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“Torao!”
A tall tattooed black-haired man in a doctor's coat- Trafalgar Law- sighed before looking up to the tiled ceiling as if asking the gods for strength.
“Yes, Straw Hat-ya?” he answered, turning to meet the overexcited young adult wearing a straw hat running toward him- Monkey D. Luffy- 's eyes.
The young man grinned, ignoring the others' tone, “you and your friends are coming with me to the fights tonight!”
Law deadpanned, meeting Luffy’s eyes as if asking ‘are you serious?’.
He had made it very clear when he first moved to the city of Grand Line that he had zero intentions of going to any underground fighting rings, especially not the ring Luffy was talking about.
Which was by far the biggest ring in the City, maybe even the state.
“Straw Hat-ya, you already know my answer.” he droned, before turning back towards the paperwork he was working on. Fully intending to ignore the other man.
Luffy grinned, “So you're going?”
The surgeon paused, closing his eyes before taking a deep breath and opening them again. He turned and met Luffy’s eyes, “no.” then went back to work.
Luffy’s grin only got wider, “shishishishi, too late, Torao! Can’t take it back now! You already said yes!”
Law met Luffy’s eyes again with a glare, “no, Luffy. You know I'm not stepping foot in one of those places.”
The young man pouted, but before he could open his mouth to argue, he was cut off by the curious voice of one of Law’s best friends, Bepo. “What places?” he asked, innocently.
Luffy beamed again, turning towards the bigger man, “there’s a fight tonight! I want you guys to come but Law’s being stupid again and is refusing.”
“What!?” Law winced at the volume of the new voice, turning towards the culprit with a glare, to which the man completely ignored, “Law we have to go! It's supposed to be one of the biggest fights in a while! Even the Ring King is supposed to be there! He’s a legend!” his other friend, Shachi, yelled. Gaining many glares from the hospital workers around them, and a nod from the man beside him, Penguin.
Law sighed before grabbing Luffy’s arm and dragging him out of the hospital, quickly being tailed by his three other friends.
When they made it outside, Law pinched the bridge of his nose and stared down Penguin, Shachi, and Luffy like an annoyed parent. Leaving Bepo out of his ire since the younger man hadn’t even had the chance to react before Shachi had cut in, that and Bepo was his favorite and could do no wrong in Law’s eyes.
“Okay- first, no talking about illegal fighting rings in my workplace, you’re going to get me fired. Second, I don't care who’s going to be there, or if it's the biggest fight, that just means more people that I do not want to deal with.” the surgeon listed, meeting all three men's eyes.
Luffy met his gaze bored before he turned towards Shachi with a grin, which Shachi met gladly.
Law felt dread build in his gut.
Both Luffy and Shachi turned back towards him and met his eyes, “nope.” “Sorry, Boss, you’re going.” both men stated.
Law blinked before turning towards Penguin and Bepo for help, but instead of doing what a good friend would do, they both met his gaze apologetically.
“Sorry, Boss Man. That actually sounds fun.” Penguin apologized.
Law turned to Bepo with a pleading gaze, Bepo winced, “sorry… I kinda want to go too.”
The surgeon deflated before meeting Luffy’s gaze again, “why, do you want to go straw hat-ya?”
Luffy beamed, his grin getting impossibly wider at Law’s question, “my boyfriend’s going to be one of the people fighting! I'm going to go to support him and I didn't want to go by myself!”
Law blinked in confusion, “wait- Zoro-ya is a fighter?” he asked, earning an overexcited nod in return.
Shachi, Penguin, and Bepo whipped toward Luffy in shock, “Zoro? As in Roronoa Zoro? One of the best fighters in the ring, Roronoa Zoro?” Penguin questioned, his eyes wide.
Luffy tilted his head, confused, before he nodded toward the three men, “ya, why?”
“Why- what do you mean why? You’re dating a Laugh Tale Ring legend!” Shachi yelled, waving his arms in exasperation.
Luffy just blinked at them. Obviously not understanding the point of their shock.
Law sighed, effectively gaining the four men's attention, “Straw Hat-ya, why aren't you going with your friends?” he asked.
Luffy pouted, “they’re all going to be busy working at the ring tonight, they're helpers, so they won't be able to sit with me in the stands.” he complained, turning his pitifully hopeful gaze onto Law, making the man falter.
Law stared into Luffy’s begging gaze, slowly feeling his resolve break, before finally- “fine.” he sighed, ignoring the other men's cheers, “But!” they all silenced, “I get to leave whenever I want and this is the only time I'm going, understood?”
All four men nodded excitedly to his demands, making Law sigh again.
It was going to be a long night.
—
Law stared at the inconspicuous warehouse through his windshield with a sigh, hesitation making his actions stalled.
Did he really want to do this? He hated underground fighting rings, always had, they were musty, sweaty, loud, and they smelled like an athlete's shoe.
Before Law could back out completely and reverse his car, the grinning face of Luffy jumped up and pounded at his window impatiently. Nearly making the man's heart leap out of his throat.
With a hand on his chest in a fruitless attempt to calm his racing heartbeat, he opened his door and stepped out. “Jesus, Luffy!” he snapped, relaxing when his heart started beating at a normal pace.
Luffy grinned sheepishly, “shishishi, Sorry Torao.” he apologized, not sounding sorry at all.
Law could only shake his head, turning his gaze to the open side door to the large white building. “Are the others already here?” he asked, turning his attention back towards the young man standing next to him.
Luffy nodded, “Yup! You're the last, slowpoke!” he grinned, before grabbing the annoyed surgeon's arm and dragging him towards the loud building.
Law could only glare and sigh, fully aware that neither had any effect. The man had to pause, though, when he noticed the absence of a certain straw hat on the younger man's head, “where's your hat?” he questioned, making Luffy pause in his step.
The younger man turned towards Law and pouted, “Nami said I couldn’t wear it, she said it drew too much attention.” he whined, his shoulders slumping as he kept Law's sleeve in an iron grip.
Law raised an eyebrow curiously, “huh.” was all he replied, choosing not to question what Luffy meant by ‘it drew too much attention’ knowing it would only lead to more confusion, instead choosing to acknowledge that Luffy was no longer leading him towards the open door, instead he was leading him to the back of the building, where the lights do not call home. “Straw Hat-ya? Where are we going?” he questioned, eyeing where they came from tensely.
Luffy only grinned, “a better way! This way no one will bother us! And we get the best seats!”
Law could only blink at him. Did he want to question him? …no, he was already getting a headache, that would definitely just make it worse.
Luffy led him to a closed door in the shadows of the building, where the yellow street lamps did not reach. The young adult opened the door and dragged him inside, plowing right past all of the workers mingling about.
Were they even supposed to be back there? He’s pretty sure he saw the outlining of an ‘employees only’ sign painted on the door they just walked through.
When no one acknowledged their presence, Law allowed his shoulders to slump. Focusing his attention back to where Luffy was leading him.
It didn’t take long before Luffy had brought them to a mostly empty row of seats in the back, mostly in the shadows of the warehouse. Law could see the crowd forming around the empty ring in the middle, but- surprisingly enough, Law could see the ring perfectly, as they were at the top of the bleachers, a bird's eye view of everything below. Including, the commenter/host’s table placed next to the ring, far enough to not be damaged if someone was thrown out, but close enough to have the perfect view and to be in view.
There were already two men sitting at the table, seeming to be getting everything ready. One had bright red hair and a carefree grin on his scarred face, while the other had blue hair and a scowl on his clown-like face. But what drew his attention wasn’t the odd-looking men- no- what drew Law’s attention was the innocent straw hat resting on the table right next to the red-haired man.
He was about to comment on the hat's placement when he was all of the sudden torn into a seat by two pairs of soon-to-be-dead hands.
Law glared at the two offenders, who both shrunk slightly at his gaze but fought to keep their faces even and serious.
“Sorry Boss, but you needed to be seated! It's about to start!” Penguin started, “ya! Don’t get mad at us! It needed to be done.” Shachi added seriously.
Law sighed, before turning to sit in his seat properly. Noting how Luffy sat on his left while Shachi, Penguin, and Bepo sat on his right.
He shook his head, opting to just slump further into his seat and wait, doing his best to ignore the uproar of noise when the commenters started speaking.
The red-haired man straightened in his seat, his mischievous gaze sliding over the crowd, pausing on Law’s group long enough for the surgeon to grow wary before moving on. “Welcome, everybody!” the man yelled, resulting in a deafening roar of cheers. From both the strangers around the building and also the dumbasses sitting next to him. Making Law curl into himself more.
“As you all know, my name is Shanks, the man next to me is Buggy, and we will be your commentators on this fine evening! Tonight is a very special night! Each person fighting tonight is fighting for the opportunity to fight our one and only King of the Ring next week and take his title!” Everyone cheered again, making his grin grow.
“And- as everyone has probably already guessed, he is in the crowd tonight, but- he’s here to watch- not fight, so don’t be getting ideas, alright?” at the man's words, everyone's heads whipped around, eyeing the people around them as if trying to find this ‘king of the ring’.
“With that said, let's introduce our fighters, read the rules, and get to what you're here for!” another round of cheers, effectively making a majority of the people forget about the ‘king’ hidden in the crowd.
“Give it up for our first and most known fighter of the night, Roronoa Zoro!”
—
A majority of Zoro’s fights were over quickly, while others actually gave the man some struggle before he ultimately beat them too.
Apparently, If you lost any of the fights, you lost for good, there was no coming back until the next month. But if you won? Then you would fight the next person in line until there were only two left.
There were only short water breaks between each fight, and so far Zoro has won every one. And was one person away from winning the whole match and gaining the opportunity to challenge the king.
The man he was up against, Bellamy? Was obviously not as good a fighter as Zoro was, and Law was willing to bet that if the man wasn’t so tired from the fights before, he would've ended it almost as soon as it had started. But- with Zoro’s obvious handicap, it was taking longer, luckily- though, the man was still winning.
Bellamy was losing badly. Hit after hit, Law could see anger and desperation cloud Bellamy's gaze until Law himself was leaning forward in his seat to see what the man was going to do.
Bellamy scowled, and when Zoro lifted his arm to hit him again, Bellamy moved first, striking the first thing in his range, Zoro’s throat.
The green-haired man stumbled back in shock, gasping breaths escaping his gaping mouth, his face twisting in shocked rage. But- before Zoro could react further, Bellemy punched Zoro hard in the back.
Right. In. the. Kidney.
Law’s eyes widened in shock before he winced when Zoro went down hard with a pained groan.
“That cannot be legal…” Penguin muttered, his eyes wide and face pale. Everyone sitting with Luffy were doctors, they knew exactly what a hit like that could do.
Shachi shook his head, “It’s not.” he too was wide-eyed, much like the men next to him.
The whole crowd went silent, before an uproar of boos and angered roars echoed through the warehouse.
Shouts of illegal! Cheater! Running through the building, only to be ignored by the now grinning Bellamy.
Law could see the two commentators' eyes narrow in shock and anger, and the red-headed man seemed to even look towards the downed fighter, his eyes widening, before he turned towards his fellow commentator panicked, and seemed to snap something at him, before he turned towards them, as if expecting something.
It made Law tense. His own eyes narrowed in confusion
But- what Law and his friends failed to see was the fact that Luffy wasn’t one of the people yelling in anger like you would expect from such a loud personality, instead- he was dead silent. His grin was wiped clean off of his face as he slowly made his way away from Law and his group, down toward the ring.
—
Shanks shot up from his seat in shocked anger, his eyes narrowed dangerously on the now grinning cheater in the ring.
Until- his attention was brought to the young man curled up on the ring's floor, and his eyes widened.
He whipped towards the man next to him, “Buggy, get Chopper, quickly.” he snapped.
Buggy’s eyes widened, as if he was about to snap back at Shanks, but noticed the other man's attention wasn’t on him. Instead- his attention was on a sight that made Buggy freeze.
“Shit! Okay!” he cursed, before turning and making his way toward where Chopper should be.
Shanks ignored him, instead, his gaze was planted firmly on the figure making his way quietly down the steps of the bleachers.
The members of the crowd that the figure passed all silenced as he made his way through them.
The sight made Shanks tense in anticipation. This was not something the figure was going to let slide.
He could hear Bellamy start demanding for the match to be called, for it to end, only for Shanks to turn towards him with a cold grin. Distantly noting Zoro getting brought out of the ring by Chopper and their other doctors.
“Sorry!” Shanks chirped, making the fighter eye him confused, “Seems like we have another contestant!”
Bellamy faltered, “ What? No! It's a closed match! No one can ring in!” he snapped, making Shanks grin wider.
“Ya- that's if you don't break the rules, besides-” the young man finally made it to Shanks’ table, where he grabbed the straw hat laying innocently on it before placing it on his head. Making the whole warehouse go silent. He could even hear shocked murmurs of ‘it’s him! It’s the king!’
“This technically isn't a normal ring-in,” as if on cue, the straw-hatted young man rang the bell, gaining Bellamy’s attention. And Shanks could only grin wider as the man went deathly pale. “We’re just moving this fight up some, instead of next week, it's happening now.” The man made his way towards the ring, his signature smile gone. “Everybody! Give it up for the last fight of the night and the surprising appearance of our current King of the Ring, Monkey D. Luffy!”
“W-what!? No! That’s not how this works! It's supposed to be-”
A roar of cheers rang through the building, effectively cutting the man off, and almost deafening the red-headed commentator with their excitement, but he ignored it and only kept grinning. Watching in satisfied amusement as his only student beat Bellamy into the ground for not only breaking the rules but also for cheating and harming his partner.
There was one thing not many knew about Roronoa and Luffy, the king, and not just about their relationship.
They had a pact. A pact they had had since Luffy had first brought Zoro into the fights.
If the fight was fought cleanly, no matter if their partner wins or loses, the other stays out of it. But- if the person they are fighting cheats, then the fight is fair game.
—
Law leaped out of his seat in shock when Shanks introduced Luffy as the Ring King. His eyes practically bugging out of his head and his mouth was agape.
He distantly noted all three of his friends do the same. Shachi even went as far as to yell “What!?”
Law couldn't help but agree. What!?
Law didn’t even know Luffy fought. Let alone was the fucking king!
The king was someone even Law had heard about, despite doing his best to avoid the fighting rings altogether.
He couldn’t quite wrap his head around it, even as he watched Luffy beat the shit out of Bellemy as if he had been doing it his whole life!
He shook his head and fell back into his seat, his gaze never leaving the ring down below.
He was right, this was a long fucking night.
—
Luffy glared at the barely conscious man laying on the floor in front of him as he raised his fists with the cheers.
He hadn’t even broken a sweat, his hat hadn’t even fallen off of his head like it was prone to do during his fights.
It was a disappointing fight, not even good enough to be called a warmup.
He turned his grinned glare away from the man on the floor toward the laughing form of Shanks. Who just shook his head and cheerfully called the fight Luffy’s win. Making the young man’s grin wider. Despite his disappointment.
No matter how shitty it was, at least the dude got what was coming to him.
With that thought in mind, Luffy dropped his arms and jumped out of the ring. His grin fell as he pushed his way toward the staff rooms in the back of the warehouse. His gut churning with worry.
When he made it to the room where Chopper was fretting over his partner, he rushed forward. Jumping into Zoro’s personal space and looking over him fretfully, ignoring both Chopper and Zoro’s complaints.
“Are you alright? He didn’t hurt you too bad right? Do I need to go back out there?” he questioned, raising his worried gaze to meet Zoro’s.
Zoro huffed, rolling his eyes. “I’m fine. Just a little banged up, nothing I can’t handle. Ask Chopper.” he answered.
Luffy whipped towards the small doctor, making the younger jump before he sighed. “Ya, it didn’t do much, luckily. He’ll just need to take it easy for a few days.” the last bit was said as he aimed a glare towards the sitting green-haired fighter, who just averted his gaze.
Luffy found his grin came easier with that, “thank you, Chopper!” he thanked. Making the doctor wiggle a bit out of embarrassment.
“Thanking me won’t make me feel good, dummy!” the younger denied, making Luffy’s grin wider.
The straw hat-wearing young man slumped into the seat next to Zoro’s.
It wasn’t long before the rest of his friends along with Law, Bepo, Shachi, and Penguin came rushing in panicked. Demanding answers from both Luffy, and Chopper. Both on Luffy’s status as King that neither Law nor his friends had known about, and on Zoro’s health.
All the questions did were make Luffy laugh, relief making him relax deeper into his chair and watch the chaos.
It was safe to say- after that night's incident. No one was stupid enough to cheat in the fights. At least- not in the official ones.
The End