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Trafalgar D Water Law didn’t believe in the stupid shit everyone babbled on about, about soulmates. He was pretty confident that his ‘soulmate’ was dead. After all, soulmates could die before their timer even started. Lami had died before she met her ‘fated one’. Her timer was forever stuck at 00:00 and so was whoever was out there for her.
Cora-san had been different. He had met his soulmate, but only for a brief moment. Law had seen the small timer on the man’s inner forearm once. It was forever paused at 00:36. He had encountered his soulmate for 36 seconds and then never saw them again. He hoped whoever was out there for Cora-san didn’t search for their soulmate like so many others did. They would never find him.
Law found it better to believe his soulmate had died. He didn’t have to worry about looking at his clock every time he met someone new.
They said that once someone found their soulmate and both started to love each other the timer went from black numbers to red. Law found that to be absolutely ridiculous, he had never seen red numbers on anyone .
Originally, the placement of the timer had been on the back of Law’s hand. When he got his tattoos, he had covered it up, but fate had basically laughed in his face. The timer moved from the back of his hand to the inside of his middle finger. Fate was literally giving him the middle finger. He didn’t try and cover it up again because it would have been pointless. Who knows if he tried again it might have moved to his face? At least the new spot was a lot less noticeable to other people.
He hadn’t expected to meet his soulmate, but then he arrived at Sabaody.
Law noticed that the timer had begun when he was fighting one of the pacifists with Eustass Kid. His powers involved his hands, but it was when he had pierced the pacifist through with Kikoku that he noticed.
05:05 it read. Law stared at the mark for a good couple of seconds. For a moment he looked at Kid. He prayed to whatever god was out there that the red-haired asshole of a captain was not his soulmate. He might actually kill someone if he was. Namely Kid, because of absolutely fucking not.
The timer stayed where it was though. Law couldn’t help but breathe out a sigh of relief.
Law tried to think of the last time he looked at the mark. It wasn’t because he cared who his soulmate was, no he wanted to stay as far away from them as possible. He needed to do so much before he decided to deal with this soulmate business if he ever decided to deal with it at all. He had to avenge Cora-san first. He needed to take down Doflamingo first.
His mark had definitely been at quadruple zeros when they arrived at Sabaody. He remembered writing his morning report - it wasn’t a diary, Shachi! - and staring at the zeros for a moment. So he had definitely come across someone at Sabaody that made his clock begin.
The Polar Tang started its descent back under the surface of the ocean when Bepo came running into his quarters. Law was still trying to figure out who exactly his stupid soulmate was. He had come up with a timeframe of when the numbers must have started moving. He hadn’t stayed in one place for very long in Sabaody, other than the Auction House. He surmised that his soulmate must have been at the auction. He wasn’t positive, but at least it was a place to start. Or rather a place to not start, because he wanted to keep as far away from his soulmate as possible.
“Captain?” Bepo said. Law hadn’t heard the mink approach, so he jumped slightly at the bear’s voice. “I’m sorry.” Bepo whispered. He was holding a paper in his paws, but he wasn’t looking at the paper. He had clearly noticed Law looking at the inner part of his finger and he followed his captain’s line of sight to said digit.
Law stayed silent, his eyes flicking from Bepo, to his finger, then to the paper in the mink was grasping. “What is that Bepo?” Law opted for just ignoring the bear’s staring. He made it clear a long time ago that he didn't believe in soulmates and that he never wanted to talk about it with his nakama.
The Mink seemed to remember as such and slowly handed the paper over to Law, still muttering soft apologies under his breath. Law paid it no mind as he looked over the paper.
Fire-Fist Ace was set to be executed .
A thought crossed Law’s mind over the next couple of hours as he watched the Den Den Mushi give live coverage of the battle going on at the Marine base. Straw Hat Luffy had been one of the ones at the auction house. Maybe it was a good place to start, if he could start crossing names off his list then he didn’t have to worry about tracking people down. Marineford was close to Sabaody. So, Trafalgar Law made the decision to set out to Marineford. It was a solid plan in his mind because there was no way Straw Hat Luffy could be his soulmate.
It would simply be just crossing a name off his list.
Law had been so caught up in the war and getting out alive he hadn’t noticed the numbers on his finger steadily ticking into hundreds. It was only once he was finished with operating on Luffy and removing the gloves on his hands that he noticed the numbers had changed.
528:06, 528:07, 528:08 the numbers were steadily changing second by second. Law stood frozen, the gloves that were coated in Straw Hat Luffy’s blood fell from hands and everyone else moved to a stop. They all stared at him with a mix of confusion and worry.
“Boss,” Penguin was the first to speak. “What’s going on?” He questioned. Law didn’t answer his friend’s question. Instead, he turned back to Luffy’s unconscious form and started to look him over. First, he looked over the younger boy with his eyes, then he started to move limbs and hair, trying to find what he was looking for.
Then he finally found what he was looking for. The soulmate mark was on the back of Luffy’s hand. Law wasn’t sure why he didn’t look there first, but he hadn’t exactly been thinking clearly. Of course, it was there, most people who were soulmates had mirror positions of their marks.
529:20, 529:21. Law watched the seconds tick by on the boy’s hand. He thought about just leaving it at that. He didn’t want to look at his own mark. He didn’t want to know, because really, he already knew. He had things to do, goals to accomplish, and soulmates always tied people down. That’s why he was a pirate, so he didn’t have to be tied down, so that he could be free, like Cora-san had wanted.
“It’s going up.” Shachi said dumbly. Somehow in the process of Law freaking out internally, Shachi had made his way beside his captain.
“Idiot!” Penguin hissed out. “Shut up!”
“Who is…” Shachi's voice trailed off as he looked over at Law. His mouth hung open in shock and didn’t speak another word.
“He’s stable. I’ll be in my quarters.” Law said calmly, then exited the operating room.
Law was perfectly happy to leave Luffy on Maiden Island and in the care of Rayleigh and Boa Hancock. The boy had woken up broken, not just physically, but mentally too. He hadn’t noticed the increasing numbers on the back of his hand. And if anyone else noticed that wasn’t Law’s crew, they didn’t say anything.
He was glad he didn’t have to be confronted about the mark. Law didn’t want to deal with that right now, so as soon as Rayleigh showed up and his submarine was repaired from the damage Luffy had caused he set out.
Hopefully, he would never have to see him again. Hopefully, the number on the inner part of his right middle finger forever stayed at 10099:21. After all, the numbers had gotten far too high for his liking.
Over the past two years Law had almost completely forgotten about Straw Hat Luffy. He had been busy, so of course he had no time to really dwell over the mark on his inner finger.
He only really thought about it once and really it wasn’t of his own volition. The World Government had asked about his soulmate mark when he joined ranks with the Shichibukai. They asked him where it was. He told them it was on the back of his hand and showed them the tattoos he had placed there. It wasn’t a blatant lie; it had been on the back of his hand to start with. But it wasn’t like he had any qualms about lying to the Government. Becoming a Shichibukai was a part of his plan. They believed his lie easily and never once asked about it again.
Thankfully, Caesar and Monet didn’t ask him about the mark that was somewhere on his body. Now, he could focus on his plans. Now, he could get down to business on Punk Hazard and never have to worry about Straw Hat Luffy again.
At least, that’s what he thought.
The first indication that Straw Hat was on Punk Hazard was his nakama showing up. They had rushed out of the laboratory and gave up his whole plan with the G-5 Marines. How annoying.
At least, Luffy didn’t seem to be with them.
He really needed to stop speaking so soon.
“Oi!” The Straw Hat Captain called out to him as he ran towards him. “It’s you!”
Law stiffened, completely frozen. His finger felt like it was burning, and he knew that the numbers there were once again ticking steadily upwards. Before he could think any better about the situation or run the other way the young captain was sprinting towards him.
Law’s golden eyes instantly flickered down towards Luffy’s hand. Thankfully, his hands were covered with a thick pair of gloves. The young captain stopped in front him, beaming a bright smile at him.
Law wasn’t sure where he got all his boundless energy from. It had been two years since his brother had died and he acted bright and cheery. Law had been different ever since his parents had died, ever since Lami had died, ever since Cora-san had died. Luffy seemed to brush it off easily, but of course that was only on the surface.
“I didn’t expect to see you here.” Luffy said. Law blinked at him in confusion. He expected some revelation on how they were soulmates. Maybe about how Luffy had been waiting his whole life to finally meet his soulmate. He had to know Law was his soulmate. Didn’t he?
“Thank you for helping me.” He said, still beaming brightly.
Law wasn’t exactly sure why he had agreed to create an alliance with the Straw Hats. He told himself that he was going to keep his distance from his soulmate, but Luffy was either oblivious or he didn’t care. He liked to believe it was the latter because there was no way Luffy hadn’t put it together.
He also knew that Luffy could be helpful to him. Baring the whole soulmate thing Luffy was strong. Law could gain his trust and his help easily.
He was not going to give in to this whole soulmate business.
He leaned back against the foremast of the Thousand Sunny. His eyes lingered on Caesar for a moment, then he closed them. Everything was going smoothly or at least as smoothly as he had expected after allying with his soulmate. Luffy was reckless, sure, but there was something about him that drew Law in.
Law shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. He was really going crazy. He hated soulmates!
“Eh?! What do you mean it’s been going up this whole time?!” Law turned his head at the sound of the Straw Hat cook yelling. For some reason the Straw Hats had decided to have dinner even after the huge banquet they had just come from. Law wasn’t hungry, so he decided to stay back and keep an eye on Caesar.
He didn’t pay the yelling much mind, the Straw Hats were just as loud and boisterous as their captain. He didn’t pay it much mind until an irate looking Sanji was standing over him, tapping his foot impatiently.
“Where is it?” The cook asked.
Law looked up at him with a bored expression. “I’m unsure of what you are talking about, Blackfoot-ya.” Law drawled out.
“Don’t give me that bullshit!” Sanji snapped at him. “You’ve known the whole time, haven’t you? You formed this alliance so you could trap Luffy!”
“I did no such thing.” Law said plainly. Seriously, these Straw Hats needed to get on board with this alliance or none of it was going to go to plan. He didn’t need a bunch of people questioning his decisions every step of the way.
Most of the other Straw Hats had gathered along the edge of the upper railing. The only two that weren’t there were Luffy and their green haired swordsman.
“Where’s your mark then?” Sanji questioned; his blue eyes darted all over Law’s exposed skin. He paused for a moment when his eyes caught the tattoo on the back of Law’s hand.
“I don’t see how that is any of your concern.” Law grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest, effectively hiding any mark, whether there or not.
“It’s my concern because you tricked Luffy with this whole soulmate business. He created an alliance with you because you’re the one he’s fated to be with. You’ve known the whole time and you tricked him!” Sanji continued to yell.
“I did no such thing. I don’t care about soulmates.” Law stated.
Sanji suddenly bent down, grabbing a fist full of the surgeon’s shirt, and pulling him forward. The blonde-haired cook practically snarled in his face. “You have no idea what this alliance means to him!”
“Sanji!” A voice called out. Law hadn't heard Luffy come out of wherever he was, but he suddenly appeared next to the cook, placing a hand on his shoulder. “That’s enough, leave Torao alone. We are in an alliance now, so we all have to get along.” Luffy said. Law could see the numbers on Luffy’s hand steadily ticking upwards as his hand rested on Sanji’s shoulder.
“Come on, Cook.” The green haired swordsman was on the man’s other side.
Sanji looked between Law, then to his captain, and finally to Zoro. He let out a small huff and finally released Law. He shot one last glare at the surgeon before he grabbed the green haired swordsman by the upper arm and pulled him away from the situation without any complaint.
Caesar was giggling softly from his spot across the lawn. Law shot the sadistic scientist a look, and if looks could kill he would have certainly died on the spot. His look didn’t kill Caesar, but at least it stopped his giggling for the time being.
“Torao,” Luffy said softly. Law felt like a caged animal in that moment. He wanted to run. He wanted to not have this conversation, because he knew where this conversation was headed.
Law let himself fall back onto the bench that surrounded the main mast. He looked away from the younger captain, praying that Luffy would take the hint and just leave him alone or talk about anything else.
His first prayer wasn’t answered, because Luffy was sitting next to Law before the older could even protest.
“I’m sorry, Sanji gave you a hard time.” Luffy said.
Law shook his head slightly. “You don’t have to apologize for that.”
Luffy suddenly reached forward and grabbed Law’s hand. He looked over the back of the tattooed hand for a long time. His thumb traced over the ink that was there.
10500:00, the back of Luffy’s hand read as he continued to trace the tattoo. For some reason Law didn’t protest to the soft ministrations. Law didn’t have to look to know his inner finger reflected the same number. Luffy let out a small laugh as he kept tracing over the ink.
“I like Torao’s tattoos.” Luffy smiled, his dark eyes moved upwards to meet with Law’s own.
The comment took Law by surprise. Luffy had to know that his mark had once been there. Maybe he even thought it was still there. Law had tried to cover it up and who was Luffy to know he hadn’t succeeded. Shouldn’t he be mad?
Law felt like he couldn’t think straight. All this time he had expected his soulmate to be someone who forced the whole notion down his throat. He expected it to be someone who bared his freedom and caged him away.
Now, Law had to ask. He had to be sure that Luffy knew. This could all be one huge misunderstanding. Maybe Luffy really did think that way, but he just didn’t know Law was his soulmate.
“You know we’re soulmates, right?” Law finally questioned. His mouth suddenly felt dry.
Luffy paused for a moment, his hand traveled upwards towards Law’s fingers. His finger traced over each letter that was inked there. D E A, he stopped once he reached that finger. Luffy stared closely at the middle digit. His finger slowly ran over the numbers that were printed on the inside.
“I wasn’t sure at first.” Luffy said, bringing his gaze back up to meet Law’s. “But once you asked to form an alliance that’s when I knew for sure.” Luffy let out another breathy laugh.
It had taken him that long? “I thought maybe it was your bear.” Luffy explained.
“You’re kidding right?” Law questioned.
Luffy tilted his head to the side, like a confused puppy. “No…” he said, looking away.
Law let out a soft chuckle and shook his head. “It’s me, Mugiwara-ya.” Law said softly.
“Good, ‘cause I didn’t know how being soulmates with a bear would work out.” Luffy grinned.
Law shook his head slightly. “You don’t want to jump my bones or something?” The surgeon questioned.
Luffy furrowed his eyebrows together and looked at Law with confusion. “Why would I want to jump Torao’s bones? That seems like it would be hard to do. Your bones are on the inside, aren’t they? Or are you like Brook? Can you use your powers to put your bones on the outside?”
Law let out a small sigh of relief. The other thing he had been worried about was his soulmate immediately wanting to have sex with him. He didn’t mind sex; he just didn’t want the expections of sex immediately, looking over them. Once again Law had other things to worry about and sex with his soulmate was not on that list. They could cross that bridge later. Damn, was he actually considered it? What was wrong with him? He was losing his mind.
Then he looked back down at Luffy. The younger captain was looking up at him through his eyelashes, the questioning look on his face was gone. Instead, it had been replaced with one of his famous smiles. It was a smile that honestly stole the breath away from Law’s lungs. It was a smile that could light up even the darkest of nights.
“You aren’t going to hold me back and keep me tied down, now that you know I’m your soulmate?” Law questioned. They had to have this conversation before Law went any further, before he decided to actually go the distance with Luffy, like his heart so badly wanted.
“Why would I do that?” Luffy questioned right back at him, but he didn’t allow Law anytime to answer. “We are both pirates. Even though this is an alliance, we are equals aren’t we. We’re nakama first. I would never hold my nakama back.” Luffy said earnestly.
Law felt something in him break at those words. All the expectations he had built up over the years suddenly came crashing down. Maybe fate hadn’t cursed him with a headstrong, stubborn, crazy soulmate, but instead with someone who was loyal, understanding, and didn’t care about soulmates just as much as him.
He wanted someone to love him regardless of stupid clocks. He wanted someone to love him like Cora-san had. And Luffy, well, he would have to prove himself a lot more than that to gain Law’s complete love, but he was getting there.
Law felt bad. He had told himself he would die on Dressrosa. He knew he couldn’t defeat Doflamingo. He had thought maybe he could get a few good licks in and spit in his face, but ultimately, he was prepared to die. Now, he felt bad about it. He had just found out about Luffy - well that wasn’t exactly true, but it didn’t matter anyway - and now he was going to leave him. His clock would be stuck, like Cora-san’s, like Lami’s. He would have a permanent reminder of Law on the back of his hand, always glaring up at him. Why did Law feel so bad about it? He hated soulmates. Well, he had hated soulmates, until he met Luffy. Maybe the universe really did know what it was doing when it paired people.
But then Luffy ruined his whole plan. He wouldn’t let Law die. Law tried to call the alliance off, but Luffy didn’t take that for an answer. He just threw Law over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and put him on the back of a damn bull as they ran through Dressrosa.
He wondered what Cora-san would think of him now, as he stared up at the sky. They had talked about soulmates only once while Cora was carting Law from hospital to hospital. Law had learned Cora-san was a hopeless romantic, because of course he was. Why would he be anything else?
“Someone’s out there for you, Law. You can’t die before you meet them.” The tall blonde had told him. Law had thought it was ridiculous at the time. Now, he wasn’t so sure. At least he had met Luffy. He had met his soulmate, like Cora had encouraged him to do.
He wondered what Cora-san would think of Luffy. Someone so vastly different from Law, someone that was everything Law was not. Law smiled softly despite himself as Luffy yelled at the men following them. Cora-san would love Luffy, he just knew those two would have gotten on like best friends.
Law thought he was okay with dying. Then he met Luffy, who ruined everything, and gave him the will to live. Of course, this revelation came too late, or at least he thought it had.
He stared down the barrel of Doflamingo’s gun, glaring a hole into the psychopathic pink feathered man. His severed arm was right next to him, and the pain was immense. He almost didn’t notice the burning on his chest, right under his collar bone. It wasn't like the first time. It hadn’t burned like he was being branded when the soulmate mark had moved the first time.
A wince crossed his face and Doflamingo’s eyes traveled downwards, gun still trained at him. Law thought he was going to die and really, he didn’t want to. Not anymore.
Doflamingo let out a low chuckle. “Law,” he began, “you didn’t tell me you found your soulmate.”
Law froze, he slowly looked where he felt the burning on his skin. He could see the numbers increasing out of the corner of his eye. It was right above the tattoo on his chest. 12248:24, 12248:25. Law didn’t know how close or far away they had to be for the numbers to go up, but clearly, they were close enough for it to do so.
“I’ll make him watch you die.”
And Law believed it.
Then Luffy ruined it again, but this time, Law was grateful for it.
Even with his arm reattached the soulmate mark stayed in the same place. The mark was now a lot bigger too and to make things even worse - or better depending on the way he looked at it - the numbers were now a deep red color.
Law really hated fate.
For some reason Luffy’s mark had also moved. It was now in a mirror position of Law’s and was the same blood red color as his. If there was any question about them being soulmates, there certainly wasn’t now.
Luffy seemed proud to show the mark off after the events at Dressrosa. When he had woken up the next morning, he had tried to move the bandages that were covering it away. Law had snapped at him for that because he worked damn hard on those bandages.
Thankfully, the Straw Hats knew when to shut up about the marks and didn’t say anything further about them. He did notice Nico Robin’s lingering stares though.
Luffy’s super fan, Bartolomeo, was a different story entirely. He glared at Law and muttered things under his breath. Law was not excited about getting on the man’s ship after everything that had just transpired. He didn’t feel like getting stabbed in his sleep for having Luffy as a soulmate.
That didn’t happen, but that didn’t mean Law wasn’t looking over his shoulder the whole time.
It was the dead of night when Law and Luffy interacted again, on board the Barto’s Club’s ship. Law refused to call it by its name. The dark-haired surgeon had found it impossible to fall asleep and it didn’t have anything to do with the thought of getting stabbed in his sleep.
Law had worked so hard to accomplish his goal. He had worked for half his life to get to this point. But for some reason he felt like he hadn’t accomplished anything at all. Maybe it was because Doflamingo wasn’t actually dead. Or maybe it was because he wasn’t the one to give the finishing blow. Law wasn’t sure, but he was sure of the feeling inside him.
He felt lost .
Without purpose.
He leaned further into the railing of the ship in front of him. He had always had a hard time sleeping, but now it felt even worse. He wasn’t used to the sway of a ship, it didn’t make him sick, but it was definitely off putting when he was used to being in the confines of the Tang, deep underwater.
He had tried to sleep in the Captain’s Quarters that Bartolomeo had given to Luffy. Luffy had demanded Law sleep with him - that was exactly how he put it, but of course he hadn’t meant it any sort of sexual way. Sleep never came to Law though, and he decided to walk around the ship and clear his mind, but it wasn’t exactly working.
“Torao,” A half-asleep voice called out to him. The shorter captain was standing not too far away, without a shirt or his hat. It was dark out, but Law could see the numbers near his collar bone ticking well into the tens of thousands. His black hair was tousled from sleep.
Luffy closed the distance between the two of them and stood shoulder to shoulder with Law. He yawned and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Law wasn’t sure how such a simple gesture could be so cute.
“You should be resting, Mugiwara-ya.” Law told him.
“Couldn’t sleep without, Torao.” Luffy said, sleep still evident in his voice. Suddenly, rubber arms were snaking around Law’s middle. Luffy nuzzled himself against Law’s chest, like he belonged there. And who was Law to tell him any differently? Luffy had proved that he belonged there, not just because of some stupid soulmate mark, but because he genuinely loved Law. Why else would he save him, if not for love?
Law felt lost without a goal, but at the same time he felt like he belonged with Luffy. He gently placed a kiss on top of Luffy’s head.
“Let’s go back to bed then.” He whispered softly, his voice being carried away with the wind.
Luffy looked up at him for a moment, his dark eyes looked expectant, his lips so kissable. Law bent his head, cupping Luffy’s cheek with his uninjured arm. He ran his thumb against the jagged scar under the boy’s eye. Luffy’s eyes fluttered shut and he pushed himself upwards on his toes.
The kiss was the most gentle and loving thing Law had ever experienced. For the first time in a long time Law felt safe, he felt like he belonged .