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trafalgar law carries himself with a sort of looseness that would feel out of place on him if it weren’t for the fact that doflamingo had just died, and he was free. still, he shies away from the straw hats, wary of whatever the hell they have going on, and ace watches amusedly from the sidelines.
trafalgar law is a free man, but he’s still a very lonely one. ace gets the feeling that the straw hats’ way of things is rubbing off on him, but hey, ace’s got an idea for a break from his little brother if he needs it.
or—
it was supposed to be a break. maybe getting drunk off their asses was a bad idea. (no regrets, ace crows internally, and so it wasn’t a bad idea but maybe an ill-advised one.)
law’s face is flushed red, blank expression wobbling as he seems to war between leaning further into ace’s loose grasp on his shoulders or stumbling away. “i,” he starts. falters. “are we going the right way back to the hill?”
“you tell me,” ace replies. he grins, easy. “seems like a nice night to get lost.”
“i don’t want to get lost,” law mutters, almost petulant, before he starts off towards what ace is pretty sure will get them there eventually. “i’ll… swap you around with your brother. if we do.”
“luffy?”
“the blond one.”
“sabo.” sabo is going to laugh. “he’s the reliable one. can your room even reach that far?”
law shrugs. “we’ll find out. he’s reliable?”
“me and luffy are shit at not getting lost,” ace informs him, “mostly because we want to see everything, and it pisses everyone off to no end. and then i fall asleep, so.”
“narcolepsy. straw-hat’s just weird.” when ace glances over, law’s eyebrows are furrowed, expression shadowed by his hat. he purses his lips, and then sighs. says nothing.
ace is nosy. polite, nowadays, but nosy, and he’s not exactly thinking straight. “what, traffy?”
“what’s it like to have brothers like that? family, like that?”
huh. lonely indeed. ace’s chest aches at the reminder of a shared loss—someone so close, someone so loved, a father—but he can’t help the way his grin softens at the thought of his brothers. he can’t help what his mind jumps to, either, impulsive.
“you could always find out?”
“what.” it seems not even being drunk can stop law from looking at him like he’s gone insane, the same way he looks at luffy half the time. “what are you talking about?”
“become my brother,” ace tells him, very seriously, “and you can find out what it’s like, duh.”
law blinks. once, twice. very slowly, as if that’ll help him comprehend the offer that’s being made. “we need your other brothers,” he says, eventually, and ace laughs. “are you sure?”
“are you? i’ve been told we’re a real handful.”
the breeze is cool. there’s grass and flowers beneath their feet, and dressrosa—law—is free.
“sure,” he agrees, because he’s drunk, and happy, and he feels so light that it’s worth some kind of shot.
ace beams wide enough to rival luffy’s own smile.
“sabo! luffy!”
ace’s yell fills sabo with an incomprehensible kind of dread-excitement, the kind he only gets when one of his brothers (or him) is doing something monumentally stupid. luffy seems to only feel excitement, practically bursting out the door to meet ace—and trafalgar law?—right outside. both are visibly drunk, leaning on each other heavily. law is smiling, faint and oddly warm. ace has the biggest grin on his face.
sabo sighs, looking over them fondly. “what did you two do?”
“we need saké,” ace declares, “and cups. four cups. vow renewal!”
sabo and luffy both stare for a moment, before luffy bursts out laughing, bounding forward to wrap his arms around law. “is traffy gonna be our brother now? that’s so cool! ace must like him a lot.”
“ace and law must also be very drunk,” sabo points out, knocking ace upside the head with his hand. ace sticks his tongue out. “don’t you want to wait until you’re sober, or something?”
that’s mostly directed to law. ace doesn’t do regrets—promised luffy, then promised sabo a little bit after they reunited—so whatever… this is, he’ll definitely be down to do in the morning, if not a little hungover.
“i want to do it now,” law mumbles. his ears go red. embarrassed, probably, especially since luffy is still clinging to him. “don’t wanna lose my damn nerve. don’t want to if you don’t want to, though.”
sabo ruffles ace’s hair, shaking his head. “nah, i want to. it’s this asshole’s fault for springing it on us, anyway. what happened to good manners, huh?”
“what happened to being the nicer brother,” ace snarks back. “if you really wanna, go get all the stuff for us.”
“we can do it out here!” luffy unwinds himself from law, only to tug both him and ace to the grass, hat falling to rest against his back. ace’s own has long since settled against his neck, and law takes his off and puts it in his lap after a moment. sabo tosses his own hat into the middle and goes inside to get everything. hopefully they have everything, but they can make do if they don’t.
it’s not long before they’re all sitting in a loose circle, saké poured into four cups. “three of us are already brothers,” sabo muses, “so what do we say?”
luffy shrugs. “who cares about the words? we’re all gonna be brothers, and if that means we’re brothers twice over, that’s good!”
law snorts, but tilts his head towards luffy in agreement. sabo and ace exchange a fond look before they pick up their cups. “we might not be on the same ship together,” ace echoes, dutifully, “but the four of us will always be brothers, n’ no matter where we are or what we do—”
“this bond will never be broken!” luffy interrupts excitedly. “now c’mon, hurry up and toast!”
and so, through quiet laughter, they do.
trafalgar law wakes up with a crick in his neck and a distinct pounding in his head. he goes to put a hand to his temple, but both are trapped by something heavy. when he glances down, he sees that he’s practically buried by ace, sabo and luffy. the events of the night come rushing back to him in an embarrassingly sappy wave.
he manages to extract one arm, just to grab his hat and drag it over his rapidly reddening face (to keep the sun out of my eyes, he insists to himself. it’s making the headache worse, so it’s half-true.)
there’s no point in trying to get all the way out, though. law sighs, closes his eyes, and goes back to sleep, surrounded by warmth and—family, now.
no regrets, a voice that sounds suspiciously like ace echoes in his head.
sure, law thinks. no regrets.