I'm really really really sorry I'm late.

I just have to warn you, though, confinement is starting to end for me, so I'm going to school next week. I might not have the time to write the next chapter by Friday. I wanted to tell you. I prefer being regular so you know exactly when a new chapter is coming, but I'm afraid I'll get more unpredictable from now on.

Also, due to the lack of time, I kinda rushed this chapter. I'm satisfied with the beginning, but the end isn't very well written.

Good new though, the return to school is apparently one week out of two. So, I don't guarantee anything good or bad. We'll see.

By the way, if there are any Lawlu fans reading this, I think you'll like it.

That's all!

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.

Please, enjoy this chapter!

CHAPTER 9: A cursed sword

Luffy woke up on something soft. It was very dark around her. She struggled to remember what had happened. Sitting up, she realized she was on a bed. Everything came back to her.

A sharp pain. Agony, and relief at the same time. Warmth. Torao…

Where was he? Was that still his home? She stood up unsteadily and squinted in the dark, her eyes slowly adjusting. The room wasn't familiar. She could faintly feel two people close by — Torao and Heart-ossan. She must be in a guest room. Luffy didn't want to stay alone in the dark like this. It reminded her too much of bad memories.

Darkness. Alone in a tiny space. Bars in front of her. Whines every so often.

The fear, the hatred, the despair. The loneliness.

Luffy didn't want that ever again.

Next to the bed was a small nightstand with a digital clock. The clock cast a faint light, helping her see the room. It read 1:34 AM. She walked carefully to what seemed to be a door, judging by its silhouette. Luffy opened it as quietly as possible, finding herself in a corridor. She went towards Torao's presence, stopping in front of another door she supposed led to his room. She knocked lightly, and he answered shortly after, using his phone's torchlight to see. He smiled.

"You're awake."

"You too."

"I'm a light sleeper. What's the matter?" he whispered.

"Can I stay with you? I don't want to be alone." Luffy's cheeks flushed a tiny bit at the words. It was the truth, though. She wanted to be with someone, and Torao was the best (and only) choice right now.

He blushed too. "What? Oh, um. Yeah, of course." He stood aside to let her enter the room and closed the door once she did. The bed was large enough for both of them, mostly because of their thin frames. Torao lay awkward on one side of the bed and Luffy on the other side, facing him.

She soon fell asleep with his reassuring presence close to her.

The next morning, Corazon didn't find Straw Hat in the guest room. Wondering where she had gone, he went to Law's room, only to find him cuddled with the missing girl.

He let them be, chuckling to himself.

His baby had finally found his love, whatever he said about it. The news were correct.

It made Corazon happy to see Law actually like someone, for once. He loved his friends, of course, but even Bepo mostly couldn't always get away with hugging him.

What, a special girl, that Straw Hat.

Law woke up with something warm around him. It was heavy but comfortable, even more than a blanket. He didn't want it to get away.

Only when he felt wind on his neck did he open his eyes and immediately blush bright red. Mugiwara-ya had her arms wrapped around his torso and her face tucked under his chin, breathing softly into his neck. She was nearly on top of him. It was really embarrassing, but so comfortable. And it wasn't like anybody was here to see them anyway.

Light shone through the curtains, illuminating Mugiwara-ya's short raven hair and streaking it with gold. She looked like a goddess like that, Law thought as he closed his eyes, a content expression on his face.

He almost never slept fully, so a small knock on the door had been enough to wake him. He'd taken his phone and carefully walked to the door to find Mugiwara-ya standing shyly outside. He had been glad she was awake. It was really scary when she suddenly collapsed, moaning in pain and clutching her chest.

He hadn't expected her to ask to sleep with him. She had blushed at the request, her face beautiful in the light of his phone, and he simply couldn't refuse her. He'd thought he could stay far away from her anyway, since the bed was wide enough, and now here he was, cuddling blissfully with her. Really embarrassing. But much too comfortable.

Law opened his eyes and slightly raised his head to look at the clock on his nightstand. 9:46 AM. Good thing it was a Saturday. As much as he wanted to stay in bed with her (wait, what?), he never slept that long and Cora-san would find it suspicious, which would lead to him peeking into his room and seeing him with Mugiwara-ya. Law didn't want to wake her up yet, but when he made a move to get up, she tightened her hold on him and snuggled closer. Law sighed.

"Mugiwara-ya, wake up." She whined cutely against his shoulder. Remembering how much she loved to eat, he said. "Breakfast time, Mugiwara-ya."

She opened her eyes sleepily. "Mmh? But it's comfortable here."

Law fought off another blush and sighed again. "Come on, Luffy-ya." That woke her up. She smiled and looked at him and her face immediately burned red.

That's when Law realized he didn't have a shirt on.

Luffy was snuggling with Torao!

She was snuggling!

Just the thought made her blush.

She woke up when he said they had breakfast. Of course she did. She was so hungry. But she was comfortable, her arms around him, not conscious enough not notice she was hugging him.

Then he said her name. She liked it.

She opened her eyes.

She wasn't expecting the first thing she saw to be Torao's bare shoulder. She quickly untangled herself from him, her face flaming. "A-Ah, I-I-I, um— I'm s-sorry!" it was unusual for her to be so flustered. "Uh, b-breakfast?"

Torao stared at her, and she stared back. God, he was so hot like that. She understood the term "hot", now; her whole body heated up when she looked at him. He had… he… Oh. His tanned torso had that huge black tattoo on it. It really suited him. And, wow, wasn't he well built. He seemed skinny with clothes on, because of his narrow shoulders, but his tattooed body was just so beautifully fit.

And why on earth was she thinking about Torao's abs? She stood up, trying to shake the heat out of her face. "S-Sorry." She mumbled again. He flashed one of his quick grins.

"Don't worry about it." The door opened and Heart-ossan entered.

"Figured you were done with the cuddling, so I came up. C'mon, breakfast's ready. And Law, put on a shirt, for God's sake, or Straw Hat will burst into flame just by looking at you." Luffy turned away, still blushing furiously, and saw Torao, who was red too. "Oh, you can take your time. Just thought Straw Hat should be hungry. Don't forget to smile, baby boy~" Heart-ossan backed out of the room with a grin.

Torao went to grab a shirt and his hoodie and proceeded to make himself more presentable. Luffy looked around the room for the first time. A bathroom was connected to it. It was quite bare, without decoration except for the logo of the Hearts Hospital painted on one wall and a sword displayed under it. She walked to the sword. It was long, roughly two meters long, with a white fluffy handguard and a black scabbard decorated by white crosses. A thin red rope was tied near the opening. Luffy reached to touch it.

"Kikoku. A nodachi."

She jumped at the voice. Torao was right behind her, dressed in his usual yellow and black hoodie. "You-You like swords?"

"Only this one." He smiled. "Kikoku attracts me. She's a cursed sword, you know, though she doesn't feel like it."

"She, huh?" Luffy lightly touched the sword. "She loves you very much. I can feel it." She picked the nodachi up and unsheathed it when he said nothing. The sword emitted a soft but heavy aura, like a kind person with a hidden dark side. "Zoro has three swords. You can ask him about it if you want, he's not like the others. He won't trust you, but he'll talk to you like a normal person." Kikoku hummed as she lifted her. She was heavy. "She says you don't use her enough."

"I have no reason to."

"At least unsheathe her from time to time. She doesn't like just being a decoration."

"Oh." They stayed silent while she ran her hands along the blade. Luffy could feel a slight thirst for blood behind the sword's feelings. "Um, breakfast?"

"Yeah." Kikoku reluctantly went back into her scabbard. Luffy walked out of the room after putting the sword back on the display, Torao following her. A delicious smell immediately came up from the kitchen and she nearly jumped off the stairs trying to get down.

"Finally. You took your time." Heart-ossan said, coming out of the kitchen with a smoking plate in his hand. Pancakes were piled on the plate. She grabbed it, not waiting for him to reach the table, and started to stuff herself. "Leave one for Law, won't you?" Luffy simply handed a pancake to Torao without stopping. He sighed and took it, sitting down on a nearby chair.

"Hey, the party's tonight, right?" he asked.

"Yeah." She swallowed the last pancake. "That reminds me, I gotta tell my friends I'm all right. Where's my phone?"

Torao tapped it. "Right here. I'm going to take a shower." He stood up and went back up the stairs.

"Mh." Luffy switched it on, not surprised to see the amount of text messages and video calls she missed. They often had video calls to see each other, since most of them liked to travel. She didn't bother reading all the messages. There was no point.

Luffy: [yo]

[im ok don't worry]

[video?]

Usopp: [Ah! Thank god, you scared us]

[Yeah, make a video call]

"Where's my bag?"

Heart-ossan tossed it to her. "Here. Want some coffee?" She quickly opened it and took out a small computer.

"Yeah. I'm going to Torao's room." She opened the Straw Hats personal app Usopp and Franky made.

Luffy: [coming]

The others were already in the video call. Nami and Robin were together on Nami's account, Brook, Usopp, Zoro and Chopper on Brook's account. Sanji was alone, probably in his restaurant, and Franky too, in his workshop. When they had a video call, everyone joined, wherever they were.

"Hey, guys!" Luffy plopped down on Torao's bed and placed the computer in front of her.

Zoro waved. "Luffy!"

"Glad you're okay, Luffy." Robin looked up from the book she was reading. Nami was scribbling something next to her.

"Luffy-chwan~ No, no, Dad, I'm having a video call. Go away. Luffy-chwan~ Please come to the Baratie~"

"Shut up, Ero-cook."

"Whaddya say, Marimo bastard?"

Usopp looked up from whatever he was fiddling with and frowned. "Wait, Luffy, where are you? That's not your room."

"Nope. It's Torao's room."

"WHAT?"

"By the way, Zoro, Torao has a pretty sword. Kikoku, her name was. He said she was a cursed wasabi or something like that."

"A cursed wasabi?"

"It's a nodachi, Mugiwara-ya." She turned and blushed. Torao was coming behind her, drying his dripping hair, and bare-chested again. "Who're you talking to? Never heard of that app" Luffy resolutely averted her eyes from his well-built tattooed torso as he sat down next to her.

"They're my friends. Zoro," she pointed at him on the screen, "Usopp, Chopper, Brook, Nami, Robin, Franky and Sanji. Usopp and Franky created the app specially for us."

"Nice. Hm, so you're the Straw Hats." He picked up his phone from the nightstand. It also had the Hearts logo on the back. "I'm guessing you're The Hunter, Roronoa-ya, Nami-ya is the Cat Burglar and Robot-ya is the Cyborg. Right? With Demon Child Nico-ya, Black Leg-ya, Bone-ya is Soul King, and Nose-ya."

"Shishishi, you find funny nicknames, Torao. Chopper is the Cotton-Candy Lover."

"Obviously. He looks like a tanuki." Of course. Chopper always had that round helmet that made his head look bigger, and his small size made him really cute.

"It's a reindeer!"

"I'm a cyborg! Not a robot!"

"I'm not only bones! I'm human too!"

"I have an epithet too! Idiot! And who're you calling Nose-ya?"

"Roronoa-ya is the one with three swords, right?

"Yup."

"Luffy, how can you be dumb enough to mix up nodachi and wasabi? So, mister Death-Doctor, you got a cursed nodachi. Nice. You'll show it to me?"

"Yeah, I wanna see your swords too. We'll meet tonight anyway. And please don't call me Death-Doctor. That's a terrible nickname."

"Hey, you! Surgeon of Death! What's with the outfit?" Sanji shouted.

"It's my room. I do whatever I want." His hoodie suddenly flew into his face and Heart-ossan entered the room. "What's your problem, you stupid old man?"

"Just listen to the dude and wear the damn shirt, Law. Straw Hat's going to explode otherwise. Coffee, Straw Hat?" He raised the cup to show her and immediately tripped over his own feet. Torao caught the falling mug.

"Will you stop being such a clumsy dumbass?"

The older man stood up and hit Torao's head. "Shirt!" He said before tripping again.

Everyone in the video call sweatdropped. Luffy giggled. It was funny how the serious surgeon interacted with his own father, and how clumsy the said father was.

"Luffy, who's the weird old idiot?" Nami asked.

"Well, hello!" Heart-ossan came up in front of the camera. "I assume you're the Straw Hats! I'm Law's father, you may call me Corazon! Nice to meet you! Please, don't take it personally if my baby is rude to you, he is to me too. Although, I'm very glad he met Straw Hat. He's rarely so happy, and his face when he was blushing was priceless! Hahahahaha! I'm not that old, by the way."

"GO AWAY!" Torao screamed at his adoptive father. "Why're you even saying that? Dumbass!"

"Hahahahaha! You're blushing again! And put the damn shirt on, for God's sake!"

"I don't wanna!"

"You don't have to, Torao. I like your tattoos," Luffy commented innocently. His face went a few shades redder. He grabbed his hoodie in one hand and his laughing father's collar in the other, and dragged both out of the room.

"Law~ You're blushing! Good job, Straw Hat! Hahaha!"

"Shut your goddamn mouth up before I slice you to bits and give you to Shachi!"

Usopp whistled. "Wow. I wasn't expecting that from the Surgeon of Death. What's the matter with his dad?"

"Corazon-kun is funny. Torao-kun seems to really like Luffy. He was blushing after all." Robin chuckled.

"I told you he wasn't evil."

The long-nosed man scowled. "He threatened to slice up his own father! Who's Shachi anyway? A cannibal? Another murderer?"

"Shishishi."

"Don't laugh it off like that!"

"Don't talk to Luffy-chan like that!"

"Yohohohoho~ They do seem to be good friends!" Brook sang. "I should write a song about Luffy-san and her soon-to-be romance with Surgeon-san!"

"What do you mean, romance?" Sanji shouted at Brook. "I won't allow romance, idiot skull-face!"

"Sanji-san! You're on fire! I don't think it's very healthy!"

Franky posed, hitting his forearms together. "The Surgeon was SUPER~ blushing! And Luffy too!"

"Torao~ Come here~" Everyone stopped talking.

"Eh?"

Footsteps approached and Torao came inside the room. "What?" he scowled. He still wasn't wearing anything to cover his top half. "You have a video call, don't you?"

"Come here," she patted the bed.

"Why?"

"Because I said so." His eye twitched. Sanji snickered. Torao sat next to her.

"You're annoying, you know that?"

"Yup. Can we visit Ace today?"

"And be on the news again? No thanks. Go with one of your friends."

"Ah, but I said I was sorry! And you're my friend."

He crossed his arms. "Shachi already started bothering me about it, and Penguin too. If we go again, even if you don't do anything, Clown-ya will still note the fact that we were together."

"Don't go together, Luffy! People will get ideas again!" Nami pleaded.

"D'you have a pet penguin, or what?" Usopp asked. "Don't ignore us, you damn psycho!"

"Torao~ Don't be mean~" He blushed again. "Please~?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"No! Don't you have a video call right now?"

"Nevermind the doctor! Your prince Sanji will come with you, Luffy-chwan~"

"No! I want Torao to come! Ah, I'm hungry~"

"I'll cook for you, Luffy-chwan~"

"Cora-san made more pancakes."

"So, you're coming!"

"I didn't agree!"

"Oi, Luffy!" Franky called. "I gotta SUPER leave now. See you guys tonight at the super party!"

"Ok, bye, then!"

"Please come soon, Luffy-chan! I just tested a new recipe. I'm sure you'll like it!"

Usopp rolled his eyes. "She likes everything you cook anyway, Sanji."

"Of course she does! I make everything with love! Hey, I'm not done, you damn old geezer! Go and serve the customers yourself. Stop that! Oi, I'm cooking, all right? NO! Luffy-ch—" The blonde suddenly disappeared from the screen.

"Old man Zeff again, huh?" The long-nose sighed."Well, let's end this call now. I'm hungry and gotta make breakfast, since these two idiots won't." He glared at Brook and Chopper who grinned. "And why're you sleeping? Marimo! Anyway, Luffy, enjoy your pancakes. Trafalgar better not hurt you, or Captain Usopp will come himself!"

"Ok!" Luffy closed the app.

"You left just like that?"

"Yup. Where are the pancakes?"

"Here~ You eat so much, Straw Hat. It's incredible. Law's the opposite, he never wants to eat anything!" He grinned stupidly and gave her the plate. "By the way, baby boy, I gotta leave a bit. I'll be back soon. And I see you're still wandering around naked."

"I'm not naked, dumbass!"

"Hmph. Really? Just trying to show off your tattoos, then? Anyway, enjoy your time alone~"

"What're you trying to say?"

"Bye! Love my little baby!" He left the room smiling like an idiot. Luffy finished the last pancake and took her phone.

Chopper: [but I want to see Ace too]

Nami: [Only Luffy can, and that's only because she's with Trafalgar]

Sanji: [dammit, did you even see him?]

[he looks more like a delinquent than a doctor]

[with his face and his dumb tattoos]

[no wonder he's called the surgeon of death]

Luffy: [but I think hes hot]

Nobody answered for a while and she frowned. Torao looked at her. She showed him the messages. "Why's no one saying anything? They usually talk non-stop." He read everything and blushed.

"I guess they're surprised. See? Black Leg-ya and Nose-ya replied."

Sanji: [ToT]

Usopp: [oOoOoOoOoOo]

Luffy: [speak englsh]

[i don't undrestnd]

Usopp: [YOU speak English!]

[What's "undrestnd" supposed to be?]

Luffy: [uderstran]

Usopp: […]

[I give up.]

"Your spelling is very bad, Mugiwara-ya." She stuck out her tongue at him.

Luffy: [ok]

Usopp: [(-_-)]

Luffy giggled loudly. She glanced up at Torao and her eyes widened in surprise. He was really smiling! His face was so beautiful without the usual irritated frown, without the contained stress and sadness but with genuine amusement instead. It was a real smile, and not a quick grin or a smirk like he always did. She wanted him to continue smiling, to always smile and never stop. A tiny blush appeared on her cheeks. "T-Torao… You…"

"Hm?"

"It's beautiful. Your smile." His mouth opened comically. The main door saved him. He stumbled out of his room, Luffy following him.

"Cora-san! That was fast!"

"Oh, Heart-ossan! What's that behind you?"

"Law! My little baby devil! Happy birthday!"

Torao stopped, stunned and confused. Luffy too. "Huh?" He frowned.

"Happy birthday, Law! It's October 6th! Didn't you know?"

He gaped at his father, speechless. "My… birthday?"

So yeah, I don't like the end. But I'm already late, so I'll have to live with it.

I totally improvised the title because I have no idea what the main focus should be. Maybe you can tell me so I find a better title. Chapter titles are important you know òOó

Kadek: Of course, the reactions. That's why I wrote a bonus, right?

Then… Am I supposed to tell you what happened really? Or do you want to find out yourself?

And. How did I find out? I investigated. Haha. No, really. Because only one person bookmarked my story in AO3, and that person has exactly your same stories. So, I thought: obvious.

Hope you will not mind the lateness of this chapter. And the possible lateness of following chapters.

So, I have no idea if I can finish the next chapters on time, probably not, but if not Friday, I'll try next Friday. Or earlier.

See you next chapter then!

Next chapter:

Straw hat and birthday present