As Law watches Luffy get shot, a feeling overwhelms his being that he may have never felt before.
Anger rising from deep within his chest, Law turns to the assailant, but only to find that she disappeared. Law brings forth his observation haki to search the nearby area, but he doesn't have to search for long as she attempts a sneak attack. The girl flies towards him, guns blazing. He reacts quickly, dodging the bullets and bringing out his katana to attack.
"What have you done?" Law screams at her. "Are these seastone? How did you manage to get those?" Just like earlier, the girl remains mute as she continues her attacks. She must been some kind of marksman master, Law wonders fleetingly, trying to dodge the barrage of bullets. She throws her dagger at Law's head, distracting him just long enough to reload her guns within seconds.
Dammit, Law curses to himself, he was hoping that she would run out of bullets and he could attack, but she was prepared. Law kept looking back at Luffy writhing on the ground behind him. This small distraction earned him a bullet to his side. Law grunts in pain as he looks down at his wound, but is met with a kick to the nose, breaking it. Law curses a stream of profanities in his head for letting this stranger get the better of him.
But even as he's lying on the ground now, his attention can't be pulled from Luffy. He turns towards where Luffy was laying a few feet away to see the girl now standing over him with disdain etched across her face. She bends down and puts a finger to his forehead. From the tip of her finger a red glow emits itself onto Luffy.
"Get away from him!" Law warns. It takes him a second longer than he'd like, but he eventually shook off his shock and brought forth his room. A simple shambles and she's switched away from Luffy and replaced with a decent sized rock. Law was too shaken up to find a better replacement to switch her with but he figured Luffy won't care too much - because he's rubber.
Law makes eye contact with Luffy as the girl is swapped away from him, and the next few seconds feel like they're frozen in time.
As Luffy looks at Law, a look of utter confusion crosses his features. Law only has a moment to ponder what could be the cause of that look before the woman hits the ground at the same time the rock lands on Luffy's foreheads with a thump. Law watches as Luffy grimaces at the rock at his face and it leaves a red mark. Why did that hurt him? Luffy then turns his attention back to Law and furrows his eyebrows.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Luffy asks Law. Law raises his eyebrow at Luffy's question. What could Luffy be talking about?
"What?" Law responds hesitantly. Law gets to his feet with a hand on side to stem the blood flow and approaches Luffy on the ground. Luffy looks surprised and lost as he tries to scramble backwards away from Law while clutching his wounded shoulder. "Luffy-ya, what's wrong? I need to help you and treat your wounds."
"I don't need help from you! I don't know what you're doing here but – actually I don't really know what I'm doing here come to think about it," Luffy rambles to himself. He shakes his head and glares back at Law. "But you hit me a rock so you must be trying to fight me!"
"What?" Law is beyond shocked at this point. Luffy struggles to stand and maintain his balance, but he manages.
"Damn, why are there seastone bullets in me? No wonder I can barely move," Luffy thinks out loud. He grits his teeth to bear with the pain as he sticks his finger in his shoulder wound, digging for the bullet that never exited his flesh. He finally finds it and drops it to the ground, heaving a sigh of relief as some of his strength returns.
Law takes a moment to observe his bullet wound and is relieved to find that the bullet merely grazed him, fortunately sparing him from the seastone effects. Luffy, however, had two seastone bullets lodged in him – well, only one now.
Luffy reaches for his thigh to dig the second bullet out, but Law grabs his hand and interrupts him.
"Careful, you'll do more damage to your wound if you dig around like that again," Law soothes. Before Law had even finished his sentence, though, Luffy sprang backwards to get a safe distance from Law.
"Leave me alone," Luffy growls as he stretches his arms behind him to shoot his pistol punch. At least, that's what he tries to do before he realizes the seastone is still rendering him pretty much powerless. He loses his balance for a second and puts a hand to his head. "Man, why does my head hurt so much?" He wonders, then his eyes dart back to Law. "You did this, didn't you?! I thought you were cool when we battled the marines together, but this sucks!"
While Luffy glares at Law accusingly, Law is trying to sort the utter chaos going on in his head – what happened? What did that girl do to Luffy? This is connected. He recognizes Law but acts like he doesn't know him. Are his wounds okay? How did she get seastone bullets? Why does Luffy think Law's fighting him? Since there's seastone in him, that must be why the rock hurt him. Law knew he shouldn't have switched her with a big rock, goddammit!
Out of the corner of his eye, he sees the girl disappearing beyond the darkness of the forest. He turns to pursue her before he has to quickly duck his head to dodge Luffy's pistol punch. Apparently Luffy had quickly dug out the remaining seastone bullet from his thigh with his last bit of strength while Law was turned around. Law sidesteps away from Luffy and puts his hand up in surrender. His worried about the blood gathering on Luffy's shorts from his thigh wound. Law's not even worried about his own injuries at this point.
"Luffy-ya, stop! I don't know what happened but I'm not your enemy!" Law's pleas landed on deaf ears as Luffy's persistence at winning won over his rational thinking – as usual.
Luffy lunges towards Law, aiming to bazooka Law's head away. A quick shambles is Law's response, saving him from what would've most likely been a knock out – at the very least a very bad headache. Law shambles once more deeper into the woods and away from Luffy's sight temporarily. He releases his room with a gasp, losing the stamina needed to keep up his powers.
Seeing that this situation may turn from bad to worse with the loss of his abilities, Law quickly comes up with a plan. He watches Luffy looking all around him in confusion as to where his 'enemy' went and decides he can only really do one thing. He gets into position with his sheathed katana at the ready – he'd never use its sharp edge against his ally. He quickly tosses a pebble right behind Luffy and shambles places with it, placing himself right behind Luffy.
Luffy noticed what was happening, but he didn't react as quickly as Law thought he would. Seizing this opportunity, Law swings his sheathed sword right at the back of Luffy's head to knock him out. It was difficult, but Law forced himself to cover his sword with haki so that Luffy's rubber won't save him.
As the sword connects with his ally's head, Law shuts his eyes, unable to watch himself hurt his Luffy.
His Luffy that was only moment's ago having the time of his life exploring the island with Law. His Luffy who he had not too long ago been making out with.
He opens his eyes to see Luffy face-planted on the ground. Law pulls out a small roll of bandages from his pack – he'd be crazy to go anywhere with Luffy and not bring basic first aid. He takes a few minutes to properly dress Luffy's and his own side wound before bending down and hoist Luffy onto his back piggy-back style. He takes a deep breath and starts walking towards the ship in the distance. He tried to get most of the blood from his nose off with his jacket, but it still probably looked like quite the scene when he approaches the Sunny.
Once on board the Sunny, Law was swarmed by worried crewmates of the unconscious Strawhat captain. Chopper took control of the situation when he directed Law to the infirmary to lay Luffy down. Law followed his instructions. Chopper shoed every other Strawhat out of the infirmary, leaving him and Law with some peace and quiet to think. Chopper ran some basic diagnostics, but didn't come across anything extremely out of the ordinary. He also took a moment to try and tend to Law's wounds, but Law waved him away, wanting him to focus on Luffy. He easily put his nose back into its proper position and his side wound wasn't deep.
"So, you said he acted like he didn't know you?" Chopper inquired, taking notes in his medical journal.
"Yeah," Law replied. "Specifically, he referenced back to when we were at Sabaody and fighting the marines, and didn't indicate any knowledge past that point as it concerns mine and his relationship. He certainly didn't seem to know anything about the alliance considering he started attacking me."
Chopper put a small hoof on his chin in thought. "I wonder why Luffy would just attack you like that though. He didn't do that at Sabaody. If anything, you guys had a small version of an alliance even back then to fight the marines. I wonder-."
"Actually, Chopper-ya," Law interrupted before Chopper got carried away. "I believe he attacked me because just moments before, I had swapped our attacker with a rock to save him, but all he saw was me basically hitting him in the head with a rock. I suppose it's not out of character for Luffy to attack someone for something so insignificant, but still."
"Oh, I see," Chopper murmured. He looks back at the monitor of Luffy's heartbeat. "Well, hopefully he wakes up soon, so we can ask him for ourselves." With that, Chopper exited the infirmary with a mental illnesses book in hand, presumably heading towards the library to brush up on any related medical knowledge that might come in handy. "Alert me if anything changes with him."
Law walks over to his Luffy laying there, looking so helpless yet so at peace. So different from the raging mess he was as he tried to attack Law. Law brushes away a strand of hair and leans down to plant a soft kiss on the other's forehead. He straightens and makes his way over to a nearby chair. He hopes Luffy will wake up soon so they can try to fix whatever went wrong – no, they won't try, Law will bring his Luffy back to him.
Law winds up staying by Luffy's side for another hour before the younger captain stirs. Law looks up from the book he's been reading and sees Luffy about to wake up. An uneasy feeling settles in the pit of his stomach - something he really doesn't want to feel around his ally – and he suddenly wonders if it's a good idea for him to be the first one Luffy sees when he wakes up.
Law quickly squashes that feeling and gets off his chair to move closer to Luffy. Law's heart stops for a few moments too long when Luffy's eyes meet his own. Instead of Luffy's usual grin he seems to save for only Law, Law is disappointed when Luffy gets a look of concern across his face.
Within just a few more seconds, Luffy starts panicking and jumps out of bed and away from Law.
"What the hell?" Luffy accused. "Did you capture me or something?"
Luffy looks around and is even more confused when he sees he's in his own infirmary on his own ship. This must be some kind of trick. Is Law holding his whole crew captive on their own damn ship? With anger that is quickly rising through his being, Luffy shoots into second gear and throws a punch at Law. Law quickly dodges and tries to calm him down.
"Strawhat-ya! Quit attacking me!" Law calls. "Really, we're allies! You seem to be experiencing some kind of rare amnesia or-." Law is quickly cut off when Luffy tries to kick him across the room. Law dives down to avoid the kick and brings up a room.
Luffy visibly tenses at the use of Law's powers while Law wishes he'd stop being seen as a threat. He rooms himself out of the infirmary and onto the Sunny's deck. He's granted strange looks from the few Strawhats hanging around when he appears in front of them, panting and laying on the floor.
"What happened?" Nami asks, standing up from her lounge chair.
"Is Luffy awake?" Usopp adds. They all stare expectantly at Law while he tries to get his bearings. Just as he's about to explain, he stops when the infirmary door slams open behind him.
"WHAT'S GOING ON?!" Luffy screams in anger. The only logical explanation is the Heart Pirates captured their ship and he's being held captive. Good thing his crew was sent flying by Kuma and won't be here to be captured, too. He spots Law not too far away from him and glares in hatred.
"Luffy, what's wrong?" Usopp questions Luffy, coming closer and forcing himself into Luffy's line of sight. Luffy looks up and widens his eyes in confusion. He then takes in his surroundings and sees Nami, Brook, and Franky all on the deck. Soon Chopper opens a door and comes out on deck too. Followed shortly by Robin.
"What the- wait, Usopp? Nami, your hair! And Robin! Whoooaaaa Franky! So coooool!" Luffy's eyes turned to stars for a second before returning to his confused state through a shake of his head. "Why do you all look so different?"
Hearing all the ruckus, Zoro climbs down from the crow's nest and Sanji comes out from the kitchen.
Luffy's confusion increases as he sees all of his crew members walking around freely on the ship with an enemy right in the center of the deck. And they all look so different.
"I thought you guys were all separated. Am I on Amazon Lily still? What's he doing here?" Luffy asks as he points an accusatory finger at Law.
The Strawhats all meet eyes with each other in confusion except for Chopper, who only closes his eyes and bows his head in sadness at the situation.
"So, you know who we are?" Robin inquires of her captain. She was in the library with Chopper, so she's the only other one who had heard about the situation so far. No one else had been informed yet.
"Of course, how could I not know my own crew?" Luffy says, extremely confused. Are they crazy? He finally drops his attack stance to Law's relief. It's progress at least.
"I'm sorry for not telling everyone sooner, but I wanted to see for myself," Chopper explains. "But to catch you all up, Luffy seems to be suffering from amnesia – but perhaps only with Law."
"What?" Nami and Usopp cry in unison. An unrest settles around the deck of the Sunny as everyone – including Luffy himself – try and process this news.
"What's the last thing you remember, Luffy?" Sanji asks after a minute of silence.
Luffy scrunches his eyebrows together in thought. Then his eyes widen in horror. Everyone watching tenses up at the sudden change in behavior.
"Ace," Luffy mutters below a whisper. Everyone hears it, though. Nami walks closer and touches Luffy's shoulder.
"What do you remember?" Nami asks gently, worried about bringing harsh memories back but determined to clarify the situation.
"I was going to be trained under Rayleigh. I still have to be. I need to get stronger so that no one has to die anymore." Luffy mumbles again. His eyes were glossing over the very same way his did after Marineford, Law recognizes.
Law closes his eyes in despair. Could that be the last memory Luffy had? Surely that girl's Devil Fruit power couldn't be that cruel? Forcing someone to just remember their most traumatic memory?
Luffy balls his fists and temporarily bottles his emotions. He needs to get to the bottom of all of this first.
"So, Luffy, you seem to not remember anything that's happened in the past two years," Robin explains.
Luffy stared at everyone in shock.
"What do you mean?" He asked. "I didn't even know you guys two years ago." His frown was increasing as the effort to think was too much for him. "You must be confused. We're supposed to meet in two years, which, come to think of it, what the hell are you guys even doing here? How'd you guys get back so fast?" Luffy can't believe he didn't remember - he went to Marineford alone! His crew was scattered across the world by Kuma!
"No, Luffy. Actually," Zoro began. He tries to use a softer tone than his usual blunt manner to soften the blow even a little bit. "Two years ago, that's when we all got separated. We've been reunited for a while now."
"You and Law were exploring this island. Law said you got attacked by a Devil Fruit user and now you've seemed to have lost all your memories," Chopper added. "I've run every diagnostic on you, but nothing's actually wrong with you. Physically, that is. And besides the bullet wounds."
Law - who had thought it better to remain silent through this exchange in hopes to minimize Strawhat's stress - decided now would be a good time to tell his end.
"Strawhat-ya," Law began softly. "What you saw in the forest - me hitting you with a rock - it was only because I swapped our assailant with it to get her off of you. It was just very poor timing that you only saw the rock hit you." Luffy met Law's eyes, and for the first time, they didn't hold any anger in them. Law saw this as a chance to relax, so he stands up with the rest of the crew.
Luffy sees the honesty in Law's eyes and decides he's telling the truth. Trust is always easy with Luffy.
"So, why are you here if you're not my enemy?" Luffy interrogates, the hate gone from his voice.
"Well, Strawhat-ya," Law answers. "We're actually in an alliance together." Law watches Luffy's face as he processes this information. His eyebrows shoot up and he actually smiles his toothy smile.
"Oh, you should've just said that!"
Law heaves a sigh and rubs the back of his head. There was no logic with this captain, was there?
Luffy loses his grin much faster than Law would've liked, though. It's replaced with sadness and despair once more while his thoughts circle back around to Ace and his most recent memories.
"So, it's been over two years since Ace died, huh?" Luffy mutters, mostly to himself. "So, what's happened so far?"
The Strawhats allow Zoro to be the one to catch Luffy up on all the adventures they've had since they've reunited. The two of them go up into the crow's nest to discuss their most recent adventures.
So that's the second chapter, I hope you enjoyed! Feel free to review and leave me your opinions! Thanks! Chapter 3 coming within the next week hopefully. This story may only have about 4-5 chapters total, as a heads up! :)