Work Text:
"Who are we to fight the alchemy?"
-Taylor Swift
“There you are, Traffy!”
Luffy bounded into Law’s private quarters in the palace that was now Momo’s with the same confidence and lack of care for decorum in which he entered every space he occupied.
Law was packing a bag with valuables from his room that would be useful back on the ship. The pirates were setting off tomorrow; Straw Hats, Hearts, and Kid alike. The battle was won, Luffy was awake, the people were celebrating Momo and Hiyori in the streets, and the navy was surely on its way here to arrest the wrong people. There was no reason to stay.
The war was won.
The alliance was done.
Once his ship set sail tomorrow Straw Hat would be his enemy once more the same way every opposing pirate was.
Anyone who sought the One Piece was Straw Hat’s enemy, surely he understood that.
Law sighed softly. Straw Hat didn’t understand that. That was the whole problem of the young, infuriatingly cheerful pirate. He would have everyone as his friend and crew mate if he could. The sound of his voice filling up the room and soft snapping sound of his rubbery body bounding across the floor toward Law made him think back to that day in Dressrosa where Straw Hat had referred to him as his crew mate.
He had done so proudly.
Law had shot him down. He always did. He hated when Straw Hat gave him orders like he was the one in charge of their alliance; and Law hated even more that he always followed without a second thought.
He was loath to admit it but these past few weeks he did anything Luffy asked of him without question. Anything Straw Hat needed he had been all too willing to give. And it wasn’t one sided, Luffy had given him so much in return.
Namely, freedom.
Freedom seemed to be Straw Hat’s favorite word, his idealized concept, the backbone of the new era he was racing towards.
“Why don’t you come join the party?” Luffy asked.
Law turned to face him. “The people of Wano have been partying for days, I need to prepare to ship out tomorrow, you should do the same.”
Luffy peered around Law to see the blanket he had knotted up full of essentials and a few non -essentials he had nicked.
Luffy laughed. “Nami’s doing the same thing. But she’s got way more than that.”
“Good for her,” Law grumbled. The Cat Burglar truly knew no shame. “You should go, Straw Hat.”
“Nah, I wanted to come see you before we all leave tomorrow.”
“Why?’
“To say goodbye.”
“Say goodbye tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow’s going to be all formal with everyone gathered around making important declarations and other boring stuff. I wanted to say goodbye to you personally.”
Law sat down on the edge of the bed, looking up at the smiling pirate in front of him.
“Why would you want to do that?”
“Duh,” Luffy said. “Because you’re my friend.”
“I’m not your friend, Straw Hat. Kido has been defeated, the alliance is over.”
“So?”
“ So? So we’re from rival crews, we’re back to being enemies!”
Luffy laughed, waving him off. “Nah. You’re my friend. I’ve decided.”
“You can’t just decide that!” Law jumped back up, storming over to tower above Luffy who kept incessantly smiling at him. “Friendship is a mutual thing.”
“Okay.” He shrugged. “So decide to be my friend.”
“I—I…I can’t.”
“Sure you can.”
Law turned around, unable to meet Luffy’s stare anymore.
“No, Straw Hat. I can’t. I can’t have anything to do with you. Not anymore.”
Luffy huffed, nonplussed as usual. “That’s dumb. What’s up with you?”
If only he knew, Law thought. What would the world think of Law if they knew his true feelings about the delusional rubber man who constantly declared his plans to be King of The Pirates? When Law first met the kid on Sabaody he scoffed at the mere notion that such a reckless fool who came from nothing with such a ridiculous power could ever even come close to being King of The Pirates. But now Monkey D. Luffy stood before him in The New World, multiple battles won under his belt, several nations liberated in his name, villains who had reigned unchecked for what seemed like forever taken down with his tenacity and confidence in the sheer goodness of humanity.
At first Law was sickened by it. A pirate was not a liberator. A pirate was not a hero. A pirate was not meant to risk his own life saving the innocents of the world.
I’m a different kind of pirate, Luffy always said.
Law didn’t know when along the way it had happened, but the kid had made Law want to be a different kind of pirate too.
“I just can’t, Luffy,” Law said softly.
He listened closely, felt the beat of Straw Hat’s heart, hearing the way his rubbery muscles tensed at Law’s words.
“You never call me Luffy.”
Law turned around again. “And you never call me Law. Or Trafalgar.”
“Because you’re Traffy to me.”
Law’s jaw clenched. “I know.”
“You can say I’m your enemy all you want, but you’ll never be mine. I decided you’re my friend a long time ago, Traffy, and that’s not going to change just because you say so.”
Damn, the boy was insufferably persistent, Law thought, clenching his hands at his sides. He stepped closer to the Fifth Emperor, looming over him again. Luffy wasn’t smiling anymore, he wore the intense, serious expression of determination that Law seldom saw him sport outside of battle. To see it shot his way was staggering.
“Don’t you get it, Straw Hat? I don’t want to be your friend!”
“I don’t believe you.”
“You have to!”
“Well, I don’t.”
Law growled deep in his throat. Luffy just laughed.
“Seriously, Traffy, what’s up with you?”
“I…you don’t understand. I can’t be your friend because…”
“Because what? Just tell me.”
“I can’t. There’s something that I…there’s a reason, alright? Trust that there’s a reason.”
A terrible, humiliating reason, Law thought, forlornly.
“Tell me the reason,” Luffy insisted.
“It’s not something I can tell you.”
“Then show me. Just stop saying you can’t. It’s stupid.”
Law hesitated, looking into the pirate’s eyes. This different, once in a generation, completely one of a kind pirate before him. It had been a long time since Law had had faith in anything, but he knew no matter what happened after his ship left port tomorrow, he would always have faith in Luffy. He knew in his tortured heart that Luffy would be King of The Pirates even if he could never bring himself to say it out loud.
Law’s hands twitched at his sides, studying the curve of Luffy’s smiling mouth, taking in the aroma of him; heady with smoked meat, rich wine, and the slight citrus scent he and all the Straw Hats always had wafting around them from the Cat Burglar’s tangerine trees that cluttered their ridiculous ship.
Maybe it was now or never. And did he really want to risk dying at sea never knowing what it would’ve been like to allow himself to have the one thing he wanted most? The only thing he knew he could never truly have.
“Just show me already, ya big dummy,” Luffy said playfully. “Show me why you can’t—”
Before Luffy could finish his sentence Law took the rubber man’s soft face in his hands and brought Luffy’s mouth to his. To Law’s surprising and immense relief, Straw Hat did not still against him, the young captain immediately melded against Law, wrapping his stretchy arms around him just a bit too tight, pressing his lithe but toned body up against Law’s stiff one.
The feel of Luffy finally here in his arms allowed Law to, for once, release his tension and give into the kiss. He moved one hand to cradle the back of Luffy’s head, the other snaking around his back, pressing down between his shoulders to keep their bodies pressed close. Luffy nipped at Law’s bottom lip, surprising the Heart Captain with his eagerness. Law had always assumed Straw Hat and Cat Burglar Nami must’ve been an item, and back in Dressrosa he had wondered if Princess Rebecca and Luffy had harbored feelings for each other. Law had never dared to dream that Luffy was interested in men, let alone in him.
He had insulted Straw Hat so often, cut him down, yelled at him, and worst of all—doubted him.
Yet here the future King of The Pirates was, wrapped up in his arms, tongue begging to enter his mouth, his wine and citrus taste overwhelming Law’s senses.
Law parted his lips to let Luffy’s tongue tangle with his own and together the two of them got lost deeper and deeper into the kiss. When they finally broke apart, coming up for air, Straw Hat was grinning.
“Was that what you were so worried about?” Luffy asked.
“Wh–what?”
Luffy laughed and patted Law on the back, keeping one arm still wrapped firmly around the Heart Captain as his other hand moved to adjust his tattered, old straw hat.
“I already knew that, Traffy.”
“You…you knew? You knew that I—”
“I may be an idiot,” Luffy said, his fingers moving tantalizingly across Law’s spine, “but I’m not stupid.”
“I don’t understand,” Law said. He moved his hand without thinking to cup Luffy’s face, tracing his thumb across the pirate’s skin, the pad of his finger gliding over the small scar on Luffy’s cheek. He had always wondered what the story was behind it. Maybe one day he’d ask him. “If you knew then why didn’t—th–this, does this mean you—”
“Yeah, Traffy. I feel the same way.”
“Then why didn’t you ever say anything? Do anything?”
Luffy shrugged with one shoulder, his other arm still keeping Law close. “I figured it would happen when it was meant to happen.”
“But I was going to leave you tomorrow and we might have never seen each other again! I told you I would see you as my enemy! What if you hadn’t come in here tonight! Were you just going to let me walk away?”
Luffy smiled. “I don’t stand in between my friends and their dreams. I knew I’d see you again.”
“We’re not friends, Straw Hat.”
Luffy laughed softly. “I know, Traffy.”
Luffy stood on tip-toe and pressed his lips to Law’s once more. A tender, softer, sweeter kiss this time. When he pulled back he left his head resting against Law’s the rims of their hats bumping together. Law reached up and gently pushed Luffy’s hat back so their foreheads could graze against each other’s.
“It’s okay if you walk away tomorrow,” Luffy said. “Because I know we’ll always find our way back to each other.”
“You’re ridiculous,” Law said. “Am I really worth all that to you?”
Luffy leaned back to look into Law’s fierce eyes. He unwrapped his arms and took Law’s face in both of his strong hands. “Hey,” he said forcefully, making Law hold his gaze. “Never doubt how worth it you are to me. Ya hear me? Never. ”
Law silently cursed the pirate for making his heart ache with want for him. Unable to say the right thing, forever a failure at prolific declarations, he put his hand on the back of Luffy’s head and pulled him against his chest. Luffy didn’t fight him on it, or insist that Law make any kind of promise back to him. He just wrapped his stretchy arms back around the Heart Captain, nuzzling his head against Law’s chest.
“Luffy?”
“Hmm?”
“I heard you say one time that when you become King of The Pirates you don’t want to rule over everyone, you want to be freer than anyone.”
“Uh-huh. That’s what it means to be King of The Pirates.”
“Other pirates would disagree.”
“I know. But I’m a different kind of pirate.”
Law lovingly stroked Luffy’s hair. “I know, Luffy. I know.”
“Just you wait and see, Traffy, once I find the One Piece we’re not gonna be the Worst Generation anymore, we’re gonna be the Free Generation.”
Law finally smiled down at Straw Hat—at Luffy. He had no doubt that the kid would follow through on his word. He would free the world the way he had freed Dressrosa.
The way he had freed Law.
“I’m tired, Traffy,” Luffy said with a yawn. “Let’s go to bed.”
The two pirates went to bed, but they barely slept.
***
Law stood at the bow of his ship watching The Sunny set sail, taking off for more adventures. Again he thought back to Dressrosa, being carried through the streets in Luffy’s arms. You got a problem with my crew mate?! Luffy had shouted. Law had chastised him for such a declaration. They weren’t crew mates and they weren’t friends and they weren’t even technically allies anymore.
They were something more.
Whether either one of them ever told another soul what they had shared together or whether they kept it to themselves for years to come, Law finally trusted in Luffy’s assurances that this wasn’t the end of their time together. This wasn’t goodbye forever.
Law felt tears prick his eyes, with a grumble he scrubbed his face aggressively, refusing to cry over anyone, especially not Straw Hat.
“Traffyyyyyy!” Luffy shouted, leaning over the railing of his ship like a reckless idiot.
Law looked up to where the opposing Captain was waving to him. Even from this far away Law could make out the smile on his face.
“I’ll see you soon, Traffy!”
Law laughed, smiling against his better judgment. He raised one hand in farewell. “Yeah, Luffy,” he said softly. “I’ll see you soon.”