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His ship is infested. Infested with Straw Hat pirates intent on either pulling the entire sub apart just to make sense of its workings, something Ikkaku was not helping to deter, or working with Shachi on some sort of rapid growth fertilizer that might just turn all the hydroponic vegetables sentient. And that was just two of them. Nico- ya , blessedly, only haunted his personal library. But the real danger was the stressed out and half crazed swordsman who seemed hellbent on cutting the Polar Tang in half and injuring all of Law's men in training bouts that always turned bloody.
Not the homecoming Law was expecting, by a long shot. He'd really only gotten about half an hour of peace to trace his fingers wistfully along cold metal as he paced the familiar paths of his home and spread his haki as wide as it would allow in the strangest version of a hug he could manage. His aching longing for this slightly chilly and echoing sub he loved with all his heart finally easing as he wrapped the Tang up within his haki laden senses. Which was precisely when it had picked up on whatever Robo- ya and Ikkaku we're doing in the engine room.
His engineer pulling things apart to test or repair them was one thing, the cyborg being curious and removing things while they cruised beneath the water was something else entirely. With no desire to end up listing helplessly in a Grand Line current, which this far had proven to be just as violent as the waves above, Law had threatened a slew of maimings if it continued. His own crew knew the threat wasn't idle and from what he'd been told the Straw Hats had learned about his history of using his powers for chaotic punishment from them.
Let them try and test his patience.
With that possible catastrophe averted, Law had gone to fulfill the promise he'd made on Zou to Mugiwara- ya , hopeful that nothing else would happen. Which is why, lying on his back four days later in his bunk, hat resting on his face to cover the deep scowl, Law is ready to murder someone. And it won't fucking be his own crew.
An hour before he'd leapt, crewmates and Pedro in his ludicrously stretched arms, off of Zunisha, Luffy had snatched Law into one of the Mink's huts they'd offered their crews and hugged him tight until he'd promised to try sleeping. The bangs and jolts knocking his ship around beneath the waves were not helping him succeed in that. As if he didn't have enough trouble sleeping as it was.
But this was what his ally had warned him about as well in those few brief moments they'd gotten. So of course Law had known it was coming, thought that by now the coping methods he'd offered to all of them before entering the sub would be enough. More than one of his own crew had reacted adversely for a week or two before settling in and the wild crew had only had four days, so this was to be expected. Submarines could be claustrophobic, it was an adjustment process. But it wasn't just that and no coping mechanisms he knew could help, since he himself had done so poorly being separated from his crew, his family.
"He's hiding it, it's gonna be a problem for you Tora-o. Just let him train and work it out. Until we get Sanji back Zoro won't act completely normal, he never does when we separate. We'll be as fast as we can."
Fisting his hand around the brim of his hat, Law growls and pushes it back on his head, his bloodshot eyes glaring out of a deadpan face. Luffy had offered that warning and suggestion, but this was way too much. He needs Bepo and his sanity. Right this instant.
Spreading his haki out to locate his navigator, he opens a Room and with a 'woosh' the air displaces and a small pencil spins on the mattress. Law himself winds up landing on Bepo's desk and sighs as the Mink yelps. Fuck he's too tired for this. Luckily Luffy isn't actually here to see how right he was, but he also hates it because his head is fucking pounding from even this much.
"Captain! What… what's going on?! Are you okay?!" Bepo stands and his hands hover above Law's shoulders as he rubs the heel of his hand between his eyes.
"It's fine, Bepo. Don't worry about it, I just missed." He chooses to ignore the way the Mink reminds him that he doesn't actually miss, or rarely has since their childhood. There's too much on his mind. "You said there's an island we have to stop at before Wano, right? How far off is it?"
Leaning around his skinny body Bepo pulls a map out from behind Law and flaps it open. The scribbly map shows their route in as much detail as those massive paws can manage. Along the path are marks that he's made showing where they currently are and estimations of their arrival in certain spots based on the cruising speed they'd set. "We'll need to fuel up and stock supplies there, it should be tomorrow mid-afternoon when we make it. We have the fuel reserves to get there a little quicker if the currents stay on our side. Did you want to speed up?"
"Most definitely. Any indication of what sort of island it'll be when we land? I'm hoping for something with a big enough port for a bar. If that fucking meathead doesn't get off our sub soon he'll cut a hole in it even with the practice swords. Not to mention the injuries and the noise ." If Zoro- ya and his pent up frustration can't find a way to burn all of it off through sparring matches with his now battered crew, then maybe some mild alcohol poisoning will help.
Incapacitate him, before Law does it himself.
As Bepo launches into what he knows about the island, Law leans against him and he can more sense the Mink's smile than see it with the way his face burrows into thick white fur. It sounds as though this is a plan that may work. A rarity surrounded by Straw Hats. As tired as he is, the worn out captain doesn't even notice when his friend stops talking and just wraps him up in a warm hug.
----
How the hell anyone could live like this, Zoro doesn't know but he checks a box he never thought he would off his list of things to never experience again. Travel by submarine. Honestly fuck this very much. He should have just gone after that perverted, dumbass, useless, fucking Cook with the rest of them.
No.
No. He's not thinking about that turn tail idiot or his desertion or the look that had been on Nami's face when she'd first told them or the confused and hurt look on Luffy's when he'd first heard. Not thinking about any of that.
Which is stupidly hard, because stuck in a damn metal can with no fresh air and no sunlight Zoro's slowly losing his mind. Every time he wakes up he feels as though he can't breathe, can't see. Claustrophobia wasn't something he thought he suffered from, will never admit to if asked by anyone about the heaving gasps for air he sometimes finds himself needing to take when the walls creep closer. When the cold seeps too far into his bones.
His heart misses the Thousand Sunny so badly he finds her in his dreams; can feel the grass against his skin, the sun warming his head and ears. His home is further away than it's been since Thriller Bark. It aches all the more that the scent of Sanji's cigarettes linger in those dreams even if the Cook's absence is a black blot on an otherwise peaceful dreamscape.
That's the reason he finds himself in the horribly cramped little workout room breaking training dummies as fast as Ikkaku and Franky can fix them with practice swords . Last time he'd used one of these was his childhood, but Law had opened one of his ghostly ass Rooms up and unsheathed the hissing and shrieking cursed nodachi that routinely leaned on his bony shoulder when Zoro had put up a resistance to it. Something about cutting the yellow sub in two pieces with his 'recklessness'. Bullshit.
When he runs out of practice dummies and can't stand the wait, Zoro uses whatever Heart Pirate, besides the fluffy polar bear who had run away with a squeak, he can grab as a replacement. Thus far it was working to distract him, but as the days grew longer and the passing of days blurred in darkness broken only by artificial light, he found himself thinking of dangerous things. Like the list of things he wants to break on the Cook's body. Or all the things he wants to tell him.
How badly he wants to wrap his arms around that strong, lithe body and kiss him stupid.
Just as he lifts a practice sword to slam it into… something, a voice breaks through his pain. "It's past midnight Roronoa, for fuck sake can't you give it a rest?"
Head turning to glance at whichever of Tora- o 's goofy ass men is lying to him, Zoro finds Penguin leaning against the hatch frame. His scrawny, heavily tattooed body is on almost full display with his boilersuit off. Just sporting a loose tank rucked up over his ink scrawled stomach and a pair of boxers with his hat in his left hand, scarred right arm braced against metal. His black hair is wildly bed mussed and blue eyes, so like the Cook's, are hazy and squinted under pierced eyebrows. He was definitely asleep until recently.
"Can't tell time in this weird ass can." Zoro gruffs at him, dropping the wooden swords into the small bucket near where the training dummy should be. As he grabs his own swords and secures them at his side once more, Kitetsu snaps a bite at him out of protest. Always so grouchy.
Pinching at the bridge of his nose, the older pirate heaves a groan. "There are clocks everywhere . Fuck it, c'mon. Follow me, Cap'll start slicing us all up if you keep making that noise during Night Watch and fuck up everyone's sleep any more tonight."
Smashing the stupid ass hat with his name on it back onto his head with all the grace of someone who's soul was ready to leave their body, Penguin crooks a hand for Zoro to follow and disappears through the hatch. Still working on placating his pissed off cursed sword as it hums at him, Zoro nearly heads in the wrong direction when he follows through the hatch. Only to hear a bark of, "Oh come the fuck on!" just before a hand grabs his collar and yanks him backwards.
----
Apparently, at some point in the course of his life, Law pissed off a Grand Line god he knew nothing about… somehow. That was the only way he could explain the series of disasters his life had always been, leading up to the most current one that was leading him into a whole ass forest beside Zoro- ya . Any attempt he'd made at convincing the unfairly stone cold sober, after two whole fucking kegs of liquor, swordsman to think about his decision had fallen on deaf ears. That meant the only way to keep him in one piece was to go with him on his ridiculous hunt.
Leaving Penguin and Shachi in charge of wrangling their crewmates and the remaining three Straw Hats, Law had stormed after Zoro- ya . Everything had gone wrong since then.
He'd heard tales of the man's infamous lack of direction from many of the Straw Hats before but had never witnessed it in person until now. The lack of any direction took them deep into the jungle on the island, far enough that even opening a Room around the country didn't show Law where the Tang was. If it wasn't for his own senses they would have been completely fucked, add that to how vague the swordsman was being about everything and the captain was furious.
"They said it wasn't far. I dunno why the forest keeps moving around on us." Zoro growled when Law's patience finally snapped, causing him to snarl.
Maybe because he’d spent a highly traumatic and memorable part of his life being manhandled and abused, Law made it a personal rule long ago to never hit someone out of anger when they weren’t attacking him. But in this moment his regrets about that oath along with his hippocratic oath are chafing. Because Seas help him, Zoro might not make it back to his allied captain at this rate no matter what he'd promised Luffy.
Heaving a heavy sigh and grasping at the few remaining marbles left rattling around in his exhausted mind, Law pops open a Room. It takes quite the effort, an effort it should not be taking if not for his sleep deprivation interfering, but he stretches it out across the entire island and groans.
"You cannot be serious about chasing after this bounty, can you?" He attempts, watching Zoro glancing around at the blue sphere now tinting the air ever so slightly.
"Of course! You told me you didn't want me roughin' up your crewmates or your sub. Why not get it all out and get some beli while we're at it?" His grin is entirely unfair in that it's both childish and slightly endearing. No wonder poor Black Leg- ya divested himself of sense and fell for it.
Tattooed fingers flexing, wishing to wrap around that neck and throttle Zoro- ya until a few braincells can fucking manage to fire up in head for once, Law Shambles them near the absolute hovel these bandits lived in. Over the course of his life he's personally lived in places much worse than this. Not the least of which was a box in the junk heap of Spider Miles after crawling out from beneath a pile of corpses. But to imagine someone worth any amount of bounty that would be worth their time actually living here is laughable .
In fact Law finds himself snorting.
"This is a fucking waste of time. You want a fight here?" He attempts, ignoring the buzzing in the back of his mind that keeps repeating 'danger' over and over. It's an instinct he'd honed in his childhood but rarely used as an adult, that it was bothering him now sets Law completely on edge. But, naturally, bluffing doesn't work.
"You're just bitchin' for the sake of bitchin' Tora- o . C'mon." Waving a hand to beckon Law after him, the swordsman wastes no time heading straight towards the unidentifiable danger.
"It is not 'bitching for the sake of bitching' if the situation we're about to walk casually into ends with our fucking deaths Zoro- ya . Get your ass back here!" It escapes him in a whispered hiss, but the man doesn't heed it. Something is certainly wrong with this mockery of a situation, but Law can't figure out what it is because appearances are always deceiving.
Spinning on his heel, the swordsman spreads his arms wide and grins. "What's the worst that could happe…"
Naturally, the evening chooses that moment to explode in a storm of bladed weapons that burst through the walls of the shabby building. Flying straight towards both of them.
Great.
----
It's embarrassing as fuck .
Blood oozes through his jacket and haramaki where a blade sticks from his side. How fucked up was his head exactly that he hadn't noticed? Where his instincts were generally very strong it was as if all of them were muddied by emotions. By stress. Because it sure as hell wasn't the alcohol, that was why he'd come out here in the first place, looking for something to numb them after Zou and the submarine. But that wasn't the only thing that had gotten numbed apparently.
Ripping the blade out of his side and twisting, Zoro's knee finds the ground one second and the next he's hauled up from it with a yelp.
"This is the height of stupidity, Zoro- ya . It doesn't go any higher. You're it right now." The taller man spits at him, his fist tightening around the collar of his shirt. He gets to watch as the captain grips the sheath in his teeth and, somehow, draws his nodachi while never once loosening his grip.
Which is the only reason the next barrage of blades miss them, thanks to that shrieking cursed nodachi. Kikoku slides from her sheath absolutely screaming and with each block and slash it turns into a wailing song. One that Kitetsu reacts to by vibrating within it's own sheath, snapping and writhing to be released. But there's no way to pull any of his swords with the way Law has him gripped, tangled up in the taller man's lanky body space he can't break away from.
Men swarm from the building, weapons drawn, guns pointing at the pair. Nothing unusual really, not even the slow laughter that fills the slowly darkening area as a man walks out behind them all. Blades twirl around him lazily, knives and swords of no real apparent value but certainly sharp despite it. His gap toothed grin is as slimy as the rest of him.
"Well, well. What we got 'ere?" The man, the face from the wanted poster now that Zoro can see him clearly, stays behind his men. But that doesn't make him less dangerous by any means, given that every loose weapon in the area starts moving to point at Zoro and Law. "Looks like they findin' some weak ass bounty 'unters an' sendin' 'em mah way. 's an insult really. Must be gettin' real desp'rate, eh boys?"
Every man looking at them starts laughing ominously and Law's grip on his shirt tightens sharply. Devil fruit user, an unknown one. As that information sinks in, they find themselves surrounded by the man's flunkies, swords and scythes and all manner of weapons in their hands. No guns, but do any of them truly need one when their boss can shoot a knife like a projectile?
"Those're some nice swords th' two a ya got. We'll be takin' 'em if ya don' mind. Or even if ya do. Don' mat'er ta us." The man lifts a hand and his eyebrows snap together when neither Zoro nor Law's swords budge an inch. Kitetsu shrieks in rage, rattling within it's sheath while Shusui simply snorts derisively and he can feel the irritation coming off of Law's nodachi, but nothing happens. "Well well well, looks like you ain' so weak as all tha' then. Kill 'em boys, bring me them blades."
They're under attack. They're under attack and Law still won't let him fucking go ! It's borderline infuriating, but part of him has to acknowledge the skill there. Or maybe the captain is just cocky, because he hasn't once used his powers, just his sword.
With the swarm crushing up at them he'll certainly have to do something soon though. Seems to realize it when an axe wielding giant appears beside them, forcing both of them to look up until it feels as though their necks creak.
"How does a guy as big as you even fuckin' hide?" Zoro raises an eyebrow, trying to wrench himself away when the man just laughs.
A spear suddenly slams into the ground between the man's feet, shaking back and forth from the force of its impact. His senses had been so tied into the men rushing forward, on Law gripping him tight, he hadn't thought to expand his haki to sense any arrivals. But suddenly a few of the bandits get scattered and Penguin spins back to his feet, racing over to snatch his spear out of the dirt and slamming his boot into the giant's knee at the same time. A shriek, high pitched for a man so big, rips from him as he drops, knee bending the wrong way as he goes. As the first mate turns back to him his teeth bare at Zoro and he draws the thumb of his free hand across his throat, blue eyes murderous.
Great, more witnesses to his manhandling, he needs to free himself from this as soon as he can before the fight passes him by.
Law however, seems to have different plans, because he still hasn't released him. Instead, the captain's been shifting his stance to fight while blocking Zoro the best he can. Especially his injured side. Doctor through and through, but even if he's rather good with just one hand he's in a dangerous position and walking a razor wire. One miss and he'll be dead, something the surgeon seems to know if the edge to his frame, the tinge to his haki, are anything to go off of.
“Let me go! I thought you said you weren’t tryin’ to kill yourself anymore?” He can't keep the snarl out of his voice, but Zoro does his best to pull out of his grip in the interest of helping them both. This isn't even close to the worst wound he's ever endured.
“I’m not, currently the one putting my life in danger is you .” Law hisses at him, teeth bared and eyes dangerous, his hand does release him though.
“Speaking of which…” A fist slams into his face and Zoro finds himself sprawled on his back out of Law’s grasp as the man loops an arm around his first mate and holds him back. Penguin’s blue eyes shine beneath the darkness that stupid hat casts over them and his body language is nothing but violence and danger.
Given how goofy all of Law’s crew seems in general, he certainly hadn’t expected one of them to have the brass iron stones to hit him, especially not when Penguin had to know that he could kill him with just one slice of a sword. By no means was the older man weak but there was a sizable difference between their levels of strength. Still, all Zoro can do is crack a grin, his teeth bloody thanks to one of his eye teeth slicing the inside of his mouth from the impact. Because he likes people with a bite in their spirit and the bite in the first mate is sharp.
“You’re a guest, don’t push your fucking luck Roronoa.” Penguin growls.
Of all the people on the Heart Pirate’s ship, he had expected the one with the most fight in him to be the massive fucking giant of a former captain that for some reason swore his loyalty to Law on Sabaody. Certainly not one of the damn near forgettable boiler suit wearing weirdos that follow the other Supernova around. Though maybe the title of first mate did carry a little bit of weight on their ship where any title other than Captain meant nothing on Zoro’s own.
It was something to log away for fun later.
“The lot a you gonna be interestin’ ain’ ya? Prob’ly worth a bit.” How he'd forgotten the bandits, whatever kept them from attacking for those brief few seconds during the trio's internal fight, Zoro doesn't know. But his attention is drawn back to the bandit leader, who licks his lips with a grin and that’s about the moment that everything tinges blue and every hair on Zoro’s body stands on end. "Don' go turnin' ya backs now. 'Bout ta get fun roun' 'ere."
“ENOUGH.”
He’d known, just from the rumors and the things that he’d seen at Sabaody two years ago, that Trafalgar Law was dangerous, but after everything fell apart on Dressrosa he had to admit that his opinion on the man’s strength placed him somewhere below Zoro’s own level. Definitely well below his own captain’s after Luffy unveiled that wild looking new Gear he’d developed. This though, this is crazy.
Heads and arms and legs and hands and torsos all spin through the air like a tornado from only a few lazy slices of his nodachi. Screams and sobbing begging color the air as it picks up, heads bobbing just a little lower and slower than everything else, probably to keep an eye on if they'll be sick or something. Not that Zoro was certain how that could work.
To his credit, Law doesn't attach them to anything, not the way that he personally would if he was mad. Just flings them around before stilling everything in the air above them as the leader's head floats in front of his face. Leaning forward, nodachi still howling audibly in his grasp, the golden eyed captain's expression is chilling.
"My patience was non-existent before this encounter." It escapes as a black whisper from Law's throat. Deep and furious in a way that chills Zoro's blood. "I understand you didn't ask for this, that it was one of my own that started it. And for that I apologize. But if you wish to continue, things will get much worse for you from this moment forward, especially if you're thinking of laying a single hand on either of these two with monetary interests in mind. Let me assure you, I'll finish this in ways your mind cannot even begin to fathom."
"Heeeey now, we ain't… let's talk this out brotha. We di'n't want any trouble in the first place. You wanna walk outta here, be my guest. Just be reas'nable now." There's a hint that the man's trying desperately to sound smooth while a low tinge of outright begging runs just beneath it. Zoro can't hide his smirk. But the begging twists when he’s not released immediately and, in typical psycho fashion, his next words are crazy enough to end with him dead. "You might be worth some quick cash but I'll jus' let ya walk free! All easy like if ya want. Straight ta hell ."
A yelp rings out and both Zoro and Law's eyes snap to Penguin twisting away from the sword that had flown straight at his throat. A string of blood running down where the rip in his boiler suit bares his neck and shows how close it had been. A prickling in the back of his brain makes Zoro spin to block the blade that would have run him through, the wound in his side throbbing as he does so. The bandit leader starts cackling, apparently not realizing what he's just done in trying to show off his power.
Suddenly the air all around them gets heavy , something he's never felt in one of Law's Rooms before and Penguin shifts his body closer to Zoro's own, an arm held out like he's about to push him back. Though that stupid hat covers most of his features, the tight clench to his jaw says he's felt this before. Whatever Law's about to do has one of his own men on edge.
A feral growl fills the air and it takes Zoro an embarrassingly long moment to realize it's Law himself it's coming from. Teeth bared, eyes wide and wild, the captain's sword dices everything indiscriminately, the leader's head, body parts, trees, the ground. One moment everything is completely fine and with a shrieking slice the world around himself and Penguin erupts , the only thing saving them being that the first mate shoved them both just out of Law's Room the second he heard his captain growl. The chaos inside that blue tinged sphere is wild and despite horrific noises it’s almost impossible to see anything for the dirt and splinters and trees and fuckin boulders whirling around.
Though he has a hard time truly believing that Law would hurt his first mate the way he surely must be the bandits, based on the screams of pain, he can't say he's unhappy to be out of that nightmare. In fact it reminds him that less than a month ago the spooky ass captain had cut a mountain and a factory completely in half without opening one of those Rooms to do it. Something he himself is capable of pulling off, but that only a small handful of people on the Grand Line, in the world, could accomplish. And not with the precision that had made the Punk Hazard factory land seamlessly back together so the gas couldn't invade it.
By the time everything quiets down there is nothing left but a crater and a still bristling Trafalgar Law. He didn't even break a sweat. Just as a chill runs down Zoro's spine the captain turns his glaring eyes on him and stalks towards him briskly. Much faster than he was expecting from the typically laid back man, but Law's on him within moments and the swordsman watches as Penguin slides out of the way without a second thought, hand pressed to his crimson stained neck.
"Now that was some cool shit." Zoro offers with a wry smirk. The entirely wrong thing to say, but he knew that.
Bracing an arm against his collarbone, Law slams Zoro's back into a tree and the look on his face would likely have Usopp or Chopper foaming at the mouth out of fear by now if they saw it. Hell, there's a chill that runs down his own spine he'll never admit to, facing the ice cold rage so different from his exaggerated reactions before. This had put his own crew at risk, so it figures that his real anger would show itself.
"Fuck you, I've had enough of this bullshit. I promised your fucking captain I would get his crewmates to Wano in one piece. I never said you had to be in one piece during the trip itself and you're making it extremely hard not to lock your body parts in separate rooms for the rest of this voyage." The captain snarls, his voice quiet despite how clearly seething with rage he is. "We stopped on this island to reset the log pose and refuel, I was stupid enough to let the lot of you fools out for some air since you'd never been on a sub before. A brawl at a bar was something I expected, but this is lunacy!"
"Hey, uh, Cap?" Penguin begins, freezing when Law snarls and turns his head to glare at him, arm never easing up it's crushing weight, a clear sign of just how much anger is boiling in the man's veins. Zoro isn't good with anatomy outside of injury sites and the like, but he knows the captain could break his collarbone with very little pressure. "We should have this intervention bullshit on the Polar Tang. People are coming."
"Fuck." Is all Law responds with.
In the brief flash of a moment, all three of them are encased in cool, stuffy air and darkness that Zoro still hasn't gotten used to in the last few days. While he lands on his uninjured side, both Law and Penguin are on their feet, the unfairness of that sinking in skin deep for him. Still, though he knows Law may have done that intentionally, at least he didn't dump him on his wound out of spite.
Just as the first mate goes to leave, his captain snatches him back by his collar, head tilting as he pulls it away to look at the wound on his neck. Anger is etched into Law's face and he's absolutely shaking in rage still, but a sliver of genuine concern is there too, a sadness in his eyes. Everything eases when Penguin grips his hand and meets his gaze.
"It's okay, Law. It's a scratch, not an injury. But I gotta let them know we're back so we can get out of here." Penguin's voice is gentle and a smile flickers across his face. "We got it from here, just focus on this Cap."
Nodding, Law still runs a thumb just above the still bleeding 'scratch' that could have beheaded his first mate solemnly. Even Zoro can tell it's deep enough to be dangerous, to leave a scar. "Get someone to treat this asap after we're below. If you need anything I'm using the Quiet Room for this. I'll come find you after, this needs stitches Peng."
He lets go at last and something familial and similar to what Zoro's felt among his own crew seems to pass between the two before the shorter man turns and races down the metal hallway. If he wasn't still on edge and half concerned he's about to be chopped to bits, the swordsman would almost mention it. But Law never had let on to his relationship with his crew, even if Bepo had told them how close he, Law, Penguin and Shachi were once in passing. It would seem weird for him to open up now.
Somehow, the camaraderie chafes him. Well, not somehow , the swordsman knows he's been hiding from his own crewmates, putting up walls and avoiding their presences. Maybe because he wants them to truly believe he doesn't care about whatever is happening with the Cook. Maybe it's because he knows all three would reach out to help him if they saw how it was affecting him, how the sudden confinement was hurting him. No matter why, and he won't entertain even thinking deeply about why, Zoro feels the heaviness there at last and scowls.
"Fuck, I knew it was bad, I got warned ahead of time, but this is worse than I thought." Law comments, drawing Zoro's attention back to him, his eye blinking when he sees the cross-armed captain's curious expression. "Hold your breath for me."
As he opens his mouth to ask what he means by 'warned', the air around him spins and yet again his body slams into something solid. Luckily Law adjusts so he's on his feet this time, possibly more relaxed now that his nakama wasn't in clear danger anymore. But as his side throbs sharply, Zoro finds himself pushed onto a stiff bed.
“Seems you and I switched roles a bit in the days since your crew split to chase down someone you’re supposed to be in love with. Though admittedly you weren’t suicidal about it until tonight.” The captain growls, the feral edge to his voice is still there and just as razor sharp as before, but he turns his back to the swordsman bleeding on the hospital style bed he’d been pushed to. The room they’re in is dark, so how the fuck Law can find his way around he has no clue. Instinct maybe? Nothing’s tinged blue, so it can’t be his powers. “Hiding, masking it so others can’t see it, bashing objects and people until they break. That I get, I’ve done them all myself, supposedly they’re all fairly productive, outside of you injuring my crew so often I have to use my powers to speed up their healing. Only for you to do it again .”
When Law turns back to him with medical supplies in hand, the icy edge of rage is no longer in his eyes, but the scowl is still there.
“Back on Dressrosa you were ready to have me eating steel for so much as thinking of putting your own crew in danger, correctly so of course, and yet the events that happened tonight have me wondering… what exactly changed between there and here?” One tattooed finger flicks upward, his order so clear that Zoro just starts taking his shirt off as his brain whirls around an answer he’s uncomfortable revealing. “Answer truthfully, but answer carefully Roronoa Zoro .”
Blinking, Zoro rips his shirt the whole way off and glares up at the taller man above him, recognizing the antagonistic threat for what it is. Unlike on Dressrosa, he’s stuck on this captain’s personal ship and wounded, hardly on any sort of equal ground. Though really Law had been fairly fucked up when he’d threatened him in a similar way right after the man’s arm had been sawed off and then stitched back on, so all’s fair in the end. But it leaves his nerves screaming in outright rage that makes his jaw clench tightly.
Sensing that, the looming edge to the captain’s truly willow-like body softens just a touch, but he doesn’t for even a second believe that he’s any safer. “There aren’t many people on the Seas I’d even consider killing. At least as far as the last thirteen years have held true, there was only one. But someone that puts the only family I have left, the people I care the most about in my life at risk… is an exception.”
This isn’t a tone or pattern of speech that he’s ever heard Law use since they’d met, generally he just grumbled or was more blunt. Maybe because of how different their two crews were, maybe this entire time he’d been looking down on them. But this is crisp and clear, clipped in a way that he’s never used when talking before, or at least not that he’s ever heard the captain use. And that just twists Zoro’s stomach and makes him angrier, but doesn’t take the threat away.
Truthfully.
Never one for ‘careful’ when it involves his own safety, Zoro simply chooses to run straight at the problem once again. “I wish I’d gone with them, it was stupid as hell to let ‘em go alone. Nothin’ I do makes the worry go away, nothin’ I do changes that I didn’t go with ‘em. Sittin’ in a fuckin’ tin can under the water with no fresh air and nothin’ to do besides think about it…” He waves his right hand at the metal walls and just for a second he swears he can see them inch closer. “How do you live like this? Doesn’t it make you lose your mind?”
A crease forms between black eyebrows and then Law’s nose crinkles and he sighs. “Adjustment periods to claustrophobic environments are to be expected, as is separation anxiety when you and your crew had only just gotten to see one another mere weeks before this. But lunacy has never truly seemed your speciality at heart, despite how you try to prove otherwise.”
“I was bein’ honest, why the fuck are you still talkin’ like that?” He growls, anger bristling across his skin in a way that makes his injury throb as it tenses in preparation for what may be a fight.
“Because, despite you and your crew’s propensity for behaving like feral squirrels at the best of times, you’re far from unintelligent. You showed me that yourselves, so it’s a form of respect. That and I’m angry . It’s a little harder to control diction when I can’t think straight from the chaos.” Though he says that and the realization all but knocks the wind out of him, Law does force himself to take a deep breath and drags a hand across his forehead and then up through his hair with a ragged sigh. “I’m fucking mad about my own crew and their injuries, yes, but I’m worried about you as well. So tell me what’s going on before I make this patch up the most painful experience of your life out of sheer spite, Zoro- ya .”
His ego immediately wants him to open his mouth and tell Law that he couldn’t hurt him if he tried, but both of them would know it isn’t true. Especially right now. “We’d only just started talkin’ about... it … There wasn’t any time to sit down and really talk it out with how fast everything’s been movin’ and now this is happening. I can’t think about anything the fuck else.”
In the process of wringing out a cloth, Law hums and squats to clean the stab wound in Zoro’s side. “Black Leg- ya ’s disappearance is certainly concerning, but your nakama are on their way to bring him back. You think Mugiwara- ya will take ‘no’ for an answer from him?”
“That’s not the it I’m talkin’ about.” Zoro scoffs, his face perfectly emotionless. At least he can hide some things under the guise of not reacting to medical treatment. Especially when the needle makes a first pass through his skin. “At least distractions kept me from thinkin’ about it too hard. It’s never enough though, shit just creeps right back in an’ leaves me frustrated and mad.”
“Is that why you aren’t spending any time around your own crew and just beating mine black and blue to compensate?”
Wanting nothing more than to throw his hands in the air and then storm off, having a needle threading back and forth through the puncture wound in his side makes escaping almost impossible. Given that they’re beneath the ocean at this point there isn’t even anywhere that he could run away to if he tried. Or at least nowhere he could run that Law couldn’t reach and have him standing back in front of him within mere seconds. Which is frustrating as fuck.
“Honestly, who wants to be around their friends when they can’t do anythin’ but think the worst? I can’t do that to them, they’d try and help and there’s no helpin’ this.” Crossing his arms, he snorts and looks away, feeling as though he’s shared entirely too much at this point already.
“Honestly? Your friends will tell you things that’ll make you feel better, if that’s not what you want then I can tell you what I think, and I don’t believe that’s what you want either Zoro- ya . But I will offer one piece of advice.” The captain’s fingers never breaking their methodical pace despite how his attention is split between stitching and speaking. “Violence isn’t really what you want and no amount of it is going to bring Black Leg- ya back to you. Not even if you went and tried to shake sense into him yourself instead of thrashing my men. Some things require words instead of swords.”
A sigh rips from him and just for a moment, Law’s hands freeze before beginning to move again, as if he was concerned that he’d hurt him in some way. He’s right of course, because it was pain that he was reacting to, but not physical pain. Some part of him can tell that the taller man knows that well, hell, he watched him break down in Dressrosa only a couple weeks before this. If anyone could understand...
"Are you afraid that he may actually marry the woman he's been forcibly betrothed to?" Law asks him as he works, knotting off the thread of stitches and switching to wrapping his stomach like a mummy, his fingers fast and quick. So he can't bring himself to gruff about the way they're just slightly this side of embarrassingly gentle for someone known as the Surgeon of Death.
"Part of me, yeah." He admits, partly because Law's helping him and partly because of those gentle fingers. In a way they remind him of Sanji and it hurts. "We never really talked about what this is, it just happens. And the second we tried to, we all got split up.” Zoro scratches at his right ear nervously. “I know he's bi, that doesn't matter to me, but the way he turns into a stream of hearts at any woman that passes by makes it harder to stomach this bullshit situation."
A metal clip slides in place and Law leans backwards, tilting his head just to make certain everything is tight and neat. "You two need to actually talk about it for once."
"Sure, says the guy who still won't admit he has feelin's for my captain."
“Unlike you and Black Leg- ya , Mugiwara- ya and I have actually talked about it.”
“Seriously? When the fuck did you two have time?” If his jaw was on the floor he’d almost be forgiven, especially since Zoro knew full well that neither of them had actually talked about it on Dressrosa.
“Your captain just makes time appear somehow.” Law rolls his eyes loudly. “But the point is, if you don’t talk about it you’ll keep going down this path and it’s not going to hurt just you. That probably sounds hypocritical, but I just faced the consequences for doing exactly that and though I was incredibly fortunate not to lose those that’ve become my family, if you don’t do something you may not be as lucky. And from what I’ve seen that would likely destroy someone as loyal as you, even if you play that off.”
It was the truth. And though Law had been intentionally cruel in saying it out loud, likely because of what he’d just been through today, Zoro couldn’t exactly claim that he was wrong either. In fact it was almost a blessing to be put so firmly in his place when no one on his own crew, save possibly Nami, would actually talk to him that way. Sanji, maybe. If he was well and truly angry, but generally that just devolved into a fight or something else entirely that made Zoro’s ears blush to think about right in front of Tora- o .
“Well, you’re so smart, how would you suggest goin’ about that?”
Instantly Law pales and a sarcastic look plasters itself all over his face. “That’s a different sort of intelligence. As I personally lack it, I suggest you ask someone the fuck else how to go about it.” Suddenly his face becomes thoughtful and the captain’s shoulders sag, his head dropping and eyes closing as if fighting himself internally. “Just make sure you talk the next time you see him. And maybe your nakama in the meantime. Because the Seas abide, I’m ready to Shamble you straight to the bottom of the Grand Line if you keep my crew up all night every night for the rest of this trip. And you never know what day is your last, so don’t let it go unsaid.”
The last part was spoken in a cracked whisper that Zoro had to strain just to hear. If it didn’t sound so broken, so personally painful, he’d have thought Law was really threatening him. But that was too emotional to even comment on. Like there was a knife still in the bleeding wound that had created that statement.
Zoro was many things, but intentionally rude when an ally had gone out of their way to show their heart in a bid to help him wasn’t one of them. Because the only thing that had broken Law before had been whatever the fuck happened on Dressrosa and despite himself, Usopp and Franky asking what had truly happened, Luffy had clammed up. It could be that his captain had no idea what his ally had gone through, but the anger written on his face when they’d asked had been enough to send the sniper into a fit of “I need to be anywhere but here right this second” sickness.
Which meant whatever it was had hurt the older captain to some extent, because those were the only times that Luffy could get so angry. When people he loved were hurt, physically or emotionally.
“Thought you were supposed to be cruel or somethin’?” He jabs his elbow into Law’s rib as gently as either of their pride will allow for and grins when the man snorts in response. “I can still spar with that penguin-hat wearing first mate of yours, eh? I owe him for a split lip and he’s not half bad.”
“Hurt my brother and I will really Shamble you into the ocean, Zoro-ya.” Comes the growled response as Law grips his arm and hefts him to his feet. “You deserved more than what he gave you.”
Grinning as feral as he can manage with his bruised pride, he rolls his shoulders and rests his right arm against his swords, doing his best to soothe the spitting fury that Kitetsu turns in his direction for a missed fight. “That explains the overprotective nerves that made you freak out earlier. It's nice bein' home again with your family, eh?"
“Fuck, I won’t be rid of the lot of you idiots soon enough.” Law puts his hand in Zoro’s face, but he caught sight of the embarrassed blush before his eye was covered and has the good grace to keep his laughter internal. It takes a long moment for the captain to compose himself, but Law drops it to tug him by the collar into following his lead towards the sleeping barracks somewhere within the ever shifting labyrinth of this stupid submarine of his.