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It was uncomfortable just looking at them. The Phoenix was arranged in such a way that he didn't have to move Ace to make room on the tight stretcher, which was a good thing. Otherwise, Law would probably have sent him to rest elsewhere. Knowing how relieved Marco must be, he preferred to stay quiet while he checked on Ace.
Then he concentrated on something else. The Straw Hat captain seemed to be resting for what might have been the first time in days, if you could call that resting. It was worrying that he only did it after Law knocked him down with a pretty strong dose of anesthesia when he woke up in the middle of surgery.
It was hard to deal with Luffy half passed out and still struggling to get up to save his brother, the shock made it impossible for him to realize that the war was over, and his brother was fine. He caused the wound in his abdomen to open up and even managed to hit Shachi, reasons that dragged out the already impossibly long surgery.
He was thankful that they were able to get Luffy out with Ace, who was right on the stretcher next to him. In addition, there was also Marco the Phoenix. Aside from being Whitebeard's First Commander, he didn't know what kind of relationship the Phoenix shared with Ace or Luffy, but Law hoped it would come in handy when the younger woke up with a panic attack. Because he would. God knew Law would have done it if he were in his place.
At that time Law must be resting. Shachi and Penguin were filling in for him with Jinbei, after his crew agreed that Law needed to get away from the OR for a few hours. No one could be sure when was the last time he slept. Normally, Law would argue in order to continue, but being in such complicated surgeries for almost two full days was taking its toll on him. He wasn't even helped much by being used to lack of sleep.
However, he still couldn't sleep.
He had too many trapped thoughts but, mainly, it was the memory of Cora continuing to slip by without his permission. The man had been dead for eleven years, and though the memory was still fresh enough, the pain had slowly subsided. Not enough to put his entire plan for revenge aside, but enough so that when he thought of Cora he didn't think of her bruised and bloody face but of that stupidly bright smile he used to do on a regular basis. Now it was easier to think about Cora goofing around with the power of his Devil Fruit instead of how he was holding up against Vergo's blows.
It was Cora that led him to enter a war involving some of the strongest men in the world and see how he could help. Fate seemed to mock him as he located the injured Knight of the Sea and Straw Hat not far from his submarine. He didn't have much time to think about the consequences of what he was doing when said he could help them.
It was all thanks to Cora.
Or so it was repeated.
While it was true that he did think of Cora during her first encounters with Luffy, thanks to how bright the two of them were, he faded into the background after a while. Cora's smile saved him in what could be the darkest time of his life. He gave him hope where Law could only see death. Reminded him that the world wasn't just filled with people like Doflamingo or the World Government after all. He thought of Cora as his savior and his second father, despite the short time they shared.
Instead, Luffy… the strange pirate was a completely different matter. He had this shit-eating grin that made Law want to hit him incredibly hard, but it was also one of the brightest, most honest smiles he'd ever seen. He carried hope, and laughter, and selfless joy just by standing there with that idiotic face of his. He made you want to stay close and far away, as if very few people really deserved it.
Law hadn't even spent that much time with him, but it wasn't hard to see why won over a crew as fiercely loyal as the one he'd somehow managed to muster.
Monkey D. Luffy was exactly the kind of person he imagined when he heard about Enies Lobby. After all, not just anyone would risk his and his crew's lives by going up against the World Government to save a woman who was nicknamed ‘demon’ since she was a child. And that's not to mention the cyborg, the reindeer and the strange living skeleton.
It was amazing. But it's not like he ever admits it out loud.
So there was no reason to explain why he got involved in the war, not one that made any real sense. Even though he was sure more people noticed how there was something special surrounding Luffy, he wasn't going to say anything like that. Law decided to let them believe that would be using him in the future. Forced himself to believe it too.
Before he mastered the art of sleeping on his feet, he decided to take the chair Marco had previously occupied to sit next to Luffy. They had had to bandage his torso almost completely after encountering minor burns from an unidentified poison. They were still fresh and made him wonder, not for the first time, how he had fought during the war.
Law watched him closely, concentrating on the entire process of the surgery and aftercare to make sure nothing had been overlooked. His mind seemed determined to keep him awake until Luffy opened his eyes, but that would be impossible. Luffy's physical and mental exhaustion would keep him knocked out for several days.
He scanned him body carefully, stopping when reached his hands. They were bandaged now, but Law remembers how they had been so mangled thanks to the remains of an unknown poison. The skin on his knuckles was peeling and he had muscle spasms that, even unconscious, did not completely go away. He doubted they ever would.
Not knowing what else to do and still refusing to even close his eyes for a few minutes, he reached out and gently took his left hand. Law began to perform gentle circular massages on his back and palm, before slowly reaching and stretching each of his fingers. When was sure the tremors had subsided, moved to his other hand and repeated the process.
Law startled when his hand suddenly closed around his. Luffy, always hungry for contact, had intertwined his fingers with Law's in a death grip. His first thought was to release it, but he also remembered how Luffy hugged his entire crew in a tight and fierce grip after hitting the Heavenly Dragon.
His amber eyes met Luffy's dark ones, which were now open but with a haze that assured him that he wasn't really conscious. Luffy was looking at him without really seeing it, as if his mind was still trapped in some dream or probably a memory. He muttered some nonsense, and it wasn't long before he closed them again.
Law sighed with relief. Right now, he didn't have the extra energy to deal with an uncontrolled patient, again. He had to free himself from his grasp with both hands before slowly backing away, now determined to get some sleep before continuing with the work.
He stopped before he reached the door and his gaze returned to the two patients. Ace was safe with Marco, he it knew only from the careful way Marco was still holding his head, even in his sleep. Meanwhile, Luffy, the very pirate who seemed to breathe for his family, who had been willing to sacrifice his own life, was alone and suffering from nightmares that must have felt very real, if the way his breathing was heaving told him anything.
He didn't want to blame the Straw Hats. It was enough for him to see the way they all gathered at the auction house to know that they would not abandon their captain of his own free will. Something big must have happened if none of them fought alongside Luffy at Marineford and the lack of the swordsman was proof enough. Law had never heard of Luffy and Zoro going away for a long time.
He wasn't even aware of himself when he walked back to the empty chair. Settled into a position that would allow him to sleep and then reached out a hand to loosely hold Luffy's in a way that wouldn't risk the bandages. He soon leaned his head back near the edge and closed his eyes.
It was an awkward and slightly humiliating position, being honest. But he was sure that none of the brothers would wake up before him and if any of his crew found out, he could always threaten them. He would make sure there would be no witnesses to Trafalgar Law's maudlin heart.
(It's worth explaining that his luck was never that good. Ace woke up just a few hours later and didn't mind the sudden loss of his damn arm to threaten Law for sleeping with his adorable little brother. He didn't much care that the one who called a ‘pervert’ was the doctor who saved their lives.)