A huge thank you to all of the readers for the warm welcome, reviews, and kind words for my story 'Love on the Battlefield'!- you are all a huge encouragement! :-)
I enjoy thinking about the different interactions that could happen between the various personalities among the Straw Hats, and Law's troubled past makes for some fertile ground where story writing is concerned; that's how this story came about.
Before I go any further, if you have not read up to at least the Punk Hazard Arc (manga ch.654 and up) then you may want to reconsider reading this. This story has some mild spoilers and the rest of my pre-story chat certainly does, so consider yourself warned :-).
Oda-san is taking his time revealing Law's past and I'm very excited to hear the whole of it. If I have the story correct, Law was with Doflamingo for years, exposed to the man's poisonous personality and guided by his destructive ways. We know that Vergo beat him mercilessly at one point and Doflamingo stated that he had personally 'Watched over his (Law's) growth". I can only imagine what that all entailed and what Law went through during those years. In short, I think that Law is a strong character, but that he has a bit of baggage. In the meantime, I've been reading and re-reading, thinking and speculating about what could possibly happen by the ending of the Pirate Alliance Arc. While many ideas are floating in my head concerning this, there is one overarching sentiment that absolutely will not leave me be: that is, that whatever else happens, I have a very hard time seeing Law ever completely separated from the Straw Hats again. Perhaps it will be in the form of a relationship something like what Mihawk and Shanks share or perhaps he will be a part of the crew somehow- I honestly don't know, but this story is based upon that impression of mine and uses the idea of Law as being a new member of the Straw Hat crew as its basis.
Whatever happens, Oda-san is a genius storyteller and I learned a long time ago never to assume that I know exactly what will happen from one chapter to the next. I hope you enjoy this little piece and as always, let me know that you think!
Japanese words:
Urusse = shut up (I've seen it with one 's' and two so I'm not completely sure what's correct; when Sanji pronounces it in the anime, it sounds like two)
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or its characters; I am only a helplessly devoted fan
Sanji quietly kneeled down beside the restless, but still-sleeping figure of Law and thought of the best way to go about waking the man without getting a fist to the face for his troubles. The slim doctor hadn't been sleeping well and it seemed as though tonight was to be no exception. A large sweat stain had spread downwards from his shirt collar and the tattooed hand that rested on his stomach was clenching the blanket so fiercely that every knuckle stood out in white relief against his tanned skin.
His face was the worst, however. Law generally showed little emotion; opting instead for a dead-pan visage to confront most occasions. When the dreams came, however, it was if a mask had been removed. Remembered sorrow etched itself into his youthful face at those times, pulling his features into warped representations of pain and fear and silent pleas.
Though more inclined to think after a woman's plight, Sanji still couldn't overlook a wounded soul when he saw one. To tell the truth, Sanji hated the movie he saw playing out on Law's face most nights. The suffering was tangible and the gasps of remembered pain so real that it triggered a rare defensive response in the cook towards a fellow male.
The first few nights of sleeping in the men's quarters had seen the slim man screaming and clawing his way to a sitting position. Law had insisted that it was the stress and injuries from Dressrosa working their way out and that once rested, all would be well again. That excuse seemed to work for the others- Dressrosa had been a stressful mission for everyone and Law's personal connections to the whole matter would, of course, have hit him harder. Besides, the man was a doctor, wasn't he? He should know what's going on in his own body.
Sanji had watched Law closely after that, and noted that the only thing that had truly changed was that the man had increased his efforts to hide his anxiety from those around him. The cook knew some of the trauma that had befallen Law as a child and while their time at Dressrosa had brought about the usurping of Dolflamingo from that country, Sanji wasn't such a fool as to believe that the scars that Law carried were to be just as quickly and thoroughly expunged as the former ruler. These scars were etched deeply on the surfaces of the heart and psyche, and worse, they involved the pain felt for another as well as pain directly inflicted.
Such things could, of course, be healed- they would take time, but there was no question that they could indeed heal.
Sanji's mouth pressed into a firm line as another spasm passed over Law's features.
The problem here was that Law had nearly always been alone. Alone in thought, in pain, in suffering, and, ultimately, alone in his struggle to figure out how to deal with it all. Looking to himself for the support he needed was second nature to the doctor now, but this previous reaction to the abusive realities of his past were inadequate to help with the broken pieces that were now trying to fit back together. What had been ruined for the slim man were relationships. Corazon- his family- had been ripped from him and destroyed by the very ones that he had been led to trust. Those same people had stylized themselves as his family, and he their little brother; but what kind of family does the things that they had done to him, one of its own members?
Being around the Straw Hats had slowly rekindled an almost forgotten memory of what a family was supposed to be. If Sanji wasn't incorrect, it had also rekindled a desire for what a family really was in Law. The doctor's habit of relying on himself and bottling up his trauma, however, was sabotaging his efforts at responding and healing. To help heal with regards to others, Law needed to rely on others instead of his own warped perception of them.
A low moan from the sleeping Law brought Sanji to a decision: time to wake the good doctor before he raised the roof on the Sunny with one of his screaming fits. Still kneeling, Sanji squared and balanced himself on his feet and leaned back a bit in order to better field whatever the sleep-fogged Law might send his way. With his left hand raised in defense, Sanji reached out with his other and gently grasped the bony elbow of the arm that lay at Law's side.
"Law"
The contact lasted a few moments as the doctor's skittish psyche registered the pressure and then with a jerk, the muscles on Law's arm clenched and the limb shot up toward Sanji in a gesture meant to send an opponent reeling away. Sanji had expected this, though, and checked Law's upward thrust with a firm grasp that kept the man's arm from bending. The cook turned his attention immediately to the remaining free hand as the slim doctor rocketed to a sitting position. Law's hand clenched into a fist and with a speed and force that a less shrewd person would have granted to him, sent a sound punch at the cook's face. The contact made a loud and solid smack as Sanji caught the doctor's fist in his left hand. He immediately closed his long fingers around Law's fist and held it, trapped while the man panted in front of him. Imminent threat of bodily harm out of the way, Sanji regarded Law. Wild, unfocused grey eyes stared at and though him. Sanji knew that the man still wasn't seeing him; just what kind of nightmare was he locked into this time? He gave the trembling Law a firm shake.
"Trafalgar"
The use of Law's proper name seemed to reach through the tangled memories in a way that his surname would not and the trembling started to subside. The resistance to the cook's hold weakened and finally, wide lucid eyes flicked up to meet those of the Straw Hat cook. Law blinked, confused as he took in the fact that Sanji had both of his arms pinioned.
Sanji didn't indulge too many of those that he encountered with pity- it wasn't that he lacked kindness; that was hardly the case, it was just that he felt that pity was to be used sparingly as it had a dangerous tendency to encourage those receiving it to become stagnate and complaisant.
Law wasn't quite that type.
A wave of very rare pity hit the cook for the dark doctor before him. The man had been terrorized in ways vicious that the blonde could only imagine at, and yet Law had outright refused himself any kind of pity and typically looked with disdain upon any who would offer it. The one person who probably needed it the most and who would, without a doubt, handle it responsibly, would likely have to be force fed very small doses at a time. Sanji regarded the other man evenly.
"Are you awake now?"
Sanji spent a quick minute to focus on the others in the men's sleeping quarters; he didn't think that the exchange had been noticed and he was glad- Law didn't need more humiliation amongst the crew that he was being asked to rely upon on top of everything else. With one exception, the steady breathing around him indicated that the others remained oblivious. Sanji wasn't surprised that Zoro had noticed and, though affecting the air of sleep, was completely aware of what had transpired. That was the first mate of the Straw Hats for you, though.
After Law had officially joined the crew, Zoro had watched from a distance as each of the Straw Hat members had, in their own way and ability, surrounded and supported their new, but silently suffering nakama. Without smothering, they did what they always did best- treated the doctor like family. The walls around the slim man were slowly being breeched, but as far as Zoro perceived, they were still too solidly in place for him to be of much help to the other swordsman. The first mate's way tended to be brusque without being cruel and though he and Law had a tentative connection of respect between swordsmen, he held back from trying reach out too much to the other man. He wanted nothing more than to spar with Law and to feel out the other man's real strengths, and to help him assume the role that someone with his talents typically performed within the Straw Hat crew, but Zoro instead was biding his time; allowing the other members to beat down Law's defenses enough to where the man's own self-reliance would allow him to see Zoro as a reliable nakama instead of a threat. Never let it be said that the difference in power in the crew suggested a higher status- the strongest in the Straw Hats relied upon their weaker nakama just as much as the weaker did those stronger than them. Law would come around eventually; until then, Zoro acted where he could and waited for the rest.
After waking and discovering his own state, Law had detached his arms quickly from Sanji's hold and excused himself with an irritated frown and apology. The distant closing of the outer door in the hall signaled Law's retreat to the Sunny's grassy deck. Sanji blew out air at the stubborn doctor- those on watch would keep an eye on him- and turned his mind to ideas for breakfast. As he passed Zoro's prostrate form, the swordsman spoke without opening his eye.
"Any slower, Cook, and Chopper would have had his first patient of the day"
Grabbing one of his jackets to ward off the pre-dawn chill, Sanji decided on pancakes. Patting a pocket to make sure that it contained cigarettes and a lighter, the cook threw the swordsman a clipped response before shutting the door quietly behind him.
"Urusse"