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Voices roused Koby from his sleep—loud, very angry voices. It sounded like he was back on base, as squad leaders barked orders to cadets for morning drills. Groaning, he groggily rubbed his face. If that were the case, it would be easy to roll over and go back to sleep, easy to…he paused in the motion of burritoing himself back up, and shooting upright, launching himself out of bed.
This wasn’t a base. This was the Liberal Hind and if there were angry voices, it could mean any number of things. Bare feet slapped against the hard wooden floor as Koby scrambled to find his discarded clothes, which had somehow vanished between the night previous and the present.
Groping around, he seized the first article of clothing he could find—a bathrobe far too big for him. Koby belted it closed as he bolted from the captain’s quarters up onto the sun-drenched deck. Expecting a battle, anything to account for the amount of noise, he instead found something that made him recoil in horror.
“You’re not the first marine I’ve blown in an on-base bathroom and you won’t be the last!” Clad in a white tank top and cap, with feathers rimmed around his shoulders, Trafalgar Law snapped, “I told you to stay out of my business anyway.”
“Doesn’t explain why you’re here now and why you’re here,” Vice Admiral Smoker bellowed, angrily pointing between the former Warlord and X Drake, whose sickly green face had nothing to do with his transformative display of skill from the night before.
“Well I,” Law gestured to himself, and then to Drake, “—was going to blow him for saving me in Wano, which apparently is where his ass has been since Marineford.”
“Why the hell were you in Wano?” Attention snapping to Drake, Smoker growled, biting down hard on the cigars in his mouth.
For a moment, Koby swore a punch was about to be thrown.
“It was a solo mission to identify where illegal weapons were being manufactured!” Koby yelled, the words escaping before he had a chance to think. Three sets of eyes focused on him.
“Is that my bathrobe?” Smoker squinted, his face splotchy red in confusion and irritation. “And why the fuck is Koby here?”
“Same reason as Law-san, but I got here first…” Koby muttered, trying not to let the wave of anxiety win out. He fiddled with the robe’s collar, pulling it closed as he took a deep breath, even as Law’s gaze raked over him.
“I remember him from Marineford,” Law noted. “Almost got turned into paste.” He paused, only for a smug pitch to creep into his voice, “Diez how old is he?”
“Eighteen,” Drake mumbled out, mouth drawing into a tight frown. Koby couldn’t tell if it was out of anger or guilt, but he didn’t enjoy it either way. Whatever he’d stepped into was already a minefield and he’d somehow managed to make it worse.
“So nothing has changed. I was what—eighteen, nineteen, the first time we met?” Law snapped, eyes narrowed, “That doesn’t explain why White Hunter-ya is here though.”
Smoker’s body stiffened at the way Law’s accent played over his epithet. “Came to drop off some information. I was in the area and figured it would be easy to swap intel. It’s…complicated.”
Koby hadn’t anticipated the absolutely wounded expression that passed over the Vice Admiral’s face. Complicated, though…he could work with complicated now they had all at least stopped screaming at each other.
Clearing his throat, he raised his voice, “I…I’d like to get the full picture of what's going on here. Can we head to Drake-san's room and talk like adults, please?”
He hadn't expected any of them to agree to the change of space, but their mutual acceptance gave Koby a chance to clear his head in the slow shuffle back. Nor did he expect them to so freely admit to the messy little web that had managed to tangle them all up together…
“So you two were seeing each other long distance,” Koby rubbed the back of his neck, trying to gather up the details as he pointed between Drake and Smoker, “—while you two were involved,” then between Drake and Law. “And then Law and Smoker started…what would you call any of this?”
“Complicated, like I said.” Smoker shrugged. Koby appreciated that he was far calmer than previously, though the feeling quickly evaporated with the man’s addition, “Just don't expect me to be warm and fuzzy with the two guys that ghosted me—for how long?”
“I wasn't…” Koby started in only for Law to stride across the room, chin tilted up. He tried to speak again only for Law’s raised hand to cut him back to silence.
“I told you not to follow me,” Law snarled to Smoker, voice pitched up in anger, “I told you to stay out of my business and you almost got yourself killed! But no, you had to go and—”
“You would have been dead if I hadn’t been there!” Smoker roared, and Law jumped back, eyes narrowing as he fell silent. “Do you think I enjoyed watching Vergo use you as a punching bag?”
“Enough from both of you,” Drake winced. Around his neck, his bandages began to darken, and he pressed his hand up against them to stem the bleeding. “Smoker, I am sorry. I don’t blame you for being angry at me for vanishing, but we both know you would have done the same thing in my position.”
“I know, which is why I’m not…” Smoker exhaled sharply as he closed his eyes, trying to gather his thoughts, “I’m not jealous or half as pissed at you as I was.” He nodded toward Law, “It’s him.”
Law frowned, eyes flickering down and he opened his mouth to speak before closing it again. It was odd for Koby to see such a fearsome pirate and a former Warlord suddenly drained of all the fight in him. Wano had been cruel to them all it seemed, and purely dumb luck even crueler.
“Law-san, Drake-san got shot by a CP agent…I know you’re a doctor. Could you look at it?” Koby asked, trying to offer some kind of distraction. “There’s a first aid kit above the reptile cages.”
Striding over to the shelves, Law looked down at the enclosures as he hunted for the kit. He paused for a moment, frowning as he peered into the biggest one. “You still have Jessica? I thought that bitch would have run off with a small child by now.”
“I do. I’m surprised you remembered her.” Drake seemed to perk up at that, his expression softening as Law came over to tend to his wounds, “She was so little then.”
“She bit me and got a taste for blood. Of course, I remember her,” Law scoffed, shooing Drake’s hands away and slowly began to unwind the strips of bandage from his neck, “Did no one stitch this?”
“Don’t have a real doctor, so most likely not. Not like you.” Smoker chimed in, and Koby heard the barest hint of pride in those words.
Gaze askance, Law flushed slightly as he settled down on the bed, with Drake kneeling, his head tilted. Drake hissed softly as Law dabbed at the open wound with antiseptic, his long fingers carefully working over his skin.
“It’s deep,” Law chided quietly. “You’re lucky you didn’t bleed out on the field but…Marines are tough.” He fished out the suture kit, “I…I missed you both.”
Koby watched the dip and pull of the needle and thread, listening to the tender way Law spoke to Drake as he sewed him up and to the soft murmur of praise as Smoker looked over Law’s handiwork, something Koby knew was so rarely given. Sighing, Koby let his shoulders drop. Everything hurt from the night before and now the adrenaline had worn off, he felt even more exhausted than he had in waking. It felt strange, though. There had been no jealousy hinted at in their stories, no resentment for taking others into their lives. Yet somehow it felt like he was intruding on some kind of private moment.
Koby forced a smile, “Okay, so at least for the time being you’re not…killing each other. I’m going to find my clothes and change.”
“I put your clothing in the wash,” Drake said sheepishly and Koby couldn’t help but let himself wonder what the plans had been, had Smoker and Law not shown up. “They should be done soon.”
“Okay, I guess I’m living in Smoker’s bathrobe for the time being.” Which didn’t sound like a bad plan in the long run…he could just pull it over his head and stare at the reptiles while the others did what they needed to do until he could escape and it would be fine.
Except it didn’t feel fine. It felt the same when he hadn’t known where Drake had gone or what had happened to him. It felt the same when it felt as if everyone around him had moved leaps and bounds ahead of him. Lost in thought, he hadn’t noticed Law’s bright yellow eyes studying him like a cat would a mouse.
“What about you? Diez doesn’t just…” Law fought to find the words as one of Drake’s hands touched his leg, “He doesn’t just fall into bed with people, not without reason.”
“I kind of…bullied him into it.” Koby confessed, though he truly wished he hadn’t, “I wouldn’t have if I had known and I…”
“We’re not exclusive,” Smoker added and Koby deflated, sputtering as the Vice Admiral clapped him on the shoulder. “Never were. Probably a good thing.”
“Yeah, because I would have sunk this tub in that case.” Law grinned, only for Drake to bunt into his hand now that his stitches were done. “Don’t do that, you’ll ruin my work!”
“No, I won’t, you patched me up from worse,” Drake rumbled, a sound that seemed to make all three of them shiver.
“Definitely don't do that.” Smoker shook his head to clear the sensation. “But the point is…once we talk things out, kid—if you wanna stay, you can stay.”
Stay… Staying was an option, staying with Drake…with all of them. Koby sucked in a breath, the sound stuttered as he tried to exhale. He didn't want to cry, not in front of them, but his feelings didn’t give him much of a choice. Koby sniffled, rubbing his eyes on his sleeve. “Thank you.”
“Well a couple of us just spent the last month or so learning about the power of love and friendship…” Law peeled his lanky frame off the bed and pulled papers out of his feathered cape. “I have a proposal…”
Koby's breath caught his chest as Law unfolded them over Drake’s desk, revealing strange markings. While he wasn't sure what they were, he could hazard a guess. Smoker leaned over him as Drake joined Law in holding the curling papers down.
“Let's go to the end of the line…together.”