My special thanks to sarge1130, Niapi54, Zatsune D. LawLuFan, Leska, poyochin e everyone that leave a like or favorite this fic.
And for you guys that only passed by and read it!
I hope you guys enjoy this chapter I have a little surprise at the end!
Law frantically looked for his sword. He always had it close by, why wasn't it there by his side when he needed it?!
He didn't get why Luffy-ya was acting the way he was and he feared that he wouldn't have enough time to give him a diagnosis due te the way the young man was looking at him – he looked at him as if he was ready to gomu gomu his face.
Luffy-ya was on his feet, looking angrily at him. Behind him he could sense that Zoro-ya had gotten up too, probably also sensing that something was wrong.
Law noticed that Luffy didn't find a target for his rage, so he quickly formed a 'Room' – he knew that as soon as he did that, he would become Luffy's target. He knew the younger's man strength, he knew that physically he didn't stood a chance against him, but he also knew that he only needed to hit once and it all would be over. He didn't want to hurt Luffy-ya, but what other option did the idiot leave him? He could always reattach Luffy-ya later.
And so Law did it, he created a 'Room' and immediately Luffy's eyes fell on him. From afar he could see Penguin grabbing a syringe. Penguin knew what to do - Law looked back at Luffy and smirked. Why not smirk? He was screwed anyway.
"You're making fun of ME?!"
Luffy activated gear second as Law teleported his sword and himself away from everyone, while he at the same time teleported the injured ones away from the danger – he would not risk his patients' lives – and put Penguin on Luffy's back.
But Penguin's speed was no match to Luffy, who was using his gear second. Before he could do anything, Luffy hit him full force, sending him down. Not wasting any time, Luffy moved to where Law was.
Law's rational side was screaming at him to end his 'Room' and that Luffy was acting on instinct and probably saw Law's 'Room' as an attack. But the other side of him told the rational side to shut up; if he ended his 'Room' he would be as good as a damsel in distress.
So he maintained his 'Room'. He knew that his teleportation could match Luffy's speed and he would use it in his favor, he just needed to hit Luffy, just once.
Luffy suddenly appeared above him, his arms with Haki.
"Gomu Gomu No Jet Gatling Gun!"
There was his chance; he teleported behind Luffy and swung his sword, cutting a transversal cut that at least would cut his arms off.
Luffy however must have sensed his intentions and brought the rest of his body to where his arms were. As he hit the ground he used his arms as support and attacked with his legs. Law quickly teleported himself to the ground, grabbed some of the wreck that Luffy's previous attack had left and threw it up in the air. Law could hear Luffy's war cry as he moved to attack him again, so Law teleported away but not too far away; he believed that Luffy would use another of his fast attacks. Instead Luffy used gear third and Law realized he was too close to Luffy after all and he moved his sword – it was now or never.
Zoro could see Law teleporting like crazy, from a side to another trying to match Luffy's speed. The thing with Luffy was that he might not have been the smartest guy in their crew, but was a genius at combat fighting; he was extremely creative and worst of all was that he knew how Law fought.
He saw Luffy's enormous hand hitting Law, at the same as a finger of his hand fell on the ground. Law was smashed to the ground and Luffy screamed furiously.
"MY FINGER! YOU CUT MY FINGER!"
He could see Law slowly getting up, he could also noticed that the 'Room' they all were in was failing. It was not a good sign. Luffy was furious and Law was down.
So when he saw his captain move to attack again he put himself and his three swords between his captain and their ally.
Luffy could be pissed off now, but he would surely appreciate it later.
He smiled at Luffy and used brute force to throw him away.
"Get out of my way, Zoro! It's none of your business!"
"Do you have any idea of whom you're attacking, Luffy?
"Yeah! It's Torao! And he CUT MY FINGER OFF!"
Law got up and tried to reason with Luffy.
"Straw Hat-ya, you need to calm down. I can put your finger back."
Luffy looked past Zoro, his eyes furious again.
"Calm down?! You attacked me first, making that 'room' of yours! And you tell me to calm down!?"
"I only did that because you were hurting me!"
"It takes more than holding your wrist to hurt you, Torao! Don't make a fool of me!"
"You could have broken my wrist."
"Whatever! You could have put it back together! It's your own fault; you're trying to sedate me!"
Zoro couldn't take it anymore, it was worse than having Nami scream into his ear.
"Shut up the both of you!"
Both Luffy and Law looked angrily at him; Great! Now what?!
Zoro didn't know his doubts soon would be answered.
"I will end my 'room', Straw Hat-ya, if you promise not to attack me."
"You're tricking me!"
"I'm not! Promise me!"
Zoro interrupted again, he wasn't in the mood to see those two fighting like hormonal teenagers. "Luffy get over it already!"
Luffy took a deep breath.
"Okay. I promise."
Law's 'Room' ceased, the tension was enormous. Luffy clearly believed that Law was hiding something, Law was alert of any suspicious move from Luffy and Zoro was there in the middle, feeling like he was involved in something that had nothing to do with him.
They walked back. Sanji was waiting for them and looked anxious for answers, but Zoro told him that he would explain things later.
Again there was Law and Luffy, face to face.
"Look, I will not use my powers. I will make a quick diagnose like a normal doctor would do, okay?"
Luffy looked at Law with suspicion.
"Straw Hat-ya... I will do it exactly like Chopper-ya does."
"You can't do it like Chopper. Chopper is my doctor, the best doctor I know and he will be the best doctor in the world!"
That comment hurt, Law didn't let it show, but it hurt nonetheless. He agreed that Chopper-ya was an amazing doctor, one of the best. But to hear Luffy-ya talking like that, as if his medical expertise wasn't good enough - it hurt.
Law maintained his expression emotionless, his hand reaching for Luffy's face and turned his face so he could see his eyes better. Maybe the strange behavior was because of a hit on the head? A lump on his head or dilated pupils could be a symptom. He had to find something he could work with.
But before his hand even could touch Luffy's face, Luffy smacked his hand away.
"Don't touch me!"
Law only looked surprised – what the fuck?
"I need to see if your pupils are dilated…"
Luffy widened his eyes to him.
"See…they aren't. Now fuck off."
Law was becoming increasingly irritated; there was a limit for everything and he would not stay still for lack of respect, no matter from who it came from. He angrily asked Luffy some more questions.
"Did you hit your head?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"I told you I didn't? Aren't you satisfied?"
Sanji had had enough of the energy that was so negative. And that odd behavior was so unlike Luffy; suddenly his captain was snapping at any little thing, more specifically, at any little thing Law did. "Luffy, enough. Law already finished, didn't he?"
"Yes, Black Leg-ya. I'm finished."
Luffy got up and followed Sanji. They didn't get too far and Sanji started to talk to Luffy.
"What the hell is your problem? He is only doing his job."
"I don't have any problem. I'm tired of being here. Everything was fine, I went for a walk and when I got back… What did I find? Usopp hurt and unconscious..."
"It was a surprise atta-"
"Where was Torao when it happened?"
Sanji looked at Luffy with confusion. What had Law to do with what had happened? Luffy never blamed anyone for things like that, in fact Luffy rarely got angry with them.
"He parted ways with us, with ME, only to return and put us in this situation. I'm what? Huh? Why does he have to drag me away from my objectives to clean up his mess?"
"We are allies, Luffy. He needed help and you never hesitated to help him."
"Well, maybe I should have. Maybe I should have left him in Punk Hazard when he didn't tell me about his own agenda. Or maybe in Dressrosa. HE told me he worked for Doflamingo, but HE NEVER told me how profound their relation was."
Sanji was getting nervous, this was too much information. Was Luffy holding it all inside? No. There was no way that would Luffy do it, Luffy was the type of person who didn't hide things from his friends. But then again, Luffy had never told them about what had happened in Marineford, where Ace had died and where Law had saved him.
"Luffy, let's not talk about Law's personal reasons okay? Some of us, including myself, don't know anything about it and I think he prefers it that way."
"You think? Well I think not...or haven't you seen how he is? This don't-touch-me-thing? But then he still goes walking half naked on the streets of Dressrosa..."
That was Sanji's limi of meaningless complaints.
"LUFFY, STOP IT, YOU AREN'T MAKING SENSE. THE REASONS YOU'RE ANGRY AT HIM DON'T EVEN MAKE SENSE! THINK A-"
"Just like Doflamingo said, he would charm and manipulate you for his own gain. Just like a slu-"
Sanji quickly and angrily covered Luffy's mouth. Law looked at them with a serious expression. Acting as if Luffy's words didn't matter to him, he walked to them and gave Sanji some remedies.
"The blue one is for headache and the green one is a hormone."
Law explained when he saw Sanji's puzzled face.
"I want to try a theory of mine, Black Leg-ya."
He turned and started to walk away, only to stop midway.
"You know...In the beginning I was only using you. But then after all you did to me, I was ready to die or be free by your side, Luffy-ya."
Law stood still for a moment, almost like he was waiting for some answer. Luffy didn't say a thing, his eyes covered by his hat.
Sanji looked at the situation. Law was a very decisive person. He was afraid that if this kept on, they would lose Law who was more than a powerful ally; he was practically a friend. He kept Luffy at bay, calm, happy - blind in admiration, since almost everything Law did, Luffy found 'amazing'.
Not getting an answer, Law started to walk to where the others were.
"Law! Wait! He didn't..."
"There is no need to apologize or try to fix something that isn't broken..."
"Nothing will be broken because there never existed something to begin with."
Sanji cursed the heavens for his Captain's idiocy - he punched Luffy on his head to make him stop talking.
"Why did you do that?" Luffy cried out.
"Because you're a dumbass!" Sanji hissed.
Law looked impassibly at them. He looked down at the ground and took a deep breath, turning around to go to where he was needed.
"I will talk to Robo-ya to see if it will take much longer till we can leave this place."
Sanji covered Luffy's mouth before he could say some more bullshit.
"Thanks, Law."
Sanji stood there hearing how Luffy mumbled complaints and seeing Law walking away.
"Robin-swan, where are you when I need you to help me with these two dumbasses?"
~~ Law ~~
It was terrible. He knew something was wrong with Luffy-ya, his behavior was inconsistent and a little out of character. Luffy-ya was never the type to verbally assault someone or to attack someone without a reason at all. All the symptoms indicated to some kind of instability.
Zoro-ya had been very brief when explaining to him what had happened, but he feared that Luffy-ya, in his own ingenuity, had met the man with powers to alter emotions.
How could he treat something like that?
The only thing he could think of was hormones. But even if it would work, it wouldn't work immediately. It could take days for Luffy-ya to return to normal, if he even returned to normal at all, since Law didn't have any clue of how such ability worked.
And that was the least of his problems. He had noticed that Luffy-ya's problems appeared to have Law as the main catalyzer. How could he help Luffy-ya if his actions and mere presence appeared to activate such bizarre behavior?
He also didn't want to listen to Luffy-ya saying such horrible things about him. He knew that Luffy-ya never would attack him that way. He knew that something inside of him was making him do all of those things, but he was still upset about it.
Since he knew that he was a part of the problem, he decided to stay away not to aggravate things.
~~ Sanji & Zoro ~~
Sanji looked at his Captain talking lively with Shachi. It looked like he hadn't been fighting with Law at all a few minutes ago.
Sanji turned on his head to talk with Zoro.
"Marimo! Can you explain to me what the hell is happening here?"
Zoro who also was looking at Luffy answered Sanji's question without looking at the said man. "I don't know. When I met him, he already was a little on the edge. He snapped at me for no reason at all. But in that moment I let it go. I thought it was nothing."
"He did it before this too?"
"Yeah. But it wasn't even close to what happened here. What happened here was unexplainable."
The two stayed in silence for a moment. Sanji took another drag of his cigarette and then thought out loud.
"I think he should apologize to Law." Zoro looked at him in confusion, so he continued to explain. "He said some really fucked up things about Law. Accused him of things he never has done and called him names."
"What kinds of names?"
Sanji appeared to be a little uncomfortable. "He almost called him a slut."
"Oh."
"Is that all you have to say, Marimo?"
"What else can I say about it? It's not a word I would expect Luffy to call someone, much less Law."
Sanji appeared to be really offended by that and Zoro couldn't understand why. Both captains were allowed to have their own problems and as long as it didn't hurt the dynamics of the crew, Zoro didn't care.
"How can you be so indifferent? He was talking about Law! That man can be a priest for all I know! He doesn't let anyone get close enough to touch him, apart from that talking bear and Luffy!"
"It's not something I can help Luffy with."
Sanji still looked angrily at Zoro. But Zoro had his mind set on that matter; it was none of his business - Maybe the cook felt that way because of his observation Haki?
"Look, Shitty-Cook. If you want to help, do it. I think it's better that we do not interfere, at least not when it's their personal shit. The creepy doctor is smart enough to know that Luffy didn't mean what he said."
"You're such an insensible moss head. But maybe you're right."
Sanji however couldn't manage to hold his anxiety. He had seen how close Luffy and Law had gotten since Punk Hazard and after Dressrosa it had gotten even more evident for anyone with two eyes – maybe that was the reason for why Marimo couldn't see it. After Dressrosa the biggest difference had been that Law now had begun to share the same admiration for Luffy, as if Luffy was his savior, his knight in shining armor.
Okay maybe he exaggerated a little. But there something was there and he was a slave of love, a soldier to the enamored souls, so he couldn't let it go. He would do anything to help them!
~~ Luffy & Law ~~
He didn't need Sanji to tell him that he had screwed up.
He knew it pretty well. He would never say something like that to Law; he would never fight with Law without a good reason. But still there were some strange feelings inside of him that made him angrier and angrier each time he saw Law, heard his voice or felt his presence. There was also another, even stranger feeling that came together with the angriness, one that he didn't fully understand, one that he was afraid of understanding.
Anyway Sanji had told him that it would be for the best if he apologized to Law. He understood the reason behind it, but he was afraid of his anger. To him staying away seemed to be a better option, but then again, Sanji always understood these kinds of things better than most of them.
Maybe he really should do something about it, act responsible, like Law always said.
He appeared calmer, he felt calmer. Now he was totally aware of the fact that there was something strange with him, so he could fight against it. That being considered, he followed Sanji's suggestion.
Finding Law wasn't difficult at all. He was sitting close to submarine looking at it almost as if his stare could make it fix itself faster.
Luffy got close and he could see Law tense and hold his sword with more force, preparing himself to defend himself from Luffy.
It felt so wrong to see Law react to him like that.
It hurt him.
But seeing how the sun illuminated Law's face, making him so beautiful, made up for it.
Some might think that Luffy didn't notice these kinds of things, but the truth was that he did notice them. He knew what was ugly and what beautiful. He knew that Law was one of the most beautiful men he ever had met.
Why was Law doing this to him?
Was he enjoying seeing Luffy suffer from something he didn't know how to handle?
He probably was going to use it to obtain something.
That was it! Torao was trying to...what was the word?...seduce?...Yes! Torao was trying to seduce him! He wouldn't let that happen, he wouldn't fall for it!
He was the future pirate king. Maybe that was what Torao was after? After that Luffy would become the pirate king, Torao would take it away from him using his seduction...like a siren! A devious siren!
No...No! Torao would never do that to him.
Torao liked him!
Liked? No! Torao loved him!
None of them would ever know what Luffy had been planning to say to Law.
He got close to Law, who looked at him with a boring face, almost as if he was questioning why Luffy was there.
But unexpectedly, Luffy got down, grabbed Law's head with his hands and without any warning or motive, kissed him.