the headache he had given Zoro.  

They were so screwed.  

Chapter Text

Law wished he could say that he passed the week without another thought of Luffy or the scarf he’d shoved so unceremoniously into his arms, but sadly, that would have been a lie. In truth, the ridiculous smiling alpha was all he’d been able to think about.  

It didn’t matter that he had staunchly resolved to ignore his own blossoming feelings before his heat set in fully, or that he had two perfectly capable alphas in his bed to satisfy his bodily needs. Nope. All that mattered to his heat addled brain was that the strip of soft yellow cloth that Luffy gave him stayed in his reach at all times.  

Now, he may not have been the most coherent during this time, but he did remember that Kidd found it endlessly annoying. One particularly memorable moment, Kidd had tried to move it so it wouldn’t get in his own face- none too gently, as was his way- and Law had bitten him for it. Not hard or anything, but the message had been recieved. With many, many curses. And some dirty looks.  

He almost found it funny- and likely would have if it had been anyone besides himself- but in the light of a new, post-heat day, it was frankly embarrassing.  

How in the world had he been reduced to such nonsense?  

Sure, he was in heat, and that did funny things to any omega’s brain. Law was no stranger to annoying little behavioral changes during his time of the month. Like his desire to nest, and his slightly territorial behavior over said nest. That was normal stuff.  

Getting possessive over something that an alpha gave him? That was new. Not to mention humiliating.  

And if he was being honest? A little scary.  

Law didn’t do feelings. Even before everything with his siblings, romance had never been a priority in his life. He just couldn’t find it in him to care about that sort of thing the way most people did. It wasn’t like he was opposed to it either; he just didn’t get why everyone acted like it was the most important thing in the universe.  

He had never been in love before. He’d hardly even had a simple crush, and those had been when he was a hormonal teenager going through puberty. What was happening now, was certainly not that. It was a completely foreign sensation for him, and one that he had no idea what to do with. 

Well, no, that was wrong. He knew exactly what to do. He had to crush it into dust, so that it wouldn’t distract him from saving his siblings.  

Nothing else mattered besides getting them back into their human bodies. It didn’t matter that his hands were constantly mottled with angry red welts, that he was always in pain, or that he’d probably never speak again. All of that he could handle. So it certainly didn’t matter that he had seemingly fallen for this alpha prince that smiled like sunshine.  

It wasn’t like anything could come of it anyway.  

Even if his siblings weren’t cursed…. If things were different…. It could never be. Not when Law was what he was. His tattoos were a dead giveaway. It was only the fact that they were always covered that spared him from harm.  

Well, harm from being a soul mage anyway. He supposed there had still been those pesky murder attempts from getting friendly with the princes.  

Who knows what would happen to him if the other candidates found out about Luffy’s scarf? They’d probably double their attempts on his life. Knowing that, he really should have been annoyed at Luffy for giving it to him. His task was already so complicated- he didn’t need anything else to take him from it.  

Yet he clutched onto that yellow fabric as if it was the only thing that anchored him to the earth.  

What he would give to get rid of this feeling- this desire that had no place in his life. Not right now. Not ever. If only he could, he would rip it out of his chest and stomp it beneath his heel. He liked to imagine so anyway. But if such a thing was possible, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to do it. To take that warm, fluttery feeling that bubbled inside and crush it so thoroughly that no trace of it remained.  

Law was not considered to be a soft person by any means, so soft things like what he felt for Luffy were entirely out of place for him. It didn’t belong with him. He knew that.  

But there was a part of him that begged him not to let go. To hold onto that gentle, budding feeling and nurture it. Or at the very least, hide it away somewhere safe. Somewhere no one else would find it and use against him. Something just for him. To cling to in dark, lonely moments.  

If Kidd and Killer weren’t there with him in the room, or his feathery cursed siblings, he might have let himself cry. Law despised crying, but he knew that it wasn’t always good to hold in the tears.  

This was one of the only times he actually wanted to cry.  

For everything that had happened to him since the destruction of Flevance. For his siblings. For Cora. For the kind of life that he’d never have, the kind that would have made him a softer person. For the kind of life where he and Luffy could be a possibility.  

Unfortunately, Kidd and Killer were there, as were his siblings, and if there was anything he hated more than crying, it was crying in front of other people.  

So he’d just bury those tears in that deep well in his chest where he put all his sadness, to be dealt with at a later date.  

“Drink.” Killer helped him sit up and held a glass of water to his lips. It rankled him a bit that he needed help, but he had long since grown used to Killer and Kidd taking care of him during his heats. Besides, Law’s limbs felt like jello. There was no way he could hold up a full glass of water on his own without spilling at least half of it on himself.  

He drank greedily, gulping down the cool water to soothe his parched throat.  

“We finally done yet?” Kidd grumbled, face half squished into his pillow.  

Law glared and turned his head to spit water at him. 

The alpha sprang upright with a snarl, but Killer pushed him back. “Stop it.” 

“How is this my fault?!” Kidd gestured furiously between Law and himself. Law might have felt some remorse for his behavior if he wasn’t well aware that his friend could handle it. Plus, Kidd’s voice had taken that whiny quality to it that meant he didn’t entirely disagree with whatever Killer had decided- he just wanted to complain about it because that was his thing.  

With a silent groan, Law pulled himself out of bed. He really needed a bath. He had some vague memories of his friends carrying him into the bathroom to get them all cleaned up during the week, but that didn’t change the fact that he needed another right now.  

There was a familiar soreness to his body that screamed at him for a hot bath to soothe his aching muscles, and who was he to deny himself such a simple pleasure?  

Lami shuffled out of his way on his slow walk to the bathroom, letting out a quiet honk and head butting his knee affectionately as he passed.  

She appeared to be the only one of his siblings currently in the room. The rest of them had come in and out every now and then as the days passed, mostly just checking up on him quickly before wandering off again. He assumed they went to the gardens. Swans or not, it had never been desirable on any of their parts to hang around when Kidd and Killer were fucking him through his heats. They only stayed for more than a few minutes when it was clear that sex was paused for the time being. Usually, when Law was tuckered out and couldn’t do anything besides sleep.  

Killer had opened the door and let Lami in late last night, and she had stayed because she knew he was at the tail end of his heat. Otherwise, he was sure she would have put up a real fuss until they let her out again.

Thank the gods this ridiculous giant bathtub was so easy to get into. He tried to imagine swinging his legs over a traditional one in his condition and grimaced. It was so much easier to just step down into it. Perks of living in the palace, where they had more money than they knew what to do with.  

He sank against the wall of the tub and let the water fill around him slowly.  

He must’ve nodded off because the next thing he knew, Killer was in there with him, turning the water off, amid a sea of scented oil and bubbles that Law certainly hadn’t added.  

The alpha grabbed a washcloth and a bar of soap and gently began to scrub Law down. The omega did the best he could to help, but in all honesty, he was capable of very little right then. In fact, he was probably going to end up going right back to sleep once they were done bathing. Although Killer might insist he eat something first.  

His stomach let out an uncharacteristic rumble that made him frown and Killer shoot him an amused look.  

Looked like he was going to have to eat something after all. He held back a sigh.  

Zoro was trying very hard not to smash his head into a wall and call it quits.  

All week, he and the Straw Hats had been running up and down the palace, trying to find a suitable way to distract Luffy. That wasn’t an entirely abnormal thing for them, but the reasoning behind it was absolutely confounding.  

Law was in heat, and Luffy didn’t like being apart from him.  

Honestly, it could have been worse. Luffy wasn’t any more unruly than usual- which they had all been concerned about. Apparently, for naught.  

It was hardly uncommon for alphas to get a little….hot-headed around omegas in heat. Especially when the alpha was emotionally attached to the omega. Obviously, there was some distance between Luffy and Law at the moment, but that didn’t mean the alpha couldn’t get a little territorial over it.  

But Luffy was fine. He didn’t insist on camping out in the hallway outside Law’s room, or pacing endlessly through the corridors. He didn’t try and break into the room and to claim the omega or anything of the sort. In terms of rampaging alphas that were going crazy from being separated from omegas in heat, Luffy was doing fantastic.  

Really, he was okay. The change would be unnoticeable to anyone else. But the Straw Hats knew Luffy, and they could see the way it affected him plain as day.  

He didn’t exactly mope. But he was quieter than usual. When he smiled, it was missing a hint of its usual brightness. Not like it was strained or he was sad, but it just wasn’t quite as strong as usual. Like if his normal smiles were at a ten, then the ones lately were at a nine. And it was fine. He laughed, he ate, he joked around with them like he always did.  

But sometimes Zoro caught him in moments where he looked a little less alright.  

It was usually when the rest of the Straw Hats were around, being their usual rowdy selves. Maybe Luffy thought it was easier to let his thoughts wander when all the attention wasn’t on him or something. Sometimes Zoro would look over and find him with a pensive look in his eye. His gaze was always distant, facing whatever direction Law’s room happened to be in.  

Once, while they were outside eating dinner, Zoro watched as his best friend mindlessly ripped out handfuls of grass for almost the entire meal. He didn’t even seem to realize that he was doing it.  

He always paused for a second when they passed by Law’s hallway. They never went down the intersection to approach his room, but Luffy always slowed down to stare at his door. Then he’d blink and keep walking, almost surprised that his feet had stopped moving.  

Zoro wondered sometimes, if even Luffy understood how he felt about Torao.  

It was clear that it was different than how he felt about anyone else. Was it romantic? Or was it something else? He’d be inclined to say the former, but imagining Luffy having romantic feelings for anyone was just plain weird. He’d never been interested in anything like that in all the years he’d known him. Whenever anyone brought it up, Luffy simply said he didn’t get it. They all just assumed it would stay that way forever.  

Well, joke was on them apparently.  

Zoro needed a drink.  

The week was up, so he was hoping Law made it out soon. You know, as long as he was in a fit state to be out in public. They’d been playing fire that last little bit before the omega was sequestered away in his rooms. Luffy had been a little slow on the uptake- thank fuck for that- but it had been nerve-racking to run through the halls behind Kidd and Killer while the latter carried a very in-heat Law in his arms. Zoro was infinitely grateful that they hadn’t come across anyone else on their way there.  

Still, it would be nice when Luffy was back to normal. Well, his version of normal anyway.  

He and Luffy were on their way to the royal family’s private pool when Chopper came bounding up to them. Luffy had gotten really gung ho about swimming ever since the Swallow Island folks had taught him. He was hardly a champion swimmer, but the Straw Hats could at least trust him not to drown in the deep end. 

“Torao….eating breakfast….on terrace,” Chopper said between heaving gasps.  

And just like that, they were sprinting in a whole new direction. Never mind the fact that they were holding towles and dressed in swim trunks. They were headed to the terrace. Out into the fresh air. The cold, almost winter, fresh air.  

Zoro actually didn’t mind this too much- he’d done endurance training during winter before- but he knew Luffy was going to whine about the cold once he realized what he’d done.  

They burst out onto the terrace into the freezing air, and Usopp practically jumped a foot in the air. 

“Holy- Give a guy a heart attack, why don’t you?” He clutched his chest and glared at them- although Zoro could tell there wasn’t much heat in the gesture. Like the rest of the Straw Hats, he was relieved that Luffy could finally behave more like his usual self again.  

Luffy didn’t even notice.  

He rushed over to their guests and plopped down right beside Torao, positively beaming. “Hi, Torao!” 

The omega blinked sleepily at him, having barely moved at their noisy arrival. Zoro got the feeling that Kidd and Killer had dragged him out there to get some fresh air and food, and it was the only thing keeping him from face planting into the nearest soft surface to snooze.  

Luffy remained undeterred. “Are you feeling better?” he asked, leaning closer than good manners allowed. For him, that was a mark of restraint. Zoro saw the way his hands kneaded the yellowed grass and figured he was probably doing his best not to simply scoop the omega up into his lap and bury his face in his neck. You know, normal territorial alpha mating behavior.  

It wouldn’t have surprised him if Luffy had tried it. Especially since Torao completely reeked of Kidd and Killer.  

For whatever reason, Luffy was doing a lot better than they expected at reining in his instincts. Usually, he just did whatever his gut told him, consequences be damned. It was another shade of weird for the rest of the Straw Hats, but they were grateful for it nonetheless.  

After a long pause, Torao nodded his head slowly.  

“That’s great!” Luffy grinned widely, and Zoro felt his chest loosen a bit from the weird little knot that had developed the past week.  

He dropped next to Luffy and leaned his head against his arms, doing his best to ignore the dry grass that pricked at the bare skin of his back. He let his friend’s excited chatter wash over him as he dozed, coming in and out of consciousness every now and then to bits and pieces of the pair’s very one-sided conversation.  

True to his prediction, Luffy did eventually realize how cold it was outside, and he made a real ruckus about Usopp going to get him his coat. Naturally, Luffy couldn’t go get it himself, because that would mean leaving Torao. Usopp gave in, of course- he knew a losing battle when he saw one- but he didn’t go quietly.  

Fortunately, Zoro was very familiar with their shenanigans, so it didn’t interrupt his nap too much.  

What did wake him up fully was hearing Killer say, “Time to go back,” in that gravelly voice of his, and the feeling of Luffy’s body going taut as a bowstring next to him. He nearly reached out to grab Luffy by the bottom of his coat, but his friend relaxed enough a second later that Zoro refrained from doing so.  

“You do look pretty tired, Torao,” Luffy said, head tilting in concern.  

Zoro sat up to peer over Luffy’s shoulder just in time to see Torao smother a yawn behind his hand. Luffy reached over to adjust the scarf around the omega’s neck, hands lingering a little longer than necessary, and Zoro realized it was a very familiar yellow.  

Killer pulled Law up beneath the armpits and hauled him to his feet. “Later.” He nodded shortly at them and the trio from Swallow Island left for their rooms.  

Luffy stared at the entryway for a long moment after that, but eventually he heaved a big sigh and flopped back onto Zoro’s lap.  

“I wanted to see him longer.” 

“Yeah, well, he just got done with his heat. Give it a little more time. He’ll probably be feeling a lot better tomorrow.”  

Luffy blew his bangs out of his face. “Yeah. Tomorrow.” 

Life went on.  

Law expected things to change drastically after his uncomfortable realization about his feelings, but actually, not much changed at all.  

Law went about his days as usual, doing required activities with Ace, and not so required activities with the Straw Hats. The murder attempts trailed off- probably due to the heightened security around Law specifically. Who was going to try and kill him when there was always at least two Straw Hats with him? No one, apparently. He supposed that it would be too risky. Any attempts on his life could either endanger the Straw Hats or be witnessed by them. The petty grievances also simmered down, so that was nice.  

He still got plenty of dirty looks and snide comments, but he could handle those.  

Before he knew it, three more weeks sped on by. Winter had finally arrived, and a thin blanket of snow covered the mountain. The days were cold, and the nights positively freezing. Kidd refused to go anywhere that didn’t have a massive roaring fireplace for him to sit in front of.  

With that stipulation, they didn’t get outdoors much. Every once in a while, Law convinced his protectors to go to the stables and visit the horses. It was the one concession to being out of the palace that Kidd would make.  

Perhaps Kidd allowed it because Vic could get Kidd’s blood pumping by trying to attack him in close quarters.  

Okay, it usually wasn’t that bad. The two of them were on much better terms after everything, but she did still try and bite him when she got annoyed. Of course, Kidd had an almost magical way of annoying any horse into trying to bite him.  

Killer didn’t mind the stables and was willing to listen to Gan Fall’s instructions on Kamazo’s care. It was kind of a relief for the stable staff when he and Kidd were around because it meant the two alphas were dealing with the horses, and the staff didn’t have to worry about getting trampled to death by two of the world’s angriest steeds.  

And of course, Law loved spending time with Tang. The fact that he couldn’t ride her much in these conditions was hardly a downside to him. He was perfectly content with standing next to her and brushing the tangles out of her mane.  

Still, Law was sick of spending the majority of his days cooped up in the palace. He longed to go out on the terrace without freezing his ass off, or anywhere really.  

Some of the gardens were still open during winter- still thriving through the use of either greenhouses or magic. Law would’ve liked walking through those, except everyone and their mother seemed to have the same idea. No matter what time they went, or which garden they chose, they were always swarming with crowds. He may have been tired of staying indoors, but he’d take it over the endless crowds. Barely.  

He was curled up in a secluded nook in the library, reading about different poultices to relieve muscle pain, when Luffy showed up. He didn’t think much of it. After all, such an occurrence was hardly unusual. The prince normally hunted him down every day.  

“There you are, Torao.” He beamed as he flung himself onto the thick cushions scattered on the floor, landing close enough to Law that he could feel the other’s warmth, despite the heat of the fire nearby.  

In a bid to pretend he was more unaffected than he actually was, Law didn’t look up from his book.  

Not that this deterred the alpha in the slightest. He scooted even closer until his arm was pressed against Law’s leg. It sent sparks up his spine, and Law had to remind himself to breathe.  

“You’ve got another date with Ace tomorrow,” Luffy blurted out, oblivious to the frown that tugged at the other’s lips. “Me and Sabo were talking, and we thought it would be fun to go into town again. They’ve got great stuff there this time of year- everything’s all decorated for Yuletide, and there’s hot chocolate and cider, and lots of yummy treats!” 

He grinned up at Law like this was a winning argument. Truthfully, Law didn’t care much for any of that. What did he need decorations and treats for? He had work to do.  

On the other hand, his insides went all warm and wiggly when the alpha looked at him like that. And seriously, how pathetic was that?! A simple smile shouldn’t have such a strong effect on him.  

But gods, what an effect it had.  

He found himself nodding in assent before he knew it, and Luffy grinned even wider. Naturally, Law could do nothing besides scowl at his own foolishness a second later, but he wasn’t about to try and take it back. Luffy would pout at him if he did, and Law would find himself agreeing to whatever he wanted all over again. It really wasn’t worth the headache.  

Besides, it would be….nice to go into town again. Last time hadn’t been so bad, anyway. Aside from the special torture that had been letting Nami and Sanji shove endless piles of clothes at him to try on, but at least it would be something different than his monotonous days at the castle.  

If Law was lucky, maybe he could figure out a way to let him down to the river. Although that was a bit of a long shot- from what he’d seen, it was only accessible at the bottom of that massive gorge, and there was little chance he’d have time to get down there. Not to mention, he didn’t even know if they could make it down there in the first place. You know, aside from plummeting from the lifts.  

In any case, he had to at least see if it was possible. It was the only large water source he’d come across since arriving on the mainland. It was definitely connected to the ocean somehow, so if there was even the slightest chance of finding sea nettles there, he had to take it.  

There was no other option.  

Kidd opened their bedroom door the next morning, sneering automatically at having to open it after the loud knocking that had woken them.  

Nami, undeterred as ever, merely pushed past him with a no-nonsense look on her face. “Why are you still in bed? We have places to be. Up and at ‘em!” She stomped up to the bed and dropped a package onto Law’s legs.  

“Put that on,” she ordered. “I expect to see all of you at the lifts in twenty minutes.”  

And with that, she swept out of the room, slamming the door behind her.  

Kidd growled but moved to the closet to grab something to wear. Killer rolled out of bed with a quiet groan, stepping carefully over Sugar and Monet on his way to the bathroom.  

Law rubbed the grit out of his eyes and sat up, frowning at the box that Nami had unceremoniously dumped on him. With a flutter of her wings and some waddling, Lami came over to join him in puzzling over it. Unlike Law however, she had no qualms about opening the package. Whereas he treated it as some ticking time bomb, liable to explode in his face, she merely saw it as a mystery she could easily get into.  

Using a webbed foot and her beak, she untied the silvery bow that held it shut. Then she pried the top half away from the bottom with her beak and nearly flung both off the bed in her attempt to separate them. If not for Law’s intervention, she would have.  

But of course, he caught them before that could happen, and she used him to pry them apart more effectively.  

With a satisfied honk, she sat back to survey a job well done.  

And Law… tried not to grimace too hard at what he saw inside.  

The lifts weren’t as busy as their first trip into town had been, but there were still plenty of people willing to make the journey. As before, they managed to get a carriage all to themselves. Perks of traveling with royalty, even if Sabo was the only prince there with them this time.  

Luffy and Ace had chosen to head into town ahead of them, and Law tried to convince himself that he wasn’t disappointed by that.  

He settled in to watch the scenery pass by quietly, only pausing every now and then to try and settle Kidd and Killer’s nerves. The gorge was the worst part. He practically had to peel the alphas’ fingers off the seat cushions to keep them from molding that way permanently.  

One white-knuckled lift ride later, they all stumbled into town safely. Sabo and Nami hustled them along as fast as they could through the snow and the crowds.  

Law appreciated that they were trying to get them somewhere warmer, but it was kind of fucking difficult to keep up. The streets were relatively clear of snow, and the parts that weren’t shoveled had well trod pathways from other people’s boots to clear the way, but they were still slippery. Not to mention, Law was fucking freezing. Even with the winter boots Merry had made for him, his feet felt like they were turning to ice. Gods forbid he stub his toes on something- they’d probably break right off.  

Eventually, Nami herded them into a large building that wasn’t teeming with people inside. The doors closed behind them and shut out most of the noise of the street, and Law felt like he could breathe a little better.

“Ah, Ms. Nami. So good to see you again. The rest of your party is this way,” a prim looking man gestured down the hallway. Someone else gathered up their coats, although Law and his protectors were reluctant to let theirs go.  

Nami rolled her eyes at their hesitation. “Just take them off already. It’s plenty warm in here.” 

Easy for her to say- she was used to this kind of weather. Still, they knew it was pointless to try and argue with her about it, so they handed them over.  

As they followed her down the hall, Law tried to figure out where they were. He hadn’t paid much attention to the outside of the building, so he wasn’t sure what this place was. They passed a lot of closed doors, but through the windows of some, he saw people working in offices. Not the kind of place he expected the Straw Hats to be, much less take him for some stupid fake date with Ace.  

Eventually, they came upon a nondescript door, and it was only obvious that the rest of the Straw Hats were behind it because of all the noise.  

The prim man opened the door, letting out a wave of sound, punctuated by loud greetings.  

“Torao! You made it!” Luffy pulled him into the room with a grin.  

“What’s that supposed to mean? Of course, he made it- I brought him!” Nami swiped at him, but he ducked with a laugh.  

Law barely noticed.  

He was too busy gaping at the room around them, trying to reconcile what he was seeing with what he knew was going on outside.  

They were in a greenhouse. A massive greenhouse with some of the strangest plants he’d ever seen in person. There were Venus fly traps, a myriad of plants he knew were poisonous when ingested, and some with blooms larger than his torso. Through the glass, he could see the snowy town as a light flurry began to fall.  

Luffy tugged Law along by the arm, barely able to contain his glee. “Do you like it?” His fingers tightened minutely around Law’s elbow for a split second- so quick and light, Law questioned whether it really happened.  

He nodded dumbly, and Luffy’s lips split into a wide smile. 

“Good…. That’s good….” he said quietly, almost as if he was speaking to himself. Then louder, “I thought you’d like it- you like the gardens back in the castle. But those are always so crowded these days, and I know you hate crowds. So, I was talking to the others about where we might be able to go instead, and Usopp came up with this place! They do research on all the plants here, so that’s why there isn’t a bunch of people around. Normally, this place is closed to the public, but they made an exception when we asked. Usopp knows the guy in charge of this place really well, so they’re letting us hang out here today!” 

Well, that explained the weird plants.  

He tried not to blush at the knowledge that Luffy had gone to the trouble of finding this place just for him. Law hadn’t even mentioned how much he missed the gardens. Was he really that obvious? Or was Luffy just that attuned to him? 

Unusual as they were, he had to admit, it was really nice to walk around the odd plants growing in the greenhouse. Usopp took it upon himself to guide them through it, explaining what each plant was and narrating his own fictional adventures against them.  

At some point, Law got caught up inspecting a particular one with flowers that actually bloomed in the shape of human skulls, and the rest of the group moved on without him. Not too far- he could still see and hear them further down the row- just far enough that he had a little more privacy.

A warm weight against his back revealed that he wasn’t as alone as he thought. 

Luffy propped his chin over Law’s shoulder. “That’s a creepy flower. Usopp told me it smelled gross, so I tried to smell it last time I was here, and it was so yucky I almost threw up.” 

Of course, he did. What a Luffy thing to do.  

The alpha’s arms wrapped around his waist, and Law nearly forgot how to breathe. Which was stupid- who the hell forgot how to breathe? 

“You look nice,” Luffy said as he nuzzled the side of Law’s neck. His fingers traced the pattern of sunflowers embroidered into his sash with golden thread. It felt like ages ago since their first trip into town, when Nami and Sanji had forced Law into the very robes he wore now. “You always look nice, but today you look extra nice. I like how you look in my colors.” And if the words weren’t enough to make the omega believe him, the pheromones that oozed satisfaction would have done it.  

It was probably for the best that Law couldn’t speak- at least he had an excuse for why he felt so tongue-tied.  

All too soon, the moment was over. Luffy released him from his embrace to take him by the hand and trot after the others. And if Law’s cheeks were a little more red than the warmth of the greenhouse warranted, everyone was polite enough not to mention it.  

They spent a couple hours at the greenhouse before Nami insisted they leave. She said there was a storm brewing, and if they didn’t head for the lifts right then, there was a very real chance they’d get stranded until after the storm passed. And it was a big storm.  

Law was sad to leave, but he didn’t fancy getting caught out in the blizzard. Nami had a scarily accurate way of predicting the weather, and he didn’t question her judgement one bit on the matter.  

Already, the wind had picked up, whipping the falling snow at them like tiny frozen needles. It was strong enough that the lifts creaked and shook on the ropes, although Sabo assured them that they were perfectly safe. Still, even Law felt his nerves fray a bit with anxiety.  

The lifts were heated, but it wasn’t enough to completely ward off the cold. Luffy had taken it upon himself to try and warm Law up by plastering himself along his side. The omega’s other side was inhabited by Kidd, who was sandwiched on the other end by Killer. Zoro was on the opposite side of Luffy, but unlike the rest of them, he didn’t huddle near anyone for warmth. Apparently, the cold didn’t affect him as much as it did them. Lucky bastard.  

Despite the temperature, Law still found himself nodding off on the ride back up the mountain.  

He jolted awake when the gondola jerked to a stop- harshly enough that they were nearly knocked out of their seats. It took him a second to remember where he was and where they were going. They had stopped midway across the gorge, the river roaring beneath them.  

“What was that?!” Usopp exclaimed, clinging desperately to the back of his bench.  

“Now, now. Let’s not panic. I’m sure everything is fine. Sometimes the lifts get stopped while the workers take care of things,” Robin said, laying a calming hand on Chopper’s shoulder.  

Brook nodded along emphatically. “Right! We’ll be moving along in no time!” 

Law wanted to believe them, but the furrow in Luffy’s brow concerned him. Luffy, he came to realize over their time together, had very good instincts.  

“Franky, would you mind checking it out?” Ace asked, jutting his chin towards the main doors.  

“On it.” He jumped up and headed over. Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji were right behind him.  

They all braced for the blast of cold air when he opened one door to check over the rigging on the roof. It didn’t take long for him to crawl back inside and shut the door with a disturbingly flat expression on his normally animated face.  

“We have to get off of this carriage.” 

There was only a strangled moment of silence before Nami squeaked out, “What?” 

Franky wasted no time waiting for them to listen to him. He immediately pried open a hatch beneath one of the benches and pulled out a few emergency flares. Then he hurried over to the emergency exit on the short end of the carriage that was closest to the next carriage. “We have to go. The rope’s fraying. Something must have happened to the preservation spells on it. We’ve only got a couple minutes before this thing drops. Let’s go!” 

He threw the emergency door open and shot the first flare, leaving a thin line of smoke and red light that faded all too quickly through the thick snowfall.  

The gap between the carriages wasn’t particularly large, but it sure seemed more daunting when they were hundreds of feet in the air, with a blizzard raging around them.  

Franky crossed with no problem and opened the emergency exit to the other carriage. The passengers inside looked concerned but confused. He supposed they didn’t have their own Franky to conveniently give their carriage a look over when something unusual happened.  

Everyone in the unstable carriage did their best to hurry without jostling the gondola too much. It wasn’t easy, especially with the storm blowing heavy gusts of wind and snow. Not to mention, they weren’t exactly a small party. The Straw Hats, Law, Kidd, Killer, the princes, and their guards were no small sum. They could only evacuate so fast.  

Unfortunately, Law had been on the opposite end of the carriage, so he was going to be one of the last ones off. He was honestly less worried about his own safety than Kidd and Killer’s. Neither of them enjoyed being over the gorge while the lifts were secure, much less when they were in real danger of plummeting to their deaths.  

He pushed his friends forward as everyone scrambled to exit the carriage, until they reached the door at last. They were the last three inside the carriage. Everyone else had made it safely across, except for Luffy and Zoro who were ferrying people across the gap.  

Kidd went first, jaw clenched as he jumped the short distance from one gondola to the other. The carriage rocked dangerously beneath Law’s feet, but he swallowed his fear. They were almost off. Everything would be fine.  

Killer’s knuckles were white as he gripped the short metal railing by the exit. He could hear the alpha breathing heavily through his mask and the wind howling around them.  

And then he heard it.  

A loud snap that his body recognized before his brain did.  

He shoved Killer hard, grateful when Zoro lunged forward to grab his friend by the arm as the carriage pitched hard to one side, while Law went tumbling back in the direction he’d started.  

It all happened so fast.  

He heard a shout and felt Luffy’s arms wrap around him again to cushion his head. Felt the impact of hitting the other end of the carriage. Heard the screams from the other gondola.  

And then the weightlessness of being caught in freefall.