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“Thank you for staying alive, Luffy.”
Law hesitated behind a column, and watched as Luffy scrambled back to his feet with tears in his eyes to face a blond man with a top hat. Somehow it felt like he wasn’t welcome here, like even just standing in the hallway he was intruding on a moment far more intimate than any he’d ever shared with Luffy.
“Is it okay if I eat the Mera-Mera No Mi?” the blonde asked, and Law’s eyes widened. Luffy had considered Fire Fist Ace his brother. To ask him for all that remained of the man was, well, a request only a family member or Luffy’s current lover would be able to make, and Law had heard all about the living members of Luffy’s family.
“Mmhmm.” Luffy nodded quickly, tears still sliding down his face and nose running freely. “That'd be for the best. That's how it should be.”
Law sucked a breath in through his teeth at that, his chest tightening. Of course, who had he been kidding, thinking Luffy would still want him back after he broke the boy’s heart that early morning in the hotel room. It shouldn’t be surprising at all that Luffy had found someone else, someone better than Doflamingo’s right hand man, someone who actually deserved to have their own personal sun. He took a step back as Luffy wrapped the blond man in a tight hug, but as the man hugged back he lifted his head. Law froze, blue eyes boring into his gold, and he suddenly wondered if this man knew who he had once been to Luffy.
“Trafalgar Law.” the blond said, tone flat and voice pitched lower than it had been while talking to Luffy, a subtle and probably unconscious threat. Law nodded his head minutely, and it was almost like Luffy teleported. One second the young Captain was in the arms of his blond lover, the next Law was staggering back as five and a half feet of solid rubbery muscle slammed into his chest. No, a bit more than five and a half feet, Luffy had grown a few inches since leaving the Donquixote crew.
“Toraaaaooooo!” Luffy sobbed, and it was more reflex than anything else which made Law raise his arms to support the younger man clinging to his torso. Luffy was still so warm, like someone had taken sunshine and made it into a person, and Law hadn’t realized how cold his hands were until they were pressed to the rubberman’s warm back. Luffy’s chest was dominated now by a massive scar, something Law had a terrible feeling had been gained at Marineford, but there wasn’t much time to look at it because Luffy had only leaned away to yank off his fake beard and gladiator helmet and then- Law was pretty sure his heart stopped for a second, and he knew he stopped breathing because Luffy was kissing him.
Luffy was kissing him, in front of his new boyfriend who was- laughing? The blond was laughing, so maybe he wasn’t Luffy’s lover, but before Law could think about that any further Luffy pulled away for breath and Law remembered he had stopped breathing something like thirty seconds ago. He inhaled quickly, and when Luffy slammed their mouths back together his froze. This was- his brain stuttered on the word wrong, skipped around it like a record with a particularly nasty scratch, but if nothing else letting himself be sucked back into Luffy’s pace would certainly be a betrayal.
Law stopped breathing again, and even though he knew Doflamingo’s attention was elsewhere he could almost feel the familiar strings tightening around his neck. Luffy had joined the competition, taken the bait of Fire Fist Ace’s devil fruit, and that meant he would die in the final round. That was the purpose of this event, after all, eliminating the single most credible threat to Doffy’s shot at being Pirate King before he could gain enough power to be a serious competitor. If he let Luffy pull him in, if he betrayed Doflamingo now, then he would certainly die. If not in the battle between the men who loved him, then in the aftermath, when he could no longer summon up the hope of seeing Luffy again to keep himself from diving into the ocean.
Luffy pulled away after a few seconds of awkwardly smushing his mouth against Law’s unmoving one, and tucked his face against Law’s neck where it met his shoulder. Luffy lowered his legs from being wrapped around Law’s waist, and even though he no longer had to support the shorter man’s weight Law kept his arms around Luffy’s back, holding him close.
“I’m sorry.” Luffy murmured, and even though his voice was still thick with tears it was very different from how he’d addressed the mystery blond. He was being quiet, Law realized after a moment. Quiet enough that nobody else would hear him, even though there were two people standing not five yards away.
“What f-” he started to ask, but Luffy’s arms around his chest tightened and he went quiet.
“I’m sorry I left.” Luffy murmured, and Law felt fresh tears against his neck. “I should’ve fought Mingo harder, or figured out what he was doing sooner, or snuck back to get you, or- or.” he sobbed quietly, and Law lifted a hand to card through his hair as Luffy’s grip tightened. If anyone else had tried to hold him like this he would’ve broken their arms without hesitation, but despite himself he was relaxing into the warmth he’d barely realized he missed these past few years.
“It’s okay.” Law whispered, holding Luffy close with one arm and running the other hand through his hair. “I’m the one who messed up, not you.”
“No.” Luffy said firmly, hands tightening on the back of Law’s jacket. “Mingo’s the messed up one.” he lifted his head, eyes red from crying, and pulled back out of Law’s grip before raising his voice to a normal speaking volume. “I’m gonna kick his ass, Torao, and when I’m done he won’t be able to hurt you ever again.” he smiled, more vicious than anything Law had thought him capable of, and slid his hands down Law’s arms to twine their fingers together. “I’m gonna need your help, though.”
Law’s breath caught in his throat, and phantom wires tightened around his neck, but Luffy held his hands tighter and Law leaned forward to kiss him. Luffy released his hands, threw his arms around Law’s neck, and the blond laughed again as Law pulled Luffy in for a proper reunion kiss. If they failed, he would die. Whether by Doflamingo’s hand or his own he wasn’t sure, but if Luffy’s life ended here then he certainly wouldn’t survive the younger pirate by long. But if they won, if Luffy somehow emerged victorious from this fight, then he would finally be free.
Something warm was unfurling in Law’s chest as he and Luffy slowly parted, and it took a long moment for him to identify the feeling. For the first time in two long, painful years, Trafalgar Law let himself hope that things would be okay.
---
Law blinked awake, and squinted at the ceiling as if that would make his thoughts fall in order. It was so hard to think, for some reason. He was warm, comfortable despite his injuries, and- oh, that was it. A small smile spread on his face, and he lifted his arm to pull Luffy closer to his chest. Doflamingo had been deposed, beaten by the teenager currently curled up with him under a fairly thin blanket. He had failed, but Luffy had succeeded, and now he was free.
The thought was strange, and a bit frightening, but Luffy was alive and already healing and so long as Luffy was around the future didn’t seem so bad. Law wasn’t sure if he closed his eyes and fell back asleep for a bit or just blinked really slowly, but when he opened his eyes Luffy had turned his face up slightly and was smiling. His eyes opened slowly, and for a hazy moment he looked to be still asleep. Then his gaze met Law’s, and Law leaned forward without thinking.
The kiss was slow, gentle, and seemed to drag on forever in that sleepy half-waking state where time is a figment of other people’s imaginations. When they pulled apart Luffy’s smile widened into something huge and absolutely lovestruck, and from how badly Law’s cheeks hurt he knew his expression wasn’t much different. Luffy had saved him, broken him free of the intangible birdcage which had dictated his life for so many years, and now he knew with the sort of gut certainty which only ever applied to Luffy that he would remain free until he died a pirate’s death.
Luffy hummed something which might’ve been ‘Torao’ and slowly rolled onto his back, eyes closing again. His breathing evened out immediately, and Law groaned as one of his bullet wounds twinged, followed by his right arm where Doflamingo had cut it off. He sat up, blinked a few times, and the world finished resolving itself into a small house packed with sleeping wounded people. Well, now that he was properly awake, there were things he had to do.
---
Law slipped out of the small house on the hill, and shut the door behind himself. The note he’d left should keep Luffy from coming after him before he was done, and as he walked through the wreckage of Dressrosa he gripped Kikoku tightly. Conversations hushed as he walked by, people recognizing him as Doflamingo’s right hand man, and he kept his head down as he headed to the very edge of the island. There was a small clearing just outside where the Birdcage had struck, and Law paused before walking between the boulders. He could smell cigarette smoke, and see the cuff of a Marine’s coat sleeve. It wasn’t too late to turn back, to return to Luffy and banish this place to the back of his mind with Flevance and the nights spent in Doflamingo’s room, but he had to do this. He had to know why.
“Corazón.” he said curtly, walking into the clearing. The ambient sounds of early morning near the sea stopped, and the blond man lifted his head.
“Corazón.” the man said back, smiling slightly. He looked different without the clownish face paint, more like his brother, and Law kept one hand on Kikoku’s hilt as he found a rock to rest against.
“So, you really can talk.” he said after a moment of awkward silence.
“I ate the Nagi Nagi No Mi.” the second Corazón said, and Law nodded.
“Why did you do it?” he said after a longer silence. “Why did you betray your own brother?”
“Doflamingo was a monster.” the blond said, piercing red eyes locking with Law’s and immediately softening. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save you from him.”
Law looked down, and gripped the hilt of his nodachi tighter. “Why didn’t you?” his voice shook, but only slightly. “You never told him I stabbed you, but then you just left, and we found out you were a Marine all along.” he took a deep breath and looked back up, feeling much smaller than his six foot three. “Why didn’t you take any of us away from him?” he asked, and the ‘why not me?’ hung unspoken in the calm air between them.
The Vice Admiral sighed, and pulled his cigarette from his mouth. “My mission was to collect information on my brother’s plans, and then hand that information off to my superiors so they could stop him. You and the other kids, you all adored him, and I couldn’t take one of you with me without making Doffy suspicious.”
“What about Baby 5?” Law snapped, clutching Kikoku so tight his knuckles were going pale. “She would’ve followed you anywhere if you said you needed her. Buffalo too, maybe even Dellinger.”
“Not you?” The former Corazón asked pointedly, his expression soft, almost regretful.
Law opened his mouth to say of course he would’ve gone, of course he would’ve been happy to escape Doflamingo, but the words didn’t come. He wouldn’t have, not back then, not when Doflamingo had been his favourite person in the whole world, the man who gave him a second home and family and a way to make the world burn.
“If I could’ve stayed longer, I would’ve found a way.” the Marine said, almost pleading. “But Doffy wanted me to eat the Ope Ope No Mi and I had to leave. I’m sorry, Law.”
Law shuddered, and gripped his right arm where it had been severed and reattached a few days ago. “You’re sorry.” he chuckled, digging his fingers into the sleeve of his hoodie. “You’re sorry for that, but not what your precious big brother did to us?” a grin twisted his face in a mockery of the symbol emblazoned on almost every piece of clothing he still owned, painful and demented and probably showing too many teeth. “Baby 5 doesn’t know how to say no, Dellinger doesn’t understand that he’s not a girl, Sugar’s been ten years old for the past twelve, and Monet-” his breath caught in his throat, and escaped in a strangled sob.
The previous Corazón made a sympathetic sound, and Law tensed as he was pulled into a hug. “I should’ve taken all of you away from him.” the blond said quietly, one hand running down Law’s back comfortingly. “But it’s okay, Law. He’s going to Impel Down, the deepest level. He’ll never get out of there.”
Law pulled away, and Doflamingo’s brother drew in a breath between his teeth. “Your neck-”
“Your brother.” Law spat, fixing his gaze on a boulder off to the side. “Y’know, I thought he loved me, even after this started.” he lifted his left hand from his right arm, and rubbed the freshest of the thin scars. Monet had thought so too, she’d been so jealous that he was the Captain’s favourite, so desperate for Doflamingo to love her that much. “Even after all this, I still hope he loved me.” he gestured to the wreckage left by the Birdcage, and a humourless chuckle left his lips. “How messed up is that?”
“How-” the blond man’s eyes were wide, horrified, and somehow that made Law feel better. At least the bastard knew how badly he’d failed them all, how badly he’d failed Law. “How long?”
“I was fifteen.” Law said coldly, and the blond’s face flashed through half a dozen emotions before settling on stony and unreadable.
“He’ll pay, Law. I promise.”
“You’re on fire.” Law pointed out, gesturing to the epaulette which had ignited from the man’s carelessly held cigarette. The blond yelped and flailed, and Law turned to leave.
“Wait, Law.” the second Corazón said hurriedly, and Law looked over his shoulder at the taller man. “What are you doing, now that Doflamingo is on his way to Impel Down? With Baby 5 getting married, and the rest of them off to prison, where will you go?”
A smile lifted the edges of Law’s mouth, and it felt surprisingly genuine for how small it was. “I got lucky. The future Pirate King saved me a spot on his crew.” he turned forward again, and lifted his left hand to wave over his shoulder. “Bye, Cora-san.”
---
Several months after Luffy all but dragged him from Dressrosa, Law still didn’t have his own bunk in the men’s room. Franky kept saying he’d get around to it, but Law suspected the cyborg had ulterior motives. Namely, taking advantage of the fact that if Luffy was sleeping wrapped around Law, he wasn’t sprawling out over multiple bunks. Law had to admit, though, he really didn’t mind. It was nice to wake up next to someone else and not have to be on guard, and when he woke from nightmares every few nights Luffy’s warmth was more calming than anything he’d had in Dressrosa.
One morning, a good one where he hadn’t been woken by a nightmare before sunrise, Law was half dozing when Luffy turned over in his arms and poked him in the ribs.
“Are you awake?” he whispered, in the usual terrible whisper he used when he didn’t really care about volume but wanted to at least pretend to be considerate.
“Yeah.” Law blinked a few times, and let a smile slip across his face. “Morning, Luffy-ya.”
“I had a weird dream.” the rubberman said, stretching briefly before giving Law’s shoulder a shove so he could lie halfway on top of him, using Law’s tattooed chest as a pillow. “You were Captain of your own crew, and you had a ship that could go underwater all the time without coating, and your navigator was a talking polar bear.”
“That does sound weird.” Law chuckled, deciding not to mention that the moderately infamous Carver Pirates had a ship which matched Luffy’s description almost exactly.
“Yeah, but it made me realize.” Luffy rested his chin over Law’s heart, and frowned slightly. “I haven’t actually asked you to join my crew since that time when Mingo kicked me out, and you said no then, which means you’re not officially nakama yet.” he paused, then smiled that brilliant grin which still made Law wonder how it wasn’t literally blinding. “So, join my crew?”
Law had to take a moment to process that. Even after plural months sailing with them, taking part in multiple battles at their side, it was still a bit hard to wrap his head around the idea that the Straw Hats would actually want him on their crew. Something small struck the side of Luffy’s head, sank into his rubber skull, then ricocheted back out to the other side of the room.
“Are you serious, Luffy?” Usopp grumbled, one arm hanging out of bed with more small mechanical looking bits in easy reach of his long fingers.
“Yeah, really?” Franky groaned, a quiet whirr filling the room as he powered on.
Law looked aside at the wall. Even if Luffy wanted him around, there was no reason for his crew to feel the same way. After all, they already had a doctor, and he’d betrayed his last Captain in the blink of an eye after being the man’s right hand man for several years for something as frivolous as an old crush. Why would they want to count someone like him as one of their nakama?
“What?” Luffy huffed, sounding petulant rather than truly upset.
“Since when is your boyfriend not nakama?” Usopp huffed, flicking another bit of metal at his Captain’s head.
“I’m with Usopp-bro here.” Franky said, sounding much more alert now but still kinda sleepy. “Torao’s been your nakama longer than we have.”
“What?” Law turned his head to look at Usopp and Franky, his voice coming out small and weak.
“Geez, you’re almost as dumb as Luffy sometimes.” Usopp groaned, levering himself upright on one arm. “Luffy’s been in love with you since before any of us met him. You should’ve heard him tell Ace about his plan to get you on the crew.” the sniper grinned wryly.
Luffy rolled off of Law, and sat up as well. “Well it worked, didn’t it? I kicked Mingo’s butt, and Torao’s with us now.”
“Wait, was that literally your entire plan?” Law frowned.
“Yep.” Usopp and Franky nodded in sync.
Luffy giggled, his shishishi laughter filling the cabin, and flopped down so he was propped up on one arm next to Law. “It worked, but you still haven’t said yes or no.”
“Count yourself lucky.” Franky chuckled. “Not all of us get asked if we wanna join.”
“You wanted to come anyway.” Usopp retorted, and there was a ping of metal on metal.
Law rolled onto his side, and pulled Luffy into a hug which wound up with his face pressed into Luffy’s neck rather than the other way around. He’d gotten used to smiling again, since Doflamingo was defeated, but this one was still wide enough to make his face hurt. “Yes.” he choked out, tears welling in his eyes. And for the first time since Flevance burned, he didn’t even try to stop them from falling.