Archive of Our Own

This is wrong. It's the only thought in Law's head as Blackbeard hovers over him, as Bepo transforms. As Law can see his broken crew. This can’t be happening. Law can't let this be happening. He can't.

That sense of wrongness echoing down to Law's very bones is stronger than anything. Dwarfing the pain of his wounds, burning through his exhaustion and every other unimportant physical sensation.

Tearing through even the pain of loss, of his whole world being gone again. Home and family and Law has failed as a captain and in every other way that matters. Is failing, even now, every second, when Bepo grabs him. Grabs Law, and makes to run away.

Him. When there were others so much more worth saving and why is Law always the one who lives?

Law should be weeping and raging and pleading. He should be angry and afraid and hurting and he is all those things, but it’s almost like there is a wall. An insistence in his mind that this can’t happen, a denial that simply refuses.

No. It says simply. Not his crew, his family. Not his, his, his. Blackbeard has no right. Not to trespass, not to. Take. What. Is. Law's.

But he is. But he can't.

Law can’t let him. He can't.

Like a sudden storm, everything in Law seems to go quiet and still for just a moment. His mind goes blank, absolutely everything silenced in him in the wake of that one, immutable fact. 

This isn't allowed. Law won't allow it, can't.

And like flipping a switch, Law pulls something down. A barrier inside himself that he didn't know was there half a second ago. 

Half mad with desperation, not knowing what this is but willing to try anything at all, Law pulls. It doesn’t matter what this is if he can fix things with it.

He can, a part of him knows. 

For just a second, things feel right as Law tugs on this unknown thing inside him. The sense that this situation is wrong grows, but with it comes a confidence that Law can fix this. Will fix this. His will not be taken from him by Blackbeard, by the unworthy. There is power and confidence and a sense of being whole in a way where Law had never before known he wasn't. Until suddenly he is. 

For a shining second, in his mind, everything clicks into place.

Then the pain hits.

It's excruciating. Completely unlike anything Law has ever felt in his life, as if every single bit of him is being torn apart all at once. 

Law thought he knew pain. Learned it intimately as a child whose body was dying from the inside. When he scraped the poison out with shaking hands. Learned it through battle and blood and torture.

This is worse, all consuming and all at once.

It feels like his back shatters, something straining out and up. His eyes swell. If Law could hear anything at all, part of him is hysterically sure he'd hear every bone in his body shattering at once.

There is nothing but the pain as he feels like he breaks. Contorts. Everything stops, nothing exists in the world but him and his pain. He can't see or hear or smell or touch. Agony is everything.

Then it stops, though Law trembles from the memory of it still. And he does not see or hear or feel right. The world is brighter and sharper and louder. But also more distant, as if his skin is wrapped in something.

The dying echoes of a roar unlike any creature Law has ever heard linger in his ears.

And then an awful, familiar laugh chases them away. Away as Law looks down Where is he looking down from? on Blackbeard. Who is smiling and laughing. Law wants him gone, dead. Away.

Destroyed.

Acting on some foreign instinct that feels nonetheless right,  he snaps his teeth at the man. The rival, the thief.

Who is still laughing. “Well would you look at that! Looks like I'll be getting even more from you than I thought, Trafalgar.”

There is a burning sensation in Law's throat. It builds as he opens his mouth to snap back, because Law doesn't care about consequences. This scum doesn't get the last word.

Only it isn't insults that come out. Instead, crackling lightning impacts Blackbeard. Is absorbed by him, but Law rears back in shock. (Rears back?) That shouldn't have happened. How did that happen?

“Captain?” Bepo, questions, so Law turns his head. And looks down. Down a collection of blue/gold/black scales. (What?) Down at Bepo, who is somehow small. Smaller even than he had been when they were children, that short period where Law was bigger than Bepo.

Bepo looks confused and shocked and afraid. He's looking at Law like he doesn’t know him.

Law hates it.

Only when he opens his mouth to confirm that he's him, the sound that comes out is closer to a growl than anything human. Coming from him.  

And Law has to look now, has to really look. With eyes that see too clearly as he lifts what is undeniably a taloned foot when he tries to move his hand. As in looking, his neck stretches and turns in a way that human necks just don't. He is too large and the island is too small and the people are too small. 

Nothing is right.  

But also everything feels right. It's strange and makes no sense.

Something on his back shifts in his discomfort and his head turns to see wings. Wings that shift before his eyes and Law can feel them–

Law hears feet in sand, head immediately swinging around to see Burgess walking closer. To Law. To Bepo, with the side he's on. 

An enemy getting closer to his is unacceptable. 

His tail swings out, pulling Bepo closer to his side as he hisses at the enemy. The crackling sensation builds in his mouth again, a storm deep in his throat. Law knows that all he has to do is exhale and lightning will escape from between his teeth.

So he does, Burgess jumping to the side to avoid it. But back, too, further away.

“Don't really know what'll work best on a lizard, boss.” Law twists his neck the other way, sees Blackbeard now standing next to that doctor. The plague maker, part of him corrects because that man is no doctor, and his wings arc. Making his already big form larger, but Blackbeard just laughs.

Law wants to tear out his throat and eat him.  

“Well, he's just a bigger target now. Right? Give him everything you got.”

Law roars his own challenge back at Blackbeard. If he wants to fight–

Then he sees Burgess again. Too close to Jean Bart. Too many enemies and too much that Law has to protect. Guard. 

Here isn't safe, isn't his territory. Law can fight, but fighting and guarding against thieves is harder. They can't be allowed to take any of what's his.

He pulls Bepo closer, onto him. “Captain?”

Ignores the question. That's one. He has to get them all. He has to move, and fast. Wings start flapping, instinct has him crouching low to the ground before powerful muscles in his legs tighten and launch him into the air.

Wings catch him, take his weight. Law can't stop to think about how he's doing this, how he knows how to do this.

Instead he dives, scooping up Jean Bart before Burgess can reach him. It takes both of his hands to hold him, but he does. 

Two.

Something comes flying at Law. He has no time to look or think, instead corkscrewing through the air as he dodges. All off of some instinct he doesn’t know and can't place. 

Sharp eyes scan the beach even as he comes out of the maneuver. There, purple hair and a small cat on a jumpsuit.

Drop, dodge. Close enough to lower his neck and let them climb on.

Three and four.

“You can't dodge forever Trafalgar! Especially not with so many tempting targets! Augur!” Something blips into his awareness, his mind sharpening as he just knows where it's going. At Hakugan, injured and leaning on a rock. 

He can't defend himself.

He doesn't have to. He's Law’s.  

Law doesn’t think at all as he throws himself forward, electricity meeting the bullet and destroying it as Law lands in front of Hakugan. Bepo, good Bepo, priceless Bepo, pulls Hakugan up.

Five.

Wings flare out to provide cover as Law puts Jean Bart down and nods at his back. He can't have his hands full, not right now. 

Winds, he wishes he could talk right now.

Luckily, none of his crew are idiots and Jean Bart understands him quickly as Law turns his head and lets lightning spill out again at a threat. His jaw snaps, he feels Jean Bart settle into place, and he forces himself into the air again. Trusts that his body knows what to do.

No time to think through each motion. Adrenaline and instinct are better right now.

When he has to look and listen and find. Take back all of what is his, his, his.

Eyes on the beach, scanning even as he dodges another attack. Has to be faster, can't let himself get hit. Not right now, not now.

There. Otari, Clione, Uni. Law drops into a dive,  grabbing and lifting and he has them.

Six, seven, eight.

He then goes up, up, up. Not out of range, not with Van Augar, but far. Enough that the world should be small and details impossible to pick out, but they aren't. Not when his eyes are keen, changed.

Not when something like Observation is screaming out the location of all of his crew, making it impossible for him to lose any of them. Making them easy to pick out in the waves, from height.

One last dive, he plunges down, twisting to avoid something, Law doesn’t have the attention to spare to see what, as he pulls up just enough to skim over the waves without touching them.

He can't afford Sea weakness now.

Instead he swings as close as he dares. Tail low and trusting that everyone that is his can grab on. Counts each time he feels someone grab on. (So light, Bepo and Jean Bart are the only ones whose weight Law can actually feel. )

Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen.

“Thought you were done getting bigger.” It's a dumb joke. Coming from Shachi, right now, that is a relief. It's something normal and as it should be in a world that is crumbling and held together by an impossibility Law doesn’t have time to actually think about.

Fourteen.

Everyone. All of his, (aside from the Tang and everything in her and oh, a part of him is screaming to dive into the waves. To go and get everything that is his.) he has back and safe and now he only needs to keep them that way.

So he turns away from the island and flies.

“Running away are you, Trafalgar? Can't have that, now can we!” Law doesn’t turn back to look as the sky splits apart with a loud crack, instead just angling away. His tail cracks behind him and he can hears screams, though he knows everyone holds on, as he pushes himself to go faster.

Blackbeard won't be able to keep up with him, as long as he finds somewhere to go.

Law will. It doesn’t matter how hard or long he has to push muscles he didn’t have five minutes ago. They won't, can't, fail him until what is his is safe. He'll lose Blackbeard and find an island and.

And figure things out from there.

Law might have lost this challenge, but he’s still breathing. He isn’t defeated. And the thief will pay for what he's taken from Law.

The fight is done, but this isn’t over.

The flight is long and hard and distracting. A thousand questions passing endlessly through Law’s head. How this happened. How he just knows how to use this entirely different body without thinking about it.

How he lost so much and failed.

How this miracle means he's lost so much less than he could have. 

How he ran and how much that hurts his pride. The urge to go back and fight only kept in check by the need to protect.

It's a long few hours, before he finally sees land. Law doesn’t care how strange it is, instead collapsing as soon as they arrive.

He wants to sleep and rest, as soon as his crew is off. And they are climbing off, he knows. Law’s mind is whirling but exhausted and every new muscle aches. He needs rest.

(He needs to heal, wounds that he can no longer see but still feel beneath his skin as adrenaline fades.)

But.

This location isn't safe. It's too open and his are too exposed. He can see mountains a short distance away, and something inside of him calls out. That is where he should be, where he can take his crew and keep them safe. 

Somehow, Law just knows this.

With a huff, he pushes himself back to his feet. Getting surprised noises from those that haven't gotten off yet. He just has to get the rest and go.

There, they can be safe.

~~~

Law wakes up. Eyes open on a world strange and small, dark but not as dark as he knows that it should be. Where is he? What's–

Memory returns with a jolt, Law himself bolting to his feet. His whole body isn't his, isn't right aches. Muscle fatigue, a small part of his brain quickly diagnoses. Not surprising considering that none of the muscles he used yesterday had ever been used before.

And standing feels awkward now. Yesterday, driven by need and some strange instinct, he'd managed perfectly fine. Today, he feels the difference. His center of balance is off, just staying standing requires some concentration. 

Flying, he's sure, would be next to impossible.

What even is this? It can't be his Fruit. He isn’t a zoan, it's already Awakened, and it wouldn't fit. Something one of Blackbeard's men did?

No. That doesn't make sense, those are enemies. Once he gets his energy back, Law has to find them and destroy them. Thieves and vermin, Law will–

“Captain!” Law is pulled out of his thoughts by Ikkaku's shout. Carefully he angles his head down to look at her. She looks like she's about to cry, which has a rumble forming in his chest. “You're finally awake!”

Finally? It doesn't feel like it's been that long. His muscles don't feel stiff. 

Carefully, almost falling, Law lowers himself to the ground as Ikkaku's shouting draws the rest of the crew into the cave. All here. Law feels something relax at that, being surrounded by his crew. 

He just needs his coins, they could go near the back. And Sora: Warrior of the Sea. Though how to keep the books in good condition here?

Blankets, he notes a second later. His crew will need those, it's likely too cold here to be suitable. They'll survive though, the North Blue teaches you how to survive the cold.

Not that Law himself can tell much about the temperature. A side effect of his size? But he has scales and reptiles don't produce their own heat.

“Law?” Penguin’s concerned voice has him lowering his head. “Hey, Cap. You've been asleep for like a week. Are you feeling okay? I mean, it's great that you're catching up on sleep for once, but that’s a long time.”

A week? That can't be right. 

His mouth opens as he tries to ask Penguin what he means, but all that comes out is an odd growling noise. Penguin stiffens, but he doesn’t move. 

“Uh, buddy? Can you understand me?” The nervousness is plain to hear in his voice. Law understands. Law is currently some sort of giant predator, it'd be a very dangerous situation if he wasn't still himself.

He is though, so he nods. Penguin lets out an enormous sigh and Law hears others echoing him. “That’s good. So you just can't talk like this, huh?”

Rolling his eyes, because that’s incredibly obvious, Law nods his head again. 

Penguin bites his lip, before seeming to nod to himself. “Okay, we can work with that. First, though, you're probably hungry? We went back to the beach, wherever we are has some huge fish so we got a few. And I bet you can eat like Straw Hat now.”

They'd gone fishing? They'd gone that far from the cave?

Law growls unhappily at that. They shouldn't be going so far away, it wasn't right. They're his crew, they are supposed to stay close.

“Hey, uh. Something wrong?” Penguin sounds both nervous and concerned, so Law stops his growling. Then picks Penguin up, very slow and careful with his claws, and drops him away from the cave entrance as Penguin yelps.

He shakes his head from where he just plopped down on the cave floor. “Law, buddy, I know you think you're being clear. But I have no clue what that means. Maybe we can get you something to write with, or–”

Stay.

“Holy shit, what was that?” Penguin yells, Shachi immediately heading for him as Bepo looks at Law for answers. Law shrugs.

“What’s up, Pen?” 

“What do you mean, what's up? Didn't you hear that voice?”

Shachi is looking very concerned now, matching how Law feels. Penguin hearing voices can't be a good sign of anything.

“No one said anything.” Shachi looks around the cave, as everyone nods. Law can hear Penguins breathing speed up, can see as his chest starts to rise and fall more rapidly.

Not right, Penguin should be safe here. 

Penguin, calm down. We'll fix this.

“There it was again! Didn't you hear it, it sounded almost like the captain!” Penguin is getting increasingly frantic as heads shake around him. 

Law, though. Law wonders.

So he lowers his head, nudging Shachi. (Too hard, he stumbles. Law will have to watch it. He doesn't know the strength of the strange body that is all wrong but somehow feels right.) Looks straight at Penguin and concentrates. On thinking, on words, instead of the act of saying them.

Penguin, can you hear me?

“Law? Is that you?” Penguin sounds desperate as he asks. This must be hard for him. Everything will be so much easier if Law can communicate.

So much easier for Law as well.

Yeah. It's strange, to talk without moving his mouth. Wrong, but like everything else it feels natural now that Law knows he can do it.

“Law?” He turns his head as Bepo starts talking. “Sorry but just to be sure. Can you really talk to us?”

Bepo sounds so hopeful, Law is relieved that he won't be disappointing him. I guess so. I don't know how, but it seems to work. Or we've all gone insane.

Which honestly seems like a possibility, soon if not now. Law hates not knowing. It's going to drive him insane, he knows, if the rest of this situation doesn't get there first. None of it makes any sense.

“So, now that we can talk. Law, what are you?” He shrugs in response to Penguin’s question, not knowing the answer.

Ikkaku picks now to join the conversation, stepping up. “I'd say he's a dragon, except he's not long enough. And he has wings.”

“Maybe he's a different kind of dragon?” Uni suggests. “He did use something kind of like Kaido's Blast Breath.”

There were dragons like this on Punk Hazard. Smaller though. Law can't think of anything else this could be. He could be, aside from human like he's supposed to be.

The Op-Op fruit is a paramecia.  

“Okay, so Law's a dragon now.” Lutrina sounds unconcerned by this. Just like she almost always sounds, rolling with the punches and surprises of the Grand Line. And cutting right to the heart of things. “The more important question is if he's going to stay a dragon. Cause then we'll need a much bigger submarine.”

Law can feel eyes on him, looking for answers. He has none, but Law can’t say that. Law can't accept that.

But it's how things are right now.  And he won't lie to them.

I'll figure something out.