Work Text:
The morning after was… difficult.
Law made it through the evening after Doflamingo’s fall on sheer adrenaline—and more than a little bit of spite—helping to treat injuries once the remaining Straw Hats gathered in the former toy soldier’s cabin. Law was the only doctor present, so he’d shoved his own pain, exhaustion, and emotional turmoil aside, falling into the familiar rhythms of cleaning, stitching, and dressing wounds—including his own. In some ways, the distraction was welcome because it kept him from thinking about the day’s events.
Once everyone’s wounds were treated—Law’s own and Luffy’s requiring the most attention—the adrenaline drained out of him, leaving Law feeling hollow, and he had unceremoniously passed out on the floor of the cabin. He woke up in the grey hours of the early dawn with a gasp, the echoes of gunshots and laughter still echoing in his ears. He jolted upright but immediately curled in on himself as the gunshot wounds on his chest and abdomen protested loudly. He took a moment to catch his breath, willing his heart rate to calm down, before looking around the dark cabin. Everyone else was still asleep. Someone had covered him in a blanket at some point, he noted absently.
His thoughts immediately turned to the events of the previous day—traitorous brain—and he knew he had no chance of falling back asleep, no matter how much his body desperately craved it for healing. Insomnia was an old friend, after all. With a weary sigh, he grabbed Kikoku and used her to stand. His vision spun as he unsteadily made it to his feet, and he forced himself to breathe in through his nose and out through his mouth until the dizziness passed; he knew he shouldn’t be up and moving with the serious wounds he had sustained the previous day, but Law had never been a very good patient.
Besides, in the wake of his nightmare, the walls of the cabin were starting to feel like they were pressing in on Law like the walls of the treasure chest Cora-san had placed him in thirteen years before. His skin crawled, his stomach turned, and he could feel his heartrate picking up again; he braced himself against the wall with his good arm and stumbled as quickly as he could to the door, nearly tripping over himself once he got the door open and the cool morning air hit him in the face. He managed to shut the door behind him and lurched forward into the pre-dawn.
He made it a half dozen steps from the cabin before he doubled over and vomited, and it seemed like every nerve in his body was screaming against the violent spasms wracking his frame until he was left dry heaving. Once his body stopped shaking, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and glanced back at the cabin, thankful that no one seemed to have noticed his breakdown.
Swallowing against the taste of bile in his throat, he tried to summon a Room to grab some water, but the blue dome faltered and blinked out of existence almost immediately after appearing. Law’s shoulders slumped; he’d overextended his powers during the fight with no regard to the cost, considering he hadn’t expected to see the end of the day. Now that he was alive the morning after, he would be paying the consequences for the overuse.
He would be paying the consequences for everything he’d done to get to this point.
Once he felt steady enough to start walking again, Law trudged forward into the field of flowers and walked until his legs simply gave out from under him. It wasn’t actually that far from the cabin, considering how weak he still was, but it provided enough distance for him to breathe again, to not feel confined by the walls. He rested Kikoku on the ground to his left and looked out toward the still sleeping city.
He should have known that Doflamingo’s defeat wouldn’t simply cause the nightmares the end; trauma didn’t work like that. Rather, Law felt like an exposed nerve, raw and jagged, as the confrontation had dredged up every painful memory he’d spent the last thirteen years trying to keep bottled up.
As he sat by himself in the cool, quiet morning, he found himself wondering what Cora-san would think of him now. Law had come to Dressrosa with every intention of killing Doflamingo—and if he hadn’t been able to do it himself, he’d created a failsafe that would have resulted in Doflamingo’s death at Kaido’s hands. Cora-san hadn’t been able to pull the trigger that day on Minion Island because, despite everything, Doflamingo was still his brother and Cora-san had loved him. He’d wanted to arrest his brother and turn him over to the Marines to face justice. Law, after Flevance, didn’t believe in justice the way Cora-san had. Law knew he was more like Doflamingo in that way, broken and cruel; perhaps part of Law would always be that ten-year-old boy with bombs strapped to his chest looking for destruction.
He could have pulled the trigger.
But he’d been too weak.
The weak don’t get to choose how they die.
Doflamingo’s lessons continued to rear their ugly head, as Law had gone into Dressrosa expecting to die and couldn’t even do that right.
But with Doflamingo in Marine custody, hadn’t Cora-san’s ambition been fulfilled? Wasn’t that what he’d wanted all along?
Law sighed and rubbed his face through his hands. He was so tired.
Law found himself drifting between semi-consciousness and wakefulness, memories playing in his mind’s eye. Of his family. Of the Family. Of Cora-san. Of his crew. Of Luffy.
Law started when a familiar figure sat down next to him, pressing into his personal space. Law frowned when he realized the sun was starting to rise over the ruined capital city; he hadn’t noticed the passage of time.
“Torao,” Luffy said quietly. Law was surprised to see him; after treating his wounds, Law had thought the younger captain would be sleeping for days after the damage he’d taken during the fight. Then again, Law should also be sleeping for days considering his own wounds and here he was.
Law didn’t trust his voice so said nothing, eyes turning back to the city. It would start waking up at any moment to face the herculean task of rebuilding ahead.
“You look cold,” Luffy said after a few quiet moments.
Law blinked. He hadn’t realized it until that moment, but he was cold—though he wasn’t sure how much of it was the cool morning air and how much of it was just him. “I’m okay,” he replied finally.
Luffy seemed unimpressed with the answer so scooted closer, radiating warmth. Law, for some unknown reason, let him. It was easier than fighting him on something so small, he told himself. They were both exhausted and wounded, after all. Luffy had curled himself around Law’s side, though he was being careful with Law’s injured arm.
“How long have you been out here?”
“Awhile.”
“Couldn’t sleep?”
“I don’t sleep much.” He knew the Straw Hats had noticed his insomnia in the days he’d spent on their ship. He glanced at his companion out of the corner of his eye; Luffy, on the other hand, never seemed to have problems sleeping. “What about you?”
Luffy shrugged and scratched the back of his head, a bit embarrassed. “I woke up and saw Torao was gone.”
“You came to find me?”
“Mhm!” Luffy grinned, and Law’s breath caught in his throat as he, for the briefest of moments, was looking at Cora-san. (“Law, I love you!”) Then it was Luffy again, and Law didn’t know what to do with that.
Law hummed in response, not quite sure what to say. Luffy seemed content just to sit, though, and after a time, the sounds of the waking city started to echo across the field. Law felt his eyes beginning to droop. He wasn’t cold anymore. He blinked a few times but found himself melting into the figure wrapped around him, a warm comfort like Cora-san’s coat had once been.
“S’okay, Torao. I’ve got you,” Luffy murmured as Law slipped into sleep.
Robin awakened slowly, sleep trying to keep its hooks in her after the previous day’s events; she slowly sat up, minding her wounded back. Once she was upright, she assessed the one-room cabin and noted the numerous sleeping figures in the dawn light pooling in through the windows, warmth in her chest as she assessed her nakama, alive after yet another miraculous victory.
Except, she noted with some surprise, the two missing captains. Blankets were discarded haphazardly where both men had fallen asleep the night before.
She pushed herself to her feet. She glanced around once more, and no, neither man was inside. Hm. They couldn’t have gotten far, considering their wounds. As she looked around, she caught Zoro’s one open eye; he silently nodded toward the door. Robin smiled back at him, and he shut his eye again.
Robin carefully maneuvered through the maze of sleeping bodies on the cabin floor and opened the front door. A short distance away two forms were lying on the ground. Alarm jolted through Robin; what if their wounds had reopened? She tapped into her Fruit, manifesting an eye on a flower near the pair…
And all tension left her body.
Both men were fast asleep, Luffy curled protectively around Law, one hand on Law’s gauze-wrapped arm and the other on his hip, pulling him close.
Robin smiled. She’d ask Zoro to bring them back inside after a bit.
The Going Luffy Senpai was as ridiculous as its captain, and Law had little interest in joining in the festivities after the formation of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet. Zoro had roped him into the celebration despite his numerous protestations, but once he’d finally extricated himself, he managed to find a quiet spot away from the chaos. He found himself looking back toward Dressrosa, though it was long out of view.
He shouldn’t have been surprised when Nico Robin came up next to him. “You achieved your goal by taking down Doflamingo, didn’t you? What are you going to do next?”
He brushed her off, brusque, mostly because he didn’t have an answer. He retreated to another quiet part of the ship and rested his elbows on the railing. After sleeping through most of the first day after the battle, he’d spent the last two days thinking, ignoring Luffy’s protestations that “Torao thinks too much!”
But his conversation with Sengoku earlier that day had shaken something loose in him, a fragile something he’d kept locked away since Lami collapsed at the festival.
“Don’t try to find a reason for somebody’s love.”
Law had spent so long certain that Cora-san had saved him because of his name. If Cora-san had saved him because he was a so-called enemy of the gods, that meant Law had a purpose. It meant he had something to live for, a reason for all the pain he endured. He could make Cora-san’s sacrifice mean something. It meant he could pay him back.
If Cora-san had saved Law out of love, what did Law do with that?
“If you really want to do something in his memory, you and I should always remember him. That’s good enough. And you live your life as you like. That’s what he would say.”
Law sighed and turned around, leaning back against the railing. He absently ran his fingers over his bandaged arm and looked up at the blue sky. He felt a bit like his arm, torn apart and put messily back together, never quite the same, never quite whole again.
Live your life as you like.
What did Law want?
Law hadn’t expected to live past thirteen, and yet he had. Every day felt like borrowed time that he didn’t know what to do with, so he ended up spending it living for others, from studying medicine to become like his parents to seeking the Family’s approval and then living to avenge Cora-san. Law didn’t know where others’ expectations ended and Law began. In the last twenty-six years, had there ever really been a Trafalgar Law? Or just a mosaic of other people in the shape of a man?
“Torao!”
Law let out a startled oof as Luffy sprang at him, wrapping himself around Law, all frenetic energy—yet somehow also careful of Law’s injuries.
“What, Straw Hat-ya?” Law asked, exasperated—and, okay, maybe a little bit amused.
Luffy grinned into Law’s face. “Hi!”
Law waited for more, but Luffy just kept grinning. “That’s it? You assailed me just to say hi?”
“Yep!”
Law rolled his eyes, though he felt his lips twitching upward. Traitors. “Hi,” he finally said back.
The grin he received in return was blinding, and that fragile piece of something that had come loose in his chest warmed.
Luffy unwrapped himself from Law but grabbed onto his hand. He dropped to the deck, back against the railing, and tugged Law’s hand until the older captain joined him. He immediately launched into a story about Bartolomeo’s wall of Straw Hat bounties and the change in Sanji’s poster. He was gesturing wildly—but he hadn’t let go of Law’s hand.
Law was transfixed.
Oh, he suddenly realized as he watched the way his tattooed fingers slotted in Luffy’s smaller hands as though they belonged. That fragile something he’d kept locked away for the last sixteen years felt an awful lot like hope.
Live your life as you like. That’s what he would say.
And here, at this moment on the Going Luffy Senpai, it felt an awful lot like a new beginning.
fin