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Trafalgar Law sat at the massive oak table in the main hall, the soft clink of her teacup against the saucer barely disturbing the silence. Her icy, honey-colored eyes were lost in the verdant landscape stretching beyond the spotless windows. It was just another day at the exclusive all-girls private school, "Dressrosa," a place she felt unpleasantly tied to by the blood that linked her to its eccentric headmaster, Donquixote Doflamingo.
She let out an almost imperceptible sigh. Despite her sharp intellect and the power her family name implied, she was an outcast in this elite nest. Whispers about her family's questionable fortune, tied to her uncle's dark dealings, had forever branded her "the underworld princess." The other students, all pristine, shallow, and stuck-up, avoided her like the plague, leaving a cold void around her that Law, ironically, even appreciated.
Her hand slid over to her anatomy book. She flipped through the pages with a vacant stare, her mind already consumed by a familiar mission: memorizing every bone, every muscle, every organ with an almost obsessive precision. Her lips pursed into a concentrated frown as she repeated the names in a silent mantra. So absorbed was she in the intricate machinery of the human body that she didn't notice what was coming.
A sharp thud against the bridge of her glasses snapped her abruptly out of her trance.
"Ouch," she mumbled, rubbing the spot with a frown. Her eyes, now focused, searched for the cause of the interruption. There, on the gleaming wood of the table, lay a crumpled, crudely folded paper airplane. Law picked it up, a sigh of annoyance escaping her lips, and unfolded it. Messy, childish, but unmistakable handwriting covered the inside:
"You look better than the meat I had yesterday."
Law's brow furrowed with a mix of disgust and strange familiarity. That was his style. She looked up, following an intuition, and saw him. Monkey D. Luffy, like a playful monkey, was perched in the highest branches of the leafy tree that served as a natural border between the pristine "Dressrosa" and the bustling courtyard of the co-ed "Grand Line" school next door. His smile, huge, radiant, and goofy as ever, was a statement in itself.
Luffy brought both hands to his face and, with his index fingers, mimicked a pair of Cupid's arrows that he "shot" directly at her. The scene was so ridiculous that Law felt a pang of something akin to amusement. However, his show of flirtation was ruined in an instant. Too focused on his romantic gesture, Luffy lost his balance and, with a choked cry, plunged to the ground through the leaves with a thunderous CRASH!
An almost imperceptible smile, tinged with concern, formed on Law's lips. She leaned a little closer to the window, her eyes searching for the idiot. She found him quickly. A gray-haired but imposing and muscular teacher, whom Law didn't know but who seemed to exude undeniable authority, was scolding Luffy. Law's nascent inner laugh faded a bit as she watched Luffy raise his fist with inexhaustible energy while the tight-lipped teacher smoked a couple of cigarettes, exhaling with exasperation.
"I just hope he's less stupid tomorrow," Law muttered to herself, the phrase said more out of habit than true hope. Just then, despite the scolding and the sure-to-be-forming goose egg on his head, Luffy turned to blow her a kiss. That was the last straw. A genuine, soft but clear laugh escaped Law's lips before she could contain it, just as the imposing teacher grabbed Luffy by the ear and dragged him away, disappearing behind the trees.
For the last month, the flow of correspondence for Trafalgar Law had been constant. The first missives, signed with the enigmatic initials "SJ," were written in neat cursive that had an air of mystery and poetry. Law had found their style admirable and genuinely intriguing. It was obvious that Luffy, the messenger, was sneakily getting them from one of his blond friends, whom Law didn't know, but who always seemed on the verge of exasperation.
Then, out of nowhere, the initials "SJ" vanished. In their place, the notes were now signed with a simple "Ore" and written in Luffy's clumsy, messy handwriting. The compliments, absurd and blunt, like "You look better than the meat I had yesterday," replaced the poetry. Despite the drastic change, Law's interest, far from waning, spiked. The bluntness and awkwardness of the new messages were, in a way, much more endearing than the predictable flirtations of some "prince."
"Onigiri, psst," Law called softly, crouching down to pet her little dog. Having her furry companion at school was one of the few perks of being the headmaster's niece, and Law valued that small freedom. Onigiri whimpered softly, as if protesting being used as a messenger again, but then settled against Law's leg, wagging his tail enthusiastically.
As he rubbed against her leg, Law took a piece of paper with delicate embellishments and prepared to write. Her fingers moved quickly over the page. "Glad you fell. Maybe you'll stop being so clumsy." She reread the note with a sigh of frustration. She tried to rewrite it several times, wanting to express her genuine concern about Luffy's recent fall, but each attempt ended up sounding just as dry and sarcastic. Finally, she gave up. She decided the note was "Law-enough" to send. A slight blush, barely visible on her cheeks, gave her away when she added a final line: "Be careful, you idiot. I'm not the one who'll be patching up your head."
With that, Law carefully folded the note, tied it to Onigiri's collar, and gestured for him to go. Onigiri whimpered for a moment, as if hesitating, but seeing Law's smile, he ran under the fence with the precision and speed of a tiny secret agent on a mission.
It was then, with chalk in hand and the words of his punishment—"I must not spy on the girls next door"—etched over and over on the blackboard, that Luffy felt a small but insistent tug on his pants leg. He dropped the chalk with a dull clatter and looked down, surprised to find a small white furball barking at him excitedly. His eyes lit up like two suns.
"Onigiri, you little devil, you came!" he exclaimed. The dog licked his face with such energy that even Nami had to pull away to avoid being covered in slobber. His eyes darted around, looking for what he expected, and with a silent shout of joy, he found the note tied to the collar. "Good boy!" he whispered, giving him one of the dog treats he now kept in his pocket.
"Wow, I'm genuinely surprised she sent you a letter after that," commented Sanji, who was also in detention for trying to sneak into the girls' school.
"A letter from Miss Tora-chan?" Franky asked, with genuine interest. He was there for "freedom of sartorial expression," which to the teachers was simply being half-naked.
"Woah! What does it say?" Nami asked, walking over with Usopp. She was serving the same punishment for gambling with real money, while Usopp was her indirect accomplice.
Luffy, oblivious to the anticipation, read the note aloud:
"Glad you fell. Maybe you'll stop being so clumsy." Even Zoro, surprisingly only there for being late, could barely contain his laughter. Luffy continued, unbothered and radiant: "Be careful, you idiot. I'm not the one who'll be patching up your head."
"God," Nami muttered with pity. "I think she's really mad about your last letter."
"Of course she is, you idiot, Luffy!" Sanji complained. "What were you thinking telling her she looked better than meat?"
But Luffy just laughed heartily, blushing as he read the note over and over. "Tora really cares about me, right, Robin?!" he exclaimed, turning to the girl who was observing the scene. Robin, with a kind smile, nodded.
"That's right, Luffy. But I think you should... think through your response better. After all, she's a wealthy and refined young lady."
Luffy got thoughtful. It wasn't something he usually did. Luffy's brain, which usually moved at the speed of his fist, slowed down to the point of seeming like a rusty gear. He closed his eyes, weighing the situation: Law had written to him, called him an idiot, and said she was glad he fell. It was the closest thing to a real conversation they had ever had. Robin's advice, which was normally a beacon of common sense for him, this time seemed too complicated. Think? Be refined?
He opened his eyes. "You're right, Robin!" he suddenly exclaimed, with a new determination.
Immediately, he began writing his response, ignoring the shower of advice from his friends. Sanji told him that women liked compliments, Nami said to give her money, Franky suggested sending her a bottle of cola, and Usopp told him to compliment her face. Finally, Luffy sent his letter back with Onigiri, not letting the others read it. His friends facepalmed in defeat.
Back at Dressrosa, Law, sitting at the large oak table, read the new note tied to Onigiri's collar.
"I have a really pretty face and it'll stay that way, don't worry?"
A goofy, genuine smile appeared on Law's lips. She couldn't help it. Luffy's pure naivety completely disarmed her. As the other students looked at her in confusion, she took a pencil and began to doodle in a corner of the paper. With a mix of affection and a total lack of self-criticism, she drew a portrait of Luffy: a stick figure with a straw hat, a huge grin, and a bunch of lines to mimic his scars. To her, this caricature was a work of art, a perfect capture of the boy's innocence.
Without even thinking, her fingers moved to write a new message below her artwork: "Pretty face, unforgettable."
Upon reading it, Law's face ignited in a blush. Embarrassment hit her hard. She felt exposed, as if the whole world had read her thoughts. What on earth was she doing? Writing mushy stuff? She quickly crossed out the "unforgettable face" message, and, in an act of panic and shame, wrote something completely opposite, a line that seemed more like herself:
"Forgettable face."
Without a second's hesitation, she tied the note to Onigiri's collar and sent him back so fast that the dog could barely keep his balance, whimpering and looking at Luffy with a mix of affection and confusion, as if he was unsure whether to return to his owner or stay with him for a couple more treats.
Brook, the music teacher watching over them, simply observed the youth of today with amusement.
In the courtyard of "Grand Line" school, the four-legged messenger returned. When Luffy opened the paper, even Robin, the always serene Robin, let out a laugh. A crude drawing of what was supposed to be Luffy stared back at him, with mismatched eyes and a crooked mouth that gave him an air of absolute ugliness.
"Jesus, is this you?" Usopp said, pointing to the atrocity. "She just called you ugly and said she'll forget you."
Sanji shook his head, in disbelief. "He gets his hopes up too fast. This idiot is going to get his heart broken." Zoro, with his usual disinterest, nodded in silence.
"Bro, she thinks you're a freak, that's not super," Franky commented.
But Luffy just smiled, putting the drawing away in the same spot as Law's other letters.
"Looks just like me," he said with total sincerity, feeling the heat in his cheeks. Quickly, with his nonexistent drawing skills, he drew a portrait of Law in return, sure that he would capture her beauty.
After a while, in the main hall of Dressrosa, Law felt a familiar tug on her coat. Onigiri had returned. With her heart in her throat from embarrassment, she took the note, but stopped when she saw it wasn't a letter, but a drawing. Her gaze fell on a doodle that was, without a doubt, her. A mess of childish lines. There was no hint of mockery, just the effort of someone who wanted to capture something important.
A laugh, soft and genuine, escaped her lips. It was a laugh no one at that school had ever heard before. And not just because of the drawing, but because of the unexpected inscription in the corner of the paper:
"For pretty Tora."
Law brought her hand to her mouth to stifle a louder laugh. Her note had said "forgettable face," and here was Luffy's response: a horribly ugly drawing, but with an intention so pure and a compliment so direct that it had touched her heart. The sound of her laughter drew the attention of the room, and the other girls looked at her in astonishment.
"He really is an idiot," Law murmured with a smile that felt strangely good on her face, as she put the drawing in her notebook, right where she kept all his letters.
The drawing was so honest and so Luffy that she couldn't help but feel inexplicably happy.