Chapter Text
Despite living with him, Law does not trust Wolf. The old man doesn’t ask questions and Law isn’t eager to share anything about himself. They coexist around each other with the only solid rule being the older man’s philosophy of “give and take.” If Law is to live with him, he has to give something to make it worth it. The thirteen year old does what he can in terms of housekeeping while squeezing in training between his errands.
He gathers firewood while training his swordsmanship and new devil fruit abilities. He studies about the world while he cleans the house. He practices his medical skills while caring for Wolf’s chronic ailments.
(Later, he will find himself apprenticing at the local clinic and his heart will ache at the memory of home. But there will also be a joy that accompanies helping people he is ashamed to have forgotten in his grief. A lesson he learned at his mother’s side when he accompanied her to work at the hospital overwritten by hatred and hurt.)
It’s during one of his errands in the woods that Law meets Bepo after over a month of living with Wolf.
Bepo who’s so small and so young and so very afraid of everything around them. It’s easy to chase off the older boys who are bullying him; protective instincts sharpening his glare and hardening his fists.
(Law is an older brother. He will always protect his younger sister sibling.)
Wolf didn’t say anything when he brought the Mink home. He simply laid out another futon and muttered something about more frequent hunting expeditions. Bepo didn’t stray far from Law after that, his faithful shadow too afraid to be alone. He followed after him on errands and watched as he trained with swords and his devil fruit, enamored by the blue glow of his room and how reality bended to his will within it.
If Law liked to show off all his skills to the little bear and bask in his praise, that’s for him and him alone to know.
Law doesn’t let him join his training. Not yet. Nine is much too young to be hurt for the sake of progress. Phantom pains and memories of his own training under the Donqixuote Pirates has him firm in this, no matter how much he begs.
However, Bepo is not too young to learn how to heal. How to properly dress wounds and what herbs can be turned to medicine. Law teaches him how to set bones and treat infections, how to spot the first signs of illness and injury. Anything and everything he knows, he passes on to his new brother friend.
Wolf watches them sometimes; never saying anything, but paying close attention. He’s the one who takes Law to the clinic and offer him as an apprentice, claiming Bepo will be okay watching the house and that he can learn more to teach the mink. His thanks is quiet but sincere. Wolf’s response is gruff and just barely fond. Law begrudgingly admits to himself that maybe he does like the old man.
Weeks later while gathering firewood and herbs, Law and Bepo come across Bepo’s old bullies broken and bleeding in the snow after a boar attack. If he were the same person he was two years ago, still filled with hatred and longing for Doflamingo’s approval, maybe he would have left them to their deaths.
But now, after Cora-san reminded him of his heart and what it means to be loved, Law remembers he is the son of doctors, beholden to their oath. He wanted to save lives, not end them. Maybe he isn’t where he thought he would be, but he’s closer to who he was then even if it’s just a little. And just like the person he once was, the person he is now saves the two boys. He does not hesitate to staunch bleeding and reattach limbs, using his devil fruit to heal fatal wounds like no one else could.
With Bepo’s help, he brings them back to Wolf’s house who only sighs and prepares two more futons. Despite what they’ve done, Bepo stays by their side to nurse them back to health while Law continues at the clinic and Wolf does his own work, putting everything he’s learned into practice.
When the boys wake up, they apologize profusely for what they did to Bepo and swear to repay them for their care. Bepo claims there is nothing to forgive while Law claims their tears are enough for gratitude. He acts like it doesn’t matter to him that he saved them, that it was all a whim of his. Acts like his heart doesn’t shift to make room for Penguin and Shachi in the same way it did for Bepo and Wolf and Cora-san.
(They see right through him. Even back then, they could read past his gruff exterior and rough words to his bleeding heart and hidden kindness. A kindness so hidden he doesn’t even know it’s there.)
He doesn’t say it, but his heart goes out to them when they explain their story. Lost children who just want to survive. Adults who continue to fail the children in their care, forcing them to crime against their will. A want for love repaid with abuse.
It doesn’t matter if they’re older than him, they’re Law’s now and he will protect them from anyone who may want to hurt them again. Two more brothers friends to call his own.
As they grow closer, the four boys open up to each other about their circumstances and what led them to where they are now. They huddle close together in the cold, dark of the night as they bare their hearts and hold each others’ hurts.
(Law didn’t think he would ever talk about Fleavance and all he lost again. He didn’t think he could bear to do so without the anger to hide behind, leaving only the unbearable sorrow of losing everything he’s known and loved. He didn’t think he would be able to talk about Cora-san and Doflamingo, a fresh hurt that makes the old one worse. The boys hold him through it, reassuring him that he’s alive and that it’s okay that he’s alive. He’s allowed to live and find his freedom. It sounds like a sweet lie, but he leans into it, desperate for the comfort.)
It’s on a night like that that they decide to become pirates. They’ll find their freedom on the open waves where abusive relatives and the fear of discrimination can’t reach them. They’ll see the world and live however they please.
The next morning, Wolf shows them the blueprints of the submarine he’s working on and promises it to them when they’re ready to set sail. Overwhelmed with gratitude, the four boys pile onto Wolf, knocking him out of his chair so they’re a tangled pile of limbs and cries of thanks.
Shachi and Penguin join Bepo in the medical lessons. Their youngest brother friend is the one to teach them the basics as a way of practicing what he knows, Law occasionally chiming in to clarify things or correct what Bepo gets wrong. As they keep going, they find which aspects of medicine they all enjoy best.
Penguin likes learning about medicine itself, what herbs become remedies and what medicines treat which ailments. Different recipes for different medicines that achieve the same results but with different ingredients. When he becomes a waiter in the town, it expands to nutrition and how important specific diets are to healing.
Shachi likes learning about the body and how it functions. How his own hybrid anatomy differs from a mink’s or a full blooded human’s. He likes knowing what the organs do and what to do when they stop working properly. Thankfully Law’s fruit makes organ study so much easier. If only he would stop info dumping about the things he learned to clients at the hair salon…
Bepo doesn’t like anything specific about medicine, he just likes to help people and heal them. Instead, he finds a new love in navigation when he happened upon a book Wolf had left lying around. He dives into his new interest with a fiery passion that may be at least partially motivated by his trauma of losing his way from his home. If he learns navigation, he’ll never get lost again. He’ll always find his way home. It doesn’t cut into his medicine study, still able to keep up with the others as Law teaches them more and more.
Law is proud of them. Bepo is an enthusiastic learner who isn’t afraid to ask questions. Shachi is rather clever and catches on quickly to new concepts. Penguin does a lot of self study, researching things that Law has yet to teach them and asking him his opinions. They’re all bright and eager and a warmth blooms in Law’s chest. The pride of an older brother he hasn’t felt since Lami.
(He felt it for Baby 5. Though he never told her, he had been so proud every time she did well during her lessons. Her first bullseye. Every improvement with her fruit. He was proud of each accomplishment, big and small despite never saying a word. But it didn’t matter if he told her or not. He was just an angry boy that was going to die.)
Two and a half years pass like that. Two and a half years of training, learning and integrating themselves into the town. They remember what it means to be part of a community and how it feels to be able to walk down the open streets without feeling scorn.
It reminds Law of home and for the first time, it doesn’t hurt as much as it used to.
They weren’t ready when they set sail, but they had no choice. Not when a pirate crew sailing under the Donqixuote Pirates flag came to Pleasure Town. It was their first victory together, but the defeat of a crew under him by four scrawny teens would surely draw the eyes of Dressrosa’s newest king. They had to leave years ahead of schedule.
Twelve, Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen.
They were too young, too small, still growing into their gangly limbs and changing bodies. Still children. They weren’t supposed to leave for another three years. They were supposed to have three more years to prepare and learn and be part of the town.
But life rarely goes their way and they will just have to make it through. With teary goodbyes and heartfelt thanks, Wolf and the residents of Pleasure Town watch them submerge, a new life waiting for them. Watch their boys—their heroes—embark on the beginning of their newest journey.
The next island they dock at, Bepo is stolen from them by slave traders. For the first time in four years, Law lets the fires of Flevance fuel him.
The night is a blur. Somehow, Shachi got the location of the slavers’ base and the three sneak in among the “merchandise” to watch it burn. People and creatures chained and despondent, no light left in their eyes. It makes them sick. Disgust curling in their stomachs with each cage they pass.
When they find Bepo, it’s an all out war for their brother and the freedom of the slaves. A brutal battle where three teens unleash their feral anger on monsters who prey on people’s lives.
Somewhere in the middle of the battle, the cages are opened and the slaves run, sluggish and slow as if they’ve been drugged. Among them, a young woman with brown skin, strawberry blonde hair and sunset colored eyes doesn’t run. She joins their battle, hoping to get her pound of flesh against her oppressors and Law will not begrudge her that. Especially not when her arms darken in what he recognizes is armament Haki, giving them a distinct advantage.
When the battle is done, Law offers her a place on their crew while they ensure no other slaves or slavers are hidden away while burning the base. She accepts easily. After ten years of being a slave, she has nowhere else to go and no one left to return to.
Her name is Mikha and she’s barely a year older than Penguin. Quiet and unsure of herself and her place among them, she trails after the boys like a ghost as they sail the sea. Hesitant to share her opinions or look anyone in the eyes. Afraid to get too close or laugh too loudly. Nervous to be a person after so long as less.
(It takes them weeks to hear her first real laugh. Months to see her face brighten with absolute delight. Days to see her break down in tears from the weight of it all.)
Bepo latches onto Mikha quickly, having been trapped with her after he had been taken. He’s the first one to call her “Big Sis” and the others adopt it, hoping to help her feel more like a part of them. It seems to work and she finally relaxes around them with a clear understanding of where she stands.
According to her late mother, they come from an island of only women where Haki is as natural as breathing. She teaches them about their wills and how they can manifest it to protect instead of harm. For so long, when Law thought of armament Haki, he would be reminded of Doflamingo’s training or Vergo’s one sided beating. Now he thinks of a soft spoken girl with warm eyes. Of the brothers he’s claimed as his to live and protect. Suddenly, he’s able to manifest it.
(Maybe it’s because his father had a similar tone of voice when he tutored him in his medical studies. Always patient and never judgmental.)
They celebrate with stolen booze and his favorite foods, staying up to talk about goals and dreams and wishes that are suddenly a little more within reach. They celebrate each time one of them manages to manifest their wills in this same way. It reminds them of family.
A small family of broken children learning to hold themselves and each other together on the seas. More often than not, when one is distraught by nightmares and shadows that feel just a little too real, the five of them will pile into the captain’s quarters to keep the demons away. Huddled together until you can’t tell where one of them ends and the other begins, keeping warm through the night.
A comfort and care that they will open to their future crewmates. A love from their family, a promise to keep them safe.
Ikkaku and Uni come along not long after. A pair of orphaned siblings—an older sister and a younger brother—just trying to survive. The Polar Tang is in need of her first major tune up and despite Wolf’s teachings, none of the boys have the expertise to get everything done. Law, Shachi and Penguin had to go into town on Ingwer Island to find an engineer and came back with two.
The siblings are enamored with the Polar Tang, calling her a marvel of engineering. (They say so to Wolf years later when they finally get to meet the man and he beams with pride.) They agree to become their first engineers without any resistance. After packing what meager possession they own and restocking the sub, the small crew sails off into the night.
When later crewmates ask what convinced them to come aboard, Ikkaku will talk about how they were drawn in by a young captain who didn’t realize his own kindness when he healed an injured Uni and expected nothing in return. Who looked at them and claimed them as his without caring for who they were or where they came from. Caught up by hooligans who spoke roughly when scaring off the thugs that were harassing them but ushered the two of them away with gentle hands. Little bears that smiled brightly while showing them their newest project and gushing over how cool his older siblings are. A steady presence that catches them every time they stumble and always manages to watch out for the smallest of dangers.
Brought into a family when no one else would take them who believed in their skills despite their gender or state of poverty. A crew led by a captain—no longer a boy but not quite a man—who wanted them as they are and didn’t care for who they were.
This is how Trafalgar Law collects his Hearts. Outcasts, ruffians, hurt, lonely people aching for something to belong to. They’re all drawn in by the gruff boy young man with sunlight in his eyes and “death” on his fingers. A touch of warmth in the coldest of the seas.
People like Skua who treat people for cheap in the back alley of the pleasure district on Pollock Island to afford medical school. Local thugs like Unagi, Lemming and Puffin who need an out from their current lives. He saves people like Alba, the child of a murderer that everyone damned to be as evil as their parent. Like Clione and Coral who ran from their abusers and into their arms. Lynx drifted to them in a half sunk skiff with no memory of his life before his stranding.
The last member they find in the North Blue is Hakugan, a hero who isolated himself out of fear of rejection. With Hakugan, Law found Kikoku, a cursed blade that called to him and seemed to sigh with satisfaction when he finally held her. A bond that will be strengthened with blood, sweat and tears.
(More Hearts will come to him later on the Grand Line. Tern with a spirit too big and bright for his small, impoverished town that needed more room to grow. Seele who was cast out from their village for their lameness, but brilliant with a gun and a brush. Ermine and Beluga who were foolish enough to try to rob the Tang but not too proud to beg for help for their siblings at their orphanage. Jean Bart on Sabaody freed from his chains and given a second chance for a home on the seas. Portgas D. Ace and Masked Deuce. )
They flock to Law like moths to a flame. Jagged pieces of different puzzles that they make work. A boisterous crew of misfits that work best from the shadows of their captain’s light dismantling slave rings, robbing marine bases blind and sabotaging corrupt officials wherever they go. Quiet like ghosts, neat and meticulous so that their involvement will not be discovered until weeks later when they’re already long gone. He’s so proud of them and everything they’ve built together.
Law never thought he would find a love like this again. A love painstakingly built by scarred hands and fragile feelings. He once thought that his heart had burned into nothing with his Lami in Flevance. His precious little sister whose absence still pains him to this day. Whose smile he still sees in the flashes of others. Then when he found it again, it was buried in the snow with his Cora-san after being ripped to shreds by Doflamingo. His Cora-san who loved him despite the hatred in his heart and reminded him that he could still love. Who spent six long months desperately searching for a cure and made the ultimate sacrifice for him. Another smile he remembers bittersweetly.
And for how much he despises Doflamingo now, he had loved him just as much all those years ago. The first one to touch him without fear and believed he could live past his destined death. The first to understand the seemingly unending grief and rage that couldn’t be contained in his tiny body. The first to see the boy and not the poison.
(He thought that maybe Doffy loved him, too. Maybe there was affection when he stroked his hair and learned about his lost culture. When he defended him from people both outside and inside the family who hurt him. He had hoped he had meant something more than a tool to the larger than life man.)
He should have known gods would never love mortals.
This time, Law’s heart beats in the hands of his crew. In Bepo’s warm hugs and Shachi’s bold laughter. In Penguin’s mischievous grin and Mikha’s soft eyes. The sound of its beating reverberates through the walls of the Polar Tang, echoing his engineers as they bicker and joke. It’s nourished by his cooks and guided by his navigation team. Healed and understood by each member of the Heart Pirates.
There is no denying Trafalgar Law is a broken man, but amongst the family he’s found, he feels whole once more. Steady and strong as long as they remain at his side. They are his and he is theirs.
At twenty years old, he takes his Hearts and leaves the sea he’s known his entire life, eager to see what awaits them on the Grand Line.