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Chapter Text

It’s the first time in two weeks since Law last slept so deeply.

Judging from the rays of light slipping through the porthole, the Surgeon estimates that it’s almost ten in the morning already. It’s a little surprising that Penguin hasn’t come barging into his room yet to wake him up for breakfast. His crew has always tried to get him out of his unhealthy eating and sleeping habits, but they’ve been a lot more stubborn at it when he finally met them again back in Zou.

Law closes his eyes for a moment, enjoying the gentle rocking brought about by the waves pushing and pulling against the shore where Polar Tang is currently docked at. He can’t help but heave a sigh of relief at the odd comfort brought about by the decent hours of sleep that he got last night.

After all, sleep has never been a good companion to him—not after the night when his whole town burned down around him, not after he craved destruction for the world that cursed his entire city, and certainly not after he lost the hope who loved him despite all the blemishes and misery that he brought with him.

Sleep has never been a good companion to him, until sleep surprisingly came back to greet him when a certain idiot coaxed him into falling asleep right by his side.

Yet, it’s an entirely different matter when sleep seems so unattainable, not because of the nightmares, but because of the images of this one certain idiot and the voice that keeps on screaming one particular thing in his mind.

That voice started out as a whisper back in Dressrosa, trying to provide him the answers to these teeny little questions that he had been carrying with him for the past thirteen years, trying to remind him of his worth despite the ichor of iniquities flowing through his veins, trying to nudge him into taking a look at the radiance of that smile that he knew he didn’t even deserve.

That particular voice started out as a whisper, until the voice grew louder and louder—no longer reminding, no longer prompting, no longer encouraging. The voice grew louder and started demanding things that he knew was still out of reach, things that he knew was too presumptuous of him to even try to claim for himself. The voice grew louder and louder until Law was forced to realize just how selfish and greedy a sinner like him could really be.

“Ne, Torao? Back in your own country, what do people do if they wanna get married?”

Those were the words which caused the voice to grow louder. Those were the words which started to boggle his mind until he could no longer tone down all his hopes and wishes and prayers. It was on that night back in Zou when Law realized just how impertinent had he become in the short amount of time that he’d acknowledged his feelings for his allied captain.

Those were the words which made him muse that maybe, just maybe, Luffy saw a future with him, too.

Yet, the Surgeon tried to bury the voice as soon as it popped out of his mind. Law chose to ignore that voice in lieu of planning the steps that they needed to take in order to achieve their goal of dethroning Kaido, even when he already knew just how futile planning could be when it already involved Luffy and his crew.

After all, it was the least that he could do after bringing them all into his own mess. Thinking about back up plans for back up plans that were also doomed to be ruined was the least that he could do for staging them to be at the center of Kaido’s wrath. So, Law chose to bury that voice along with the feelings starting to grow far bigger than his emotionally constipated self could ever handle.

He was fine with just being able to support Luffy, with just being able to see that smile directed at him, with just being able to feel the buzz on his skin as those calloused hands reach out for him, and with just being able to feel that warmth every time the two of them would fall asleep right by each other’s side—even when Law knew that everything would come to an end the moment their alliance finally reaches its goal.

Yet, when everything was done and over with, the voice came back louder than ever on the third night since the battle ended in Wano. Law followed Luffy to the top of the skull at the center of Onigashima, sitting beside him while the two of them watched the party going on below as the people of Wano celebrated their newly found freedom.

“Will Torao stay?”

Those were the words which caused the voice to come back blaring. Those words were muttered in a sleep-hazed voice of someone who was not even halfway through his own recovery. Those words were muttered while Luffy was leaning his head against Law’s shoulder, his eyes already droopy as sleep slowly tried to claim him. Law tried not to give those words any other meaning, blamed it on Luffy’s drowse and fatigue, and reminded himself that Luffy just didn’t like the prospect of sleeping alone; of being alone.

Yet, a huge part of him kept on wondering if what Luffy really wanted was for Law to stay, always.

“I will.”

Law’s answer was immediate. The words were already out of his mouth before he could even think about what Luffy really meant with his question, before he could even process what his own answer could mean, or before he could ponder what meaning he really wanted those words to have. Yet, as soon as Luffy snuggled closer and wished him a good night, Law only closed his eyes and finally accepted that this was a battle that he had already lost.

And the scariest part of it all was that he didn’t mind losing if it meant that he could have yet another chance to stay longer with this idiot.

It was on that night when Law realized that he wasn’t ready to let go of the hand which pulled him out of his darkest confines—not now, when he already knew just how warm those calloused hands could ever be; not ever, when he was finally given the chance to have a semblance of bliss in his life full of sins.

And as they share the warmth amidst the cold of the night, Law finally acknowledged the voice at the back of his mind which kept on screaming one of the stupidest ideas that had ever occurred to him.

Ah. I think I want to marry him.

Law took a moment to take a deep breath then, to ensure that it was not just an impulse brought about by taking another step closer to death just a few days ago. Because Law may not have any experience when it came to romantic relationships, but he at least knew that this wasn’t how things were supposed to work.

At least those romance novels that Shachi forced him to read were finally coming in handy. He knew that they still had more steps to take before they could finally get to that point—there’s still the confession, the courting, the dating, the discussion about where they wanted this relationship to progress, the meeting with the family, the proposal. He probably missed a whole lot of other steps because he never really cared about these things before, but he could always read more about it later on.

From then on, Law knew that he had one step that he needed to do first—a confession.

But the Surgeon didn’t really have an ample amount of time to go through that first step properly—not when the World Government was still high on their tails; not when Blackbeard was finally making his move; and not when his prayer was always right there in front of him, smiling at him, holding him, and embracing all of him like Law wasn’t just a measly shadow compared to his colossal light.

Not only did Law lack the time to properly plan his confession, but he also knew that he would only butcher this whole confession thing should he try to profess his feelings in person. He knew that no intelligible words would ever come out of his mouth should he try to express all these overwhelming emotions right in front of his allied captain.

So, Law suggested for both of their crews to part ways for a short amount of time before they once again meet up in Elbaf.

It wasn’t like the idea was purely personal. The Surgeon even managed to list down thirty-six major reasons and twelve supporting ones as to why parting ways was the most logical and safest thing for all of them to do. It just so happened that this strategic idea was also beneficial to him and his plans to do in the near future.

And with that, Law spent the last two weeks trying to do what he always did best whenever he wanted to lay his feelings bare—Law wrote Luffy a letter.

It’s only been a day since he sent his letter to his ally, and it’s the first time in two weeks since he last slept so deeply. Maybe it’s because of the fatigue caused by trying to keep his crew in line while trying to keep his emotions in check, or maybe it’s because of the relief that surprisingly showered him once he finally let all his feelings out into the open.

Because for the first time in a long while, Law feels nothing but a semblance of peace.

The Surgeon finally sits up from his bed and heads to his own bathroom, taking his time to get ready for the day. Law feels grateful that his day is not welcomed by the headache caused by the lack of sleep or by the noise of his crewmates. For once, he’s not been woken up by the sound of Penguin’s constant reminders about him eating, or Shachi’s constant squealing about the story that Ikkaku is writing. For once, the ship is too quiet and—

The ship is too quiet.

Law pinches the bridge of his nose before he takes a deep breath. He hasn’t even had a cup of coffee for the day and he’s already trying to brace himself for whatever predicament will he be facing this morning. The Surgeon takes a few more seconds before he finally steps out of his bathroom, already wearing his black polo shirt and spotted jeans.

Law enables his haki for a moment, and one Shambles is all it takes for him to get to the shore where he finds his crew lounging. Law can’t help but raise his brow at how their whispering suddenly takes a halt—all words and secrets shared with each other seem to have flown along with the breeze, until the shore is filled with nothing but the gentle howling of the wind.

Law should have really known that there’s something amiss the moment he woke up with so much peace.

“What did you guys do this time?”

Penguin’s jaw immediately drops as soon as Law mutters the question, hand clutching on his chest as if he’s extremely offended at the insinuation that Law is making. Bepo is once again muttering his apologies, Jean Bart is looking at anywhere else but him, Shachi is biting his lower lip as he tries to keep himself from laughing, and Ikkaku just rolls her eyes while that annoying smirk plays on her lips.

“Why don’t you ask that question to your boyfriend?!” Penguin exclaims and Law blinks his eyes repeatedly, trying to get his mind working so he can understand Penguin’s question. Because Law is pretty sure that there’s only one person in this world whom he considers to possibly be his boyfriend in the future. Yet, he’s also pretty sure that it’s only been a day since he sent his confession to his allied captain, and there’s just no way that Luffy has already replied to Law’s confession way too soon.

“Boyfriend? Don’t you mean his fiancé?” Before Law can even try to fully process all this boyfriend discussion that Penguin is trying to start, Shachi just really has to drop yet another bomb within the span of two and a half seconds.

And with no care about how Law’s mind is still reeling over the information that he clearly has no idea of, his crew suddenly blurts out all the cheers for his engagement, all the questions about the when’s and the how’s, all the whines about how it took so long for them to finally get together, and all their plans and suggestions for the wedding to come.

Law is dumbfoundedly watching his crew discuss the details that they want to be included in the wedding. He feels like he heard someone planning to buy tons of Bluefin Tuna, originally from North Blue, which he’s pretty sure can only be obtained in the underground market nowadays. He may have heard someone else squealing about the fact that Soul King is sure to play the music for the wedding, someone else asking about which sea they should hold the wedding in, and someone else screaming about how this event will finally coincide with the developments happening in their story.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Law takes a few seconds to close his eyes and catch his breath. Calm down. Calm down. What he needs to do is to take all of these one by one, step by step, like how he always does whenever trouble ensues.

First, identify the problem. Considering how his crew is reacting, there’s only one plausible problem right at this moment—Luffy. The problem is and has always been Monkey D. Luffy. What trouble did his allied captain get himself into once again which caused his crew to conclude that the two of them are already engaged?

Second, form a hypothesis. There’s no way that Luffy has already sent him a reply this fast. Even if they did have some means to send the reply in such a little time, there’s no way that his crew will read a letter addressed to him. His crew respects him better than that. There’s also no way for Luffy to have reached them through den-den mushi, because Law remembers damn well that this island has some pretty messed up signals, which makes communicating via den-den mushi close to impossible.

Law starts running down any other possible sources of communication or information where his crew could have gotten this idea. Which leads Law to only one possible hypothesis—the newspaper.

Third, test the hypothesis. Law shifts his attention from his crewmates down to the things scattered all over the shore. There are a lot of board games in the area, a few research notes here and there (and Law makes a mental note to call them out later on, because he’s pretty sure he already told them that all research notes need to be taken in their conference room), and all the finished bottles of booze that he doesn’t even remember buying.

As if sensing his thoughts, Bepo walks towards him and hands him a copy of the newspaper for today. “I’m sorry, Captain! Newspaper arrived three hours ago. We didn’t want to wake you up because it’s been a while since you last slept that long. I’m sorry!” The mink says and Law heaves a sigh, tapping the mink on his arms to ease him up. Law feels a little accomplished when Bepo finally smiles that toothy smile of his, and only then does Law take a look at the newspaper issued this morning.

It doesn’t even take him another second before he sees what this ruckus is all about—because his engagement is the front-page headline of the newspaper like it’s the most important thing that the entire world needs to know amidst this time full of crisis.

And before Law can even further embarrass himself in front of his own crew, the Surgeon forms a huge blue dome to Shambles himself back into his own room. He hasn’t even read the contents of the article yet, and Law feels the headache already forming. The Surgeon opts to sit at the edge of his bed lest he stumble down from whatever is written on the paper, taking a deep breath once again before he finally proceeds.

Fourth, analyze the data. The Surgeon reads the article on the newspaper, rolling his eyes at the romanticism that they’re trying to use to paint the world of piracy. Law is used to reading all the news with skepticism, because he knows that most of it is just a tidbit of what is really the truth. But as soon as Law takes one look at the photo of the supposed letter from Luffy, the Surgeon can’t help but plant his face against his palm and heave out yet another sigh.

Because Law will recognize that abomination of a handwriting anywhere and everywhere.

Fifth, form a conclusion. Really, he should have expected at least this much. He should have expected that laying low would not work for so long. He should have expected that his plans would forever be ruined so long as Luffy is involved in his life. Really, he should have jumped to this conclusion the moment that he decided to confess his feelings to his allied captain.

Yup. Luffy will seriously be the death of him.

The Surgeon gulps the lump on his throat and tries to blink away the wetness on his eyes, because not even the surprising seven hours of sleep that he got last night is enough to prepare him for the farrago of emotions raining upon him right at this moment.

There’s a particular ache in his chest as the fervor starts to bloom, as this penchant starts to swell until he can no longer focus on anything else but the sonorous beating of his heart against his chest. There’s a fluttery feeling in his stomach which makes him almost want to vomit, even when he knows that he hasn’t eaten anything yet this morning. And there’s the waves rocking the Polar Tang ever so gently, providing him with the kind of lightheadedness that makes him feel like he's sitting on top of the clouds instead of his bed.

Memories of the past few months begin to flood his mind, from the moment when they met each other again in Punk Hazard, until the very moment when their ships parted ways two weeks ago.

Law feels the warmth slowly starting to embrace him as he finally finds the answers to these questions plaguing him—the answer as to what Luffy really meant when he asked Law back in Onigashima to stay, the answer to why Luffy asked him that one certain night in Zou about marriages and traditions and what it all entails in the country that Law once considered to be his home, and the answer to why Luffy grabbed his hand back in Dressrosa to run across the flower field like two stupid kids lost in the unknown.

Ah, his vision is starting to get blurry as the realization finally dawns upon him.

Because in Luffy’s words, he finds the assurance that Luffy has always wanted this—him, Law.

The Surgeon can’t help but shake his head and laugh a little at the absurdity of this whole situation. Just when he thought that he had finally taken the first step in building their relationship, Luffy just promptly decides to skip all those silly little steps and jump to the part which usually takes a whole lot of planning and preparation and consideration.

He hasn’t even fully tried to process just why and how Luffy’s letter fell into the hands of Big News Morgans. The other captain has never been happy with Morgans and all the news that he spread after the battle in Wano. No matter how many invitations Morgans sends to them, Luffy is pretty adamant about not sitting down for one stupid interview.

The only possible conclusion that he has is that Luffy accidentally sent his reply to Morgans instead of Law—which is pretty damn possible, no matter how preposterous it all sounds.

Law lets out a scoff. He badly wants to hug that damn idiot, but a huge part of him also wants to bonk him in the head and throw him into the ocean for bringing Law into this mayhem. So much for trying to lay low and confusing the marines with their sudden separation and disappearance. They’ve just gotten themselves into yet another front-page headline in just a matter of two weeks.

Yup, he really should have expected this.

“Captain?” Law flinches a little at the sound of Bepo’s voice outside his room. The Surgeon immediately tries to compose himself once again before he ushers the mink inside with a short response. Bepo opens the door and steps in with little hesitance, only to be pushed inside by the rest of his crew, who are complaining about how Law keeps on running away from them when he hasn’t even finished listening to their plans yet. The Surgeon just rolls his eyes at them before he starts rubbing at his temple.

A cup of coffee would be really good right now.

“Here, Cap!” Penguin exclaims before handing him a cup of coffee, and Law feels the relief shower over him as he accepts it. Finally, at least he has a little reprieve amidst this chaos surrounding him not even half an hour after he just woke up. The Surgeon moves towards his desk instead, sitting on the chair beside it lest he spill any of the coffee on his sheets because of his crew’s capers.

“Read the letter yet, Cap? I got goosebumps when a murder of crows suddenly appeared on the shore to deliver that letter!” Shachi says as he places a plate full of onigiri on Law’s desk. Really. He loves his crew sometimes.

“What letter?” Law asks before taking a bite on his onigiri. The noise within the room is starting to simmer down, and Bepo takes it as his cue to step forward and show the Surgeon an envelope addressed to him. Law doesn’t recognize the envelope from any of his acquaintances nor enemies from the past, although he’s pretty sure that the list of those enemies has grown significantly after what they did back in Wano.

Yet, a huge part of him is already telling him that this letter is related to his now fiancé.

“It’s from the Supreme Commander of the Revolutionary, Monkey D. Dragon.”

See? Trouble.

Law accepts the letter from the mink, and the whole room finally falls into a definite silence. Law stares at the envelope in his hand and unconsciously grits his teeth as he sees the name of the sender written so ceremoniously, like that person doesn’t have any care about who might accidentally see this.

The Surgeon takes a deep breath and closes his eyes for a moment. Law is not familiar with the traditions back in the place where Luffy grew up in, or if Luffy even wants to practice those traditions, but he knows that he wants to uphold this one silly tradition that they have back in Flevance. From the moment when Law realized that he wanted to get married, Law has already planned to talk to at least one member of Luffy’s family to express his intentions.

Yet, as Law stares at the envelope containing a letter from the person named as the Worst Criminal in the World, he can’t help the chagrin building up inside of him. He may not know all the events that transpired from Luffy’s childhood (because Luffy’s stories tend to go from one spectrum to a whole other dimension with no context or warnings whatsoever), but Law is pretty sure about one thing—Luffy didn’t even know that he had a father until two years ago. Not a single hi from his father. Not even a single letter to check for his well-being.

So Law will definitely not take any shit from one Monkey D. Dragon.

The Surgeon doesn’t really know how long has he been staring and holding on to that envelope, but Law finds himself grounded back into the present as a creeping chill suddenly runs down his spine. Law finally shifts his gaze towards his crew and sees them all staring at him with such ferocity that he has only ever seen amidst the battlefield.

Law can’t help the pride swelling in his chest. These are the same people whom he parted ways with before in hopes of not bringing them into the pandemonium that he called his life. These are the same people whom he badly wanted to survive and live on, with or without him. These are the same people who chose to stay with him no matter how incredulous he always seemed to be.

Be it the revolutionary or the marines or probably the entire world, Law should have really known that his crew will always have his back.

Law chuckles a little to ease up the tension hanging in the air, and takes utmost pleasure in the surprised faces that his crew is giving him. “Relax. There’s no war coming yet,” Law says before taking another onigiri to bite from.

Shachi only shrugs at him before he says, “Well, we do really like Strawhat for you.”

Law suddenly starts coughing out as the onigiri gets stuck in his throat, because those words are definitely not what he’s expecting Shachi or any of them to say this morning. Bepo just pats his back ever so softly as Shachi speaks up once again.

“You always have this weird radiance whenever you are with him. As soon as we all met again back in Zou, we all knew that there was something different, and it only really took us another half an hour to realize that yup, that’s a thing now.

“And then you started having this weird smile on your face every now and then. It’s just so little, y’know? It’s almost too easy to miss, but we know. We didn’t spend almost half of our lives with your grumpy ass to not recognize the small changes, okay? And we knew you were worried about him while waiting back in Wano! You probably think that you’re hiding it really well, but you actually are starting to suck at this hiding-my-emotions-to-my-own-crew kind of game. Or maybe we’re just getting better, aren’t we?

“So, imagine how hard were we trying to hold ourselves back from teasing you in front of Strawhat when you finally met again. Ah, if you only knew how you looked like when we finally took sight of Strawhat despite the trouble that he was starting again in the middle of the enemy’s camp. Really? Strawhat was wreaking havoc and you looked like you were having the time of your life.”

Law feels the heat creeping up on his cheeks after listening to that mini-speech from Shachi. He most certainly does not enjoy the recollection of his apparent obliviousness to his own reactions whenever Luffy is around. Really, he doesn’t even know that his crew is aware. He doesn’t even know that his crew has long since recognized that this will be a thing already, that his crew has long since accepted this—them, Law and Luffy.

“What Shachi here really wants to say is that…” Penguin starts with a snicker, seemingly enjoying the way Law is being an absolute wreck in front of the whole crew. “We support your decision to be with Luffy, but we definitely will not sit around and do nothing if any of Luffy’s family or friends start to threaten you—be it the Revolutionary or the Hero of the Marines. We’ve got you, Cap. Always.”

Law shifts his gaze from one of his crewmates to another. The feeling of warmth and comfort and relief showers over him as he meets their gaze, unmovable and unyielding. Law shakes his head a little, a small smile playing on his lips as he mutters, “Thanks.”

The tension is slowly starting to die down, until Ikkaku finally voices out the question that’s been hanging in the air for a few minutes now.

“So, what’s in the letter?”

Law finally places his attention back to the envelope, shrugging as an answer before he finally rips the envelope open. The Surgeon furrows his brows as he reads the first line written on the paper.

‘Trafalgar Law. Congratulations on your engagement.’

Law almost wants to roll his eyes at that. He doesn’t really know the man really well, and he doesn’t like the fact that he can’t decipher whether he should take it as sarcasm or a genuine and honest greeting from the Revolutionary.

‘Allow me to get one doubt out of your mind. I do not hope to start any war with pirates of your caliber. Further, allow me to extend my gratitude to you and your crew for kindly helping the country of Dressrosa and Wano to finally be freed from the people holding their lives over them.’

Law is starting to realize that Luffy and his father do have some similarities, because the contents of this letter are definitely not what he expected to read. Not only has he received an actual greeting from the Revolutionary, but he has also received yet another word of gratitude for liberating countries that he didn’t really intend to help from the very beginning.

They just happened to be caught up in his own selfishness. Things just happened to be advantageous to both Law and these countries. They just happened to have the same enemy whom they needed to dethrone. His actions do not deserve to be merited as something kind and done to help out all these ostracized people.

Seriously, what part of ‘Surgeon of Death’ is not clear to all these people?

‘Doing this may be a little bit selfish of me. I know that I’ve lost my right as a father when I left Luffy back in Goa, but at least allow me to extend my help to my son’s fiancé despite, or maybe especially because of, the circumstances that we have at the moment.’

Well, at least he knows that much. At least he’s aware how much of a shit-show is he when it comes to fatherhood, or the actual lack thereof. At the very least, Dragon has the decency to actually admit that him being a father only extends through name and through the blood flowing in Luffy’s veins. Nothing more. Nothing less.

‘I’m sending this letter not as a threat, but as a warning for the adversity that is to come.’

Maybe it’s because of all the chaos that he’s starting to get used to with Luffy around him. Or maybe it’s because his fiancé and all his recklessness is really starting to rub off on him—because Law feels the excitement thrum in him as he reads the next part of the letter.

‘I know a minimum of three people heading towards you—Garp, Sabo, and Shanks.’

A smirk immediately finds its way towards his lips. A marine, a revolutionary, and an emperor. Law doesn’t think that he can get any more sufficient training with all of them trying to get his head now that they know that he’s getting married with Luffy.

‘Sabo seems to be taking a little detour, most probably to find a little more about you and your history.’

Law furrows his brows a little at that. His story is not something that he’s trying to hide. He’s aware of all his atrocious cruelties after all the things that he lost when he was just a kid, but he also feels a little nerved knowing that someone else is actively digging up all his dirt and his baggage.

‘I’ve got sight of Shanks and his crew. They will most likely arrive on the island where you're currently staying at in a day or two. Be it fate or mere coincidence, the islands that you guys have been laying low on are not that far from each other.’

Law is not even too surprised that they know exactly where Law and probably Luffy are trying to hide at the moment, but it certainly is a surprise that they even managed to locate Shanks. From what Law has heard about, not even the World Government knows where exactly is the Emperor, if not for the sightings here and there whenever his crew are dropping by some islands for supplies. He might have also heard a little suspicious rumor about Shanks and the Reverie, but that’s not really a can of worms that he’s ready to open at the moment. For now, Law is starting to feel a foreboding from the mere fact that Dragon has resources strong enough to track even Shanks.

‘And Garp? He will be the earliest to arrive, most probably within the afternoon. After all, I’m pretty sure that he has been keeping tabs of his grandson and his grandson’s ally after the both of you left the borders of Wano country.’

Well, at least that leaves him with a few more hours of preparation before Garp finally arrives and tries to actually kill him.

‘I trust my people to send this letter to you in the fastest way possible. May the odds be ever in your favor, Trafalgar Law.’

The Surgeon can’t help the grin on his lips as he slowly folds the letter back to the envelope. He’s not arrogant enough to think that he will emerge victorious against three of the most powerful people in the world. Given the scope of his abilities and the knowledge that he has of them, Law is pretty sure that he’ll be dead before he even gets to see his fiancé once again.

But Law would rather face death than to run away once again—run away from the trouble coming for him, run away from his own feelings, run away from the person who showed him that there’s still another chance for a kid long since been abandoned by the deities.

Law will stand by his resolve to choose this—him, Luffy, all of him.

Even if that includes a family acting so overprotective of someone who has strength enough to kick Kaido’s ass out of a starving country.

“I take back what I said earlier.”

His crew’s attention is still on him as he mutters those words before he places the letter inside the drawer of his desk. He grabs his cup of coffee and sips on it, making sure to savor the bitterness of the drink in preparation for the pandemonium that he’s bound to face in just a few hours. The Surgeon places the cup back on its cupholder, the clink of the cup echoing amidst the silence of the room.

Law smirks at his crew as the words finally leave his mouth.

“War is coming.”

Chapter Text

Law doesn’t really know what to feel about this.

It’s almost half an hour past four in the afternoon, and Law is becoming keener on looking out across the vast waters for any signs of the Hero of the Marines. There’s only him and Bepo amidst the shore, sparring for over an hour now as per Law’s request. Law has asked some of his crew to explore the last bit of the island that they haven’t taken a look at for clues yet, while some are in the Polar Tang doing their final tuning in case they need to submerge under the water anytime soon.

Law figures that Garp will not be hard to notice. His ship is pretty impressive and depending on how pissed off the marine is about the fact that Law, of all people, is the one getting married to his own grandson—then maybe Law can expect at least a fleet trying to send him to the deepest hell of Impel Down.

Yet, as Law dodges one of Bepo’s kicks, he notices a small boat approaching the island with speed that seems only possible if such boat is driven by an engine. The mink then halts his attacks and shifts his gaze towards Law’s line of vision, tilting his head a little to the side as he asks, “Huh? Who are those?”

Law may have an idea about the person rowing the boat with such inhumane speed, but the Surgeon doesn’t really have the time to indulge the mink with his question. Law immediately moves forward, distancing himself from Bepo before the marine even reaches the shoreline.

Law feels like his heartbeat stopped for a moment, memories of his battles in Onigashima popping out of his mind in a matter of seconds. Because as soon as he moves in haste towards the shoreline, Monkey D. Garp is already up in the air, having jumped from the boat only to welcome Law with his haki-infused fist. Law should have really known that veteran marines are regarded as such for a reason. He should have learned his lesson back when he faced one of the emperors of the sea, shouldn’t he?

Law doesn’t have any idea if the marine simply has that much leg strength to jump from the boat towards the shoreline, or if he has that much arm strength to have rowed that boat near the island at a speed close to Law’s time limit when he’s conjuring up a small Room.

“You imbecile!!” Garp shouts out as he prepares to land his fist on Law’s face. The Surgeon furrows his brows as he clicks his tongue, lifting his hand up to form a Room and moving himself away from that arm’s reach.

“Room! Shamb—”

Yet, before he can even switch himself with a small rock within the area, Garp is suddenly punched in the head and pushed to slump down on the sand. Law feels his jaw dropping little by little as he hears the litany of curses coming from Garp the Fist, almost eating up the sand as his face is being pushed to the ground by none other than Sengoku the Buddha.

“Will it kill you to calm down for just one second, you absolute moron?!” Sengoku says while still trying to hold down the Hero of the Marines. When Garp seems to have found his leverage, Law watches in utmost silence and surprise as the two of them roll over the sand repeatedly while trying to gain the upper hand over each other.

“I went with your plan to leave the marine ship on the last island and row a boat towards this island!! Now let me go and teach that brat of yours a lesson!”

“Stop overreacting like your grandson is some kid who doesn’t know what he’s getting into!”

“You would have done the same had your grandson been on my grandson’s place!”

“And I keep on telling you that Luffy is the one who proposed to Law!!”

“And I told you over and over again that Luffy doesn’t even know what dating is!!”

“He’s been sailing the seas for more than two years!!”

“And?!”

The scene in front of him would have been really comical, if not for the thousands of questions popping out of his mind as the two of them fight over Law’s dating life, or engaged life, or maybe chaotic life would be a more appropriate branding considering the scene unfolding right in front of him.

Law has probably concocted a thousand and one questions in his mind within the span of a minute since Garp has landed on this island, and the Surgeon opts to voice out the question that is sitting at the top of his mind.

“What are you doing here?”

That doesn’t seem to deter the two marines from whatever sparring they are doing at the moment. Law forms another small Room to keep himself from getting all the sand flying around the area and avoid getting any into his eyes. The last thing that he needs right now is a second of weakness in front of two veteran marines. Bepo moves to stand beside him, and Law feels Ikkaku and Jean Bart’s presences as they run from the Tang to where Law and Bepo currently stand.

Law is about to voice out his question once again, but Sengoku seems to have heard him, glancing at him before he dodges another kick from his long-time partner. “Can’t you see that I’m trying to stop this idiot from killing you?!” Law winces a little as Sengoku receives a punch to his jaw as soon as he finished speaking, but the man doesn’t lose a moment in sending a roundhouse kick towards Garp’s stomach.

“What I want to know is—why, exactly, are you trying to do that?” Law sighs, already feeling exhausted because of the mere conversation that he’s trying to hold between him and Sengoku. Yet, Law feels a creeping chill down his spine as Garp suddenly shifts his gaze at him before the marine lunges towards him within a millisecond.

“Is that how you’re supposed to talk to your grandfather, you insolent brat?!”

Maybe it’s because of the surprise of having to silently watch two marines spar with each other, or of having one of those marines suddenly jumping to attack him. Or maybe it’s because of the speed and plain strength that Garp still clearly has despite his age.

Or maybe it’s because of those two silly words that Garp keeps on saying.

No matter the reason, Law doesn’t even have it in him to dodge the haki-infused fist as it finally lands on top of his head, sending him a buzz that almost feels like a concussion despite the cushion that his hat has provided him with. Law curses in his mind as he finds himself taking a few steps back with Bepo trying to keep him from falling into the sand—his mind still trying to process the two words that have been going around since earlier.

Grandson.

Grandfather.

Grandson.

Grandfather.

Grandson.

Grandfather.

Yup. Law feels like he’s having a concussion at the moment.

For years, Law has been called a lot of things—a monster, a despicable pirate, a calculative captain, a selfish prick, a heinous warlord, the Surgeon of Death. Yet, not once since the White City was grazed into nothing but ashes and the smell of blood did Law ever consider that he’d once again be called a grandson.

Law doesn’t really know if it’s because of the knock in the head that he just received from the Hero of the Marines, or if it’s because of the loads of information suddenly dumped on him not for the first time today. Law feels like there’s nothing but silence despite the set of rowdy people gathered on the shore as his mind reels over the fact that Sengoku, of all people, is here at the island with Monkey D. Garp to pacify the overgrown kid who is trying to kill Law.

Until that same silence is broken by the overgrown child himself with a question.

“Oi, Sengoku. I thought you told him that he’s your grandson?” Law tries to shift his gaze towards the former Fleet Admiral, only to see the man crossing his arms against his chest as he answers, “I just assumed that he knew he’s my grandson. I told him that Rosinante is my adopted son, after all.”

Law most certainly did not know about that.

Sure, he has always treated Cora-san as his adoptive father. And maybe his conversation with Sengoku back in Dressrosa has led him to know that not only is Cora-san a formidable spy, but he’s also been adopted by the former Fleet Admiral, which led him to eventually join the marines. But not once had he ever considered that Sengoku would ever accept that one silly connection wholeheartedly, and treat him as his own grandson.

The Surgeon raises his arms to point at Sengoku, opening his mouth to say something and probably argue with him about it, but he immediately closes it once again as he finds no words to articulate all the thoughts running through his mind. Law ends up looking like a fish out of water, and that’s all it takes for Garp to finally burst out in laughter and erase what miniscule amount of tension is still hanging in the air.

“Gahahaha!! And you told me that your grandson’s pretty smart!!”

Sengoku seems to snap as he hears those words once again, turning his attention to Garp before he bonks the other man in the head as he says, “You, of all people, do not get to question my grandson’s intelligence!” Yet, this only seems to fuel Garp’s rambunctious laughter. Law takes a deep breath and palms his face as he finally accepts that this is the life that he’s living now.

“Can you just get the beating-me-up-business or all the shovel talk done and over with?”

Law says with an exasperated sigh, not fully understanding how everything has come to the point where he himself is almost pleading to get all this meeting-the-family business over with. Those seem to be the right words to say at the moment, because Garp finally comes down from his high and a glint suddenly reflects on those eyes now staring at him.

“Well then…” Garp says as a smirk finds its way into his lips, and Law is almost too relieved that he can finally get over this phase and move on with his life, until he hears the next few words uttered by the veteran marine.

“Do you know how to hunt?”

—

When Garp asked him if he knew how to hunt, then he should have known that the man literally meant hunting.

“Are those arms only for show? You can’t even hunt a boar properly!! How do you expect to feed Luffy if you have all these rusty hunting skills?!” Garp shouts out as he watches from afar while Law is still trying to catch his breath. It’s been almost an hour since they entered the forest and dusk is already approaching. Law has been provided with one tiny knife (which is not even as sharp as any of his scalpels) and has been tasked to hunt for their dinner.

Law is familiar with hunting. He doesn’t really think that any pirates will survive on any islands without even having the basic skills for hunting. Yet, not only is he provided with a knife that is far from the size of the scalpels that he’s grown used to, but he’s also not allowed to use his devil fruit powers, his sword, or even his haki when it comes to hunting.

“I’m sorry if I didn’t grow up in a tropical island like your family,” Law says with as much sarcasm as he can fit into one sentence, but that only makes Garp laugh even more. It doesn’t really help that all the other animals in the forest seem to be conspiring against him, especially those damn monkeys who keep on getting in the way whenever he’s close to bagging that boar. The Surgeon rolls his eyes before he walks down the trail where he has last seen the boar, lifting his arm to wipe his temple with the sleeves of his shirt in the process.

“Trust me. This is the better alternative.” Sengoku’s words echo throughout the forest, and Law doesn’t even have the energy to spare thinking about where these two veterans are watching him from.

And no. This most certainly is not the better alternative. He’d rather have a fight with the Hero of the Marines. He’d rather face an entire battle fleet and practice the awakening of his devil fruit instead of doing this. Because Law is pretty sure that courting the family of your spouse through hunting is something that’s been practiced hundreds of years ago. If Garp is so concerned about Luffy’s appetite, then Law is pretty confident that he has enough pirate savings to actually feed Luffy all the meat that he wants to eat.

Well, scratch that. Maybe he’s overestimating his pirate savings and underestimating Luffy’s appetite. But he is a pirate. Money shouldn’t even be the top of his worries.

“Luffy as a kid is even better at you in hunting! I once left him in an island with nothing but a knife! And he survived!” Garp shouts out once again and Law halts on his track, enabling his haki for a second just so he can properly look at the direction where Garp’s haki is coming from.

“I’m pretty sure that’s not how you’re supposed to raise a child,” Law says as he grits his teeth, huffing out once again before he tilts his head a little to avoid the small rock being thrown at him, only to have the rock hit him in the temple instead. “It made him stronger. And I already told you not to use your haki!”

Law just rolls his eyes once again before he looks at the trail, tracking where the boar has gone to once again. When Law has finally seen the trail of the boar, the Surgeon tries his best to mask his presence and hide between the bushes. Really, he feels like he’s the main character in one of those medieval-era novels that Shachi once recommended to him.

The Surgeon takes a deep breath before he slowly heads towards the boar, only to lunge at it before it can use its mobility against him once again. He only needs one chance. He only needs one chance to strike the boar at the right point in order to finally subdue it. Law almost wants to laugh at how idiotic it all seems to be—the Surgeon of Death in the middle of a forest, rolling around in the mud like an idiot while trying to fight off a boar.

And when Law finally traps the boar beneath him, he grabs the opportunity to aim for the spot between the bottom of the ear and the top of the shoulder. Law fishes out his knife in haste and strikes the boar’s spinal cord with a precision befitting of a surgeon. The boar finally squeals one last time, its blood now spilling in the area, and Law confirms its death as it finally releases all its feces. The Surgeon heaves a sigh as he is left to accept the fact that not only will the smell of blood stick with him, but also the mesh of smells of its feces and piss.

“So you can hunt after all!” Garp shouts out before his laughter rings out in the forest. Law doesn’t feel like he has the energy to argue with the marine, or to feel pissed off by the fact that he’s already starting to smell like the mess of mud and blood and feces and piss on the ground. Law would have been annoyed by his current circumstances, if not for the fact that the moment he enables his haki once again to check on his crew staying on the shore, he feels another familiar presence instead.

That said presence is already surging through the forest at a speed that he’s way too familiar with, and Law braces himself for the impact that is to come.

“LAAAAAAAAAAWWW!!”

Really, it would have been a little romantic considering that it’s the first time that he’s actually hearing his own name in Luffy’s voice. It would have been a little romantic, if not for the fact that he just hunted a boar as per Garp’s demands, and he still smells like a mess because of all the sweat and dirt that he got from hunting.

Law almost loses his balance as the rubbery captain finally reaches him, immediately wrapping himself around Law like a koala. The Surgeon unconsciously settles his arms on Luffy’s back, supporting the latter as he smiles at Law like it’s been a decade since they have last seen each other.

“I missed you!” Luffy exclaims before he cups Law’s cheeks and nuzzles the tips of their noses together. Law can’t help but smile as he once again feels that radiance, so opposite and contrasting against the dusk already present in the sky. The Surgeon almost loathes to admit it, but perhaps those romance novels are right. Perhaps a person’s presence really takes away the fatigue in another’s body despite having no scientific evidence to back the theory up.

And before Law can even try to process what possible scientific concept can explain the energy slowly coming back to him, Luffy suddenly asks him a question.

“Since we’re getting married and all that, am I allowed to finally kiss you on the lips?”

Not for the first time today, Law feels like his soul is about to leave his body.

It’s not like this is something that he has never even imagined before. After all those nights spent in the silence of the library or the warmth of the sheets, and all those mornings spent cuddling together as Law places chaste pecks on top of Luffy’s head, this particular gesture is something that he has long since been craving.

Yet, as soon as he hears that one particular question from Luffy, Law feels like his legs are turning into jelly, his arms are losing all their strength, and his mind is slowly melting with no thoughts but the longing for the taste of those lips. But before Law can even find the courage to nod at Luffy, there’s a sudden drop in the temperature within the vicinity.

“Luffy you damn idiot! You’re not allowed to kiss until the day that you’re married!!” Garp finally shouts out. Again, Law badly wants to argue with that and inform Luffy that they can, in fact, kiss before they even get married. But that’s probably something that they will have to talk about within the confines of their room. At the very least, Law still has the acuity to conjure up a Room and transport the both of them on top of a huge tree branch.

“Oh! So that’s why there are two familiar presences! Hi Gramps! Hi Buddha-ossan! What are ‘ya guys doing here?” Luffy asks as he opts to sit on top of the tree branch, swinging his legs back and forth nonchalantly, as if he hadn’t just asked Law for a kiss right in front of his grandfather.

“What do you mean what are we doing here?! I’m teaching that brat how to hunt!” Garp shouts out from beneath the tree. The words seem to ring so magically in Luffy’s ears that the younger lad’s eyes suddenly sparkle as he shifts his gaze towards Law. “Did you hunt for me?! Is that why you smell like poop?!”

Of course. Of course, of all the things happening in the forest right now, Luffy really opts to focus on the fact that Law has just finished hunting. The Surgeon doesn’t really know if he should feel annoyed that Luffy’s attention is pivoted on hunting, or if he should feel touched because Luffy didn’t even hesitate to hug him earlier despite being aware that Law, indeed, smells like poop.

“Yes, I did,” Law answers, and Luffy doesn’t lose another second in jumping down the tree to head towards where the boar is. Law finally transports himself back to the ground and follows the younger lad. Luffy almost giggles in excitement before he exclaims, “Ne! Ne, Gramps! This is it, right?! Dadan told me before!!”

Law furrows his brows a little at that, shifting his gaze towards the Hero of the Marines who’s now laughing out loud once again. Law turns his gaze towards his grandfather, silently asking for the answer to another weirdness that he is being subjected into. Yet, Sengoku only heaves a sigh as he hits Garp’s back to stop the marine from laughing.

“Well, you can consider it as that, Luffy,” Garp starts as he wipes the stray tears from the side of his eyes. “It’s a courting gift.”

Oh.

Apparently, they really do treat hunting as a form of courtship. Really, Law wishes that Luffy had at least told him something about the courting practices and traditions in their own country. A little heads-up about what he should expect when they finally decide to make it all official would have been really helpful, so he could have at least planned this all out.

Garp doesn’t lose any time in starting a campfire in the middle of the forest, and Law is tasked with cutting up the boar that he hunted while Luffy is gathering all the branches and twigs that they need. Law basks in the peace provided by the comfortable silence between them, until Luffy breaks that silence with a question.

“Ne, Buddha-ossan! Did you send it?”

The younger lad throws a number of branches towards the small fire to let it burn further. The four of them settle around the campfire, and Law can’t help but chuckle at Sengoku’s sigh, probably because of how Luffy is addressing him. Garp is already setting up the branches and skewers where they will roast the boar (and all the other boars and alligators that Garp apparently hunted while Law was busy trying to go after one). Yet, both of their attention is on Sengoku and Luffy, interest clearly piqued at whatever Luffy is pertaining to.

Sengoku finally chuckles before he nods at Luffy. “I did. I also want to give you my thanks for reaching out to Rosinante.”

Law almost drops the piece of boar meat that he just cut up. The Surgeon immediately shifts his gaze towards Luffy, but the younger lad’s attention is already on the alligator meat now roasting on the flames. A small part of him wants to believe that this is just the fatigue talking, that his brain is still a little bruised and not working properly because of all the bumps and knocks that he got from Garp’s fist earlier.

Yet, a huge part of him is also aware that even the maddest of ideas are always possible when it comes to Luffy.

“What do you mean reaching out to Cora-san?” Law asks as he places the boar meat on its skewer lest he really dump it on the ground. The Surgeon starts roasting the meat on the fire and shifts his gaze towards Luffy, only to see the younger lad tilt his head a little at Law before he asks, “What do you mean ‘what do I mean?’ Of course I talked to Cora-san, silly!” The younger lad just chuckles before he grabs the end of one of the skewers, only to have his hand shooed away by his grandfather.

“Why would you talk to Cora-san?” Law continues to probe, knowing that Luffy will no longer elaborate unless he explicitly asks all the right questions. He has a feeling that this is related to what Luffy did that night back in Zou—something which Law has almost forgotten after all the fiasco that they had to face back in Wano.

“Huh? But Law said that in your country, you first talk to the parents of your partner if you wanna get married, right? So, I sent a letter to Cora-san!” Luffy proudly says, puffing his chest out a little as he flaunts that wide and bright smile of his towards Law. The Surgeon blinks repeatedly as he tries to sink that information into his mind before he shifts his gaze towards Sengoku and asks, “And you know this because?”

Sengoku is still sipping his sake from the sakazuki cup, and Luffy takes it as his cue to answer the question while he raises his hand like a kid on a recitation. “You said that heaven doesn’t accept letters from sinners like us, right? So I asked Buddha-ossan to send the letter for me!”

It takes them one, two, maybe three or more seconds with nothing but the sounds of crickets in the forest, until Garp bells out his laughter. Law is not aware if he even understands the implication of that statement, or if he’s just laughing at how straightforward Luffy’s thoughts could sometimes really be.

The younger lad just shrugs at them before he grabs the meat which he finally deems cooked enough to be devoured. Like any and every other bomb that has been dropped on him since earlier, Law’s mind is doing its best to catch up with all these sets of information that he’s not been privy to for the past months.

Sengoku, seemingly sensing his confusion, just chuckles and gives him a bottle of booze before he mutters, “Your fiancé also used that letter to tell me that he’s marrying you.”

“That’s right!” Garp shouts out, “How come you told Sengoku that you wanted to get married, but you didn’t even tell your own grandfather about it?!” Garp reaches out for Luffy’s head to knock it down once again. Yet, Luffy manages to dodge the fist easily, furrowing his brows as he mutters with his mouth full of food.

“Why does it matter! You know it now, right?!”

“I only learned about it because of that goddamn newspaper!”

“Then it’s all good, right?!”

“Is that how you’re supposed to treat your grandfather?!”

The two of them continue their banter about Luffy’s sudden decision to get married, and Law is left to watch them laugh out loud and argue, all while trying to steal meat from each other’s skewers. Law gulps the lump starting to form in his throat before he takes a deep breath, trying to contain the overwhelming amount of sentiments filling his chest. Not for the first time since they met again back in Punk Hazard, Law wonders if there’s anything that Luffy is not willing to do for the people whom he considers as his family.

"Law," Sengoku mutters softly but clearly enough to bring Law back to the present. The Surgeon takes a moment to compose himself before he shifts his gaze towards the other marine, and Law is met with a small smile and a gentle tap on his shoulder.

“Rosinante would have been so happy for you.”

The Surgeon feels his breath hitch at that one mere statement. He hasn’t even fully processed the fact that Luffy composed a letter to Cora-san, and Sengoku is already swamping him with another statement that is making all his thoughts and emotions fall into a jumbling mess. Law immediately shifts his gaze elsewhere, because keeping himself composed in front of his grandfather is getting harder and harder the longer they talk to each other.

Law is aware that this is not the kind of life that Cora-san has dreamed for him. He knows that he is not the kind of guy that Cora-san has expected him to be. He knows that he did not become the good man that Cora-san probably wanted him to be.

Yet, a small part of him badly wants to believe the truth behind the words coming from the man who raised his adoptive father.

Law takes a deep breath before he swigs from the bottle of booze given to him, the burn of alcohol providing him with some semblance of sanity amidst this night full of surprises. The Surgeon takes a moment to stare at the campfire before he finally looks back at Sengoku once again.

“How do you know that?” Law asks, trying to keep the hope from surging out of his voice. Sengoku only chuckles before he reaches for the top of Law’s head, only to give it two gentle pats before he answers.

“Because I’m a father, too.”

Law bites his inner lip before he pulls his hat lower to keep his face hidden from Sengoku. The Surgeon manages to let out a shaky breath, his hand clutching into the bottle of booze firmly as he tries to keep all the emotions in check. Thirteen years. Thirteen long and dreadful years with only the sight of death waiting for him. Thirteen long years and Law never expected to gain another family amidst the journey that he didn’t even know would continue up to this day.

The former Fleet Admiral seems to take Law’s silence as his cue to shift his gaze towards Garp, starting a conversation about how annoying the current Admiral is. Luffy then grabs the opportunity to talk to Law, nudging his elbows to catch his attention.

“Sorry ‘bout my grandpa. He can be such a pain like that! But I hope you’re still happy! Because I’m really really happy that I get to see you again!”

Law closes his eyes for a moment before he looks back at Luffy. He knows that happy is such an understatement. He knows that there’s not enough vocabulary in this world to express just how elated he is with all the things that Luffy keeps on providing him with—be it trouble from his chaotic family, or silly little gestures which unexpectedly brought Law closer to a member of his own family. So, the Surgeon just smiles at Luffy and takes one of his partner’s hands before he finally intertwines their fingers.

“I am.”

Law knows that he still has a lot of people to meet in the future—two of which are already coming for his head in the next few days. Law knows that his life will probably no longer have any semblance of peace with all the chaos that is waiting for him. After all, Law has long since been aware that this is a battle that he has already lost.

But it’s fine. It’s fine. Because there’s this calloused hand still holding his, reminding him of the promise that no matter what happens, he will always choose to stay.

And Law will still count this as a win.

Chapter Text

Yesterday feels like a decade ago with the myriad of things happening to Law’s life.

He’s been asleep for most of the day because Garp has decided to explore the whole forest in the middle of the night with Law. The Surgeon almost feels betrayed, because his newfound grandfather didn’t even help him in getting out of Garp’s clutches. Sengoku just waved him goodbye before he went somewhere else with Luffy because the younger lad wanted to show him something.

Garp and Sengoku left the island before dawn, knowing that any longer they stayed would only be more suspicious in the eyes of the current Admiral. He badly wanted to argue that leaving Garp’s ship to row a boat towards this island was suspicious enough to put them all in danger, but he also really wanted some sleep as fatigue finally flooded him. They could deal with the possible repercussions of that sudden meeting later on.

It’s always the same cycle whenever it involves Luffy anyway—leave him for one minute, have a surprise trouble coming your way, and then deal with it no matter how much headache said trouble is causing you.

It’s almost four in the afternoon and the two of them are back in the forest, walking back towards the swamp where they could hunt some alligators for their dinner. Luffy repeatedly whined last night about how tiny the alligators on this island are, leaving Law to wonder about the size of the alligators in Luffy’s hometown if a four-meter alligator is tiny to him.

The Surgeon chuckles a little as he sees Luffy pick up a stick and wave it around while he sings merrily to his favorite country song. Law still doesn’t know where he got those lyrics from, but he’s pretty sure his fiancé sings it as often as he sings Bink’s Sake, and that in itself already says a lot about Luffy’s love for this song.

Ah.

His fiancé.

It’s been thirty-one hours since he found out about his apparent engagement, and thinking about how Luffy is now his fiancé still sends an unfathomable buzzing on his skin. His stomach still twists and turns at the mere thought of it, and it doesn’t really help that Luffy never ceases to call him as such every chance that he gets.

Law knows that both of their crews are starting to get exasperated from merely listening to Luffy call Law as his fiancé over and over again, but the Surgeon would be lying if he said that he didn’t enjoy every second of it.

Ah. He really needs to buy a ring for them both, doesn’t he?

Law shakes his head a little at how eccentric their whole relationship really is, because he’s pretty sure that it’s a standard practice to at least have a ring upon the agreement of two people to get married. He also knows that he still has at least two more people coming for him, and there’s already a bet going around about who will arrive on this island first to butcher Law once and for all.

Law finds the answer to that bet as a presence suddenly emerges from the woods at a speed similar to Garp’s, if not even more. Law and Luffy immediately turn their gaze towards the direction of that presence. As soon as the Surgeon shifts his position, Law is met with the sight of a man clad in a gentleman’s attire with his iron pipe already lunging towards Law.

The Surgeon doesn’t waste a second to meet that iron pipe with his sword, keeping Kikoku sheathed but infused with haki. As they parry each other using their own choices of weapons, their arms almost trembling from the mere force of this one single blow, Law meets the gaze of the blonde man with a burn scar on the left side of his face. A smirk forms on the man’s face, and Law feels the tension slowly growing in the air as seconds continuously tick by.

It's almost baffling how this man can simply hide his presence from them before revealing his murderous intentions in just a matter of seconds. Yet, Law shouldn’t really expect anything less from the Chief Executive of the Revolutionary Army. The man then pulls back from him and starts swirling around his iron pipe as he prepares for another attack towards Law—only to be stopped by an excited shout from the other captain watching them from the sidelines.

“Sabo!!” Luffy exclaims as he jumps towards his brother and envelopes him in a warm hug, making sure to wrap his rubbery limbs ten times over. The blonde only laughs at the sudden show of affection, clearly already used to it despite the number of years that they haven’t been with each other.

“Luffy! I missed you!” Sabo says as he smiles at Luffy, and Law takes a step back to let the two of them have their moment together. The tension and killing intent floating in the air are gone just as soon as they came, and Law is left to wonder if these kinds of mood changes are normal within Luffy’s family.

“I’m so glad you visited! How did’ya know we’re here? Do you have work again? Oh! Have you read the news yet?! Shishishi! My fiancé is pretty awesome, right?!” Luffy says with his arms and legs still wrapped around his brother’s torso. Sabo then shifts his gaze from his younger brother to Law, his lips twitching into a smile while his eyes retain that scornful gaze.

Ah. Law is starting to think that dealing with Garp is probably a whole lot better than this.

“That’s right, Luffy. How come you didn’t even tell me that you guys were already dating back in Dressrosa? Your plans to get married came as a surprise even to me,” Sabo says in a calm manner, his eyes not leaving Law for even a second. Luffy only furrows his brows as he tilts his head a little, shifting his gaze towards Law before he asks, “Are we dating?”

The whole forest seems to fall into quiet as soon as Luffy asks that question, as if waiting for Law to finally give them all the answer. The chilling silence is almost enough to remind him of the cold back in Punk Hazard, and it doesn’t really help that Sabo is still looking at him with that smile of his.

Yup. Luffy will seriously be the death of him.

“You guys are dating, right?” Sabo asks once again, and Law takes one deep breath before finally giving them the answer that he knows will only put him one step closer to death.

“We may have… skipped that part of the relationship.” Law doesn’t miss the twitch in Sabo’s face as the words finally leave his mouth. Flocks of birds around the area suddenly fly away as a tidbit of haki slips away from the Revolutionary. Yet, one person doesn’t seem to feel deterred by the obvious ire that his brother is feeling. “Why does that matter? We’re getting married anyway! Shishishi!”

Sabo just casually ruffles Luffy’s hair before he gently lets Luffy down on the ground once again. “Luffy… do you mind leaving the two of us alone? I promise to bring back a lot of alligators for your dinner. Maybe we can also have some tiger and fox meat if we’re lucky.” Law is really having the shudders from how the Revolutionary’s smile switches from scornful to full of joy in just a second. Luffy’s eyes are almost sparkling from the mere prospect of all these kinds of meat, but the younger lad shakes his head repeatedly in his attempt to keep himself grounded and away from any temptations.

“But Sabo!! Why do you guys keep on taking my time with my fiancé! Law and I haven’t seen each other for so long!! Gramps already took so much of our time last night!” The younger captain whines, and Law bites his lower lip to keep himself from chuckling as he sees how Sabo is trying his best to keep a smile on his face.

“I just want a short spar with the Surgeon of Death, is all. Or maybe you think he will lose against me? If that’s the case, I can definitely spare him the shame of defeat,” Sabo says with that knowing smile, and with just those words, Law knows that his fate has already been sealed.

“Sabo’s such a meanie! My fiancé is super cool and super awesome and can super kick your ass!!” And as Luffy finishes saying those words, the younger lad then shifts his gaze towards Law with his cheeks a little puffed and his brows furrowed, as if a little kid asking Law to prove Luffy’s point right then and there.

Ah. Why is his fiancé such an adorable pain in the ass?

“Room,” Law says as he conjures a huge blue dome big enough to reach until the edge of the forest, before he finally switches Luffy with the sand from the shore. As soon as there’s only him and the Revolutionary in the forest, the smile on Sabo’s face immediately vanishes, and Law almost feels suffocated at the intensity of that gaze.

Sabo grips his iron pipe once again. Law can almost imagine how Sabo's knuckles are turning white beneath those gloves with how hard he is gripping that haki-infused weapon. For a few more seconds, the two of them only stare at each other, slowly circling around one another as they try to gauge their strength. And as Sabo finally halts his proceedings, Law switches into a defensive position and waits for the inevitable that is to come.

“Trafalgar D. Water Law.”

His name leaves the Revolutionary’s lips before Sabo uses his speed to close in on Law. It would have caught him off guard and definitely put him at a disadvantage if Dragon hadn't told him that Sabo was trying to learn more about him and his past. As it stands, Law immediately blocks the iron pipe aimed at his head before he uses that same force to push Sabo off, getting ready to be the one to lunge an attack this time around.

“What kind of gentleman jumps into marriage before trying to date another person?!” Sabo exclaims as he defends himself against Law. The two of them are starting to parry back and forth, neither even daring to use their devil fruit abilities against each other.

“I’ll have you know that not because Luffy-ya and I didn’t date means that my feelings for him are any less than one could ever imagine.”

“You two don’t even know each other well enough to actually consider being bonded for the rest of your lives!”

“The length of time that two people spend with each other does not define the weight of their feelings for and knowledge of one another!”

“Well yeah? Then when was Luffy born and what is his blood type?!”

Law finds himself stunned at the random question suddenly brought out in the middle of the fight. The blonde uses this momentary hesitation to push Law against a tree trunk, his arms lifted up as he groups his fingers into a claw-like fashion. Law feels tempted to just conjure a room and switch himself with a random branch in the forest, but the Surgeon does not want to be the first one to yield and use his devil fruit powers.

So, Law immediately tries to regain his balance and steps sideways before Sabo can use his move against him. Law gulps a lump in his throat as Sabo lands his grip into the tree trunk, crushing the trunk’s core enough to send it tumbling down. As Sabo starts to attack him once again, the Surgeon finally regains his soundness and answers the question while defending himself.

“May 5! Blood Type F!”

“What is Luffy’s favorite motto?!”

 “If you’re hungry, eat!”

“Does he prefer sunny-side up or scrambled egg?!”

“Sunny side up! Almost raw, but he likes it with mayonnaise!”

“What is his least favorite food?!”

“A certain shop’s cherry pie!”

“What is his favorite type of island and season?!”

“He loves summer! But snow is fun for him too! Ah shi—can you listen to me first before you try to kill me?!”

Law has been expecting this fight ever since he read the news from yesterday, but why is it so hard for Luffy’s family to just initiate a fight and not surprise him with anything else? The Revolutionary doesn’t seem to heed any mind to Law’s petition and just continues to ask him questions while attacking him at the same time.

“What is Luffy’s dream island?!”

“He wants to live in a meat island!”

“Where is his most hidden mole?!”

“At the back of his ears!”

“What’s his preferred color of underwear?!”

“He doesn’t like wearing one! But all he has are white ones!”

Well, that seems to be the wrong answer. Because Sabo stops pushing forward towards him as a burst of flame suddenly goes off behind the Revolutionary. His gloved hand is now engulfed by flame and ready to let off some steam at any moment.

“And why the fuck would you know that you imbecile?!”

Sabo then aims to punch him with a fire fist, and Law immediately forms a room as he switches himself with a tree branch, trying to keep his distance from the Revolutionary while he catches his breath.

“But you fucking asked me the question!”

“The right answer is you don’t know!”

Well, so much for trying to keep his distance to catch his breath. Sabo then places his iron pipe on his back in lieu of turning his fingertips into fire, shooting bullets made of compressed flame towards Law’s direction. The Surgeon then conjures a huge room to avoid all the compressed flames filled with the rage of a brother shooting towards him. Law almost feels sorry for the forest that is taking all these attacks from Sabo, but the Surgeon doesn’t really have the time to worry about that when he has to keep himself alive.

For a few more minutes, the two of them engage in what seems to be a game of tag. Just when they’re about to reach the edge of the swamp, the world then decides to mock the Surgeon as Law trips on uneven ground. The Surgeon can almost hear Cora-san laughing at him from up above, teasing him for experiencing the dumbassery that he used to scold Cora-san with.

At the very least, Law has managed to use his sword as leverage to avoid face-planting on the ground. Yet, Sabo still manages to use the Surgeon’s imbalance to push Law with his back on the ground. The blonde clutches on to Law’s shirt while he keeps Law from standing up with his knees propped up on the Surgeon’s torso.

Law knows that he can just as easily use his fruit to get away, but the blonde is no longer looking at him with rage. The blonde is no longer looking at him with any murderous intent. Law can see how Sabo grits his teeth for a moment, as if weighing the pros and cons of what he’s about to ask. When the blonde seems to have finally reached a conclusion, the grip on his shirt tightens before Sabo asks him another question.

“What is Luffy’s biggest fear?”

The Surgeon stares at those eyes and feels a pang of pain swell in his chest. The Revolutionary is still looking at him, but his gaze seems to wander farther than what his eyes can see. The Revolutionary is still looking at him, but his eyes seem to see not the forest in the middle of a small island in the New World, but the forest in a small kingdom hidden beyond the walls that divide the chosen and the forgotten.

Law takes a deep breath as memories of a certain lad flash through his mind. Memories of nights spent awake after a nightmare-induced sleep. Memories of nights spent with nothing but silence and small reassurances that he would not go anywhere. Memories of nights spent in fear, with each other’s presence as their only reprieve from the monsters haunting them over and over and over again.

Law meets that gaze head-on before he finally answers.

“Being alone.”

The wind howls across the forest as Law mutters his answer, as if trying to keep anyone else from hearing this one teeny little secret. The two of them are engulfed by nothing but the quiet of the forest. It almost feels like the forest itself is awaiting the next clash that is about to happen, afraid to intervene in this bizarre face-off between two top-tier fighters in the world.

Sabo only stares at him for a few more moments before the silence is finally broken by an alligator which suddenly sprouts out of the swamp to attack them both. The Revolutionary breaks off his gaze and puts the alligator down using a single Hiken. As the alligator slumps dead on the edge of the swamp, Sabo finally gets off of Law and stands up while dusting off his gloves.

As if to avenge the death of their comrade, three more alligators suddenly spring up from the swamp. Law quickly gets up and uses his Counter Shock on one of the alligators attacking him, while he uses his sword to cut off the other with his devil fruit powers.

As Law shifts his gaze towards the Revolutionary, he sees Sabo already tying up two of the other alligators, probably to bring them back to the shore where Luffy is waiting. The blonde hands Law another set of rope which Law then uses to tie up his share of the hunt. The two of them start walking back towards the shore, and Law is left to contemplate whether or not he should just pretend that the last question didn’t really happen.

“Ace and I used to find Luffy as an annoyance,” Sabo starts speaking up after a few more moments of shared silence. Law tries to keep the surprise from showing on his face, but that seems to be futile as Sabo only chuckles a little at him. “Must be surprising to you, huh?”

“Well, you were just trying to kill me a few minutes ago because of the mere fact that I’m gonna marry your brother.”

That earns him a hearty laugh from the blonde, and Law smiles a little as he notices the similarity between the two brothers. Sabo just heaves a sigh afterwards before he continues on to his story, “I mean, he is kind of annoying sometimes, right? Back then, he just kept on following us day after day, trying to befriend us even when we were trying so hard to push him away because we didn’t really want to take care of such a kid.

“We didn’t really understand why he kept on following us. Luffy could have just stayed with Dadan to help out with the chores. Or he could have just run down the mountain to go back to this small village where he used to live before getting dropped off with the mountain bandits.”

Law raises his brow a little at that. Luffy has mentioned this Dadan person a couple of times, but not once did he mention that this person is a mountain bandit and that he’s been raised under the roof of such. As Law finds more and more information about Luffy’s childhood, it’s getting easier to make sense of why Luffy is just the way he is right now.

“Well, long story short, we didn’t really like Luffy—not until the time when he was tortured to death when he was seven.”

When Law hears the words leave out of the blonde’s mouth, he can't help but stop walking, his brows furrow as he looks at the blonde who just keeps walking ahead of him as if he hadn't just dropped a bomb on him.

“Excuse me? He was what when he was how old?”

Sabo seems to finally notice him stopping in their tracks, and the blonde shifts his gaze towards him, looking at him with a straight face as he repeats his words.

“Luffy was seven years old when he was first tortured by a pirate docked on our island.”

The Surgeon takes a deep breath and finally finds the energy to walk forward with Sabo. Of course, of course, of all the things that Luffy has told him about his childhood and about his life back in East Blue, this is the one thing that Luffy has failed to tell him about.

“It was so easy, you know? It would have been so simple for Luffy to simply answer the pirate who had kidnapped him—to tell them where our hidden treasure was—and escape unscathed. But you know what our silly brother did? He lied.”

Law almost wants to laugh at the idea, because Luffy and lying have never been a good combination and probably never will be. Yet, Law can’t find the idea to hit any of his tickle bones as he thinks about the consequences of this certain action.

“We all know that Luffy sucks at lying, so the pirate wanted to beat the answer out of him. Yet, after hours and hours of beating him up, Luffy didn’t give them what they wanted. Ace and I managed to save him on time, but he was full of blood and cuts and bruises the moment we found him hanging inside that rundown house.

“And when we finally managed to go back to the forest, we asked him why he did that. We asked him why he didn’t just tell the pirates where the treasure was so he could save himself. Luffy just tried to keep all his sobs in quiet as he told us that telling the pirates where the treasure was would mean that he couldn’t be friends with us anymore.”

Sabo chuckles a little at that, but Law hears the dryness of the chuckle and all the regrets that lie beneath. Yet, the Surgeon just keeps his silence and lets the blonde continue on with his story, having an inkling that this story might just be related to the last question asked by the Revolutionary.

“And of course, Ace and I were so baffled. What kind of idiot would risk their own life just so they could be friends with two selfish brats who did nothing but push them away? Apparently, an idiot like Monkey D. Luffy,” Sabo says with a small smile, once again looking far ahead of him as his mind seems to see memories that even Law is not privy to. “And when we asked him why he badly wanted to be friends with us, do you know what he told us?”

Ahh. Law has already had an inkling that it would lead to this. After all the times that he’d been with Luffy because of the lad’s reluctance to sleep on his own, or all those times when sleep seems to loathe them both, Law will never forget that one particular night when Luffy curled in on him as if sheltering himself from the prejudice of the entire world while he held onto Law’s arms so tightly—only to mutter one little confession.

“Being alone is more painful than being hurt.”

Law says as an answer, and he feels the weight on his chest when the words are finally out in the open. The two of them share another moment of silence while trudging through the path of the forest leading to the shore. Yet, that silence is more than enough for Law to know that he’d been right with his answer.

The noise from both crews lounging on the shore as they waited for dinner slowly comes within range. Law is almost certain that their conversation has come to an end, until Sabo says one last thing.

“If you know at least that much, then that’s already good enough.”

The Surgeon is unsure whether those words already elicit the Revolutionary's blessing and acceptance of their marriage. Yet, before he can even raise a question, he feels an arm holding on to his shoulders before he braces for the impact of Luffy shooting himself towards him.

“You’re back! Did you kick Sabo’s ass?” Luffy asks before he nuzzles his nose against Law’s cheeks. Sabo only laughs at the question while he pulls Luffy’s head away from the Surgeon, earning the Revolutionary a pout from Luffy.

“Sorry, Luffy. I’m afraid Ace will be so mad at me if I let your future husband beat me. After all, I only fought this guy here for Ace’s share of the blessing as well,” Sabo says as an answer. For some reason, Law deems it fitting for Sabo to be the one to dig up his history, holding all of this information against him should he ever try to hurt Luffy, and for Ace to just show up and try to kill him without giving Law any time to introduce or explain himself.

Ah. Now he feels like he owes someone a little conversation.

“Before I forget,” Sabo catches their attention as he reaches out for something on the inside of his overcoat. The blonde then hands a small tone dial towards Law which Luffy gladly receives for him. “I happened to find this on my way here. Consider it as a small gift to honor your being part of our little family. Congratulations,” Sabo says as he tips his hat at them. The blonde then grabs the rope for all four alligators and starts pulling them towards where Sanji and Penguin are already cooking their dinner.

Luffy finally gets off of Law before he turns the tone dial upside down, pursing his lips before he finally asks, “What’s with this?” Law only shrugs as an answer before he presses the button to play whatever is recorded on the tone dial.

And as soon as the music starts playing, Law feels body stiffen, his heart skipping a beat, and his hands almost sweating from the nerves getting into him.

He gulps a lump on his throat as he stares at the tone dial in Luffy’s hands, almost unbelieving of the existence of such music at this day and age. Because sixteen years of not hearing this song played in any recording may prove his memories to be a little flawed. Yet, all doubts in his mind immediately vanish as he hears the artist singing.

Je te laisserai des mots

En-dessous de ta porte

En-dessous de les murs qui chantent

Tout près de la place où tes pieds passent

Law almost feels like it’s just a dream; to hear the recording of a song that he thought was already buried along with the burnt corpses of the people from his hometown; to listen to the song which always reminds him of his biological parents sitting together in the living room, holding each other’s hands as they bask in the calm provided by the music; and to have a tangible proof that Flevance is not just a city lost in the history or a place only existing in Law’s memories.

Cachés dans les trous de ton divan

Et quand tu es seule pendant un instant

Ramasse-moi

Quand tu voudras

Law can’t help the tears starting to well in his eyes as he reaches out for the tone dial ever so lightly, too afraid to even put a dent in what is probably one of the last reminders of the city once filled with nothing but beauty and bliss.

Ramasse-moi

Quand tu voudras

Ramasse-moi

Quand tu voudras

“It’s your favorite song,” Luffy says as he gently hands the tone dial over to Law. The Surgeon furrows his brows a little at that, shifting his gaze towards the younger lad despite the blur in his vision.

“I might have just imagined it, but you sang that song while you were waiting for me to wake up after the war, right? My memory was really hazy, but I was pretty sure that someone in the room was singing whenever I woke up for even just a second.” Law is pretty amazed that Luffy even has memories from when he kept on waking up and passing out immediately after the war.

“You also sing that song whenever you think that I’m already asleep! Shishishi! I like it. Even if I don’t understand what it says, I really really like it.”

Law can’t help the small smile that plays on his lips, shifting his gaze back to the tone dial as he rubs his thumb over it ever so gently. “The song calms me down, even if it always gives me a bittersweet feeling. Every time I listen to the song, it feels like all my wounds are searing and healing at the same time.”

Luffy keeps his silence for a moment, pursing his lips as he pinches his chin with his thumb and forefinger, seemingly in thought. “That’s weird. Maybe it’s because I don’t understand your language. But hearing you sing that song has only ever made me feel one thing.” Law can’t help the small smile forming on his lips as he listens to Luffy ponder his emotions. Curious, the Surgeon asks, “What do you feel whenever you hear the song then?”

The younger lad reaches out for the tone dial and presses the button to play the music from the top once again. Luffy then shifts his gaze back to Law and flaunts him a smile before he finally answers.

“Safety.”

Law stares at Luffy for one, two, maybe three or more seconds before he finally lets out a shaky breath followed by a soft chuckle. Sixteen years. Sixteen long years of having this same aching feeling on his chest every time he sings this song. Sixteen long years of having an imagery of nothing but black and white as he gets lost into the rhythm of this music.

Sixteen long years before Law finally sees a splash of color into this canvass painted in his mind whenever he sings the words from a song which he once thought would only ever remind him of the things that he had already lost.

Law then flashes a small smile at Luffy before he pulls Luffy towards one of the hammocks hanging in between two huge trees. Law places the tone dial on top of the hammock, pressing the button once again to replay the music from the start. And as the wind carries the tune of the song with it, the Surgeon finally faces Luffy, taking a few seconds to remember the few dancing lessons that he reluctantly attended. Law does a forward bow followed by a ceremonial bow, before he straightens up and offers his hand to the younger lad.

“May I have this dance, Mon trésor?”

Luffy only stares at Law for a few moments before a wide smile finally appears on his face. “Of course!!” The younger lad exclaims before he accepts Law’s hands and immediately starts dancing under the glow of the sun already setting, looking like two idiots as they swirl each other around like two kids just playing in the sand.

The two captains are too caught up in their own little world to even notice that they aren’t really dancing to the slow rhythm provided by the song; too caught up to notice that the two of them have stepped on each other’s feet for more times than they can count; and too caught up to notice all the sets of eyes watching them with so much fondness as they see their two captains laughing at this silly little slow dance.

Law is aware that there is one more catastrophe looming over them, but it’s fine. It’s fine.

Because there’s this calloused hand still holding his, swirling him around as they dance on the sand while the sunlight kisses their skin.

And in his books, Law will still count this as another win.

Chapter Text

It’s almost nine in the evening when it finally happens.

Both crews are still on the shore, singing and dancing merrily to one of Brook’s songs. Sabo has chosen to stay along with two more members of the Revolutionary Army which Law remembers seeing a glimpse of back in Dressrosa. His fiancé is once again dancing with chopsticks on his nose, and Law rolls his eyes as he sees Shachi and Penguin joining the commotion.

It’s almost nine in the evening when they all feel a wave of haki surge through the shore. It’s only a slip of haki, a miniscule amount compared to the enormous force that the owner of the haki most probably has, but it’s enough to set the tension in the air and get all of them aware of the threat that is to come.

Silence suddenly fills the air as both crews shift their gaze to Law, until that silence is broken by the Revolutionary casually drinking wine as he sits on top of a barrel with his legs crossed.

“He’s here, huh?”

The Surgeon finally shifts his gaze towards Luffy and sees the other captain with his gaze in the opposite direction of the shore where they are, clutching the straw hat sitting on top of his head.

Those eyes seem to see more than just a forest only lit up by the moonlight, more than just a bunch of trees lined up which hinder the view of whoever is waiting beyond. Those eyes seem to see not just the view in front of it, but the hundreds of memories of a child waiting patiently for a certain pirate crew to come back and visit.

That’s everything that Law needs to see in order to confirm that it’s him who’s already docked on the other side of the island.

“Do you want to come with me?” There’s still tension in the air as the Surgeon asks the question, both crews seemingly ready to act upon any orders at a moment’s notice. Luffy is still gazing at the forest, as if doing so would let him have even a glimpse of the man whom he has badly wanted to meet again for more than a decade already.

Law isn’t aware of all the details which led to the promise they made, but he at least knows that this promise is one of Luffy’s drivers to strive for his dream. He knows that this is one of the reasons why Luffy kept on pushing, why Luffy kept on fighting, why Luffy kept on persevering. Law is aware that Luffy is already the kind of great pirate that he once aspired to be, but he’s not sure if the younger lad already sees himself as such and is ready to give back the hat that he kept safe for so long.

After a few more seconds of silence and contemplation, Luffy finally heaves a sigh before he looks at Law. The younger captain only shakes his head before a smile flaunts on his face as he answers, “Nah! I can’t give him back the hat yet!”

Those words seem to finally ease the tension in the air, as if all thoughts on going into a probable battle have finally been erased in the minds of both crews. The Surgeon doesn’t know if he feels weirded out by the fact that even the Strawhats are willing to back him up in case he actually goes into war with another one of the Emperors, or if he should feel touched that they are willing to go this far just because he’s engaged to their own captain.

Really, the Strawhats are such a mystery.

Law conjures a huge Room to get the wooden Shuki that he has in the farthest corner of their alcohol rack. It’s the sake that he’s been preserving for quite some time already, and he feels like there’s no better way to use it than to send it as a gift to your fiancé’s adoptive father.

As soon as the bottle of sake is in his hand, Law walks towards Luffy and gently pushes the hat off of his head, letting it dangle on Luffy’s back. The Surgeon places a chaste peck on top of his forehead, ignoring the whistles and teases now filling the air. “I’ll be back in a few,” Law says as a small reassurance, and Luffy only chuckles before he nods his head repeatedly. “I’ll be waiting! Say hi to Shanks for me, ne?”

Law smiles a little at the younger captain before he reaches for Kikoku settled on Bepo’s side, propping the sword on his shoulder. Bepo then reaches for something on the pocket of his jumpsuit before he places it in the back pocket of Law’s jeans.

“Just in case you’ll need a backup,” Bepo says, and Law can’t help but smile at the mink. A small part of him feels like this is going to be another replay of Garp’s arrival—with Law being fully prepared to have a fight, only to have a weird set of challenges prepared for him so he can prove the sincerity of his feelings for Luffy. Yet, it still feels so reassuring to have the flare gun with him and know that his crew will head immediately towards him in case he needs any help.

Law then forms a huge blue dome as he switches places with a random branch within the forest. It only takes him three more minutes before he finally reaches the other side of the island, and the sight of the Red Force finally docked and anchored almost makes his hair stand on ends.

The Surgeon takes a moment to catch his breath before he shouts out, “Permission to come aboard!” It only takes another second before a gruff voice finally answers, “Granted.”

Law gulps an imaginary lump in his throat as he forms another Room so he can step foot on the Emperor’s ship. The Surgeon is greeted with nothing but silence as he finally steps onto the ship, the whole crew of the Emperor staring at him like they’re all trying to see through his soul with just their gazes. Well, considering how he’s trying to get married to the person whom this pirate crew probably treated as their own family, then Law thinks that their trying to see through his soul is probably the least of his concerns.

Without even any warnings or preambles, a wave of haki suddenly gushes out once again and Law almost takes a step back at the sheer force of it. Law suppresses a shiver, his heart hammering in his chest, as Shanks continues to release his haki coupled with that murderous gaze directed only at the Surgeon. The air feels like it’s being stifled by that mere force. The waves are starting to push and pull in a tempestuous manner as compared to just a few seconds ago. And Law is pretty sure that he’s hearing squeaks and cracks from several parts of the ship as Shanks’ haki continues to emanate throughout the vicinity.

Yet, not a single one of these things deter Law.

The Surgeon only grits his teeth and stares back at Shanks, meeting those red irises with his own golden ones. He didn’t come here just to get squashed by an Emperor. He didn’t come here just to take a step back from the man whom his fiancé had been looking up to for so long. He didn’t come here just to shiver and bow down against the force trying to make him stumble.

Law has come to prove that he’s willing to face yet another Emperor of the seas, if it means proving the sincerity of his desire to be with Luffy.

After a few more seconds of nothing but a staring contest between them two, the force of haki finally dies down, and raucous laughter erupts from the deck.

“Dahahaha! That’s great! You’re not backing down!”

Law lets out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. It takes another moment of silence before the whole crew starts laughing out loud. Some of them finally walk towards him and pat him in the back while they all try to greet him. Law blinks repeatedly as he tries to take in all the information that they’re easily providing him with—their names, their likes, the kind of alcohol that makes them drunk, and their favorite moments with Luffy back when he was still a child.

Law almost wants to believe that he’s once again stuck in another dream, but the weight of Kikoku against his shoulders and the feel of the Shuki bottle in his hands are way too heavy for him to really be stuck in one.

Ah. That’s right.

“Here,” Law says as he throws the bottle of sake towards Shanks. The Emperor catches the sake easily, and a smirk immediately finds its way into his lips. A curly-haired man whom Law easily assumes as Yasopp just lets out a hearty laugh while Benn Beckman looks at him as he nods his head, as if in approval.

“Huh. So you at least have the decency to bring some sake,” Shanks says before he opens the bottle and drinks directly from it. Law’s shoulders slowly sagged at the sight in front of him. It doesn’t even surprise him anymore how Luffy has little to no manners at all when it comes to eating. Not only does he have Garp as a grandfather, but he also has Shanks as his adoptive father.

Had this meeting happened two years ago, then Law would have probably lost his mind at the sheer confusion of seeing Shanks act like the Emperor that he’s expected to be for one second, and then act like a normal drunkard at a bar the next second. The difference in the mood across the deck from just a few moments ago is so palpable that he would have easily called it crazy—if not for the fact that he’s already branded this as just another normal thing for Luffy’s family.

“That’s plus points for you by the way,” Yasopp says, and Shanks immediately bonks him in the head for it. The sniper only laughs it out before he walks towards Law along with Lucky Roux, both of them patting him in the back with enough force to make him almost cough. “Good luck,” is the only thing they say before the two of them hop off of the ship along with their other crew members.

Law then shifts his gaze towards the first mate of the crew, watching him as he slowly makes his way towards the Surgeon until Benn is standing right by his side. The first mate only rests his hand on Law’s shoulders before he grips it so hard it almost makes Law wince. The two of them stay like that for a few more seconds, until that grip slowly loosens, and only then does Law feel the slight trembling of Benn’s hand against his shoulder.

“We all treated him as one of us,” Benn says before he takes a deep breath and pats Law’s shoulder twice. “Whatever you need to hear, you’d probably hear it non-stop from that drunkard over there.” Benn points towards Shanks, who’s now sitting on top of a barrel, seeming to enjoy the sake that Law has provided. When the redhead finally notices Benn standing beside Law, Shanks furrows his brows and mutters, “Oi Benn! Are you gonna get off, too?”

“Well, I missed Anchor after all,” the first mate says before he starts walking towards the plank to hop off the ship. “Oh come on! That’s unfair! I wanna see Luffy, too!” Shanks whines, and Law is really starting to see the similarity between this man and the person he fell in love with. Benn only laughs as a response before he answers, “Well, I’m not the one who made that silly little promise with him.”

And when the first mate has finally hopped off the ship and there’s only the two of them lounging around the deck, Law suddenly feels like a kid who got into the noisy list. Any second now, he feels like Shanks is going to tear his ear out with his ramblings for doing something as terrible as bringing the concept of marriage into Luffy’s mind, or probably tear a limb or two if the Emperor so desires.

“Come on. I don’t bite,” Shanks finally says after a few more seconds of awkward silence. Law really wants to present all arguments against that statement, but the Surgeon opts to keep his silence for now and instead accept the redhead’s invitation. Law then moves to sit on top of the barrel next to Shanks, crossing his legs as he keeps his sword propped on his shoulder.

Shanks then grabs a whole bottle of alcohol from his side and hands it to Law. The Surgeon accepts the bottle and starts looking around for a sakazuki cup, or even a small beer jug will do. The Emperor seems to notice his reluctance and immediately laughs at it, “What? You don’t drink straight from the bottle?”

Law can’t help but roll his eyes at the remark. “Well, I’m sorry if some pirates still have the decency to drink from a glass.” That only seems to fuel the redhead’s laughter as he repeatedly taps Law in the back, “Dahahaha! You remind me so much of that grumpy swordsman! You know his apprentice, right?!”

This conversation is not really going the way he imagined it to be. A small part of him has already known that there’s an off chance that Shanks will not initiate a fight and will instead drown him with all the shovel talk, but Law definitely does not expect such a lighthearted conversation like this.

“If you’re talking about Zoro-ya, then yes. Our crews are allied after all.”

That seems to be the trigger for Shanks to remember why Law is even here in the first place. With no choice on the deck of a ship that he’s not even familiar with, Law finally opens the bottle of alcohol and drinks straight from it. Shanks keeps his silence beside him for another second or two before he finally heaves out a sigh and says, “An alliance, huh?”

Law winces a little at the burn of the alcohol in his throat. He clears his throat for a moment before he shifts his gaze back to the Emperor, only to see him staring at the sky above them with a certain look in his eyes. “Judging from your look, you probably never considered Luffy-ya entering into an alliance, did you?”

Shanks only laughs at that remark before he shrugs. The redhead drinks from his sake once again and answers, “I mean, take one look at Luffy. Do you think that stubbornness is the type that can survive an alliance?” Law can’t help but scoff at that, shaking his head a little as memories of Dressrosa flash in his mind once again.

“Nope. That guy will do whatever the fuck he wants, heeding no mind to the alliance and all the plans that said alliance has drawn,” Law says before he chugs at the bottle once again. Well, he’s starting to see the charm of having to drink alcohol directly from the bottle like this. “I tried to break the alliance off back in Dressrosa, and you know what that idiot told me? Nope. The alliance is not over until he says so. And that guy even had the audacity to call me selfish for trying to break off the alliance.”

The Emperor’s response is another boisterous laughter and a set of continuous slapping on his back with no qualms about the strength that he’s putting into it. Law isn’t sure if Shanks just has the habit of slapping whoever is beside him while laughing, or if this is his way of trying to hurt Law while the other has no choice but to take it.

“D’ya wanna know what my first impression of you was?” Shanks asks as he wipes the stray tears at the side of his eyes. “I most definitely do not want to, but will that stop you?” Law says rhetorically, and Shanks just gives him another slap in the back as he laughs at the Surgeon. Seriously, at this point, Law feels like Shanks will laugh at anything he says just to mock him completely.

When the Emperor seems to have finally found his calm, he takes another go at his sake before he sighs and a smirk forms on his lips.

“You are a different brand of crazy for even thinking about forming an alliance with Luffy.”

Law opens his mouth to argue with the Emperor; to tell him that forming an alliance with Luffy was nothing but a last-minute decision to ensure that his plan to dethrone Doflamingo would push through, that he had only chosen the most logical step to take back then in order to adapt to Luffy’s unpredictability, and that he had only made the decision because he knew that Luffy’s strength would be advantageous to him in his upcoming fight with Doflamingo.

Yet, Law closes his mouth once again and instead opts to swig another from the bottle of alcohol in his hand. He keeps himself shut as the thought of the events that transpired two years ago flashes through his mind—of the war that caused the deaths of many, including Luffy’s brother; of Law’s impulse to just barge into the middle of the war and save the life of one of its main perpetrators; of Law’s decision to stay in Amazon Lily until Luffy wakes up; of Law’s decision to visit Luffy in Ruskaina, if only to ensure that the other captain is not dying from the physical and emotional baggage that he’s carrying with him.

 Law can’t help but scoff at the idea, rolling his eyes as he mutters, “Point taken. Maybe I am really crazy.”

Shanks only chuckles while shaking his head lightly. He hands over another bottle of alcohol from Law, and only then does the Surgeon realize that his first bottle is already empty. The Surgeon sets the empty bottle aside, gladly accepting the alcohol Shanks is offering. Law makes a mental note to stop at the third bottle, lest he loses all chance of staying alive in case Shanks still decides to end his life after all.

“You know what’s the most frustrating thing about this whole alliance and marriage thing?” Shanks says before he chugs another from his bottle. When he finally empties the sake that Law has brought to him, the Emperor grabs another from his side and Law is starting to wonder just how many bottles did he prepare for this shovel talk tonight. The Surgeon doesn’t think that Shanks needs any answers anyway, so he keeps his silence as he drinks from his own bottle once again.

“It’s so frustrating how we’re all aware that Luffy knows how to differentiate the good from the bad,” Shanks starts, looking up at the sky once again as if trying to see through all the memories from more than a decade ago through those stars blinking repeatedly at them from afar. “Doesn’t mean that he sees the world as black and white. He just really never bothers to label people with boring stuff like bad marines or good pirates. That brat just takes one good look at a person just as they are, no matter the race, no matter the status in life, no matter the course of decisions that person has taken in their past.”

Law almost chokes on the alcohol that he’s drinking, coughing a little as he taps his chest repeatedly. Shanks only smirks and gives him that knowing look before he says, “You understand what it means for Luffy to choose to stay with you, yeah?”

Not for the first time since yesterday, Law feels like he’s a fish suddenly out of water, trying to open his mouth to say something, anything, but finding no words to express how he feels at the moment. Because of course, of course, he understands.

Because Luffy has seen him at his weakest moment, has felt all his frustrations from always falling short no matter how strong he felt he had become, has known all his sins and the baggage that he brought with him throughout those thirteen years of life spent on nothing but the thoughts of revenge and death. Luffy has known and seen all of those things and so much more—and instead of turning his back on him, Luffy has chosen to stay.

“I’ve never considered myself to be a good person,” Law says, taking another swig from his bottle to get the courage that he didn’t know he still badly needed at the moment. Law basks in the burn of the alcohol down his throat before he finally continues, “I know that there’s no other chance for someone as sullied as me. I know that there’s no hope for an abandoned child like me. No matter how much Luffy keeps insisting otherwise, I know that I’m not a good guy.”

Law finally shifts his gaze towards the sky, scoffing a little as he remembers all the times that Luffy has called him a good guy. If he just closes his eyes, it’s so easy to imagine Luffy is right there in front of him, looking at him with that bright smile of his, reaching out for his sullied hands, pulling him towards another place to do something stupid, and then tirelessly reminding him that he is a good person over and over and over again.

“I know that I’m not a good guy, but somehow with Luffy, I feel like I’m allowed to try.”

The Surgeon blurts out the confession before he can even put his mind into it. There’s a heat creeping on his cheeks as the words leave his mouth, but Law blames it on the alcohol that Shanks keeps on providing him with. A small part of him is already preparing for the laughter that the Emperor is probably about to let out once again, and Law is already trying to decipher whether digging a hole on the shore is preferable than entering one of the barrels, probably to stay there until Shanks forgets about this one silly confession.

Yet, Law is not met with laughter or any repeated slaps in the back. After a few more moments of silence, the Surgeon finds the courage to take a look at Shanks, and only then does the Emperor finally mutter his question.

“Then, how can you say that you actually want to stay with him because of him? How can you say that you’re actually in love with him and not just with the hope that you see in him?”

Ah. If someone told him years ago that he would one day sit by an Emperor’s side and talk about love, of all things, then he’s pretty sure that he would cut that person into a million pieces and send all their body organs into the black market. Yet, here is one Trafalgar Law, drinking alcohol while trying to get the blessings of one of the most powerful figures across the whole ocean for his upcoming marriage.

For a few fleeting moments, Law only listens to the quiet. He knows himself that there’s no definite moment when he realized that he’d fallen. He knows that there’s no ‘Oh’ moment like how it has always been written in those romance books and novels. Law didn’t even fully acknowledge all these silly little butterflies until after the fiasco in Dressrosa was all over and done with.

Law didn’t even realize it until he was already in too deep, until he could no longer get himself back up, until he could no longer keep the feelings tucked away and hidden under the pretense of being a mere ally to one Monkey D. Luffy.

And Law is aware that with every moment spent with Luffy by his side, there’s no one else who can take his attention away from that big and bright smile flaunted in that scarred face—looking so sanguine despite all the difficulties faced in this unjust world.

Law knows that no one can take his attention away from those dark orbs which always sparkle at the mere sight of an ice cream—seeming to reflect the glimmer of the sun in the morning and the glow of the moon at night.

Law knows that no one can take his attention away from the sound of that rough voice telling him stories every night—sleepy enough to lose track of his own story, but not enough to actually dare and bid Law a good night.

And whenever Law tries to look away, the Surgeon is only met with failure. Because every time he does, his eyes will still find Luffy, his ears will still hear Luffy, the butterflies will only ever come around Luffy, and his focus always ends up landing on Luffy alone. Ah. Everything always seems to come back to Luffy, doesn’t it?

Law drinks the alcohol from his bottle until he empties it. And when golden eyes once again meet those red irises, Law finally finds the courage to answer the Emperor’s question.

“Everything just comes back to Luffy—and so do I.”

It takes them one, two, maybe three or more seconds of another silence shared with each other, before Shanks finally breaks that silence and bellows out another laugh. Law would have felt embarrassed, would have felt like this was another way for the Emperor to mock him and his feelings. Only this time, the laughter is no longer boisterous and unrestrained, so merry and so musical that anyone who hears it will feel the joy behind it.

This time around, Shanks lets out a brittle laugh, a small attempt at trying to hold it all together in front of the Surgeon.

“I hate this so much,” Shanks starts once again. Law’s mind immediately switches into its usual mode and tries to think about all the things that he can say to salvage this situation, to try and get the approval of the Emperor, even if he already knows that no one can change Luffy’s decisions once he already puts his mind into it. Yet, before Law’s mind even starts to reel, he hears the words that he least expected to hear the moment he stepped on the deck of this ship.

“I hate how I can’t really seem to hate you, Trafalgar Law.”

Law blinks his eyes repeatedly, trying to figure out if this is just the effects of alcohol on him or if he’s really hearing the words correctly. Shanks doesn’t seem to notice his perplexity and just opts to continue, “Luffy didn’t even grow up with me. I didn’t raise that child, no matter how much I wanted to take him with me back then. I knew that the ocean was a place too wicked for a child like him. So, I told myself that I’d wait. I’d wait until Luffy grows up and he could finally fulfill that one silly little promise.”

The Emperor no longer has any booze on his hand or any alcohol which will keep him from being sober. Yet, the words and these teeny little confessions only seem to continue rolling off of his tongue.

“It just feels so weird, y’know? You’re probably planning to get married once you both achieve your dreams, which means that, at the very least, you have to get to Laugh Tale and uncover the secrets of this world before you tie the knot. It’s probably still months or even a year away, but I still feel like everything’s going too fast.

“We haven’t even had the time to sit down and talk about his adventures. We haven’t even had the time to share a booze together now that he’s already an adult. We haven’t even had the time to share all our stories and talk about the secrets of the world, all because we’re both trying to keep that promise.

“We haven’t even had the time to finally catch up, maybe talk about how he is coping after everything that happened two years ago, or talk about how he managed to have the most eccentric pirate crew that I’ve ever known to exist. We haven’t had that luxury yet, and it already feels like that brat is going further and further away from me again.”

Shanks then prop his elbow to his knees, clenching his fist as he stares in the direction opposite to where the ship is currently docked.

Those eyes seem to see more than just a forest only lit up by the moonlight, more than just a bunch of trees lined up which hinder the view of whoever is waiting beyond. Those eyes seem to see not just the view in front of it, but the hundreds of memories of a child waiting patiently for a certain pirate crew to come back and visit.

Ah. It’s that same look, isn’t it?

And Law wonders if Shanks is seeing Luffy the way Luffy is seeing Shanks. If the two of them can feel each other’s love and care and longing despite the several hundred meters of distance between them within this small island. Law wonders if this is the kind of connection that is only privy to them both; that is only privy to two people who share the same sentiments about being a family despite not having any blood relations with each other.

Law then takes a look at the sky, stares at those twinkling little stars and smiles at the warmth that slowly embraces him. Law stares at the sky and feels the love and care and longing despite the million meters of distance between him and his adoptive father.

“Oi, Law.” The Surgeon flinches a little as Shanks speaks up. Law then turns his gaze towards the Emperor, only for Shanks to reach for Law’s hat and pull it down a little to hinder Law’s line of vision. If Law is any more sober at the moment, then he’d probably believe that he’d seen a glimpse of tears welling up in the Emperor’s eyes as he mutters one little reminder to the Surgeon.

“Take care of our lil’ anchor, yeah?”

Law gulps an imaginary lump in his throat before he nods repeatedly at the Emperor. When Shanks seems to feel satisfied with Law’s answer, the redhead finally retracts his hand before he not-so-gently kicks Law in the shin. The Surgeon immediately winces, his hands finding their way towards his shin to rub it and ease the pain. It might have been the alcohol, or the annoyance of the sudden dispersion of the good mood floating in the air, but Law finds himself glaring at the Emperor, heeding no mind to how this man can mince him into tiny pieces of meat if he so desires.

“Dahahaha! Don’t go all serious on me now. Loosen up!” Law narrows his eyes at the man who’s handing him yet another bottle of booze. One second, he’s being so emotional, the next second he’s trying to get Law drunk once again. Law can’t help but heave a sigh as he grabs the bottle and drinks straight from it, noticing the significant increase in the quality of alcohol handed to him.

The Surgeon takes a deep breath as he gazes up one last time at the sky, feeling the relief slowly shower over him at the realization that he at least got what he came here for tonight. It doesn’t really matter if the Emperor now holds a tidbit of information about his affection towards Luffy. At the very least, he feels like he has gotten the bare minimum of what a blessing looks like from his future in-law.

Ah. That’s right.

“Luffy-ya wants you to officiate the marriage.”

Law didn’t really plan on telling this tonight, but he might as well already set the expectations for their wedding. The Surgeon shifts his gaze towards the Emperor as silence meets him, and it almost looks too comical to see one of the most powerful people in the world with the surprised look on their face after one mere statement. Shanks keeps his gaze on Law, as if waiting for the Surgeon to take back what he said. When the Emperor finally realizes the truth behind those words, he only scoffs at Law while shaking his head a little.

“You are a hundred years too early to invite me as a marriage officiant, you brats,” Shanks says as if to mock them, but the lack of bite in his words tells Law otherwise. The Surgeon is almost too tempted to tease Shanks, but the sight of the Emperor’s eyes misting over because of that one silly request keeps Law from breaking this moment.

“You guys are a hundred years too early, but…”

Shanks just heaves out a sigh, a smile forming on his lips before he swigs from his bottle, as if to drown himself in alcohol—along with those stray tears at the corner of his eyes.

“I promise I’ll be there.”

The Surgeon can’t help but smile at the reassurance that Shanks has given. He’s pretty sure that Luffy will be delighted to hear that the Emperor has agreed to officiate their marriage, and the thought of Luffy suddenly reminds him of how he badly wants to spend one night of rest with his fiancé.

“I think I need to go back,” Law says. After all, Luffy has also been whining to Sabo earlier about all of them stealing his time with the Surgeon, and Law wants to take an opportunity to finally spend some time alone with Luffy. “Some of your crew are going back here anyway,” Law adds as he sees some members of the Emperor’s crew hopping on the ship with several barrels of what Law can only assume is booze.

And as Law stands up from where he’s sitting, Shanks lets out another laugh before a wave of haki once again surges through the ship. Law is taken aback by the sudden attack, and it doesn’t really help that he already has several bottles of booze running on his system.

“Oi, Trafalgar Law,” Shanks says, and Law is once again reminded of the power that this man holds in the ocean. “Come on, our drinking session is not yet done! Luffy can wait a little, yeah? Tell me more stories about our Anchor!”

Law closes his eyes for a moment and takes a deep breath, trying to calm himself down and not curse the life that he himself has chosen to live the moment he sent that letter to Luffy. The Surgeon takes a glance at the Emperor just grinning at him, weighing his options as he still feels the slip of haki waving through the air.

The Surgeon sighs in defeat and finally goes back into sitting on the barrel next to Shanks, only to be handed another bottle of alcohol before Shanks clanks their two bottles together. And not for the first time since that news has spread all over the world, Law is still coming back to that same conclusion.

Yup. Luffy will seriously be the death of him.

—

It’s half an hour past four in the morning when Law manages to go back to their side of the island. It’s been quite a task to hoax Shanks into believing that Law has drank a lot more number of bottles than the Emperor has count, more so trying to slip away from him when most of the time he’s got his arms wrapped around Law while he tells the Surgeon about Luffy’s childhood. Law eventually manages to slip away once Benn has decided to come back and join the fray of his own crew, and the Surgeon can only silently thank the first mate for saving him from the doom.

Law is not even surprised at how he finds his crew inebriated on the shore once he finally got back. The Surgeon is still baffled at where these people are getting all the barrels of booze from considering that they’ve been drinking non-stop for the past two nights, not to mention that they have a few additional people drinking all the alcohol tonight.

“It seems you survived the meeting with another one of your in-laws,” Robin says as he hands him a cup of coffee. Law whispers a short thanks before he grabs the cup and immediately takes a sip on it, ignoring the burn of the hot coffee on his tongue. A tidbit of pain from drinking coffee is more than worth it after all those hours spent drinking with Shanks, even if he did try his best to minimize his alcohol intake for the night.

“Where’s Luffy?” Law finally asks as he looks around the area and notices the lack of people drawing random doodles on the faces of those sleeping. Robin covers her lips with the back of her hand as she chuckles, and Law already does not like the sound of that chuckle amidst the silence on the shore. “He’s in the Captain’s quarters.”

Law furrows his brows at the statement, taking another sip from his cup before he says, “He doesn’t like being in that room alone.” Robin only flaunts that smile of hers before he shrugs at him. “He said that he’s going to finish a little something while he waits for you to come back. Don’t you wanna pay him a little visit?”

The Surgeon takes another deep breath as he lets that information sink in. After all, the past two days have been nothing but a surprise to him—from the newspaper, to Dragon’s letter, to Garp’s hunting shenanigans, to Sabo’s questions and little gift, up to the little drinking session that Law has had with Shanks. Thinking about how Luffy is preparing something again is causing him a headache more than the alcohol that he’s drank since earlier.

“Fine,” Law says, finishing his cup of coffee before he lets Robin take it away from him. The Surgeon then starts walking towards the Thousand Sunny, not really having enough energy to use his devil fruit powers once again. It’s a little comforting as well, as the walk towards the captain’s quarters gives him enough time to brace himself for whatever trouble Luffy is about to bring him into. As Law finally nears the room, he can hear Luffy mumbling to himself, as if he doesn’t feel Law’s presence coming.

“Hmm? Maybe that should go there? Nah, it’s better here. Ugh. I should have finished this earlier! Stupid Usopp for distracting me with a weird squid.”

Law chuckles a little as he hears Luffy’s musings. The other captain seems to be moving some things around the room, and Law’s curiosity is already getting the better of him. So, the Surgeon finally pushes the ajar door open and steps inside the room.

Law blinks repeatedly as he sees the captain’s quarters completely renovated.

“Law!!” Luffy exclaims once he finally sees the Surgeon, jumping to wrap Law in an embrace. Law tries his best to balance himself despite not being completely sober, and immediately returns the hug before he places a soft peck on top of Luffy’s forehead.

“This is your surprise?” Law asks as Luffy slowly pulls off of him. “Hmm? Do you want it to be?” Luffy returns with another question and Law can’t help but laugh at it. The Surgeon pinches Luffy’s cheeks a little before he says, “That’s not how surprises work, Luffy-ya.”

The younger captain only chuckles while rubbing his nape shyly. “Well, do ya’ like the room?”

Law lets his gaze linger on the changes in the room. The first thing that he notices is how the room has already been repainted into a deep cerulean with images of different sea creatures drawn all over the walls, reminding Law of his view from the porthole whenever their ship is submerged under the water.

At the center of the room is the king-sized bed that Franky originally built for them, only this time the sheets have sunflower designs all over them. Furthermore, Law is pretty sure that this room is not filled with as many plushies as he can remember. Yet, spread all over the room and on top of the bed are plushies of different forest animals and sea creatures—as well as two plushies that have a significant resemblance to Law and Luffy.

The closet and a bookshelf stand on the left side of the bed, and Law immediately notices the books that he has been spending a lot of time reading back in the library of Thousand Sunny. Some of them are medical books which Chopper is more than glad to lend him, some are novels and history books that Robin has recommended, and others are fairy tales and short stories which Luffy likes Law to read to him.

At the right side of the bed is a new desk with familiar papers on top of it. Law slowly walks towards the desk and notices a set of scented papers similar to the ones that Bepo always buys for him so he can write his letters to Cora-san. There are also two frames on one side of the desk—one of which contains a photo of the Strawhat pirates and another for the Heart pirates.

Beside the frames sit two miniatures of the Thousand Sunny and the Polar Tang. Law then leans in to see all the details placed in the miniatures of their respective ships. Law can’t help but smile at how accurate the miniatures are, already having an idea as to who could have probably built such an unerring figure. When Law finally seems satisfied with looking at the details, the Surgeon turns his back and is welcomed by two framed portraits hanging on the wall.

One of the portraits is a drawn image of Luffy alongside Sabo and Ace, all three of them smiling as they lay down on the grass. Law notices how both Luffy and Ace have burn scars on their chest in the painting, and he feels a small pang of pain on his chest as he realizes that this is what could have been.

Law slowly shifts his gaze on the other painting and he feels like his heartbeat stopped for a moment at the image that welcomes him.

Because in that framed portrait is one silly man, a huge smile painted on that face which flaunts the same make-up that Law has always found so eccentric. The man is still wearing that same long-sleeved shirt with pink hearts all over it, on top of his head is the same dark red hood with two heart-like shapes hanging from the sides of it, and on his back is the same black feather cloak that has kept Law warm on nights when the cold almost bites into his skin.

Law gulps a lump on his throat as he stares at the painting of Cora-san and him, standing side by side with one of Cora-san’s arms draped around him, smiling so widely as if he’s so proud and happy of the man that Law has grown to be.

Ah. what could have been, indeed.

“How…” Law starts, not really finding the right words to express all the questions running in his mind at the moment. Luffy smiles widely at him as he says, “I asked the crew’s help! We started renaje— renavoo—”

“Renovating,” Law finally supplies and Luffy nods enthusiastically.

“Yup! That! So we started doing that after Wano whenever we’re not on training. Zoro and Sanji helped with building the furniture along with Franky. Did you know that Jimbe can paint?! He helped us in painting the walls! Ah, I really wanted it to be like when you’re under the water in your sub! And Jimbe knows lots of stuff under the water, so he really helped a lot!

“Usopp and Chopper made the miniature ships! Aren’t they awesome?! And then, Robin helped me in finding all those books so that you’ll have your own stack here, and also in printing those photos on our desk! Brook helped me in finding those scented papers. Did you know that there are different kinds of papers?! There’s even a different kind of paper specially made for music!

“Ah! Wait, that’s not the point. Uhm, where was I? Right! Nami helped me in sewing all those plushies! After all, Law likes fluffy things, right? She also made new sheets for the bed! It was really really hard to keep it a secret from you! Good thing we always slept in your own quarters. Shishishi!”

Ah. So that’s why Luffy has been so adamant to sleep in the Polar Tang at night during their journey after Wano, before finally parting ways. Law shakes his head a little as he realizes how Luffy, of all people, has managed to keep a secret from him. Yet, Law can’t seem to let one tidbit of information pass over his head.

“You sewed those plushies along with Nami?”

“Yup!”

“But you don’t know how to sew your own hat.”

“That’s so mean!! I know how to make plushies because Gramps didn’t buy me one when I was young! I learned from Makino!” Luffy says proudly while flaunting that beam on his face. The Surgeon finds himself smiling, feeling more than a little astonished at that one little piece of information.

“But these portraits have only been finished before we arrived here,” Luffy continues once again, shifting his gaze towards the painting hanging on the wall. “Usopp did so great in painting Ace, didn’t he?!” Luffy says with that usual jolliness, but Law doesn’t miss the hint of pain still reflected in those eyes.

“Robin helped me in finding out what Cora-san looked like. So when Buddha-ossan arrived, I just had to show him this.”

Ah, so this is what Luffy wanted to show his grandfather last night.

“We actually did some changes! After all, we didn’t know that Cora-san wears that make-up in his face. It looks so cool, though! And Buddha-ossan also told us that he wears hearts all across his shirt, so Usopp added those details, too. Shishishi! I hope you like it.”

Law takes another deep breath as he tries to take in all these information. And when Luffy just turns his gaze to stare at the painting once again, Law finally asks the question that has been sitting on top of his mind since earlier.

“Why did you want to renovate this room?”

Luffy gazes at him and only tilts his head a little, furrowing his brows as if there’s something about Law’s words that do not make any sense at all.

“Because we’re partners. Of course, I want the room to have a piece of you, too.”

Scratch what he thought about surprises earlier. At this point in his life, Law should have really known that only Luffy could top his own surprises with another set of surprises. This day has been filled with so much happiness that Law is starting to feel afraid that heavens will bring him so much despair in the days to come.

“How do you manage to keep on thinking about all these surprises, Luffy-ya?” Law asks rhetorically, smiling a little as he meets the blissful look of that gaze directed at him.

"Ah! That’s right! The surprise!" Luffy says as he bumps his fist on the top of his palm, as if he just remembered that he had planned a surprise for the Surgeon. Yet, Law finds himself baffled at the insinuation that this is not yet the surprise that Robin has been talking about.

“You mean there’s more?”

“What are you talking about, silly! I’m just about to give you the surprise!” Luffy says before he chuckles, running towards the desk to pull its drawer and grab a rectangular black velvet box. Law feels his heartbeat picking up once again, and the Surgeon tries his best to keep his calm despite the only assumption that his mind is making at the moment.

“Nami told me that proposals don’t work like the one in the news. Even if the world already knows that we’re getting married,” Luffy says, and Law feels his voice caught in his throat as Luffy stands in front of him before he finally opens the velvet box.

Inside the box are two necklaces with rings as their pendants. The rings have the same exquisite design—a vivid enameled royal blue background, and at the center of it is a gold-plated sunflower design with its branch and leaves running through the entire ring. At the center of the sunflower is a black diamond surrounded by toned crystals which perfectly embodies the blossom of a sunflower.

“I might have messed up the steps to take when it comes to proposals and stuff,” Luffy starts speaking up once again as he meets Law with his gaze. Yet, the Surgeon can only see the blurry vision of the other captain as tears finally start running down his face. “But I really wanted to let you know all these fluffy and funny feelings that I always get in my chest.

“I also wanted to tell you all these little things that I started to write, but Nami said that I could keep those for now and tell you about them when we finally say our vows!” Law finds himself chuckling at the thought that Luffy is already starting to write a draft of his vows, touched at the uncharacteristic gesture that his fiancé is doing for him. “So instead, I just want to explicitly say this in front of you.”

Luffy then grabs one of the necklaces from the box, placing the box carefully on top of the bed. The younger captain holds the ring instead before he pushes the ring towards Law as he finally mutters one statement.

“Let’s get married, Law!!”

Ah. Law feels like he’s crying all the tears that he tried so hard not to shed for the past few years of his life. He knows that he’s probably not the most enticing person to look at right now considering the mess of tears and snot on his face, but he still can’t help the smile forming on his lips as Luffy just watches him with the same bright smile on his lips.

“I don’t think that’s how you properly propose, Luffy-ya,” Law says once he finally finds his voice to answer, and he grabs the necklace from Luffy before he wears it on the younger lad instead. Luffy gasps as Law wears him the necklace, as if such a simple gesture is so surprising to him when he’s the one who prepared all of these for Law. The younger lad then jumps in excitement before he grabs the other necklace and wears it to Law’s neck.

“Let’s get married.”

The words leave Law’s lips as soon as the Luffy locks the necklace. Luffy flaunts that bright smile of his before he cups Law’s cheeks, pulling the Surgeon closer as he nuzzles the tips of their noses together. Law can’t help but chuckle at the gesture before he pulls the younger captain closer and wraps him in a tight embrace.

It’s still hard to convince himself that he deserves all of these things—chance, life, happiness, Luffy.

But maybe, just maybe, it’s fine. Maybe it’s alright to drown in the blessings pouring over him despite not being worthy of them. Maybe it’s alright to let himself savor this moment with the only person whom he wants to spend the rest of his life with. Maybe it’s alright to let himself be happy over the simple fact that he now has the explicit reminder that Luffy is choosing to be with him—now, tomorrow, and every other day after that until one of them breathes their last.

And as he feels the warm embrace of this man who chose to stay with him despite all the sins and baggage that he carries with him, Law can’t help but whisper a small thanks to whoever deity is now watching over him. Because for the first time in what seems like eons and eons of waiting—

Law feels like his prayers have finally been heard.