Chapter Text
Time flies when you're focusing on being a menace to the World Government.
Seven years seems an eon, a timer that will never conclude, until one day Penguin turns to Law in the control room of the Tang, beauty that she is, and tells him that there is one month until Luffy turns seventeen and his promise is owed.
“You think he's changed much?” Shachi asks from his place on the cold floor, head in the hollow of his boyfriend's lap.
Silence, for a single floating moment, then raucous laughter from them all. Luffy has the kind of personality that doesn't change for anything less than the end of the world, if even then.
“It'll be lovely seeing Makino again, even if it's only a short visit,” Roci adds.
The newer crew's heads swivel over to him at the name.
“Makino, hm? Does our Cora have a giiirlfriend?” Ikkaku asks, drawing out the word in a childish sing-song. Over the years, some crewmates have taken to calling him Cora after hearing Law, others Roci, his own boys Dad, and of course Law calling him Cora-san, as he always has. It’s confusing as fuck, but it works for them.
Five confused expressions meet her question.
“As much as I don't like it, Cora-san is already dating Mihawk. And Shanks has likely married Makino-ya by now,” Law explains, making most of his chronically gossiping crew absolutely lose their shit.
“You- wh- Mihawk? Shanks?! ”
Law leans back in his chair while everyone clamors for information. Bepo's claw tapping his shoulder gives him a great excuse to turn away from the chaos.
“I'll have the full course charted by the hour, but do you want to stop at Loguetown or not? Sorry.”
Roci's grin crooks to one side. “Can we, Captain? I'd love to say hi to my old friend Smoker and see how he's doing.”
Truthfully, besides Law, Roci had taken to piracy with the greatest ease. Being a Marine had been his purpose for over two decades, but when it comes down to it a boat is a boat, a crew is a crew, and there is so much less paperwork involved in pirate business. It's relaxing to him, and much more rewarding.
Law snorts, shoulders shaking gently with the force of his exhales. “You already gave our dear Drake-ya such a fright, do you really think he can handle it?” Roci's expression in response tells him that they both know he can't, and that's why Roci wants to go. Drake's jaw drop and full freeze mid-fight when he finally clocked who the giant in the boiler suit looming next to Law was might still be the highlight of their careers.
“Rumors say he's found himself an assistant and kept her around for a full year, I gotta meet this lady!”
None of the Hearts have ever dealt with Smoker's stubborn bullshit at any length, but Roci's inflection and Smoker's general reputation are enough to stress the novelty.
Law spins his chair back around to the front, where his idiot crew has mostly calmed. He has to restrain himself from continuing to spin, enjoying the simple movement far more than he should.
“Alright. Is everyone in here?” He realizes belatedly he hadn't asked earlier. A chorus of unison agreement meets him.
Law nods, mostly to himself. “For the past seven years, I've demanded nothing but constant hard work every single day. Somehow, you follow me anyways. The closest I can get to giving you a vacation for all your effort is where we're going. Knowing Luffy, he'll demand we stay out of the many, many fights he's going to get into. So, what do we do when we're left to our own devices in likely hostile lands, men?”
Hakugan raises an eager hand. “Steal the shit out of their private information?”
“Steal the shit out of their private information.”
Obnoxious applause breaks as soon as it's clear Law's speech is done.
—
Drake's Navy ship gives them a touching goodbye fight at the edge of the North Blue, one where Law minces everyone even more than usual. Penguin draws a truly artistic phallus in marker on what he's pretty certain is the Rear Admiral's tit, because for all he's grown up he's no more mature.
Their return trip is infinitely easier than the original journey. Having engines easily beats out sails when it comes to propulsion.
Loguetown holds nothing of traditional value to them, but it does hold the value of fuckery and they have a few more days before they need to be back at Foosha. Roci strolls down the streets in broad daylight next to Law, and waves excitedly when he finally gets a visual on one of his last remaining friends from his old life.
“Hm?” Smoker grunts, eyes narrowing and going dark once he sees Law's superbly recognizable everything.
“Smoker! it's been so long, you look great! Loguetown's really cleaned up now that you're here,” Roci says conversationally, fully aware of the growing anger in Smoker's expression. In retaliation, Smoker shoots off a hand, dragging back a dark-haired girl clutching a sword in one hand and her glasses in the other.
“Tashigi. Is the man next to Trafalgar Law a hallucination?”
Tashigi looks at her superior with an appropriately what-the-fuck-man face.
“Um. No, sir? Is this a test, or- or a-” Smoker cuts her off with a sharp nod of approval and a dismissive gesture. With her… odd duty done (although no stranger than the time Smoker called on her in the late hours just to ask whether she thought three cigars at once would be too intimidating to innocents), Tashigi scampers the fuck away from the situation entirely. Law struts away too, to grant his dad some privacy for either a fight or an emotional talk.
“Well, shit.”
Roci tilts his head towards an empty alleyway and slips in to rest on the wall opposite to Smoker.
With a snap and a “Silent,” Roci gives Smoker a warm, genuine smile, which is met with a literally fuming grimace.
“I meant it, you look really good! I'm happy to see a man with some real justice rising in the ranks. Tashigi seems bright.”
“Why?” Smoker asks without clarifying what he's talking about, though Roci knows well. Smoker's posture screams betrayal, but that can't be right.
Roci's inability to pass up a chance to fuck with someone rears its head. “Well, the white hair has always been a hit with the ladies, and the cigars really scream bad boy-”
“Not that, moron! Why'd you go pirate?”
“You know that I left to go undercover in my brother's crew, how do you know I'm not still undercover?” he throws back.
Smoker levels him with a long, tired look. “Rocinante, you look more at ease than you ever did in our training days. You're a pirate down to your core, and you're happier for it, and it's conflicting as fuck, so work with me here. ”
Oh.
It's quiet for a moment while that sinks in, and not just because of his active power.
“I won't try to make you agree with my view,” Roci starts.
Smoker’s fond eye roll shows very clearly that he wouldn't expect anything different.
“Law is the kindest, most powerful, and most strong-willed boy I know. I gave everything up to raise him somewhere safe, and I will not apologize for that.”
Two pairs of burning reddish eyes meet for a moment, and Roci thinks that Smoker may get it, even if he doesn't understand.
“Damn it all. Get the fuck outta here, Rocinante,” Smoker growls, and they both know his words cover up his foolish heart of gold.
Roci laughs. Oh, does he laugh. It feels like he never stops laughing these days.
“Take care!”
The indigo bubble around them pops, and in rush the overwhelming sounds of a busy town at noon.
Roci rejoins the crowd and fights his way back to the Tang. Afternoon nap time greets him, with at least five crew members who are supposed to be working piled around Bepo. Their damn captain is on top of him.
Roci settles - carefully - against the deck's railing to keep watch. They've got time for this kind of luxury, even though his survival instincts abhor it.
—
“Should we have gotten him something?” Penguin asks as they are literally dropping anchor at Foosha. Shachi appropriately calls him out for being a bit late on that question.
“Please,” Law says sarcastically, “Fighting Doflamingo is the perfect gift.”
A thin siren fills the air, growing steadily louder. Closer, rather? It almost starts to sound like words by the time they're all off the ship.
“Traffytraffytraffytraffytraffytraffytraffy-”
Luffy lands feet first on Law's sternum, sending them both back into poor Uni and Ikkaku too.
“Idiot! I'll kill you!” Law shouts, but he's smiling and reaching up to knock back the straw hat so he can ruffle Luffy's hair.
Luffy's smile drops in a flash when he seemingly remembers something.
“See, you aren't supposed to leave until you actually tell everyone goodbye! Ace ‘n Sabo waited, but you left in the middle of the night and it was stupid!”
Law stays very purposefully silent with a bastard's slim smirk on his face.
“Missed you too, I guess. Do you like the Tang ?”
Luffy's single-minded focus locks onto the submarine at full force. Actual sparkles somehow erupt around his face.
“So cool!”
Law preens. He's always been a little prone to showing off.
While they're not looking, Luffy gets his stretchy arms around the entire crew and launches the rubber bindings back toward Party Bar, where his hands must find a proper hold.
The five core members of the Hearts, who've all been subjected to his rockets before, start to panic and scramble to free themselves. No one manages to before they're sent soaring through the air and crashing into Makino's porch.
“Ohh, I did not miss that,” Shachi groans.
“Luffy!” a warm, feminine voice chastises, “What have we said about flinging your friends around?”
Makino pushes past the saloon-style doors to give him the full Mom Look. It's wiped away immediately when she sees their guests.
“Oh, come here! Is that really you, Roci? You look so lively! And boys! How in the world did you get so tall?” She flutters from person to person, admiring haircuts and hugging and accepting them all just as easily as she did when they first met.
The latter additions to the Heart Pirates stand just to side, silently respecting the hell out of this woman who can only possibly be the famed Makino. Suddenly, partner of an Emperor seems like a little less impossible of a title.
Her sweet gaze falls to them, once she's fussed over every new scar.
“Oh, you're all so much lovelier in person! You're Uni, You're Hakugan, you're Clione, and you, my poor dear, must be Ikkaku. The boys are good to you, right? I'll have some very strong words for them if they're being idiots just because you're a girl.”
Ikkaku shakes her head, tells her that they made sure she got her own room and bathroom, and somehow doesn't cry when Makino hugs her with just as much love as the boys she already knew.
While Makino moms all over the Hearts and cements herself to them as The Best Ever, Luffy drags Law off to the side.
“Did you like my rocket? I got super strong while you were gone, so now we can sail together and fight Mingo, right?”
Law can't even bother teasing, he just nods. The bruise forming down his back from their impact proves well enough Luffy's become a monster in his own right.
“I gotta go say bye to Dadan and thank all the bandits, but then we can go!”
Law doesn't even get to ask who the hell Dadan is before Luffy is gone.
“How is it possible for him to be more energetic than he was as a kid?” Law asks Roci. Roci just shrugs.
“Say, Makino, what's that on your finger?” Penguin asks slyly. Every eye in the vicinity locks onto the ornate gold and emerald ring on her delicate finger.
She blushes honestly. “Shanks came for a visit a couple years back. When he couldn't get me to come with him, he asked if I'd at least join him in this way.”
Congratulations overwhelm her from every side, but Roci's own smile is a little forced at the edges as he fiddles with the band in his own pocket. It's been a long time since he saw his own partner. Makino kindly doesn't inquire about that.
The Hearts absolutely adore the bar once Makino guides them inside and starts passing out drinks.
She hesitates with a cup in her hands while looking at Law.
“Is there an issue, Makino-ya?” Law asks with a little frown.
Makino looks off to the side. “Well, last time I saw you you were so little, and serving alcohol to someone that young is irresponsible, and-”
Law's pout turns into a fully bewildered look. “Makino-ya, I'm twenty-four! I can handle a drink.”
She sets the glass in front of him and covers her face with her hands. “I know that, but I'm just not used to it yet!”
Luffy's reappearance spares them any more awkwardness.
He whines, “I said bye, now c'mon! We gotta go!” and starts pulling Law out the door, forcing him to slam back the dregs of his drink.
Roci sets far too many bills on the counter and follows before Makino can try to give them back.
“Do you have your own ship?” Law asks, even though he already kind of knows the answer.
“Nope!” Luffy asserts.
Most of being Luffy's friend is just learning to roll with the punches. Law rolls his eyes and drags Luffy onto the Tang.
“First things first: my ship, my rules. You can ride with us, but you find your own ship as soon as possible.” Luffy nods rapidly. He doesn't like the idea of following anyone else, but in this case it's the obvious choice and the one that lets him drool over the cool submarine.
The rest of the crew files back on board after tearful goodbyes with Makino. Hakugan disappears to work his magic and get the Tang sailing. There probably aren't many places in the weakest sea where they'll need to submerge, so everyone stays above deck while Law directs them through the undocking process.
Luffy plants himself at the bow, taking everything in with childlike glee as nothing but the oceanic expanse meets him, familiar land behind his back.
“You ready for everything?” Roci asks, lighting a cigarette and himself.
“Of course! After all, I'm gonna be king of the pirates!” A few paces away, Law tugs his hat past his eyes, but it can't cover his smile.
The freak storm and whirlpool they get caught in less than an hour later throws all their plans off course.
Whoops.