Archive of Our Own

“Don’t go too far, cub!” Law chuckled, slowly following after his hyperactive little one. They were trying to make the most of the free time they had together by having a picnic on the lake shore, something neither of them have ever done. Viola highly recommended it though, ‘a lovely family activity’ she had said, tone wistful. Not wanting to dredge up more grief, Law had awkwardly thanked her and went to go pack some food.

“Hurry up Mama!” His cub was running circles around him, occasionally running closer to the lake, before rushing back. Taking pity on his cub, and not wanting to waste what little time they had, he sped up and set to work laying out the blanket, laughing at Loki’s overly enthusiastic ‘help’ that messed up the blanket more than anything.

Once they were finally settled in, Law unwrapped one of the onigiri he had packed and handed it to Loki, grabbing one for himself after. “So, how were your lessons Cub?”

He settled in to listen to Loki speak freely for once. While in the castle, they were always under watch. The only times they were able to speak whatever they wanted was outside the castle when Doffy had one of his meetings with the Elite of the Family. Not even their nest was considered safe as they had to whisper in case a guard or Family member was eavesdropping outside the door.

“I learnt about snails!” Loki beamed, chomping a bite from his onigiri.

“Your tutor was teaching you about snails?” Law raised a brow.

Loki scrunched his nose, “I learnt about snails, I don’t know what they were doing.”

He snorted. Doflamingo was not going to be happy about that.

The little one had been an accident. A lab raid turned rescue gone sideways that had taken a month to resolve, and in that month sailing around he and the little five year old had bonded. Law never truly regretted it, not when it brought to him this bright light that kept him sane in the most trying times under Doffy’s oppressive rule. His only true regret is bringing the little one into the Family’s orbit, forced to become another pawn and bargaining chip against Law’s constant rebellion.

The saving grace to it all was how smart Loki was. He wasn’t sure how or why, but his cub had taken one look at Doffy and deemed him an enemy. His cub didn’t like Doffy and always seemed to know when the Alpha was trying to manipulate him, much to the king’s frustration. Regardless, Doffy still tried to treat him the way he had treated Law when first adopting him into the Family—namely by giving him the education and material possessions worthy of a prince that he could later use to guilt and gaslight the little one into doing whatever he said. (Thankfully Loki was just young enough that physical discipline wasn’t being used just yet—not that he would allow harm to come to his cub if he could help it.)

Loki never fell for it, often shoving aside fancy gifts for the few handmade or cheaper gifts given to him by the few people he actually liked in the castle. Law took particular joy in watching the vein in Doffy’s head nearly pop when that happened.

Unfortunately, as Doffy became more and more suspicious of Law’s possible involvement in the revolution brewing within the kingdom, and that one incident where Law had almost tried to run away with his cub, he had decided to take action.

An assassination attempt. That bastard had staged an assassination attempt on Law while he was out with Loki and now they weren’t allowed to be unguarded—for ‘safety’ the king had claimed. But Law knew what he was doing. Doffy was trying to keep a closer eye on him, but Law wasn’t going to slip up now; not when they were so close to overthrowing the man and his Family.

They chatted and snacked the hour away till someone found them. To Law’s disgust and apprehension, it was Vergo who came to collect them. Vergo usually only showed up when Doflamingo summoned him and sure enough, the first thing he said upon seeing Law was, “Doffy has summoned you to the throne room.”

Law sneered at the Alpha’s scowling face, but turned back to give Loki a nuzzle, heart breaking a little at his cub’s sad eyes.

“I’ll see you soon.” He muttered into Loki’s hair. The little one hugged back, nodding into his shoulder.

At Vergo’s impatient huff, Law reluctantly pulled away and started heading back to the castle. He waved as Baby 5 escorted Loki away once they reached the building and marched to the throne room to hear whatever bullshit Doffy was going to pull now.

He shoved the doors open and instinctively wrinkled his nose at the overwhelming alpha scent saturating the room. He walked over to stand several meters in front of the throne that Doffy sat in, crossing his arms as he stopped.

“What do you want?” He sneered.

“My my my, why so rude Law?” Doflamingo jeered. “And when I’ve got such good news too!”

Law was immediately on edge. ‘Good news’ from Doffy was bad news for the revolution.

“Well?” Law huffs. Doflamingo tsks, but his grin does not falter.

“We’ve received an invitation for a Selection Event.” Doflamingo waves a parchment around in one hand, and Law can already feel a headache coming on.

Selection Events were, at their core, basically marriage mixer parties. A kingdom whose heir was ready to marry would invite other kingdoms to send eligible members of their nobility to come and present themselves to the royal, who would then get to know them all in a week-long event before selecting their spouse.

The events of the week depended on what the kingdom was known for, a way to show the potential spouses what their new kingdom would be like, and more often than not was a not-so-subtle way for Kings or Queens to tell people that they were passing down their position to their heirs before they died, so that they may still be around to advise said heir.

Baby 5 always made noise about wanting to find herself a husband anytime they were invited to an event or heard about one, but Doflamingo had never entertained it. Looks like he was going to entertain her whims now if he was even talking to Law about it.

Law scoffed, “Finally going to let Baby 5 get her husband? What do you need me for then? Make me her babysitter for it?”

Doflamingo chuckled, leaning forward in the throne, before he held up the parchment flyer. Law’s eyes widened as he saw which kingdom had sent the invite.

Laugh Tale.

Laugh Tale was one of the more powerful, if not the most powerful kingdom in the world. Not only do they have a ridiculously powerful army and dozens of strong allies, but their land was incredibly rich and fertile. They were entirely self-sufficient on their own, with land large enough to raise livestock, grow farms, fish and live on. Their mountains were rich in minerals as well with their own smiths for both weapons and everyday tools and items. Law had heard a ridiculous rumor that the only reason they traded their goods was because they were just nice that way. Although he personally thought it was to bring in new items to their kingdom—just because they could raise and grow whatever they wanted didn’t mean they had every single plant and animal in existence over there.

But…

“Why are you showing me this? Indulging Baby 5’s string of engagements is one thing, but you can’t make this particular engagement ‘mysteriously perish’ like all the others.” Law questioned, eyes narrowed.

Doflamingo chuckled, “No, she’s not the one going for the event.” He leaned forward with a sharp grin. “You are.”

“Excuse me!?” Law gaped.

Never in his entire time with the Donquixote had Doffy hinted at marrying him off. It was one of the few strange ways that the Alpha showed his lack of care for secondary genders. Oh he used the instincts and stereotypical roles to his advantage when needed, but as long as you were useful, he couldn’t give a damn what you were.

“Oh Law, this isn’t my preferred choice, but it’s perfect for my plans.” The alpha smirked.

“Your plans that you never want to tell the rest of us?” Law said sarcastically. The plans that he had been trying to find out for months for the revolutionary army.

“All in due time.” Doflamingo waved off. “For now, you will join the Event, and I want to see good results from it.”

“What makes you think I’d do this? Why not Baby 5? Not to mention, I’m not eligible!” Being of noble blood was practically standard for Selections and having a child? Practically an instant disqualification unless otherwise specified in the invitation. Kingdoms wanted heirs from unions, not adopted heirs of no relation.

“You forget Law, your true heritage isn’t known to anyone outside my Elite.” Doflamingo drawled, leaning back on the throne. “As for your little cub, well, nobody needs to know about him. It won’t matter in the long run anyway.”

Law narrowed his eyes, “That still doesn’t answer my question. What makes you think I’d go along with this? Why not Baby 5?”

“Now now Law. You know how our darling Baby 5 is when it comes to suitors.” A doormat as Trebol often jokes. “Either way, you make it sound like you have a choice.” Doflamingo’s voice took on a distinctly threatening tone towards the end. “What do you think would happen to that poor little cub should another assassin get close? We need strong allies.” Doflamingo exclaimed in an overly exaggerated voice.

Law grit his teeth. ‘This fucker’s threatening my cub!’ With a deep breath, he nodded his head in reluctant agreement. Doffy grinned, clapping once in false excitement.

“Brilliant! I’m sure you’ll do your very best to be chosen. Now run along and pack your bags, we’re leaving in two days.” And with that Law was dismissed from the room.

Law spun around and stomped away, glaring at any guards or Family members who dared to be even a little bit in his way. He made his way back to his room and deliberately stopped himself from slamming the door.

“Mama?” He looked towards his nest where Loki had settled, a large book resting in his lap. “What’s wrong? Is Doffy-san sending you on another mission?”

Law climbed into the nest of blankets and pulled Loki into his lap. “Not quite. We will be leaving in two days…for a Selection Event.”

Loki tilted his head, “I thought we never went to events?” He asked, confused.

“We don’t.” Law sighed, breathing in his cub’s petrichor scent. “But apparently, this Event lines up pretty well with Doflamingo’s secret plans pretty well.”

“Then why are you going?” Loki frowned, twisting to look up at Law.

Law paused, but after a moment of thought he spoke. “He wants me to take part in this event.”

Loki scowled, “But you’re not qualified! You said so when I was asking you what Selections were!”

“Yeah, but Doflamingo’s going to have us fake it.” Law sighed, carefully cradling his cub’s face and tilting it to look up at him. “This means you will have to stay here, in Dressrosa.”

“But–!” Loki protested.

“No.” Law said sternly. “I don’t know what Doflamingo’s goals are, but whatever game he’s playing, it’s dangerous. The Selection we were invited to? It’s from Laugh Tale. I’m sure you remember my lecture on their country?”

Loki had been incredibly interested in hearing about Laugh Tale, although Law couldn’t say why, only that he started showing considerable interest after hearing the country’s name.

His cub nodded, outrage slipping from his face in favor of a more curious look.

“We both know Doflamingo isn’t one for creating allies. I fear his goals will lead us into war with Laugh Tale, and we won't survive that.” Law shook his head. “We can’t fight a battle on two fronts, not now.” His cub nodded.

“Does that mean you’re going to get a mate?” Loki’s nose scrunched in distaste.

Law chuckled and tapped him lightly on the nose, “No, I have no plans to ‘woo’ this prince. In fact, I’m going to try and avoid this whole thing as much as I can. Doffy’s just going to have to find some other way to get to the royal family.”

Loki looked both pleased and slightly worried.

“Okay. Doflamingo is having us depart in two days, so we need to prepare ourselves and the others.”

Law frowned as he plotted how to inform the rest of his Hearts in the revolutionary headquarters.

— — — — — ｡ ₊°༺❤︎༻°₊ ｡ — — — — —

The rumors and stories of Laugh Tale didn’t truly capture the sheer vibrance of the bustling kingdom. No doubt it was extra bright in preparation for the arriving nobles, but there was a certain…air to the place that made it seem like this was more or less a natural state for the kingdom.

Law strolled through the market, idly glancing around the stalls. He figured he could look for souvenirs for the others and Loki while he was here. Honestly he was just killing time till the initial meet and greet had passed and Doflamingo would come looking for him. He almost wished he could have seen Doffy’s face when he realized that Law was skipping out on greeting Laugh Tale’s royal family, but it was best to stay away till the initial anger blew over.

Spotting a covered food stand with some onigiri on display, Law wandered over and looked over their selection.

“Can I get two of the salmon onigiri?” He handed over the payment and stepped out from the stand, before almost getting run into by someone. Law nearly dropped his onigiri, but a set of hands shot out and helped catch them just as he corrected his grip.

“Oops, sorry! Shishishi!” Law looked up from his food and blinked at the bright clothing of the person. Open shirt of a bold red color, jean shorts, and a worn straw hat laying against his back. Likely a sailor based on the calluses on the hands still gripping Law’s own, the scars, and the scent of the sea that clung to his clothing. The man (‘An alpha.’ He noted as the other’s forest scent broke through) smiled brightly when they finally made eye contact.

“It’s fine.” He muttered and tried to tug his hands free. His eye twitched as the other did not let go.

“Hey! I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before! Are you new? What’s your name? Do you like onigiri? You should try Sanji’s! He makes the best food!” Law tried yanking his hands again as the shorter rambled, to no avail.

“My name’s Trafalgar Law, yes I’m new, I just got here, now will you let go?” He finally huffed, cutting the other off.

“Whoops! Sorry Torao!” He let go, not looking apologetic at all.

Law frowned, “It’s Trafalgar Law, not–”

“That’s what I said!”

“That is NOT what you– wait a minute..” Law glanced at his now free hands. Where there had once been two large onigiri gripped in his hands, there now sat only one. Looking back up at the alpha in front of him, Law could feel his eye twitch again as the other guilelessly stared back, absently munching on his onigiri.

“What the hell!? Don’t just steal other people’s food!” He shouted incredulously, swiping a hand out to try and snatch whatever was left (on principle, he wasn’t going to eat it). The man giggled and jumped back out of his range, stuffing the last of the onigiri into his mouth like some sort of squirrel.

“Bu’ ‘s good!” Law heard from the overly stuffed mouth.

“Doesn’t mean you can steal it!”

They’re interrupted by a commotion further down the road and Law turns to see a red-headed lady, a curly haired male and a blonde charging down the road towards them.

“Luffy! Get back here right now!” The redhead shouts, clearly pissed off.

The alpha yelps and bolts down the road, shouting a ‘Bye Torao!’ as he flees. Law just watches in bafflement as the group continues down the road and further away; the sounds of running and chaos are still heard in the distance a minute later.

He just stands there for a moment, not quite sure what just happened, before deciding that he’d waited long enough. He ate his remaining onigiri on the way to the Donquixote’s suite, thinking about the surprising encounter the whole way.

— — — — — ｡ ₊°༺❤︎༻°₊ ｡ — — — — —

As expected, Doflamingo was not happy with his no show at the meet and greet and having to make up an excuse for him—sea sickness was what he went with of all things. Fortunately, this Selection Event was even bigger than anyone had expected and Doflamingo was sufficiently distracted by the many many royal families that had been invited to this event by Laugh Tale's King (turns out the entire affair was set up by the man rather than at the prince’s request).

The Selection Event had officially started as of the meet and greet and the first event was to be a feast, open to all in the kingdom, as a show of their culinary diversity. It was to be held in the main square outside the castle due to the scale of the event, and Law saw both royal staff and village folks setting up in the streets earlier in the day. It was shaping up to be a very different Selection than the others he had heard of.

Unable to skip out on the event with Doffy watching him too closely, Law dressed in the most casual clothes he could get away with, a simple yellow button up and some spotted pants that Loki had insisted on packing for him (‘It matches your hat, Mama!’). He was missing his cub terribly and it was the first thing he saw upon opening his bag, so Doffy was just going to have to suck it up if he disapproved.

He stepped out and made his way down to the square, sneering at Doflamingo’s slightly judgemental stare (like he had any room to judge, he was wearing bright pink feathers and zebra print), but he thankfully wasn’t stopped by the man.

“Don’t forget to introduce yourself!” He heard Doflamingo call out mockingly, with a hint of seriousness. Law just scowled and disappeared into the crowd.

Trying to get as much distance between himself and any Donquixote, Law weaved through the crowds till he stopped at a stand that was much quieter than the surrounding area.

Fully intending to hide away in his corner till an appropriate time to retreat, Law was startled when someone yelled near him.

“Torao! I was looking all over for you!” The alpha from the day before cheered as he bounced up to Law, a plate of food in his hand.

“Mugiwara-ya.” He glared, still slightly annoyed at his theft the day before.

“Here Torao!” Law almost fumbled the plate as it was shoved into his hands. He looked down at it in confusion before looking back up at the man.

The man—he was sure he’d heard that woman calling him Luffy—grinned, scratching at the back of his head. “For you! Since I took your food yesterday.”

Surprised, Law glanced back down at the plate. It had a few smaller balls of onigiri, some grilled fish, a stick of meat and a roll of bread. A bit much to replace a single onigiri, but he wasn’t going to refuse.

“Thanks…” He sat down on top of the low stone wall behind him and picked up one of the onigiri. Luffy grinned and threw himself down on the wall right next to him, swinging his feet against the stone.

“No problem!” He chirped, eyes rather focused on Law’s plate. He couldn’t help the amusement as those brown eyes tracked his food as he ate (it was honestly the best onigiri he had ever tasted). He lifted one of the grilled fish, turning it this way and that as though examining it, and suppressed a smile as the man’s head tilted along with his movements. He almost snickered at the disappointment on the other’s face when he finally ate the fish.

He finished everything except the roll and set the plate on the wall next to him, finally looking away from the alpha to glance around the party. No Doflamingo in sight, good.

“You forgot this Torao!” He turned back to Luffy only to snap his head away in disgust, nose scrunching as the roll was held up to his face.

“Get that out of my face, Mugiwara-ya!” He snapped.

“Why?” Luffy asked, tilting his head as he retracted the hand holding the roll.

“I hate bread.” He grimaced, glaring at the roll.

Luffy blinked before laughing, “More for me I guess!” He stuffed the roll into his mouth, practically swallowing it in one bite.

‘Savage.’ Law thought, surprised by the fond feeling that rose up.

“Are you having fun Torao?” Luffy asked, grinning up at him.

“Not really.” Law drawled, scanning the crowd again. “Parties aren’t really my thing.”

“Well what do you like to do?” He glanced over, brow raised. Why was this guy still talking to him? He seemed like the kind of person who would like parties.

“I’d rather be studying medicine or reading history.” He responded, hoping it was just boring enough that the other would leave him alone.

‘Playing and gardening with my cub, hanging out with my crew, collecting coins.’ He jumped as Luffy let out an excited noise next to him.

“Are you a doctor? Chopper’s a doctor too! He’s the best!” Luffy beamed, now crouching on the wall rather than sitting.

”Yes…” He glanced down at Luffy’s expectant stare, before deciding, why not? If he’s occupied with this chat then he can completely avoid speaking with any Laugh Tale royals.

With that he was off, talking about some of his previous surgeries and interesting cases that he had come across. He was impressed that Luffy actually stuck around since he clearly had no idea what he was talking about; the only times he left was to go and grab more food.

Law ended up hearing some honestly unbelievable tales of Luffy’s time on the sea with his crew. He kind of felt bad for the three who had been chasing him down yesterday if even half of his stories were true.

It was a flash of pink in the corner of his eye that popped the bubble around them. He quickly peered over and scowled as he spotted Doflamingo searching for him. Sighing, he stood up from the wall and turned back to Luffy.

”Well, as interesting as this has been, I think it’s getting rather late. I’m going to turn in.” He smirked a little at Luffy’s pout.

”Fiiiiine.” His pout shifted into a grin as he jumped to his feet. “Night Torao! I’ll see you tomorrow!”

’Doubtful.’ Law nodded back and started to head back to the castle, making sure that Doflamingo saw him leave the feast.

— — — — — ｡ ₊°༺❤︎༻°₊ ｡ — — — — —

The next day, Law skips breakfast to avoid Doflamingo’s scolding and searches for a quick meal at one of the stalls in the market.

He wasn’t sure what today’s Event was, but he didn’t even want to pretend to entertain it. Just the thought of socializing with all those people was exhausting him already, so he took to wandering the kingdom once again.

It was near midday by the time his peace was interrupted.

”Torao! There you are!” He spun around, shocked to see a familiar straw hat rushing down the path towards him.

”Mugiwara-ya? What are you doing here?” He asked.

”Looking for you silly!” Luffy laughed, skidding to a stop.

”Why?” Law asked, baffled. “Why are you looking for me?”

”Cause I wanted to hang out!”

Law opened his mouth to deny him, only to snap it shut. Why argue? It’s a convenient excuse to keep ditching the event, and their conversation yesterday wasn’t…terrible. And if he gets tired of the man’s company then he can just distract him with some food and leave.

”What did you have in mind?”

Luffy’s excited grin only made him a little wary. Really.

— — — — — ｡ ₊°༺❤︎༻°₊ ｡ — — — — —

“Why does Laugh Tale have so many food stalls?” Law questioned. He’d been dragged through what felt like all the port towns and there seemed to be an over abundance of food everywhere. He knew they were prosperous, but damn if this didn’t seem excessive.

“Because food’s the best! And we’ve got a lot of it!” Luffy cheered around the five kabob sticks stuffed in his mouth. Law stared in horror as he successfully ate all of them in one mouthful.

‘That’s got to be a devil fruit!’

“And that’s Zoro’s favorite blacksmith! And that over there is the forest that Chopper likes collecting plants from! Oh! And that right there? That’s Franky’s workshop!”

Law allowed himself to be dragged even further down the road, making note of the forest that the apparent doctor of Luffy’s crew got some of his medicinal plants.

“...I once found this really cool Hercules beetle in this very forest! Can you believe it!? They’re pretty rare!” Luffy beamed, gesturing his arms at the woods in front of them.

“I didn’t know you were so into insects?” Law sat relaxing under the shade after their constant running around.

“I really like beetles!” Luffy grinned. “I’ve got a whole journal on all the ones I’ve found myself and all the ones I wanna find! Oooh! Do you want to go beetle hunting with me tomorrow? It’ll be fun!”

Law hummed in thought. Today actually hadn’t been the worst. Luffy, while excitable, was actually pretty good company (it didn’t hurt that his forest scent was nice compared to the many overbearing alpha scents he was used to and wasn’t terrible to look at either). He could see himself spending more time with him, but there was a delicate balance between ditching just enough to rebel and outright pissing Doflamingo off.

“We’ll see.” Law decided. “I might end up being busy tomorrow, but if not, sure.”

He watched with an amused little smirk as Luffy cheered and jumped around the forest’s edge, and he couldn’t help but think.

‘How cute.’

— — — — — ｡ ₊°༺❤︎༻°₊ ｡ — — — — —

Law was able to make his way back to his rooms with only a mild look of annoyance from Doflamingo. Quickly changing out of his day clothes, he shifted through one of the chests by the bed. Searching among the items, Law let out a triumphant noise as he pulled a box from within.

With a furtive glance to the door, he sped over to the large closet and shut the door, making his way to the back where little noise would escape. Opening the box, he smiled down at the sleeping snail laying within.

“Hello Relay.” He whispered, slowly petting the den den mushi awake.

He waited for the call to go through, nervously tapping his finger on his thigh. He perked up as the call was picked up with a click.

“Thank you for calling Little Gardens, where we have the finest flowers for the finest moments! How can we help you?”

Law rolled his eyes at the cover the revolutionaries decided on.

“I’ve heard Queen of the Night is a lovely flower, can I discuss a bouquet with the florist.” He recited, shaking his head at his own alias—decided for him by Penguin of all people.

There’s silence before the line clicks and his call’s transferred.

“Law?” A feminine voice calls out quietly.

“Viola-ya.” He states, lips twitching into a smile at her relieved sigh.

“I’m glad to hear from you. How’s everything going over there?” She asked, papers rustling in the background.

He briefly describes the Selection so far, smirking a little at Viola’s disapproving clicks as he tells her of ditching most of the events so far.

“You need to be careful.” She warns. “There’s only so much Doffy will tolerate, especially if this lines up with his plans as you said.”

“I know.” He replies solemnly. “I’m a bit concerned actually. He hasn’t confronted me about it yet, not truly anyway. Its been 3 days and I haven’t even seen the king or his heir. Doflamingo should have confronted me already…”

“That’s odd..” She sounded worried. “Be careful. I don’t like this behavior.”

“Me either.” Law admitted. “How’s the progress on your end? Any luck?”

“Oh! Yes! Law, your ally Genbu-san, he really came through! We’ve narrowed down Sugar’s location to some of the tunnels north of the castle! If we can get her…” She trailed off.

Law nodded seriously. Capturing Sugar was the linchpin of their plan. If they could get to her and take down the other officers, they could take back Dressrosa.

“Honestly, if we can get to her while Doffy’s still gone? We could probably prepare an ambush on his return.” Viola sighed.

“If you all can locate and capture her before our time here is up, I’ll steal a boat if I have to and make my way back. I don’t know what Doflamingo’s plans are, but I fear we won't have as long as we’d hoped.” Law warned gravely. It had been bothering him since Doffy had mentioned his plans in the throne room nearly a week ago.

“Of course.” Viola reassured. They sat for a moment in silence, the magnitude of what they were trying to do weighing them down.

“How’s Loki?” He asked, sliding down the wall of the closet, forehead pressing onto his knees. He smiled at Viola’s startled laugh.

“That kid.” She started fondly. “He’s been winding up Baby 5, talking about how it was you who was sent to be married and not her. He’s disguising it as complaining about you being away, but it’s only ever around her.”

Law snorted. Loki and Baby 5’s relationship was strangely similar to his own relationship with her. They both liked each other, but also irritated each other constantly. The officers liked to joke that it was very sibling-like when Law and Baby 5 argued, but with Loki? They joked that she was finally making friends with people her own mental age.

He sat there for as long as he dared, listening to Viola chatter away about what his cub had been doing the past few days, idly flipping a photo of him and Loki between his fingers. Risky as it was, he brought the photo with him to remind him of his little one and why he was doing this.

— — — — — ｡ ₊°༺❤︎༻°₊ ｡ — — — — —

“You’re such an idiot.” Law groused, mouth twitching as he helped pull another stinger out of Luffy’s arm.

Law had heard that the event of that day was a royal hunt and gladly placed himself in one of the groups not near Doffy or any of the royalty. As soon as everyone in his group had taken off on their horses, he had discreetly directed his own back towards the castle and wandered off towards the dirt paths leading further inland. He was planning to kill some time and wander around before meeting up with Luffy by the forest where he had gone beetle hunting.

He was only able to wander for a few hours before he was almost literally jumped by Luffy, who was whining about his grandfather forcing him to do stuff he didn’t want to. Law wasn’t sure what this ‘stuff’ was, but he assumed it was helping around their home since, apparently, his grandfather kept saying it was for the good of the family. Perhaps he hated chores and was being extra dramatic about it? Seemed like something Luffy would do.

It was while they were walking through the forest in search of beetles—well Luffy was, Law was just following along—that an Atlas beetle flew by. Luffy immediately took chase and somehow ended up slamming straight into a beehive. Needless to say, no one was happy with what followed. Law was able to pull Luffy away and retreat far enough that he could help Luffy with the stings.

“It’s not my fault!” Luffy whined, pouting as he pulled another stinger from his leg.

“It most definitely is.” Law scoffed, smirking a bit at the put out look on the alpha’s face.

They were able to remove all the stingers and a quick stop by a stream provided some water to wash the area, but Law could see the itchy feeling was starting to set in. He glanced around and his eyes fell on a certain plant that he remembered Loki talking about. Snatching a leaf from the weed, he quickly rinsed it in the stream before popping it in his mouth to chew.

“Huh?” He glanced up at Luffy’s confused face.

“Plaintain. It can be turned into a poultice and put on insect bites and stings to reduce swelling and ease itching. We can take it off in 20 minutes.” He mumbled around the leaf, chewing it into said poultice and pulling it from his mouth. He swiped the mess onto the stings, pulling more plantain leaves to make more of the poultice as he went.

“Gross.” Luffy grinned, watching him work. “You definitely need to meet Chopper! He’ll be so excited to talk to another doctor!”

“Sure.” Law replied, focusing on covering all the stings.

Twenty minutes later, Luffy was scrubbing the goop from his limbs and dragging Law off to meet Chopper. Law was highly amused when the man ended up pouting as the two doctors became absorbed in their conversation, but he was impressed that the other didn’t leave from boredom. Instead he laid down on the patient bed that Law was sitting on and listened to their chatter, eventually falling asleep till it was lunchtime.

“And this is Franky and Usopp!” Luffy cheerily introduced, barging into the workshop he had mentioned before. Law sighed at the rude behavior, but he feared it was becoming far too endearing.

He nodded to the large blue haired cyborg tinkering at one of the benches and raised a brow at the other. He recognized the curly hair from that first day, chasing Luffy down the street.

“Guys, this is Torao!” Luffy beamed, gesturing at Law’s taller figure.

“It’s Trafalgar Law.” He sighed for probably the millionth time. Torao was the only name that Luffy ever introduced him as. He wasn’t even sure the guy knew his name no matter how many times he corrected him.

“Heeey Law-bro!” The blue haired man exclaimed, standing up. He was a lot taller than Law was expecting. “The name’s Franky!”

Law nodded at him, “Nice to meet you.”

“Usopp..” The curly haired man introduced warily, half hiding behind his own bench. Law just nodded, recognizing the skittish behavior.

“What are you guys doing here?” Franky asked with a grin.

“I’m showing Torao around! We went beetle hunting earlier!” Luffy jumped, hands waving as he tried to describe the beetles they saw. The two in front of them raised their brows.

“Yeah, and then you crashed into a beehive and we had to run.” Law snorted, which Usopp echoed.

“Tooooorao!” Luffy pouted as Franky and Usopp laughed at him. Law just smirked.

“You have to tell me that story!” Usopp snickered. Law glanced down at Luffy’s horrified face, and smirked.

“Gladly.”

The next day, Law was a little more wary of Doflamingo’s lack of scolding. He’d seen the man giving him looks that he couldn’t quite describe, so he decided that at some point today, he would let Doflamingo see him at least talk a little with either the prince or the king.

He actually found the opportunity during breakfast in the great hall that morning.

He glanced around the room, embarrassed to realize that he had no idea what the prince looked like. He was slowly making his way to the buffet table, discreetly looking around for anyone who might be the prince, when he bumped into someone.

He stumbled back a bit, but was caught by the elbows by a set of large hands. Feeling a tad foolish, Law apologized as he looked up. The man he’d run into let out a boisterous laugh that somehow seemed familiar.

“Not to worry! I wasn’t watching where I was going either! Say I don’t think we’ve been introduced. I am Monkey D. Garp, king of Laugh Tale!” The man boomed in a deep voice. Law was just thankful that he had not only found one of the royal family, but that Doffy was witness to them now talking.

“Trafalgar Law, heir to Dressrosa.” He bowed just slightly, as was appropriate for his station.

“Ah! Would you be that Torao that Luffy has been talking about?” Law jerked his head up in surprise. How did the king of Laugh Tale know Luffy? And they talk?

“Ah…yes. I have no idea where he came up with that name.” He admitted, furrowing his brow as King Garp laughed. ‘Maybe Luffy delivers some pretty important stuff when he sails and that’s why they know each other?’

“That kid, he sure is something else!” King Garp laughed, clapping Law on the shoulder. He had to brace his knees so he wouldn’t collapse from the strength of the blow, mildly horrified at how absentminded the action was for the man. ‘Maybe people from Laugh Tale are just crazy.’

“He’s something.” Law muttered.

“Come! Eat with me, tell me how you’ve found my kingdom so far!” King Garp exclaimed, dragging him off towards the buffet table. Law saw Doffy giving him an approving nod as he was dragged past and let out an internal sigh of relief. Placated for now.

The library located across the way from the castle was honestly one of the most beautiful places that he had ever seen. He stared wide-eyed at the thousands of books placed on the shelves, librarians carting even more books around to return them to their shelves.

The building was a large cylindrical thing, covered in plant life on the outside in such a way that it almost looked like a tree. It was multiple stories with spiraling stairs leading up to each level. Each floor had the center opened up and bordered with banisters keeping people safe so that you could see all the way to the roof from the bottom floor, thin rods of light hung elegantly from the ceiling all the way down to the ground floor in a spiral that lit up the entire building from top to bottom. There was even a small brook that ran through the bottom floor with glass banisters and beautiful wooden bridges so people could walk over them without worry of falling in or dropping any books into the small stream. The burbling of the water was a pleasant background noise to read to. ‘Loki would love it.’

“Should someone ever earn a look from you that’s half as enchanted, I’d consider them well-loved.” An amused voice piped up behind him. Turning, he saw a woman with long dark hair and curiously dark cerulean eyes. He’d never seen someone with that eye color, but he really had no room to speak seeing as he’d only ever seen one other person with gold eyes like his, and that was Loki.

His eyes involuntarily drifted back towards the books. He gestured almost helplessly, trying to convey the emotion he was feeling. “It’s just– It’s so–” He let out a strangled noise as he spotted the comfortable sitting areas where people could sit and read.

The woman chuckled, walking up beside him. “I do know the feeling. If I could live within these walls I would.”

He couldn’t help but nod in agreement, eyes flicking about as he took in all the little details.

“Would you happen to be Trafalgar Law?” He blinked in surprise as he finally turned to fully face her.

“I think you’re the first person who’s actually known my name.” He said. “Yes, I am. Did you need me for something?”

She waved a hand dismissively with a light laugh, “No, no. I just wanted to meet the man that has Luffy so excited.”

“Oh?” Law raised a brow. “I didn’t know he was talking about me.”

“Yes, he’s been jumping off the walls talking about all the things you both have done and all the things he wants to do after this whole Selection business is over.” She smiles. “Here, why don’t I show you around the library and we can get to know each other better? You might even get to meet Nami if she stops by.”

“Meet her? Am I just going to be meeting all of Mugiwara-ya’s friends while I’m here?” He questions as he readily follows her around the immense library.

“Most definitely.” She laughs. “My name is Nico Robin.”

“Trafalgar Law.”

He did, in fact, get to meet Nami, who turned out to be the redheaded woman that had been chasing Luffy down that first day. Law was actually able to talk a bit about his coin collection with her after he found out her obsession with money, although obviously her interest was more in the value of the coin than the coin itself. He also met the other four—Zoro, Sanji, Brook and Jinbe—when Luffy found him in the library and pouted as he dragged him away to try some of Sanji’s food—Nami and Robin laughing with knowing looks as they went.

He was immensely intrigued by the skeleton, and he wished Loki was there to bounce ideas and theories off of each other. He was surprised to find that Jinbe was a fishman, they usually tended to avoid leaving Fishman Island if they could help it.

And although the pining could be a bit unbearable, Law did find that he liked chatting with Zoro and Sanji as he enjoyed the cooks excellent food.

…Though he’d really like it if they didn’t obliviously flirt in front of his salad.

“Here Torao! Try this!” Luffy shoved a meat kabob into his hand. He flushed a bit as Luffy dropped into the seat next to him, pressing their sides together.

“No need to be so rough handed about it.” He muttered, trying to hide his heated face under the brim of his hat. He bit into the kabob, humming at the flood of flavor. He was more of a grilled fish kind of guy, but this was pretty good. No doubt Sanji’s work.

Luffy seemed to light up at his approval as he wiggled in his seat, beaming. A choked noise from across the table pulled his attention and Law peered over to see Sanji gaping at them.

“He– You…shared!?” He stuttered, fingers pointing back and forth, but Law wasn’t quite sure what he was trying to get at. Based on the wide-eyed looks from the others, whatever it was, was a big deal. Not that he was going to find out as Luffy once again grabbed his hand and pulled him to their next stop.

“You having fun?” Luffy asked as they wandered down the street. They were exploring the night festival that was happening the day before the last Selection event: The Tournament.

“Actually, yes.” Law admitted. The night festival here reminded him of the lantern festivals he had seen on several other islands. The night was cool and the many paper lanterns really lit up the street in a plethora of colors.

He was dressed in a dark yukata with shimmering gold koi swimming up the fabric from the bottom towards his left sleeve in a ripple of golden water. When Luffy had asked him to go to the festival with him, Law had inexplicably wanted to dress up a little for him—nothing too bold, but just enough to be noticeable. He would have felt much more embarrassed about the sudden want to look nicer for the alpha if the man hadn’t dressed nicely as well.

Luffy was wearing a bold red yukata, rather like the color of his usual shirt, with swirling golden flames that danced across the edges. Law wasn’t sure why he owned such a nice yukata, but he was pleased with the result.

(When did he start caring about stupid little things like this? He really shouldn’t be trying to impress this alpha, or any alpha really. He was here for a mission! But every time he looked into Luffy’s eyes, he found himself feeling warm all over again.)

“Good!” Luffy grinned, not-so-subtly leading them towards another food stand. Law rolled his eyes, but followed.

“So, will you be watching the tournament tomorrow?” Law asked, keeping his own takoyaki well out of Luffy’s reach. The shorter male hadn’t stolen food from him since the first time, but he wasn’t going to risk it.

“I’m going to fight in it!” Luffy exclaimed with a bounce of excitement.

“You are?” Law blinked. The tournament was technically open to all, but he hadn’t expected that Luffy would enter. Doflamingo had forbidden him—and anyone else from their party—from entering so he wouldn’t be able to join, but he could watch.

“Yeah! It’ll be fun!” Luffy grinned. “Are you gonna fight?”

Law shook his head. “Unfortunately no, I will merely be observing. Though I will wish you luck, there seems to be quite a few fighters here because of the Selection.”

“I don’t need luck, I’m super strong!” Luffy said before he paused, looking up at Law. “Why won’t you be fighting? Do you know how?”

“Of course!” Law huffed. “But I don’t want to waste my time fighting a bunch of weaklings.” ‘And Doffy won’t let me, bastard.’

“Are you calling me weak?” Luffy looked offended and strangely put out.

Law raised a brow and deliberately looked him up and down. “I haven’t seen any evidence otherwise.” He teased, lips twitching as Luffy huffed and whined.

“I guess you’ll just have to prove it to me tomorrow.” Law started walking further down the road.

“I will! I’ll prove myself to you!” Luffy vowed, and Law glanced back at the strange intensity of it. Luffy’s eyes were fierce and determined as they made eye contact. Law had no idea why he was taking it so seriously, but he tilted his head in acknowledgement.

“Then I’ll look forward to seeing how well you do at the tournament.” He responded. “Now come on, we’ve wasted a lot of time on all your food stops. Lets actually see what else is available to do around here, huh?”

Luffy grinned and bounded forward, grabbing Law’s hand and pulling him along—thankfully not dragging him.

“Well there’s all the game stalls over there!” He pointed, eagerly showing Law the different games.

Law glanced around, amused by Luffy’s chatter, only to pause as he spotted something at one of the stalls. It was a plushie. Specifically, it was a snow leopard plushie that looked remarkably similar to his own hat. He could just imagine how adorable Loki would look cuddling with it.

“Torao?” Law blinked and realized that he had stopped walking, Luffy staring up at him in confusion. He shook his head, glancing a last time at the plush.

“It’s nothing.” He tried to reassure, starting to walk forward. He was tugged back by Luffy’s grip on his hand, the other having stayed in place.

“Did you want something over there?” Luffy pointed to the stand he had been looking at before.

“No, it’s nothing.” He shook his head. He didn't want people assuming he wanted the plush for himself, and he really couldn’t tell them it was for his cub.

“Was it the spotted cat?” Luffy continued, ignoring his denials.

“Snow leopard.” Law automatically corrected, only to click his mouth shut. ‘Damn it.’

“So you did want it!” Luffy cheered. “I’ll get it for you!”

“I don’t want–” He groaned as Luffy rushed away towards the stand, not even bothering to listen to Law’s protest.

He slowly followed and watched with growing amusement as Luffy failed to hook more than two yo-yo balloons. There was a fond warmth inside as Luffy paid to try again and again until he let out a loud cheer as he somehow pulled all the balloons.

Luffy ran back to him, snow leopard plush in hand, and presented it with a bright grin. Law was helpless against that grin and found himself smiling a little as he took the plush, pleasantly surprised that it was as soft as it looked.

Luffy looked stunned, blinking up at him breathlessly, and Law was about to be concerned till the alpha suddenly broke out in an unnaturally wide grin.

“Torao! You look so pretty when you smile! You should do that more!”

Law stared.

Blinked.

What.

His face felt incredibly hot and he was mortified to hear a squeak come from his mouth as he tried to find the words to respond. Luffy’s grin somehow widened and Law scowled, clutching the plush closer.

“Shut up!” He finally managed to sputter and spun around to march off.

Of course Luffy just followed, not discouraged by his reaction. In fact, it just seemed to encourage him to blurt out a bunch of random things that he claimed to like about the omega.

Law was able to get back at him by shoving him into a birdbath near the paths and he almost teared up from laughter when the alpha ended up in a fight with the crowd of birds.

— — — — — ｡ ₊°༺❤︎༻°₊ ｡ — — — — —

It was tournament day and Law found himself in a rather good mood that morning. He’d gotten an unexpected call from Viola the night before. He hummed happily as he got ready for the day, thinking back to the call.

His cub, his little Loki, had snuck out of the castle to go visit the revolutionaries and Law had actually been able to talk with him. Loki had proceeded to grill Law on what he had been up to the whole week, chattering about his own mission to annoy Baby 5 as he did. Law had admitted to mostly ditching Doflamingo to hang out with the oddest alpha he had ever met and Loki had seemed intrigued by Law’s description of the sailor.

Law had hung up that night with a promise to Loki that he would introduce the two one day and an order to Viola to keep up the search for Sugar.

Not wanting to have his good mood ruined by Doflamingo, Law decided to slip out through the balcony and get his breakfast from one of the many food stands open in the early morning.

Making his way to the arena, Law idly ran his fingers along the golden scarf wrapped around his wrist. It was given to him by Loki, just before he left for Laugh Tale, who wanted Law to have something to remember him by. It was an old scarf that the little one no longer wore, but Loki had carefully smothered the cloth in his scent before giving it to him. The scent was now practically nonexistent as Law’s had permeated the scarf, but it still had traces of his cub on it.

“Torao!” Law looked up and smirked a little as Luffy jumped up and down, waving like a maniac. His friends were around him, smiling, laughing and rolling their eyes at their excitable friend.

“Mugiwara-ya.” He said, nodding in greeting to the others.

Luffy beamed, jittering with barely contained energy. “You’re here! Are you ready to see me win!?”

“Who says you’re gonna win!” Sanji jokingly argues, putting out his cigarette on an ashtray.

“Me!” Luffy glares, causing them all to snort. They all knew how competitive the alpha was, even Law who had only known him for a little over a week.

“We’ll meet you in the stands.” Robin cut in, motioning for the others to follow her. She gave him a rather knowing look that made his face flush a little, but thankfully not very noticeably.

“Huh? I wonder why they left?” Luffy scratched his tilted head, staring after his friends.

Law cleared his throat nervously, “Mugiwara-ya…” The alpha was still staring after his friends with an adorably confused look on his face. “Luffy-ya.” Law tried.

The alpha stiffened, whipping his head around to stare up into Law’s eyes. He felt a giddy nervousness bubble inside at the intensity of the stare. Like Law was the only thing that mattered in that moment.

“I know you said you didn’t need luck.” Law started, unwinding the scarf from his wrist. “But I thought I would give you this anyway.” He quickly wrapped the golden scarf around the other’s waist before he could second guess himself. Stepping back, Law couldn’t help but think it paired well with his usual outfit.

Favors—or tokens as they were known to some—weren’t as popular these days, but they still held a lot of meaning. The main one being to remind the person being gifted the favor of who gave it to them and to fight for their honor.

Law wasn’t sure if Luffy was familiar with the concept as it was mostly used by the upper class, but the pleased smile on the alpha’s face made him think that perhaps he did.

“I don’t need luck, but I’ll take care of yours!” Luffy grinned, reaching out and gripping Law’s hand.

Law’s face reddened again and he cleared his throat, “Yes, well..” He sent a sly glance back at the alpha. “If you lose, I’m taking it back.”

Luffy jerked away, hands holding the ends of the scarf away from Law. “No way!”

He couldn’t help but laugh at the overreaction. “Then don’t lose.” He smiled at Luffy before turning and heading for the stands, grinning at the excited shouts of the man behind him.

He climbed up the steps and located Luffy’s friends, grimacing a bit at how close they were to where the Donquixote were seated. Not close enough to talk to them, but close enough that he could clearly see Doflamingo’s expressions.

Law leaned forward as the tournament started, interested to see how it would go. Disappointingly Luffy was not in the first block, but Law made note of all the fighters and their abilities on the off chance he ever encountered them after this whole Selection affair. He was slightly jealous as he spotted some of the potential suitors that had come for the Selection fighting in the ring, but he knew why Doflamingo had forbidden them. Couldn’t let any potential enemies know their own strengths and weaknesses.

Soon, it was Luffy’s block that entered the ring and Law leaned away from the alpha’s friends as they started shouting even louder. He idly wondered why they hadn’t joined the tournament—at least Zoro and Sanji seemed like the type—but his attention was pulled back to the ring as the match was called to start.

Law’s eyes widened as he watched the match begin. Luffy was in fact as good a fighter as he claimed. He watched in slight awe as he easily beat his competition, and with haki! He hadn’t even realized the man knew of it, but he supposed it was to be expected; sailing was a dangerous job especially in New World waters.

“He’s quite skilled isn’t he?” Someone asked, tone light yet amused. Law glanced over at Robin, trying to rearrange his face into something more nonchalant. He didn’t quite succeed if the entertained look on her face said anything.

“He’s certainly something.” Law agreed lightly. His brows furrowed as Luffy glanced up at him, grinned, and then went back on the offensive with an exuberance that made his opponents look like flies being swatted away. “Doesn’t he seem to be going a bit overboard?

Robin laughed, a dainty hand covering her mouth. “Oh yes, he is. Perhaps he’s trying to prove something? That’s a rather new sash don’t you think? I’ve never seen him with it before.”

Law cleared his throat, face turning a bit red at her teasing tone. “Perhaps he got it recently?” He deflected.

“Of course.” Robin smiled, having mercy on him and turning back to the tournament.

It wasn’t a surprise at all to see that it was Luffy who won in the end with a rather spectacular punch that launched his final opponent, a guy with some weird half helmet that made absolutely no sense to Law, through one of the pillars in the arena, knocking him out.

Law was rather impressed with Luffy’s use of his devil fruit in the tournament, rubber was a strange devil fruit, one that shouldn’t have been so useful in battle, but Luffy made it work spectacularly. Luffy waved towards their section of the stands, causing the crowd to cheer even louder. Law shook his head with a grin as the jumping champion was approached by King Garp.

“Congratulations to our reigning champion for the Summer Tournament, my grandson, Monkey D. Luffy!”

Law froze mid clap, staring down at the beaming alpha.

Monkey D. Luffy.

Crown Prince Monkey D. Luffy.

The prince that Doflamingo was so keen on him seducing.

Fuck.

‘I should have gone to the meet and greet.’ He thought weakly, slowly starting up his clapping at Robin’s questioning look.

He felt a bit sick as he spotted Doflamingo’s pleased grin as the king glanced between the two heirs.

— — — — — ｡ ₊°༺❤︎༻°₊ ｡ — — — — —

‘I’m such an idiot!!’ He ran a hand through his hair, pacing his bed chambers. He’d retreated there as soon as he was able; thankfully the arena was so chaotic that Luffy—Prince Luffy—wasn’t able to catch up to him while he was swarmed.

What was he going to do? Law had spent most of the Selection with the very prince the Selection had been called for and statistically speaking, that likely meant that Luffy would choose him as his mate. (No wonder Doffy hadn’t been bothering him about it! He’d been doing exactly as he wanted!)

But the alpha didn’t seem to care much about the Selection, heck he never mentioned it! Did he even know Law was a candidate for the Selection? They’d never actually been properly introduced…but King Garp knew, did he tell Luffy? His brain was feeling far too jumbled and he didn’t know what to do! He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself.

‘Think of the facts. There were two paths, Luffy would choose him or he wouldn’t. If he doesn’t…’ Law tried to swallow down the sting at the thought of Luffy—ridiculous Luffy who hung out with him at every opportunity and (unknowingly) got a plush for his cub—choosing someone else to be his mate. ‘...then that would be ideal.’ He tried to convince himself. ‘We’ll leave for Dressrosa and continue the search for Sugar. If he does…’ He bit his lip.

He shook his head. No matter what happened, he needed to return to Dressrosa. He only allowed himself a moment to wonder if Luffy would help him, before he shook his head. Asking a kingdom to interfere in another kingdom’s problems was a weakness that could be taken advantage of and although Luffy didn’t seem the type, Law couldn’t take the chance that Viola’s claim to the throne would be threatened. The kingdom would be shaky at best if they won, so allies were a tricky thing to trust in right now.

— — — — — ｡ ₊°༺❤︎༻°₊ ｡ — — — — —

“Law! Wake up! We have been summoned before the king!” Law awoke to Doflamingo’s shouting voice, his fist slamming on the door.

Law gave a tired affirmative, dragging himself from his bed. He hadn’t been able to sleep very well the night before, thoughts churning round and round in his head. Rubbing at his eyes, he dumped his whole bag of clothes onto the bed, too tired to properly search through his options. He chose a simple (by royal standards) black outfit with gold detailing, and stepped out of the room, noting to himself to clean up the mess when he returned.

“So nice of you to join us! The king has called for all candidates to join him for a celebratory feast for the end of the Selection and then his heir shall announce his choice.” Doflamingo grinned. “I have high hopes for his decision.” He gave an approving, almost proud, nod at Law.

Law felt sick, but he nodded back calmly as he sat down for breakfast with the other officers. The feast was set for lunch, so Law had the whole morning to try and prepare for what was to come.

Law hadn’t realized quite how many candidates there had been for this Selection, but the great hall was absolutely bursting with people, candidates and their entourage all scattered about the room. He was able to spot Luffy’s friends near to the royal family, and gods did it make so much more sense now. All his friends had seemed to be the best of the best in their fields and he had been wondering how Luffy had gotten them to join his crew…he felt more and more stupid just thinking about it.

Thankfully everyone was expected to sit with their own parties, so he didn’t have to look at Luffy or any of his friends for the duration of the feast, although he was sure the alpha had been trying to find him in the crowd.

It was nearing evening when the feast and mingling came to a close and King Garp stood to make his announcement. Law ignored the not-as-long-as-expected speech from the king—although, seeing as he was related to Luffy, maybe he wasn’t surprised—about how thankful he was for everyone to come out and yadda yadda yadda. Law glanced up as Luffy stood from his seat, jumping over the table to stand by his grandfather. Law couldn’t help but smirk a bit at the unprincely action and the look of annoyance on King Garp’s face. No wonder he never suspected, the man was a savage.

“It is time! Luffy, present to me your choice!” King Garp boomed, and Law almost snorted at the irritated glare shot the king’s way. Luffy wasn’t really one to take orders and Law almost wished that the annoyance would be enough for Luffy to call it all off, but of course he didn’t. The prince bounded down the steps and plunged into the crowd.

He was too short for Law to track by view, but the people moving or jumping out of the way gave away his general location. Which is why he was so shocked when the alpha appeared in front of him when he was so sure the man was closer to the right side of the room.

He jumped a bit as the alpha stepped in front of him and held out a small box, grinning at his startled face.

“Law,” Luffy started warmly. “Will you accept my court?” He said the official wording like he was reciting someone else’s words, but the look in his eyes was entirely sincere.

Law swallowed, taken aback by the use of his actual name and highly aware of all the stares directed at them, and especially of Doflamingo’s, before he stood up. He looked down at the box and slowly took it, carefully removing the lid. He nearly gasped as he took in the gift. It was a commemorative coin minted nearly 200 years ago.

He looked back at the alpha and barely whispered, “Where did you…? Why?”

In a surprisingly low voice, Luffy responded, “Nami told me you liked these special coins, so I got it for you.”

His eyes widened a bit. He remembers briefly talking to her about commemorative coins back at the library. He hadn’t realized she remembered that since they didn’t talk about it long, nor that she would tell Luffy or maybe he asked her about it?

He almost let out a bitter smile. Of course he finally has something that he truly wants and it has to be tainted by Doflamingo.

“Yes, I accept your court.”

Luffy broke into a grin and the room exploded in noise. Law ignored Doflamingo’s pleased grin and smiled back at his alpha. He was going to try and enjoy this moment of happiness while he could.

— — — — — ｡ ₊°༺❤︎༻°₊ ｡ — — — — —

Preparations for the bonding ceremony started almost immediately, with the date set for a few days after the Selection had ended. Law was rather surprised at how quickly the ceremony was to take place, only to learn that most of the preparations had been completed long before the Selection had been called; the only adjustments were anything that the chosen mate would want added to the ceremony.

He spent the days leading up to the ceremony dragging Luffy along with the ceremony coordinators and being dragged around in turn when the alpha got too bored of the technicalities. Law had expected to feel awkward around the alpha after the proposal, but he found himself easily falling back into their usual banter with the added benefit of the alpha keeping him close and even scent marking him occasionally, causing Law to fluster and berate the laughing alpha.

He was even able to meet Luffy’s brothers—technically King Garp’s wards, but the three had declared themselves brothers as children—when they returned to Laugh Tale for the ceremony. Law had gotten a rather impressive shovel talk from the two and even the prince’s friends, though that one was much less intense due to their previous acquaintance.

It was the day before the ceremony that Doflamingo finally called him for a talk, and all the hidden anxiety that he had been trying to ignore came rushing back.

“Ah, Law, come in, come in! Have a seat!” Doflamingo smirked, seeming truly pleased to see the omega. The alpha had been giving him more praises and leeway since Law had been announced as the future mate of Laugh Tale’s prince, and it reminded him uncomfortably of when he was younger and still in Doffy’s favor.

“What did you need to see me for?” He asked, keeping his tone light. No need to have the alpha not trusting him when he seemed to hold Law in higher esteem for having ‘completed’ the mission given to him.

“You’ve done very well, Law. The Selection was a resounding success!” Doflamingo started. “We will be moving forward with my plans now that you’ve brought us within the royal family.”

“Oh?” Law leaned back in his seat, crossing one leg over the other. The picture of nonchalant interest. “Am I to be included?”

Doflamingo grinned, placing his elbows on the table, hands clasped under his chin. “Eventually.” Law almost huffed in annoyance. “But I do believe you can now know what our end goal is.”

He perks up slightly. He’ll lack the details, but the end goal should shed some light on maneuverings that Doflamingo has taken, as well as what he may do in the future.

“Ultimately, Laugh Tale is just another stepping stone in my true goal, to be the sole ruler of the world!” Doflamingo cackled, arms spread as though announcing some great event.

Law’s eyes widened, disbelief threatening to make him laugh at the absurdity. There had never been a kingdom that controlled everything; the world was just too vast. Sure there had been kingdoms able to take over large territories, but never the whole world!

“Laugh Tale is our biggest threat to my goals, but if we control it…” Doflamingo smirked. “Then that’s one less kingdom to stop us. Your next mission is to investigate whether it would be easier to manipulate the throne or to…take care of them. Although,” Doflamingo looked mock thoughtful. “Considering the strength of their knights and the royal family themselves, we should plan for taking them out of the picture.”

Law pursed his lips, trying to prevent a growl from escaping. ‘Over my dead body!’

“I will look into it.” He stood. “They are strong, yes, but where he excels physically, the prince lacks much in the mental department. It may be less hassle to have me order him around than to try and overpower him.”

Somewhat true. Sometimes Law really questioned where the man’s brain went, and other times he could swear that Luffy could see into someone’s soul. It was disconcerting the few times Luffy gave him that look.

“Hmm, true. Very well, we just have to get through this bonding ceremony and we can move forward with our goals.” Doflamingo smirked. Law almost bared his fangs at the use of ‘our’; there was no ‘our’ about this, not even with the other officers. These were all Doflamingo’s goals and they just had to go along with it.

‘Not for long.’ Law thought as he gave a slight nod and left the room.

So maybe he was a bit more panicked about this than he had led himself to believe before. He found himself pacing his bed chambers as he truly thought of the consequences of this.

Doflamingo was going to try and take over Laugh Tale and Law had unwittingly given him access to the royal family. He almost wanted to let Doffy try, if only because he was positive that Laugh Tale had knights of equal or more strength than the Donquixote’s officers. But no, that puts all the civilians in unnecessary danger and should Laugh Tale retaliate, the Dressrosa’s civilians and non-Donquixote knights would suffer for his choice.

He ran his hand through his hair, kicking at the pile of clothes that he had yet to clean up since the announcement.

What could he do? He couldn’t leave, his revolutionaries back in Dressrosa still had not found Sugar, and if he left before they were ready…he was certain his little cub would suffer the consequences. He swallowed hard as he remembered the close call of that ‘unknown’ assassin that had nearly gotten his baby.

And what of Luffy? As stupid as it was, in the short time he had known the alpha, Law had become incredibly fond of the man. The thought of Doffy getting to him simultaneously made him want to whine and snarl in outrage.

What would Loki think of the prince, he wondered. Would they get along? Would Loki hate him? He wanted them to get along more than anything. He shook his head sharply. Luffy was never going to meet his cub, not if Doffy could help it, and if Law was able to take Doflamingo down? Well then their bonding would fall apart. Only someone of noble blood can bond into royalty, and once the fall out of Dressrosa’s liberation settled down, his status would likely be revealed and his bonding would be declared null. Easy to do since mating bites were only exchanged after a year or more of being bonded.

Would the alpha understand why Law did it? Once the truth was revealed, would he understand? Would his friends?

He nearly jumped 5 feet in the air as his den den mushi Relay started to ring. He hastily scooped the snail up and rushed into the closet before answering. There was only one person who would be calling this late.

“Viola-ya?” He asked, wincing at the shakiness of his voice. Thankfully Viola was much too excited to notice.

“Law! We did it! We have her! We’ve captured Sugar and Genbu-san has taken over communications in the castle, so none of the officers can contact Doffy!” She practically squealed down the line.

”You have her?” He jumped up, pacing the length of the closet. “How many officers have you detained? Do any of them know?”

”We’ve detained those that were guarding her, but get this? They’ve become so arrogant that they don’t do check-ins with anyone topside, only their superior officer Trebol. And isn’t it just so sad that he’s busy with you guys in Laugh Tale? Giolla was left in charge and we’ve got her locked up here!”

He could understand her excitement now. They've done it! They’ve captured Sugar and not a single free officer knew! He let out a disbelieving laugh, briefly pushing his bangs from his forehead.

Viola suddenly spoke again, voice serious. “Law…are you able to sneak away? If you can get here with a head start, we could take down these officers and ambush Doffy on his return.”

He paused, biting his thumbnail in thought. There really wasn’t an option, he needed to leave tonight if he was going to make it in time for the revolution. Dressrosa could be free! He could be free! His cub could be free!

”I’ll be there. I’m going to commandeer a ship and return, get ready. And have someone ready to take Loki to the safe rooms once we kick off. We can’t grab him before, they watch him too closely.” He ordered, already snatching up a shoulder bag and stuffing a few clothes in at random. “And Viola-ya? I know what Doflamingo has planned…we need to win this, now. Ready the others.”

He stayed on the line long enough to hear Viola’s confirmation before he hung up and started shoving shoes onto his feet.

He tsked as he looked around the chaotic room—with Luffy dragging him around and the anxiety of the situation, he hadn’t really taken the time to clean up—before deciding to leave it all behind. There was nothing vital or irreplaceable in his stuff, so he grabbed the hastily packed shoulder bag and headed for the balcony.

He silently cursed himself as his erratic movements nearly caused him to tumble down the wall. He slowed himself and breathed a sigh of relief as his shoes hit the grass.

Trying to stick to the shadows, Law snuck his way out of the castle and burst into a sprint as he finally reached the dirt trails.

He glanced back to the castle, a stab of regret taking his breath away as he took in all the colorful decorations already set up for tomorrow, the sunflowers he requested already set out around the walls.

Blinking the sting of tears away, he turned back towards the path headed for the port.

’I’m sorry Luffy-ya.’

— — — — — ｡ ₊°༺❤︎༻°₊ ｡ — — — — —

‘Why? Why would he leave?’ Nami gasped for breath as she ran all the way through the garden to the castle. To Luffy’s wing.

She’d been wandering the gardens, contemplating once again how to approach Vivi for a courtship.

(She was slightly galled that Luffy’s own courtship was what had her seriously thinking on her feelings for the princess. But really, if Luffy could successfully find a mate, then so could she!)

She’d been sceptical at first when she’d caught Luffy that day in the market—fully intending to scold him for running away after the Selection meet and greet—and he’d happily blabbed about a ‘really pretty guy who shared his food!’

Obviously the man hadn’t shared his food, and she’d smacked some sense into the idiotic alpha for that, but she was more interested in the whole ‘pretty’ part of his description. Luffy wasn’t known for noticing beauty. He hadn’t even noticed Empress Hancock’s obvious crush on him for years!

Pretty Guy was apparently new, likely there as staff for one of those part of the Selection, and Nami felt some regret that Luffy wouldn’t be able to even try and explore this possible crush, not when his grandfather was so intent on him finding a mate amongst those invited.

Imagine her surprise when Robin tracked her down to reveal Pretty Guy’s actual name. Trafalgar Law, heir to Dressrosa and one of the candidates for the Selection.

She had been conflicted at first. Dressrosa had not been known for its good deeds in quite a long time. The current king, Donquixote Doflamingo, was well known for cruelty when dealing with those he called enemies.

Nami thanked all the gods everyday that Robin had joined their crew and council. The archaeologist had been able to track down the omegan prince and chat with him before signaling Nami to join them.

She was pleased to note that although the man had a cold demeanor at first, once he became more comfortable he had a personality and sense of humor very similar to Robin. He was more sarcastic than her and Nami almost laughed herself sick from his very apt descriptions of some of the gaudy outfits that other Selection candidates had chosen to wear on the daily—they were really very bad and she had to wonder if they actually thought those were fashionable.

What really sold it for her was watching Law—or Torao as she kept hearing Luffy call him—interact with her prince. He looked at Luffy with an exasperated fondness and what she thought might be the beginnings of something more. She was shocked to realize that Luffy was looking back with such an intense adoration that she was almost surprised he hadn’t just declared Law his choice right then and there. She was sure Law wouldn’t have minded, at least once he got over the shock.

He had certainly seemed happy, in that quiet way of his, when he was chosen to be Luffy’s mate.

Which was why she couldn’t wrap her head around him leaving. The two were absolutely smitten with each other, anybody could see that.

She burst through the door to Luffy’s suite and let out a relieved breath when she saw all of the others, except Usopp, lounging around the room. They all looked up in surprise at her as she slammed the doors shut.

“Nami? What’s wrong?” Sanji asked in alarm, pushing off the wall he had been leaning against.

“It’s…Law!” She panted, hand pressed to her chest as she tried to catch her breath. Luffy jumped up from the couch, face serious in that way it so rarely was.

“What about Torao?”

Nami involuntarily twitched a little at the protective pheromones that started to seep into Luffy’s scent. She opened her mouth, only to hesitate. How was she going to tell Luffy this?

“Luffy…” She trailed off, before she steeled herself. He needed to know. “I was out in the gardens and I saw…I’m certain I saw Law running for the docks. He’s leaving.”

Immediately the others started trying to talk over one another. It was like a mixture of outrage, denial, and a slight hint of betrayal. She could understand that. They might have known him for a short time, but the Straw Hats were always quick to adopt friends into their circle. And someone who was going to be Luffy’s mate? Their prince’s mate? Law was basically family, and for him to leave them, to leave Luffy? Unacceptable.

She glanced over to said alpha and cringed a bit at the blank look on his face. That couldn’t be a good sign.

“Nami.” Robin cut in, stepping to the front of the group. “We cannot say for certain what’s going on until we get all the facts. Perhaps it is a misunderstanding. You said he was running? How did he look? Was he injured? Distressed?”

Nami was woman enough to admit that the speed at which she seized the explanation was a tad embarrassing, but the others had latched on just as quickly so they really had no room to talk—not that they did.

With another glance at Luffy, she describes what she had seen; not much unfortunately, but she did note that he was much less put together than she had ever seen him. She winced as she realized that other than seeming rushed and a little panicked, he seemed perfectly fine.

They watched Luffy quietly as he took it all in, waiting on his decision. They all jumped as the door to the room was slammed open once again.

Usopp stumbled into the room and yelped as he nearly fell on his face, only saved from the painful crash by Ace’s hold on his arm. Sabo quietly shut the door behind them, a duffel bag hanging from his shoulder.

“Geez Usopp! Way to scare the life out of me!” Nami half heartedly scolded.

“Nami! There’s–! We just–!” Usopp babbled, seemingly unable to decide what to say first.

“We have a problem.” Ace cut in, eyeing Luffy’s blank face with concern.

“Oh great, another one to add onto our list.” Sanji groaned, anxiously flicking his lighter open and closed.

“Torao’s gone.” Luffy suddenly spoke up, and they grimaced at the hint of confused hurt in his tone.

“We know.” Their eyes widened as they whipped around to look at Ace. He had a grim sort of look on his face, one Nami hadn’t seen since the ‘incident’ with that bastard Teach.

“We just overheard an…interesting conversation.” He continued, leaning forward.

“Maaaaan.” Usopp sighed. He’d been working in his workshop for far longer than he had anticipated and he just knew he was going to get scolded by the others about taking care of himself again. Like they had any room to talk, he’d seen even Nami pull all-nighters when she found something new about weather systems or old maps.

He decided to use the servant tunnels to try and make his trip back to Luffy’s wing just a bit faster and quickly scurried into one of the hidden entrances. Careful to avoid any tripping hazards, he made his way through the guest wing servant tunnels, enjoying the quiet of the night. Most everyone was already asleep so they all could get some rest for the ceremony tomorrow and he could feel a grin pull at his lips as he happily patted his bag. He may get scolded, but his present for the happy couple was ready!

He squeaked as he bumped into someone in the dark and nearly panicked as they wrapped a hand around his mouth. He only relaxed as he heard the hushed voice of Luffy’s brother Ace.

“Geez! You scared me!” He whisper-yelled, surprised to see Sabo was also there. He didn’t usually see any of the princes in the servant tunnels, and really everyone should be asleep by now if they didn’t want to look like zombies at the ceremony.

“Sorry.” Ace grinned. “We were trying to get past gramps. Ended up staying out too late.”

Usopp was about to reply when a burst of angry alpha pheromones seeped through the peep holes in the wall. His eyes widened. Betas typically had a harder time picking up dynamic pheromones, so to be practically hit in the face with them? Whoever it was, was pissed.

Ace and Sabo hushed their breathing as they all peeked through the peep holes. From one of the hallways, the Dressrosan king stomped through, closely followed by one of his officers. Usopp tried to avoid the man really—actually outside of Law he didn’t like a single member of the Dressrosan party that was in Laugh Tale, they just seemed very…off-putting and he had no idea how Law could stand being around them when it made him queasy just imagining trying to talk to them.

“...nd you’re sure you saw him leaving?” The king practically snarled as he paced the dark hallway. “Trebol, you better have been certain!”

“It was definitely Law. I saw him taking one of the smaller ships and leaving back for Dressrosa!” The officer insisted in that obnoxious voice of his.

Usopp shook his head in denial. Law wouldn’t leave, he couldn’t leave! Why would he…?

“That bitch!” Usopp jumped at the king’s enraged voice, slightly surprised. He’d overheard the feathered man practically sing the omega prince’s praises even before Law was chosen at the end of the Selection, but the contempt in his voice was painting a very different picture.

“How dare he! He knows what will happen when I catch him! What could he possibly gain from leaving at a time like this!” The king raged.

‘That’s what I want to know.’ Usopp thought, cringing away in fear at the dark looks in Ace and Sabo’s eyes.

“Doffy!” He jerked his head up at the minion’s worried voice, spotting the den den mushi in the man’s hand. “I can’t reach Giolla…”

The king suddenly froze in place and Usopp nearly whimpered at the heaviness that pressed down on them. ‘Haki!’ He quaked.

“No…” The king stood stock still. “He wouldn’t!” The hiss sent shivers of fear down his spine.

“Trebol!” The king spun around. “Get the ship ready! Get everyone on board, we must catch up! I will make an excuse for that fool, King Garp, but if Law’s found her…” A dark look crossed his face.

“Yes, your highness!” The officer immediately turned to do as ordered.

“And Trebol?” The officer stopped, turning back to his king. “Contact the castle. Secure the cub before Law gets there.” And with that, the king strode away, followed by his officers' cruel laughter.

“I thought I was gonna die!” Usopp cried, knees knocking together.

“Does this mean…” Robin mused. “That Law was being threatened?”

Nami shuffled away from the rage that was now taking over Luffy’s face. Ace and Sabo nodded in agreement.

“That was our conclusion. Doflamingo must have threatened him with something to get him here.” Ace threw an apologetic look Luffy’s way. “He must not have wanted to participate in the Selection, considering how much he’s avoided the events. I guess Luffy must have charmed him into it!” He tried to joke. Weak chuckles rang out, but nobody’s heart was really in it.

“We can only speculate, but I assume whoever this ‘her’ is, she is important enough for Law to leave immediately. Maybe she’s able to free Law somehow?” Ace shrugged.

“What was that part about a cub?” Sanji wondered. “Do you think they’re the ‘her’ they were talking about? Does Doflamingo have a daughter?”

“Not that I’ve heard of.” Robin shook her head.

“I can probably answer that for you.” Sabo spoke up, having been strangely quiet the whole time. “I went searching his room.” He waved the duffle a little. “And I found this.”

The blonde walked up to Luffy and held out a small paper—a photo, Nami realized.

“I believe this ‘cub’ he spoke of is the thing Doflamingo has against Law.” He sounded apologetic as he watched Luffy.

She gasped as she came up behind the alpha and examined the photo. It was Law, smiling like she’d never seen before, his hat nowhere in sight with the sun making his eyes appear an even brighter gold while revealing the almost blue-iridescent tint of his ruffled hair. He really was very pretty when he genuinely smiled, she could see why Luffy was so taken with him from the start.

But no, what truly shocked her was the small toddler in the picture. His little face beaming at the camera, feathery dark hair—not a hint of blue like Law’s, she noted—windswept. She sucked in a breath as she took in the golden eyes on the pup. Just like Law’s.

She peered over to Luffy, worried how he would handle the revelation, only to be surprised. He didn’t look upset. In fact, he looked…well, the word smitten came to mind as he stared at the photo.

“Luffy?” She hesitantly poked him, jumping when his head snapped up.

“We need to go help Torao.” He stated, demanded, straightening up. They all smiled.

Law is nakama now. They would free him, and they would save his pup too.

— — — — — ｡ ₊°༺❤︎༻°₊ ｡ — — — — —

Loki frowned as he listened in on the call. Genbu-san was skillfully pretending to be one of Doflamingo’s officers as he listened to Trebol’s orders.

‘Looks like Mama was found out.’ He worried, turning and crawling back through the air ducts towards his room. He needed to get some stuff and go to the revolutionaries. They were going to need help dealing with Sugar and evacuating the civilians. They didn’t know how to stop her devil fruit, but he did. He was thankful that he remembered that from the Before, no matter that this life was much different than what he had seen.

As soon as he grabbed what he needed, it was the work of a thought to open a Door on the wall of his room and step through into the tunnel that currently housed their headquarters. Waving the Door out of existence, Loki hurried down the tunnel towards the bustling sounds of war preparation.

Everywhere he looked he could see people determinedly opening the weapon stock they had stolen and setting up the med bay. He threw a distracted wave towards where Ikkaku and Shachi were arguing over some sort of blueprints or plans, he wasn't too sure, and ran into the room where Viola was giving out orders.

"Loki!" She called in surprise before she frowned in worry. "What are you doing here? What if they see that you're gone?"

Loki shook his head, "Doesn't matter, Doffy already knows." He saw everyone in the room tense at the news. He continued before they could ask, "I just heard Genbu-san on the call. Doffy's on his way back with all the elite he took with him. I guess someone spotted Mama on the way out."

"Shit!" Thunder Soldier growled. "We still don't know how to stop Sugar, we've already tried dozens of things, but we're running out of time!"

"Leave it to me." Loki tilted his chin up confidently, just as he'd seen his mama do. "I know how to do it."

"You do?" Viola and several others gaped. "How?"

"I just do." He shrugged. "I'll tell you how afterwards, but we need to do this now, before Doffy returns."

It looked like some others were going to protest, but Viola held up a hand, halting their complaints. She was quite used to Loki's odditys by now.

"What do you need us to do?" She asked calmly.

"We need to isolate her. I need her to be by herself, where she won't be able to hear much from you guys and she has no allies around her." He explained, nodding in satisfaction as—after a bit of reluctance—the soldiers started the process of moving the captured officers to a different 'cell block' as many called them.

"What will you do?" Viola asked, looking at him in worry.

He shot her a mischievous grin, "Don't worry, it's not dangerous. I won't even be in contact with her!"

That only seemed to reassure her a little. Loki settled in to wait as they slowly transferred officers one by one to their new cells.

It took a bit too long for Loki's liking, but they finally removed all the Donquixote officers to cells across the way. He was sympathetic to the soldiers since they had to be extra careful transferring people like Giolla, but unfortunately the cells that Sugar was located in were the furthest from anyone, so they were ideal for his plan.

"Alright, it's going to take a little while, but I guess you'll know when I've done it when Thunder over there returns to normal." Loki gestured to the toy.

Viola stepped forward, "Maybe we should have a knight go with you? For your safety. I could send for Bepo?"

He was already shaking his head as she spoke, "I need her to feel totally isolated for this to work. A guard would ruin my plans."

It looked as though Viola was going to argue further, but she was interrupted by a thunderous bang as a wall down one of the tunnels was collapsed from the other side. Immediately all the revolutionaries jumped into action and charged the soldiers that were making their way through the hole in the wall.

"How did they find us!?" Viola hissed, pulling out a gun.

Law winced at the loud sound of gunfire, blades clashing and shouts that rang out. He quickly retreated to the entrance of the tunnel leading to Sugar's cage, eyes flicking around. Maybe he could open up a Door underneath some of the soldier's feet? They were all moving around so fast though, he feared he might send one of their own members with them.

"Stay there!" Viola called as she snapped out a leg and launched some poor sucker clear across the room.

He was eyeing a soldier that was a bit too near to his hiding spot when a familiar, and most welcome, sight appeared. A transparent blue dome expanded across the tunnel and with a sound of displaced air, all the soldiers were suddenly sliced into pieces. Loki snickered at the disembodied heads' screeches of shock and fear.

"Shambles."

And just like that, all the pieces vanished from the tunnel, replaced by random items like pebbles, bowls, chopsticks, and strangely a fish trap.

"Mama!" Loki cheered, running from his hiding place and into his mama's already spread arms. He was hoisted up into a tight hug and Loki buried his nose into his mama's shoulder, taking in the scents that still clung to him.

He scrunched his nose at the hint of Doffy's familiar scent, only to pause as a more pleasant forest scent overtook it. It reminded him of the forest towards the outer edge of Dressrosa where his mama would take him to explore, play and find all his plants. He shoved his nose more insistently into the shoulder and he felt his mama's chest vibrate a bit with his quiet laugh.

"What are you doing?" Mama grinned, looking down at him.

"You have a really nice smell on you." Loki answered absently, nuzzling closer. "Is it from that weirdo alpha you mentioned?"

He was surprised when Mama's face suddenly flushed, and he cleared his throat, shifting in place. Ignoring the movement around them as the revolutionaries grabbed those who needed medical attention, Loki leaned up and poked at his mama's cheeks, tilting his head in fascination as he actually felt heat coming from them.

"Yes, but that doesn't matter right now." Mama claimed, but he wasn't looking Loki in the eye.

"Mama, do you gotta crush!?" Loki gasped, and he giggled when Mama sputtered out denials.

"Irrelevant right now! We have things to do!" Mama eventually got out and marched over to Viola. "What happened?" He asked, turning serious as he observed the damage around the tunnel.

Viola filled him in on what was going on, including Doflamingo's imminent return, causing him to let out a hiss of breath as brief worry flickered in his eyes.

"Mama, I can deal with Sugar, but it's going to take a few minutes." Loki cut in seriously. He didn't break eye contact when Mama started searching his eyes, and eventually his mama gave a slow nod of agreement.

He was pulled into another hug and he perked up a little as he heard a whisper, "Good luck, Cub. Stay safe. And you will go to a safe house once you're done, got it?"

Mama let him down and he gave a sloppy salute before rushing for Sugar's cage again. Behind him he heard Viola speak.

"Is it alright to have Loki do this?"

"Trust him. If we don't get her to release her ability before Doflamingo returns…the people will not be on our side."

— — — — — ｡ ₊°༺❤︎༻°₊ ｡ — — — — —

Sugar sat uneasily in her cell.

It started out fine. Her fellow officers were in the nearby cells complaining about their capture, hurling insults and taunting the revolutionaries on what Doffy would do when he returned. She was confident that once he found out, he would lay waste to all these scum.

Though…she was put ill at ease by how unconcerned they appeared to be by the threats. Whatever, they didn't know how to stop her, so they were doomed to fail. The citizens of Dressrosa would just see them as some sort of crazy cult or mercenary group rather than the saviors they wanted to believe themselves to be!

At least, that's what she had thought before. Until suddenly there was a commotion and all the officers were taken, one-by-one, till it was only her left. She sat, waiting for them to return and take her along too, but…nothing happened. No sound of footsteps, no people talking, nothing.

The only sounds in there were the sound of her breathing and the distant drip drip drip of a leak somewhere that Giolla had hated.

Sugar jerked her head up as she thought she heard a noise, like pattering footsteps, and strained her ears.

…Nothing.

Did they just abandon her here to die? Is that how they planned to stop her? Kill her? Had they taken the others to an execution?

Before she could really spiral, the sound of the cell tunnel's door creaking echoed down the hall. She sighed in relief and glanced through the bars, trying to see who it was.

Only, no one walked into the hallway. There was silence and the steady drip drip somewhere in the tunnel. Sugar shifted uneasily, as she tried to spot whoever entered. She jumped with a slight gasp as a bucket fell onto it's side from the opposite direction of the doors.

Whipping her head around, she saw…nothing. Just like before, and just as it would continue.

'There's no one here. Calm down!' She scolded herself with a sigh of relief. She'd heard of the effects of isolation from Doffy before, but she hadn't realized how effective it could be.

She turned back towards the tunnel entrance, and screamed.

— — — — — ｡ ₊°༺❤︎༻°₊ ｡ — — — — —

Viola jerked to a stop, tears suddenly bursting to her eyes as she remembered. Her father—! He was alive! She had a niece! A brother-in-law!

She sobbed as she lunged for Thunder Sold— Kyros! Hugging him as hard as she could. Over his shoulder she could see Law staring at her with wide eyes.

"What?" Nami gasps, spinning around as Robin took in a sharp breath. They locked eyes as they inexplicably remembered. Dressrosa was not supposed to be ruled by Donquixote Doflamingo. Why hadn't they realized before?

She glanced around to the other ships as the Sunny sailed for Dressrosa, trailed after by the many allies who had been on Laugh Tale for the bonding ceremony. (Of course Luffy couldn't keep his mouth shut and now the 'Grand Fleet' was under the impression that Doflamingo had kidnapped Luffy's future mate. How they came to that conclusion she wasn't sure.)

She could see some people on the other ships looking confused, and concluded this weird memory dump wasn't just for them.

"I think things are kicking off in Dressrosa…" Robin frowned.

"I agree.." Nami nodded, sending a worried look towards the figurehead where Luffy sat, absently stroking the ends of the golden sash around his waist.

— — — — — ｡ ₊°༺❤︎༻°₊ ｡ — — — — —

Loki raised a brow as he watched Sugar faint from fright. Just like that. Wow. He hadn't expected it to be that easy honestly.

Reaching up, he pulled off the tengu kabuki mask, glancing from it's long nose to Sugar's fainted form. 'I guess Usopp-san was the ideal person to deal with her after all.'

Tossing the mask into a dark corner—maybe if she spotted it again in the dark she would freak out—Loki spun around and ran out of the cell block. As soon as the door opened, he could hear the shouts and cries as the citizens realized what had happened. That they had been deceived, tricked.

He rushed out onto the street where revolutionaries who weren't shocked frozen by their memories were trying to calm citizens and get them to the safe houses that they had prepared.

"This way!" Loki called, throwing open a Door on the side of a building that led straight to one of the safe houses, some people already sat inside, eyes dazed. The revolutionaries sighed in relief and started guiding people through.

"Where's Mama and the others?" Loki questioned one of the original Dressrosa knights as he helped an elderly lady sit against the wall. He shut the Door and opened up a new one leading to another safe house.

"Several have gone to defeat the officers here in Dressrosa. As for your mother…he and some of the others have gone to the eastern shore." The knight reported with a grim look. "King— no. Warlord Donquixote Doflamingo, was spotted and they go to fight him."

Loki pursed his lips, worry creeping into him, but he pushed it away. He could not go and help, he'd just get in the way. What he could do was ensure as many people were evacuated as he could.

"Lets get these people out of here." He stated, marching over to lead more people to his Doors. The knight followed with a determined nod.

— — — — — ｡ ₊°༺❤︎༻°₊ ｡ — — — — —

They arrived to chaos. From a distance, they could already see the smoke and collapsed buildings, distant battles and gunshots.

Luffy took it all in, determined glare on his face as his brothers flanked him at the front of the ship. In that moment he truly looked like the prince of his country.

"There!" Up on the sail rigging, Usopp called down as he used his sniper goggles to locate the distant figure that could only be Law. He seemed to be fighting a figure in pink.

"He's over there! By the castle!" Usopp exclaimed, sliding back down to the deck. Luffy gave a feral grin and turned to the railing.

"Help Torao's friends!" The alpha called, before launching himself from the deck and towards the island.

"Wait! How're we supposed to know who's a friend!?" The sniper called out in panic. He groaned as the Grand Fleet charged the shoreline, not even giving a thought to the logistics, just following their leader's orders.

"Well, at least we know what some of the Donquixote elite look like?" Nami offered half-heartedly.

— — — — — ｡ ₊°༺❤︎༻°₊ ｡ — — — — —

'This is not ideal.' Loki thought as he hissed at the man holding him by his collar. Unfortunately, Vergo was well versed in haki and was easily able to withstand the swiping claws from Loki's partial feline shift, while preventing him from evaporating on the spot.

"Rude brat." Vergo scoffed, smirking as he violently shook Loki, causing him to whine a bit in pain. "Doffy's been looking for you."

Loki narrowed his eyes, sneering at the other to cover his fear. He squirmed again, trying to loosen the man's grip, but to no avail. He didn't think it would work, but he had to try. The closer they got to the castle, the more frantic his attempts became, until Vergo had enough and snarled in his face as he slammed him against a wall by his neck.

"If you don't stop this instant, I'll—"

Whatever he was going to say was cut off by an enraged roar. Loki froze, some sort of instinct inside him telling him to stay still and quiet, to let guardian/protector deal with the threat. He hadn't felt like this since his mama had taken down that assassin.

He went limp and curled against some rubble as he was dropped. Loki watched in awe as someone barreled into Vergo, launching them through a building. He couldn't see anything, but he could sure hear the near feral snarls and growls that echoed around the street. He cringed as he heard a loud crack before silence.

With a wince—Vergo hadn't exactly been gentle about holding him—Loki shifted to be somewhat hidden behind the rubble and peeked around it, ducking back a little as he heard the rubble shifting under the weight of someone's feet. He took another glance and let out a tiny gasp.

'Holy crap!' He stared wide-eyed as Monkey D. Luffy clambered out of the destroyed building. A significantly more feral looking Luffy, he noted as the alpha paced around as though searching for another opponent.

He squeaked in fright as he made eye contact with wild eyes and squirmed as he was suddenly lifted from his hiding spot. He only stopped as he was cocooned in the comforting forest scent that had been clinging to his mama.

'Oh.' He thought as he slumped on the alpha's shoulder. 'Mama's got a crush on Straw Hat Luffy.'  He giggled at the thought, eye's drooping as the adrenaline rush started leaving him.

"I've got you pup." He blinked at the growled words, before humming in agreement. If anyone was going to keep him and mama safe, it was Monkey D. Luffy.

His eyes snapped open.

"Wait. Mama needs help!" Loki shifted restlessly, trying to look up at the man carrying him. He yelped as he was bounced onto his back in Luffy's arms.

"Where?" He was surprised to feel himself calming at the protective rage on the man's face. Wordlessly, he pointed towards the castle where he could see Mama's blue dome popping in and out of existence.

Luffy looked to where he was pointing before nodding. Loki gripped onto the alpha's shirt as he started to run, not towards the castle, but a little to the side of it. He only understood when he saw a group of people—some of the other Straw Hats, he realized—appear from around a corner.

"Keep him safe!" Luffy ordered, voice still rough. He meeped as Luffy ducked his head to nuzzle his hair, scenting him, before Loki was suddenly placed into someone else's arms. He watched, stunned, as Luffy spun around and used his stretched arms to slingshot himself in the direction of the castle, golden scarf snapping in the turbulence.

He glanced up at the person holding him.

"Hello pup." Nico Robin smiled down at him, eyes flicking towards where Luffy had shot off. "My name's Robin, I'm a friend of your mama's, why don't we take you somewhere a bit more…secure."

"I'll bite you if you're lying." He threatened, eyes narrowed, but he was inclined to believe her.

Her smile widened and Loki could hear Usopp wailing, 'He's as scary as his mom!'

"Noted." She turned, striding away with Usopp stumbling after her. "Let's take you somewhere safe. Luffy will help your mama."

"Luffy-san…is he the weirdo alpha Mama mentioned?" Loki asked, more for appearances sake than anything.

"Indeed he is." Robin chuckled. "He's been trying to court your mama, before Law left to return here."

"Hmm, I guess I'll let him try, since Mama likes him so much." Loki grumbled a little. They could do a lot worse than Monkey D. Luffy as a Papa— wait. Holy crap! Luffy would be his papa!

"Oh? You can tell from a small mention by your mother?" Robin asked, pulling him from his revelation.

"Of course." Loki nodded. "The fact that he was even talked about was a huge clue, but it wasn't really that, which told me."

"And what was it that clued you in?" Robin carefully navigated around a collapsed building.

"Luffy-san has my old scarf." He replied promptly. "Mama wouldn't have given it away for no reason."

"Well then." Robin paused as she spotted something in the distance. "It looks like his chances are not grim at all."

"Nope." Loki agreed, tilting his head at a blonde and a freckled man approaching them.

— — — — — ｡ ₊°༺❤︎༻°₊ ｡ — — — — —

Law gasped, trying to catch his breath as he sat on the cracked ground. He stared in disbelief at the crater in front of him, a familiar alpha standing over it.

He'd been shocked when Luffy had appeared from seemingly nowhere with a bellow of rage, knocking Doflamingo away before he could stomp Law's collapsed form. Law had been doing well at first, but he hadn't taken into account that the man could patch internal injuries with his string. It wasn't an ability he had been aware of.

Luffy's arrival marked a turn back in their favor and Law had pushed aside his questions to jump back into the fray. Even with the alpha's help, Doflamingo had been difficult to defeat. It was after the warlord had gotten a few lucky shots on Law with his forgotten pistol that Luffy had gone ballistic and practically pummeled the false king across the courtyard and then into the ground, while Law healed himself.

He couldn't look away from the downed figure at the bottom of the crater. He couldn't even tell if the man was breathing and he wasn't sure which answer he was hoping for.

Law jerked his head up as someone dropped down next to him. He relaxed as he realized who it was.

"What are you doing here, Mugiwara-ya?" He rasped, still gripping Kikoku. Now that the fighting was over, he was almost frightened. Why had the alpha shown up here? Was he hunting Law down for leaving? Was he angry?

"To help you, stupid." Law stared, bewildered, as Luffy flashed a fanged grin at him. The alpha reached forwards suddenly and scooped Law up into his arms.

The omega yelped, throwing his arms around the other's neck so he wouldn't fall. Luffy adjusted his grip and started walking, first steps a bit wobbly before he was able to stabilize his balance.

"What are you doing!?" Law did not yelp. He questioned.

"Carrying you." Luffy answered simply.

"There's no need for that!" Law protested, struggling weakly in his grasp. Never mind that he was almost positive he couldn't stand on his own, let alone walk.

"But I want to!" Luffy frowned, grip tightening.

Law gave up with a huff, curling more comfortably in the other's hold, his free hand reaching back to his stomach so he could work a bit more on his gunshot wounds. Luffy watched with interest for a moment, before focusing on where he was going once more.

"I'm glad I got to fight with you." Luffy spoke up, interrupting Law's concentration. Thankfully he was pretty much finished, just some deep aches that would heal in time.

"Yeah…you're not half bad at it either." Law muttered quietly, glancing away as the alpha looked back down at him. They were getting closer to the eastern shore and Law could see some of the other revolutionaries cuffing their defeated opponents and starting some preliminary clean up.

"Why didn't you ask me for help?"

There it was. That dreaded question that he hoped to never hear.

Law scoffed, "Admit that our country was weak and vulnerable to a non-ally? I know you can be kind of stupid sometimes ('Hey!'), but a leader should know better."

Luffy frowned, "I wouldn't hurt you guys."

"And how was I supposed to know that?" Law slumped, exhaustion finally getting to him. He hadn't had a proper sleep since his talk with Doffy.

"Because we're friends, nakama." Luffy asserted confidently. Law stared up at him in disbelief.

"We most certainly are not! Even if we were, people don't storm into a revolution for friends." Law privately admitted that Luffy seemed the kind of insane to do just that.

"We are! Robin says the best mates are friends first!" Luffy argued, stopping Law in his tracks.

"Mates…?" He choked out weakly. With everything happening so quickly, he had completely forgotten about the courtship he had accepted.

"Yeah…" Luffy stopped walking, looking down at Law with an uncharacteristic nervousness.

"Law." The omega sucked in a startled breath at the use of his name. "Would you still accept my court? Even if you have to stay here to rule your kingdom? We could take turns visiting one another?" Law stared up at his hopeful eyes, genuinely shocked. Even after all this, he still wanted to bond with Law?

"Luffy-ya…I..I'm not actually of royal blood." He admitted, a sharp pain in his chest as he revealed the truth. "I'm just some kid Doffy picked up a long time ago at a dark point in my life and decided to keep. Viola is the actual princess of Dressrosa, and her father is still alive too."

Unexpectedly, Luffy's whole countenance brightened. Law stared in confusion.

"Does this mean you will come back to Laugh Tale with me!?" Luffy yelped in excitement, jumping a little in place. Law hissed in irritation at the movement rattling his still aching body.

"Will you stop moving!" Law groused, wincing a little as his stomach was jostled. Luffy immediately froze, an apologetic look on his face.

"Sorry Torao." They continued walking in silence.

"Will you come back with me?" Luffy asked again, much more calmly than before.

"Luffy-ya…" Law sighed, regret twisting his stomach in knots. He shouldn't have given the alpha such false hope by accepting his court on Laugh Tale. "Did you not hear me earlier? I'm not eligible for bonding into royalty. I'm not of royal blood, and I..I also have…"

"Our little pup, right? He has your eyes!" Luffy interrupts, smile widening.

Law jolted, straightening as best he could in Luffy's hold. "Loki? You saw Loki!? Where!? When!? He should have been in a safe house!" He yanked Luffy's collar, their noses nearly touching, and growled. "Where. Is. He."

"He's okay!" Luffy tried to sooth, lightly knocking their foreheads together. Stunned at that gentle action, Law loosened his grip. "He's with Robin. I don't know why he wasn't in a house, but I recognized his scent from the sash you gave me,he was being carried off by some guy." Luffy's face twisted in a fierce snarl, making Law's gut twist in an entirely different way than earlier, despite his worry at what he just heard.

"I took care of that guy and Loki-pup asked me to help you, which I was already gonna do!" Luffy exclaimed, losing the snarl. "So I told Robin to take care of him and went to you."

Law sputtered, eyes wide. "L-loki-pup!?" Fighting the pleased hum of his inner omega, Law glared at the alpha as they reached the eastern shore. "Listen here! He's my cub! Not yours! You're lucky that fight took so much out of me, or I'd rip your throat out! With my teeth."

Contrary to typical responses, Luffy just looked at him with a goofy grin, eyes fond as he listened to Law rant at him. The omega only stopped when they reached the beach where most of the Straw Hat's and their allies were. And more importantly, his cub.

"Mama!" Law snapped his head up at the cry, nearly tumbling from Luffy's arms in his struggle to get down. He was too weak from the fight to succeed in escaping the hold, but Luffy kneeled down to seat him on the sand, sitting himself down so he was somewhat wrapped around Law. Not that the omega really noticed as he was bowled into by his cub.

He sighed in relief as he curled his arms around Loki, carefully scenting his hair. Law's brows furrowed as he picked up Luffy's scent on his little one, but dismissed it for now as he inspected him.

"Cub, are you alright?" He tilted Loki's head side to side and let out a quiet whine of distress as he spotted the darkening bruises around his cub's throat. "What happened!?"

Loki leaned into Law's hand, purring slightly as Luffy reached around and ran his fingers through the little one's hair. "Vergo. Luffy-san took care of him."

Law sneered at the name, but focused on comforting his cub. The little one might have been acting very nonchalant, but the rapidly fading smokey scent of fear gave him away.

"I'm glad to see you survived this ordeal." Law glanced up at Robin, smirking slightly at her morbid welcome.

"As am I." He returned. "Thank you, for protecting Loki."

"Of course." Robin smiled, taking in the trio sat before her. She was relieved they had reached Dressrosa in time—just in time too, based on all the blood soaking Law's clothes despite a lack of major injury being visible. She wasn't sure what Luffy would have done if they hadn't.

She was highly amused to see the three bonding so quickly. She was worried for a while at the revelation of a pup, but the little one was a delight that Luffy seemed to love immediately. And Law, despite verbal protests, was not threatening the alpha away from his pup as vehemently as a normal parent would.

"Why don't we all get checked by Chopper and we'll go from there?" She suggested as Loki yawned in Law's hold.

It had been three days since the battle. Law was now fully healed, though there were some aches, and working full time to help Viola and her family calm the people and re-establish their claim on the throne. Loki, his ever present shadow, had recovered from the bruises—and Law was pissed once he got the full story from Loki the day before.

They also had another shadow following them. One more alphan in shape…and much louder too (occasionally followed by his two equally as loud brothers). Luffy had not left them for longer than it took any of them to use bathrooms and to sleep and he was baffled by how little it bothered him. It didn't seem to bother Loki all that much either, which was definitely strange since the little one had a heavy dislike of being smothered by everyone but his mama.

The clean up was going much faster as Luffy had pulled in his entire fleet to help with repairs, cleaning and other such activities. (Actually it was more like Luffy pledged to help Law, and his fleet had overheard and clammered to follow their leader…he really needed to get the full story of how on the blues Laugh Tale—no, Luffy—got a grand fleet.)

A day into the clean up and Law had finally seen what Luffy had done to Vergo. It was nothing quite as violent as what he had done to Doflamingo, but Law was savagely pleased to see that the man's neck was snapped where he lay in the rubble of a collapsed building.

All the other officers were in custody of the loyal Dressrosa knights, and Viola had promised to take care of their sentencing herself, seeing as she was much less vengeful than Law and her family members. Well, almost all the officers. Baby 5 was technically in the custody of the Chinjao family, while in reality, she'd once again fallen in love. The difference this time is that it was with an enemy who had actually agreed to marry her. Law got the full story from Koala, sneaky person that she was, and hunted down Don Sai himself. He'd made sure to impress upon him exactly what Law would do to him should he hurt Baby 5. (They may not have been on the same side, but both he and Loki were quite fond of her—not that he'd admit it directly.)

Law was finally taking a break and lounging on the grass of the sunflower field, Loki curled up in his lap fast asleep, clutching onto the snow leopard plush that Sabo of all people had brought along when the Straw Hat fleet had rushed to Dressrosa. He had no idea where Luffy had gone, the alpha had run off earlier shouting about his grandpa or something. He had a sinking feeling that Luffy was going to be leaving soon.

Hence why he was out in the field. He hoped spending some proper time relaxing with his cub would keep his mind off the alpha. It wasn't really working, but he was feeling better for having spent time cuddling his baby. He closed his eyes and tilted his head towards the sun, taking a deep breath as a breeze blew through.

"Torao!"

'So much for relaxing.'

"Not so loud, Luffy-ya." He gestured to Loki. "What did you need?"

Luffy stopped in front of him, hands behind his back as he grinned down at them. Law leaned back as the alpha suddenly pulled his hands forward, thrusting his gift towards Law.

He raised a brow at the handful of sunflowers being presented to him. He couldn't help the quirk of his lips as he took in the broken stems and torn fibers. Luffy likely yanked them from this very field on his way back.

"For you Torao!" Luffy beamed. "You seemed to like them back home." Referencing the flowers the omega had chosen for their bonding ceremony.

Law smiled slightly as he took them, and Luffy's smile stretched even further. The alpha dropped down next to them, peering down at Loki with an adoring smile. Law wasn't sure why Luffy had connected with Loki so quickly, but he was selfishly glad for it.

"How is your grandfather?" Law asked, deciding to bite the bullet and get it over with. "You said you were calling him, yes?"

"Oh! Yeah!" Luffy shuffled around so he was facing Law. "He's fine! Kinda mad we all left so suddenly, but he's…not as mad now." Luffy shuddered. "And now he's just preparing for our return."

"I see…" So they were leaving soon. "And when will you depart?"

"I was talking to your friend—Violet?—and we decided that two days from now works fine." Luffy shrugged.

"Viola." Law corrected, disappointment clawing at him. They were leaving sooner than he expected, but then again, Luffy had been away from his own kingdom for close to a week now. That was more time than he could have hoped for.

"Yeah, her!" Luffy laughed. "Oh, morning pup!"

Law glanced down as Loki sat up, yawning and rubbing his eyes as he greeted them. "M'rnin…"

"Morning cub, did you sleep well?" He asked, running his hands through Loki's messy hair.

"Uh huh." Loki nodded, blinking the sleep from his eyes. He looked up at the sunflowers Law was holding in confusion.

"Good!" Luffy laughed. "Cause I have a question for both of you!" The alpha grinned at the twin head tilts, gold eyes slightly narrowed in confused curiosity.

"Law," The omega perked up. "Will you be my mate?"

"What." Law gaped, and Loki's eye's widened.

"I want you to be my mate, and I want Loki-pup to be my pup too." Luffy explained simply. "So I'm asking."

"But I'm not—" Law protested weakly. This felt way too sudden, and yet not. Hadn't he asked after their battle? He did, but they had gotten distracted by the aftermath and Law had forgotten.

"I don't care if you're not legible!" Luffy cut him off with a scowl. "I can choose who I want to be my mate, and I'm choosing you!"

"Eligible." Law corrected automatically, bewildered. "And what if your grandfather doesn't agree? Your people?"

Luffy waved his question off, "Gramps is fine with it! I asked him cause you seem to care about it, and everyone else liked you while you were there! So it's fine!"

Law floundered, he was out of excuses if that was the case…if the literal king of Laugh Tale wasn't protesting and the people were not opposed, then why wouldn't he accept? Why was he hesitating?

He twitched in surprise as Loki leaned forward on his lap. He'd forgotten the cub was sitting there.

"Do you swear you'll take care of Mama? That you'll love Mama?" Loki asked, little face set with determination. "That you'd never hurt Mama?"

Law swallowed, his throat tight with incredible affection. Loki had always resented how the officers and Doffy had treated Law.

Luffy nodded seriously, reaching out his hand to Loki. "I promise. Always." He lifted his pinky.

Law choked out a fond laugh as Loki curled his pinky around Luffy's larger one, solemnly shaking their linked hands like a hand shake.

"Well…I suppose if what you say is true." Law started. "Then I have no problem with accepting."

"Really!?" Luffy squealed, jumping up. "You'll be my mate?!"

Law chuckled, smiling up at Luffy's exuberant face. "Yes, I'll be your mate."

Luffy cheered, arms thrown into the air as he ran laps around the field. Law shook his head, fighting a giddy grin as happiness bubbled in his chest. Loki had no problem cheering and rolling in the grass in celebration, which Luffy joined him in, and Law just knew he was going to have to deal with their whining about being itchy.

He was looking forward to it.

— — — — — ｡ ₊°༺❤︎༻°₊ ｡ — — — — —

"Your Majesty!" Law looked up as Penguin waved at him. His friends had taken great delight in calling him by his title—usually in over exaggerated tones. Somehow, the joke had become so common that they sometimes slipped up in non-formal settings. It was practically a nickname for them, just like his captain title that had stuck from their time with the Dressrosa revolutionaries.

"I've been looking all over for you!"

"Keep it down, you're in a library!" Law scolded, glancing around. Thankfully only Robin was there, looking amused as she lowered her book. "What did you need?"

"Chopper is requesting your urgent presence." His friend looked highly amused. "Looks like your mate panicked and Loki can't be bothered to calm him down."

Law sighed, reluctantly setting his book down. Heaving himself from his chair, he waved to Robin and left, nodding at everyone who greeted him as he headed for Tony's office. He swung the door open, already knowing what he would see.

Tony was explaining, in that too patient voice that meant he was about to hit someone with a clipboard, to Law's fretting mate once again that 'no, Cora was not dying, yes she'll feel better in a day or two, no you cannot feed her meat to get better, that's not how it works!'

Loki was sat off to the side, face unamused as he cradled his baby sister in one hand, and signed the release papers with the other.

"Lu-ya." The alpha spun around, face brightening.

"Torao!" Law huffed in amusement as his mate bounded over to him and scented him.

"Didn't I tell you that she would be fine while I was out for a few hours? She's just sick, it'll pass in a few days, probably even faster." Law could somewhat understand his panic. He'd been told of the incident that introduced them to Tony, where Nami had been gravely ill and nearly died. The alpha was still so very careful and attentive to their daughter's needs due to her young age and tended to overreact to things he wasn't familiar with.

"I knooow." Luffy whined, shoving his face into Law's neck. "But she started coughing real hard and it seemed bad!"

Law sighed, running his fingers through his mate's hair. "Well, why don't we take her back to our wing and we can settle her down for a nap? Sleeping helps people recover."

Luffy perked up and nodded enthusiastically.

"Perfect." Loki stood up, now looking amused. "I left Momo and Tama near the kitchens when Papa came to get me all freaked out. Sanji's been in a bad mood so I better go rescue them."

Law snorted as he accepted Cora into his arms. The chef hadn't been getting any sleep since his own daughter had reached the 'I'm tired, but I refuse to sleep' stage and there was really nothing to be done at that point. Zoro tried his best to help out, but he didn't have as much freedom and proximity to the castle as his mate did during work hours.

"Go, I've got them." Law shooed his now nearly ten year old cub to go save his friends. Loki grinned and ran off towards the castle, and Law could have sworn he saw a pan go flying out of one of the windows.

"Come on Lu-ya." He pushed the alpha out the door, smirking in amusement at Tony's relieved sigh.

They strolled through the inner yard of the castle on their way to the royal wing, Luffy cheekily plucking a small flower and tucking it behind Law's ear. The omega rolled his eyes, but didn't fight his smile as Luffy hummed happily, opening the door as they reached their wing.

With movements born of routine, they set about cleaning little Cora's room and setting her bed up for a nap. Thankfully she seemed to be feeling a bit better than before and easily fell asleep. They stood watching her for a few moments.

Ironically, she was looking to be an exact replica of Loki. The dark feathery hair that matched Luffy's and the golden eyes from Law. The only difference was that she had Law's more tanned skin tone rather than Luffy's lighter one that Loki also had, despite a lack of relation.

Law couldn't believe he'd gotten to this point in his life, that he had lived to this point at all to be honest. He had a loving mate, two cubs, and he still had all his friends and the families they had started. It felt almost like a fairy tale.

He snorted internally. 'Yeah, bonding with a prince, now king, is definitely a fairy tale ending.'

"Come on, Lu-ya. I think we might have to go save Loki and his friends from our chef." Law grinned, nudging the alpha curled around him. Luffy snickered in agreement. They could actually hear shouts and the clanging of pots and pans in the distance.

"Also, your grandfather called. He says he's going to be back in time for Loki's birthday." Law commented, snickering at Luffy's horrified stare. Garp had certainly seemed to calm down with the arrival of great grandpups, but he could still be as exuberant as he was when they first met.

Laughing, Law pulled Luffy after him towards the kitchens where Ace and Zoro had arrived, adding to the chaos.

He really wouldn't change anything if it got him this.