I don't even know y'all. Something funny turned into something serious that turned funny again.
Law overthinks things that don't need so much thought. Sabo makes a surprise cryptid appearance. And everyone and their big brother on the Grand Line seems to know that Law and Luffy are actively screwing each other.
-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
It's only while they're basking in the afterglow that Law's brain catches up with his ears and he registers what Luffy said.
"Luffy-ya, why'd you say that?"
He sees Luffy come back to himself, the question pulling him back from his blissed out state. His throat is raw and breathing still quick as he replies, "Say what? 'Fuck my brains out'? Cause' with your devil fruit we probably could."
"I'm not using my devil fruit to literally fuck your brain."
Flat on his back, Luffy boneless on top of him talking in nonsense he hopefully doesn't mean, legs still spread and cum dripping out of his ass onto Law's thighs, may not be the best time to ask about this. But Law's brain has latched on to the idea and needs answers.
"No, the other thing. You called me… I wasn't expecting that."
Luffy's face scrunches in adorable confusion. "Did I call you Daddy?"
"No, you called me… You don't remember? It was just a few minutes ago."
Luffy shakes his head.
Law sighs. He loves Luffy, but the guy has a goldfish memory sometimes. "Never mind. Doesn't matter." Law tucks two fingers back inside Luffy, pulls him closer and revels in the younger man shivering in over-stimulated delight against him.
Tonight's the last they'll see of each other for several weeks, if what Bepo and Nami-ya say is true. Their current courses setting them on diverging and converging paths in the New World. Law doesn't want to waste this precious time over-thinking things that don't deserve the brain space. Not when he's actively trying to use his brain for more enjoyable things.
It's not worth worrying over, and it's nothing he hasn't read in skin mags and erotica before. People call each other "Daddy" and "Sir" and "Cum Slut" when they have sex all the time. It's just dirty talk. A kink even. Nothing to apply so much logic to. So Luffy calling Law… That… while he's fucking his brains out shouldn't matter either.
Except days after they've said 'see you later' to the Sunny, beneath the waves in the Hearts new submarine, The Corazon, Law can't stop thinking about it. Between the general dirty talk and sweet nothings about taking care of Luffy just right, feeling him tight and wet around Law's cock, how well he takes it, how he looks with cum all over his face, Luffy screamed, "Fuck me, Big Brother!"
And now Law's worried about a developing complex.
Therapy is not Law's specialty by any means. If he'd ever had the chance to be a licensed doctor in a real hospital like his parents, he's sure he would have been a trauma surgeon. Even with the learn-everything-because-anything-can-happen-at-sea training he's cobbled together over the years, he's not qualified by any stretch of the imagination to therapize himself or why people have the kinks they do, assuming there's even a therapeutic reason for it to begin with.
This is the first time he's ever been curious about it. And now that he is, Law can't stop wondering whether Luffy is subconsciously fucking him as a way of pseudo-fucking his two infamous brothers.
None of the stolen medical journals on the Corazon have any information about this. Law curses his lack of foresight in not having stolen any psychiatry journals or texts from any hospitals. He vows to rectify this at the next opportunity.
In the meantime, he considers approaching Nico-ya the next time they're around. She has ties to Sabo in the Revolutionary Army, he knows. And there's always calling the Strawhats up on the den den mushi. But Law doesn't want to involve Luffy's crew or his own in this very private matter, regardless of the fact that they all know he and Luffy are together.
He knows Luffy wouldn't mind. Knows Luffy once asked his shipwright for chain lube to "get down and dirty in bed with Torao."
Law only knows this because of the pointed conversation Robo-ya had with him after about teaching Luffy that not all lubes were used for the same things and it was super not fun being the one to educate his captain about this.
About a week after separating from Luffy and the Sunny, the Hearts come across Garsinnia, an island with an impressive amount of resources stockpiled by an impressively tyrannical idiot in charge. Law decides they need to liberate the largest hospital in the tyrannical idiot's stronghold of its medical supplies and food. Both for their own stores and, if some of the supplies happened to fall off the wagon in view of the impoverished citizens while they're escaping, so much the better. Leaders are supposed to take care of their citizens, after all. Law and his crew are just ensuring that happens for once.
Shachi, however, sees fit to question Law's motives for this impromptu raid. "Captain, why are we stealing these psychiatry journals too? The surgical reports I get, but don't we just need the pharmaceuticals and bandages?"
"Taking care of your mental health is an important part of your overall well-being too."
"With the 'South Blue Journal of Sexual Behavior and Medicine'? These are about sex therapy." Shachi hums in thought. "Are you and Strawhat negotiating kinks or something? Y'know, I'm something of expert myself-"
Law can't remember ever calling up a Room and separating Shachi's head from his body so quickly as in that moment.
He snatches the South Blue journal and another dozen both related and not to the same subject matter. He promptly leaves to check on the rest of the crew's progress, letting Shachi fumble for his own head. He trusts Shachi will catch up eventually, but he doesn't trust Shachi to keep quiet about the journals for long.
Over the next week, Law privately scours the journals for the information he needs. Something to reassure him that he's just overthinking things and there's no basis in reality for his concerns. That Luffy calling Law "Big Brother" in bed has nothing to do with Fire Fist Ace or Flame Emperor Sabo. That Luffy wants Law for Law.
But there must have been a call for papers related to everything except name-kinks when these issues were published, because all Law has to show for his efforts are several journals related to infertility treatments and others related to helping women who've never experienced it before achieve the Big O. That's not a problem he and Luffy have.
The closest bit of advice Law can glean from the articles is the importance of communication, honesty, and trust. To develop a sense of trust in one's own body.
Well, Luffy is honest to the point of blunt, and has no trouble talking about things he does and doesn't understand. The search for answers, it seems, will have to continue in another form.
It's pure chance that sees the Hearts landing on an uninhabited island days later that's temporarily occupied by a small contingent from the Revolutionary Army. They've been observing the island Law and the Hearts just raided, looking to liberate it of certain corrupt factors rather than just its medical supplies. The Heart pirates just beat them to the punch.
It's both kismet and a curse that Luffy's brother, Sabo, is present. Kismet that Law has this chance to size up the blond man without being concussed or recovering from surviving Doflamingo. A curse that Sabo, and the entire Revolutionary Army it seems, knows that he and Luffy are involved.
Luffy must have told him over a den den mushi chat at some point. Law briefly worries about what else Luffy might have let slip in those conversations. Not everyone needs to know the placements of all of Law's more hidden tattoos.
"Trafalger! Pleasure to see you again. So how's my baby brother? Has that been a Pleasure too?"
Law grumbles, reminds himself that Luffy wouldn't appreciate him rightly beating the ever-loving shit out of his only living brother. "He jumped me first. And I'm not going anywhere. You're stuck with my pretty face at every family dinner from here on out."
"You know I still have to give you the shovel talk. Remind you I don't need the Army to take you down if you hurt him, I'll do it myself. It's my job to take care of Luffy. Big brother responsibilities and all that." Logically, Law knows there's no way Sabo could know the internal crisis he's having at the mention of That Term, but the universe is out to push him, it seems. So Law pushes back.
"You know my bounty's higher than yours." Law lets one hand flit upward as if he's about to form a Room. He doesn't form one. He's not a total asshole.
Sabo, asshole extraordinaire, smiles as he replies, "Bet you think your dick's bigger too."
Law ignores the snickers from Shachi and Penguin behind him.
Koala rolls her eyes. "Feel free to punch Sabo with haki. I don't mind. He's not sleeping in my bed roll tonight anyway."
That leads to protests and apologies from Sabo. How he didn't know Koala was aiming to keep that particular hostage in-tact for ransom and that he shouldn't have set the guy's ass on fire as retribution for sitting on the corruption within his kingdom.
Koala is having none of it. "Sabo, I trust that you'll watch my back in a fight, but I need to trust that you'll listen to me outside of one too."
In the end, they spend two days with the Army before sailing on. The Hearts trade intel on the island they just raided, routes in and out of the tyrannical idiot's stronghold and weak points in their defense. Koala and her cohorts are less annoyed about Law's impromptu raid than he imagines than should be. She claims it's to do with the further destabilization they've caused in the kingdom making it easier for the Army to win the citizens to their cause.
Law appreciates her opportunism. But he imagines some of the shift has to do with Sabo's attitude toward him and the Army taking twisted pleasure in the man's petty treatment of Law.
Sure, there's Sabo's eyes burning holes in the back and front and side of Law's head the entire time they're together. But the man deliberately heats up every surface Law chooses to sit on too. Burning his ass, a little more each time to keep him standing and literally on his toes.
"Oh, sorry Trafalger! It's these pesky logia fruit powers. So hard to control. You understand, right?" Asshole extraordinaire indeed.
He can already imagine Sabo's next call to Luffy.
"That Law guy is a total ass, Lu."
"I mean, I like him for more than his ass, but his ass is pretty great too! Oh! Did you see that tattoo he has inside his leg?"
For their efforts, the Hearts receive food stores and an impressive quantity of preserved meat that Law plans on gifting to Luffy next time they see each other. He just won't mention it was Sabo who specifically wrapped it all up.
To say Law is happy to be sailing away from the combustible blond, safe aboard the Corazon where the seats aren't burning his ass to an un-sittable mass of flesh, is an understatement. He's not quite back to sitting with comfort yet, but he can manage the benches in the mess hall without wincing. It means he doesn't have to drink his coffee standing up and can enjoy the eye level company of his crew at meals. It's while he's in the mess hall, pouring his fourth cup of coffee for the morning, that Penguin calls him over.
"Hey Law! Jean Bart wants to know why we named the new submarine Corazon!"
Jean Bart, still the newest crew member two years later, backpedals and tries to deflect.
"C'mon! You want to know why she's called Corazon even though Doflamingo's been beat to shit, right?" Normally Law can ignore Penguin when he's being insistent like this, but he's feeling generous today. And he doesn't want Jean Bart to be afraid to ask questions about things the rest of the crew knows.
Law gingerly takes a seat with Penguin and Jean Bart at their table with Bepo.
Jean Bart tries to shrink down, impossible given his sheer size, but admirable in effort. "I'd have thought the closure in Dressrosa would… It's none of my business, Captain. You don't have to answer."
"It's fine. You know that Cora-san was Doflamingo's brother. He was the closest thing I had to family before the Heart Pirates. This is a way of keeping him close so he can watch over all of us." Being more open with his past like this is a side-effect of being with Luffy, Law's sure of it. The rubber man is honest to the point of verbal blunt force trauma. Law isn't ready to open up quite that much, but it's a work in progress.
Bepo tacks on, "His face was the inspiration for our jolly roger too. Creepy big smile and all!" Law's face must be pinched or otherwise unsettled because Bepo takes notice and immediately apologizes in that sheepish way of his so at odds with his polar bear mink appearance.
Penguin, undeterred, nods next to him. "A strong goofy guy who always smiles, has his own twisted sense of justice, saved Law from that pink-feathered asshole, and has a few screws loose in the head. We wear his creepy face with pride."
Jean Bart hums, short and surprised in the way people do when they've suddenly pieced together the answer to a long-suffering question. "I see. That reminds me a little of Straw Hat."
Crap.
Now Law's worried that in fucking the weirdness-personified, ray of sunshine, perpetually smiling Monkey D. Luffy, he's pseudo-fucking Cora-san.
This is not how Law planned on using his brain today.
He makes a quick excuse about checking the ships engines, stands up too quick for his still-healing ass to comfortably handle, and hides his discomfort as he leaves the mess hall.
Law hears Penguin half-whisper to the others, "Must be something he read in those sex therapy journals. It's got his head all screwy."
Fucking Shachi. The Gossip. Law knew he wouldn't keep quiet about those journals.
For want of somewhere to go, and some way of justifying his sudden departure, Law finds his way to the engine rooms. Even manages to pull Ikkaku out from between some pipes for an update. She's just finished inventorying their haul from both their previous island stops, and tells Law in no uncertain terms that there is nothing that she needs right now so much as his ass out of her engine room, thank you very much.
"Law, if you're grumpy, we can handle that. But if you're grumpiness is sex-related, you should be talking to Straw Hat. Have you tried den den mushi phone sex? It'll take a while but we can set up the white den den mushi too so no one listens in."
Ikkaku means well. Maybe. But either Law's more transparent than he wants to be or fucking Shachi-the-Gossip strikes again.
Regardless, Law doesn't think den den mushi sex is going to work well with Luffy.
"I'm taking off your sweater, Torao, so I can lick every inch of skin- Oh look! Something shiny! Talk later Torao!"
Yeah. That's not happening.
His frown deepens and Ikkaku lifts her hands in defeat.
"Fine then, but a happy captain makes a happy crew. So if you won't let your freak flag fly without Straw Hat being present and accounted for, you can at least strip one out on your own."
"Dammit Ikkaku! I'm still your captain!"
She skips away with a cackle and a salute that Law knows is both mocking and sincere. "Whoops! There's a sudden bursting pipe that needs attention somewhere else! See you at dinner!"
Later that night, alone in his cabin and increasingly frustrated with his lack of progress on the matter, Law thinks maybe Ikkaku has a point. Maybe all Law has to do is jerk off and ignore the Big Brother bullshit from the last time he saw Luffy. If he can handle that much, then surely he'll be able to ignore it if Luffy ever lets That Term slip out during sex again.
It's easy to shove his pants down, free his hardening cock and conjure up an image of Luffy there with him. Law's had Luffy in his cabin plenty. Which makes it all too easy to imagine the younger man underneath him on the bed and-
Or does he want Luffy on his lap this time? Ah, that's better. The weight of Law's hardening cock in his hand is a poor substitute for the remembered weight of Luffy in his lap, but Law has plenty of memories to keep him occupied.
He imagines kissing Luffy. Pulling him close by the back of his neck and sliding his tongue inside his mouth. Luffy always tastes delicious, a combination of whatever meal he's gluttoned down and something intrinsically Luffy that has Law addicted.
Luffy's legs are wrapped around his waist and his hands wrap around Law's shoulders, using the leverage to grind against him. They're shirtless but still wearing underwear, the material tightening around their erections and Law imagines the feel of the fabric. How the texture rubs against their cocks while their cocks rub against each other.
"Feel so good, Torao. Already feel so big under me. Gonna feel so big inside me too."
Law's hand moves to Luffy's ass, squeezing the flesh there and holding him impossibly closer. Luffy moans, loud and free, and his hands tighten around Law's shoulders over his tattoos. Luffy always likes tracing Law's tattoos. He's considered getting more just so Luffy will have something new to trace somewhere else on Law's body.
"So good to me. Big Brother is so good to me," Luffy in his head moans and it's an ice bath to Law's brain.
Dammit! He's getting nowhere like this. He can feel himself simultaneously ready to burst and unwilling to let go at all.
Well then. A memory where Luffy's mouth is too occupied to say anything at all should solve it.
Law's mental image shifts to one of Luffy on his knees before him, Law's cock heavy in his mouth and a finger prodding Law's hole, stretching him open. Law's own finger moves to make his imagination a reality before the contact with his still-healing ass stops him.
Not healed enough then. Stupid asshole extraordinaire Sabo.
Fine. Law pulls his finger away from his hole, moves that hand to his tightening balls instead. It's heavy-handed but the sooner he can get off, the better.
In Law's head, the rubber man is making full use of his devil fruit so Law can fuck his throat. It's tight and wet and every sinful glory Law knows it is and Luffy's making such sweet little noises. No words, just the wet gagging of deep-throating Law and-
"Big Brother, please! I wanna taste your cum!"
Luffy-in-his-head can still talk, regardless of his mouth being deliciously occupied.
Law's just blue-balling himself at this rate.
He pulls his hands away in defeat, achingly hard with nothing to do but wait it out or find something very cold to put him out of his misery.
Law considers himself a man of action, so he heaves off the bed and struggles to the showers. The cold water does its job, eventually, but Law's head is in even worse shape than before.
As predicted, sleep doesn't come easy for the next few days. Law's mood sours. His temper shortens. It gets to the point where the crew are actively avoiding him outside of necessary interactions.
It's bad enough Law's obsessing over this Big Brother nonsense, now he can't fuck his own hand without his head going to all the wrong places.
He should have just thought through the problem in the first place. If he can figure out whether there's any similarities between himself and Luffy's brothers, then he can convince himself there aren't any and put this whole bullshit behind him.
He starts with Sabo, the only one he's actually met. Law's own opinion of the blond man is a fierce loyalist with a burning sense of justice to match his devil fruit. Someone clearly intelligent with an unhinged mania wicked enough to bring even their most ruthless schemes to fruition. Capable of igniting hope and destruction.
It doesn't match how Law would describe himself. Except for the part about reaping destruction, but that was a general requirement in piracy. Although…
Sabo strikes Law as someone capable of long-term strategy with the intelligence and patience to achieve far-off goals and revenge. More a long-smoldering fire scorching the world in its wake rather than a single bursting inferno. Sabo certainly has a track record for that level of patient revenge. Law's recovering ass is testament to that. But would Law put the two of them on the same level of tactical, long-term thinking?
Fact: As part of the Revolutionary Army, Sabo roots out corrupt governments and burns them down over the course of months or even years. Sometimes violently, and sometimes through more underhanded machinations.
Fact: As a pirate, Law rooted out Doflamingo's reign and operation and even Kaido's over the course of years and span of multiple oceans, burning them down till even the ashes were gone through both violence and underhanded machinations.
Well shit…
Maybe Ace would be more dissimilar to Law.
Law has never met Ace, and only knows him by reputation and what he's surmised from handling Luffy after Marineford.
He knows Ace already made a name for himself as a pirate captain before being made a Division Commander under Whitebeard early in his pirate career. Knows the man wore his heart on his sleeve both metaphorically and in the literal tattoos on his body.
He also knows Luffy was broken after Ace's death in part because he failed to save the man, and that Ace hadn't wanted Luffy to save him. But that's just being a good big brother, wanting to take care of your younger sibling and not have them worry about taking care of you. That's normal. Law remembers all too well helping take care of Lami, the pride he took in the responsibility.
Maybe his crew has heard more rumors and stories that can shed some light on the man.
"What do I know about Fire Fist Ace? Not much beyond his rep, why?"
Shachi and Hakugan are helping Law organize the medicine cabinets in the infirmaries. Checking expiration dates and re-labeling fading vials as needed. It's work Law would rather take care of by himself, and with the way most of the crew is still avoiding him they clearly would rather have that be the case too. But Shachi must have decided Law had enough time to grumble and was forcing interaction on him and the crew again in an attempt at reconciliation.
Law's not sure how appreciative he is of the efforts in general, but if it gives him answers to his questions, he'll tolerate it.
Law shakes his head at Shachi. "No, not Fire Fist Ace, Whitebeard's division commander. I mean Portgas D. Ace, Luffy's brother. What do you know about him?"
"Is this 'cause we ran into the Revolutionary Army? Ok, well I heard Ace had a temper. One that matched his devil fruit. And he could be a real asshole, plus a glutton and a dine-n'-dasher to put even Straw Hat's appetite to shame."
Hakugan jumps in from the other side of the room where he's re-labeling vials, decidedly out of arms reach from either of them. "Didn't he have narcolepsy or something like that? I heard he fell asleep in the middle of meals all the time, mid-chew even! Folks thought he was dead until he woke up and just kept eating."
"I heard about that! I didn't think it was real?"
For a minute, Law feels himself relax. The breath he's been holding releases and his shoulders drop with every rumor of hot-headedness and narcolepsy that Shachi and Hakugan bring up. That's nothing like Law. He can relax now that he's at least mostly dissimilar to one of Luffy's brothers and biggest familial influences in life.
"Didn't he have all those tattoos? That giant Whitebeard flag on his back and the others on his arms?"
"Yeah, seems like the kind of guy to wear his heart on his sleeve. Emotionally and in ink. Hey Captain, that's kind of like you with your tattoos! You've got our jolly roger on your back too."
Law grumbles and focuses on not squeezing the beakers in his hand so tightly he shatters the glass.
It's not even worth trying to compare Luffy and Cora-san. Law's too wound up to be scared of where that comparison will inevitably lead.
It's Shachi who brings the focus back to Law, far earlier than Law was hoping he would. "So what gives, Law? Why the curiosity about Straw Hat's brother? Is this because we met that Sabo guy before?"
Law grumbles, "No reason. Just curious."
And with his curiosity still piqued he still can't sleep, and he sure as shit can't jerk off worth a damn. His mood only sours further over the next few days. Efforts are made by Shachi, Penguin, and a paw-twiddling Bepo to interact with Law, bring him out of his gloom. Even Ikkaku is subdued, her usual sincere mockery replaced by a wide berth and clinical engine room reports.
When Bepo asks his thoughts on approaching an uninhabited winter island two days from their current position, under the guise of letting the crew stretch their legs and the unspoken truth of giving Law time in fresh air alone with his thoughts, that things come to a head. Law snaps at Bepo.
He doesn't remember what words he used but he remembers the wide, shocked eyes of his navigator and everyone in the room. The vacuous hush that fell over them. How frozen they all looked. Law suddenly feels monstrous for all the wrong reasons.
"I'm gonna… Fine. Yes. Set a course for that island. I'll be… elsewhere."
Law holes up in the infirmary, reorganizing his already organized cabinets of pain killers in order of strength and manufacturing origin. The Lvneel ibuprofen, for reasons he still hasn't figured out, is far stronger than the same ibuprofen produced in other parts of North Blue.
An hour later and still finding new ways to organize pills, it's Shachi who approaches him. His arms are crossed and he's got a serious look on his face. "Law, on behalf of the crew, and your friends, we have to talk."
Law turns away from where Shachi stands just inside the now-closed door, suddenly fascinated with the labeling he applied personally to the vials.
Law can guess what Shachi's here to discuss, but throws out the still-truthful "I'm sorry I snapped like that. I'll apologize to Bepo later once I've cooled down," anyway.
"Great!" Shachi tells him with a nod, still stiffer than if he had rigor mortis. "We still gotta talk about whatever's going on with you and Straw Hat right now and how it's putting you and everyone on edge."
Law throws a glare at Shachi, but it's half-hearted at best and his friend knows it.
Shachi steps further into the room, pulls a chair up and settles in. He's not going anywhere and, even though there's just enough space between Shachi and the cabinets for Law to walk by if he wants, Shachi will be disappointed if Law walks out. He trusts that Law will be mature enough to talk through things and not flee the scene.
And Law trusts his friend not to lambast him over this. There's just no escaping his friends sometimes.
Law heaves a sigh. He rests a comforting hand on a nearby scalpel, thumbing the spine of the blade. "I can't believe I'm asking you this, but I have an… issue with something Luffy-ya's doing."
"Doing in bed, right?"
Law levels a heavy blank stare at Shachi. Shachi having known Law since they were years younger and several feet shorter, is unfortunately immune to its effects.
"Right?"
"…Right."
Shachi settles and claps his hands together. "Alright, I'm both fascinated to learn every detail and terrified that you'll actually tell me just to haunt my nightmares."
A tempting idea, but not one Law is going to indulge in. "Without going into too much detail, certain explicit terms of endearment were used in the heat of the moment. I didn't like it."
"Like what? Cum Bucket?"
"No."
"Daddy?"
"No. But that same line of familial thinking."
"Well unless you're into gender stuff like 'Mommy' or- Hey! No! No making that face at me. You asked for my advice, and I'm giving it. So shut up and listen. Now if I'm thinking of other family terms then there's baby and uncle and grandpa but those don't seem right… What about brother?"
Law can't stop the flinch that shudders over his face.
Shachi sees it, and is now in the midst of unraveling the mystery of Law's revulsion and Luffy's secret potential kink. "Did he call you Big Brother? Oh! That's why you were so weird with that Sabo guy before! He's Luffy older brother, right?"
Law grumbles in response. His hand tightens around the scalpel.
"Has Straw Hat called you that before?"
Law shakes his head.
"This was the first time? Wow, I already knew it about you but you really do over-think everything- Hey! No Rooms and no scalpels! Put the hand down."
A sigh escapes from Law in the same breath as an apology. "I know you're just trying to help and I'm not being a good patient. I'm not used to… sharing, not like this."
"I've known that about you since before you were my captain. We can keep this between us though. Not-a-doctor/patient confidentiality."
"Like you kept the psychiatry journals confidential?"
"In my defense, I didn't know for sure what you were using them for. I was just guessing." When Law continues to frown, Shachi returns to his offer. "Talk to me about this like I'm a therapist. That way you'll have someone to talk to about it in the future and I can tell the crew without going into detail that we've got a system to deal with you when you're snappish like this."
He feels one of his eyebrows lift. "Snappish?"
Shachi nods. "Like a giant snapping turtle. Or a leopard seal or something."
It's not an entirely untrue comparison. Although Law admits out loud he prefers the leopard seal comparison over the turtle.
"Yeah, of course you do. You absolute polar carnivore." Shachi's mouth tips up at the corner, and Law thinks they're over the bad part of this reconciliation. Which means he now needs to dig into the worst part of it if he really wants this to be over.
"So what's your advice then, not-a-doctor Shachi?"
"Keep it simple. Ask him why he likes it."
Law frowns. "That's it? He didn't even remember saying it a couple minutes later."
"You mean the few minutes after getting screwed silly? No one's gonna remember anything then! If they do, then you didn't screw 'em tight enough! Or loose enough? Whatever, just talk to the guy! We all know you'd rather take care of things by yourself. You're too much of a big brother, but you're a captain too. That means you've got people around to help you with things, no matter how weird or uncomfortable you think they are."
"Have you been reading those South Blue Journals we took? Because you sound like a lady trying to reach your first Big O."
That night, sleep comes easier to Law. He still wakes every few hours, the usual insomnia wreaking its normal havoc, but he manages to fall mostly asleep every time. By morning he's more well-rested than he's been in several weeks.
Law apologizes to Bepo in the morning with words and a steaming cup of hot chocolate. Bepo, ever tactile, pulls Law into a furry hug that crushes Law's spine out of and then back into alignment. Law uses the excess fur to hide his relief and smile.
The rest of the crew takes that as a sign that Law's latest bout of gloom is over and to start engaging with Law again beyond necessary reports. Shachi and Hakugan beat him at cards and loudly gloat over their victories. Ikkaku and Penguin build mockingly sincere snowmen of him on the winter island Bepo found for them, Law retaliating with a snow ball barrage. And while his shoulders don't entirely drop from their tense place up by his ears, they lower slightly.
There's still the matter of Luffy possibly pseudo-fucking his brothers via Law, but if he's going to follow Shachi's advice and talk to Luffy about it then that's not something Law can deal with until they meet up with the Sunny again. And that's not for another week at least. For now, he can focus on more enjoyable things like lying in his bed, enjoying the solitude after their time on-shore, and calculating hypothetical anesthesia levels for his crew.
The mathematical formulae focuses Law's mind. Pulls it from the stressors of the day in a way he hasn't been able to indulge in for weeks. His brain jumps from the notable volume needed for Jean Bart's massive form to Bepo's mink physiology and then to Robo-ya on the Straw Hat crew. Suddenly Law needs to know if general anesthesia even works on the cyborg, or if short-circuiting him is more effective. And how would Tony-ya fare being a reindeer with the human-human fruit? And how far could a rubber body respond with general anesthesia? Law remembered Luffy not needing much at all after Marineford.
Imagining Luffy at all quickly transforms into imagining Luffy there with him in a different context. Law's just relaxed enough now to let his mind follow that thread.
He imagines being face down on his bed, just like he is now, with Luffy on top of him. His bare chest glued to Law's bare back, the rest of them equally naked and their lungs expanding in time with each other and their every breath. He wants to imagine Luffy rutting against him, hard and heated and holding Law tight. But Law only gets as far as Luffy holding him close before his brain latches onto that image exclusively, somehow content with the memory of Luffy just holding him in the afterglow of something Law hasn't yet imagined but feels no need to in the moment.
In his mind, Luffy's hold on Law is both iron-clad and gentle. Law knows if he really wanted to, he could push Luffy off, but he also likes how secure this feels, how surrounded he is by everything that is Luffy.
He imagines the ghost of Luffy's breath against his back, the feel of the younger man nuzzling his face against Law's neck. There's the catch of Luffy's hands smoothing along Law's chest but making no move further south. The hum of Luffy's words vibrating against his skin.
"Torao's so strong. Feels so good against me."
Luffy's hands tighten across Law's chest. Law's own hands unclench from the pillows beneath his head. He feels himself release a breath he didn't know he was holding.
"Torao takes such good care of me. I wanna take care of Torao too."
Law shifts amid the memories and imaginings on his bed, looking to get more comfortable. He succeeds only in shifting his hips against the mattress and revealing his growing hard on. He freezes for a moment, worried he's about to blue ball himself again if he takes his imaginings of Luffy any further. But something dampens his worry.
Law lets his hips rut gently against the mattress below him, slow and rhythmic, not looking to do anything but enjoy the friction. He keeps imagining Luffy's voice praising him. Luffy's hands running along his chest, his legs, his hair.
Heat curls inside him, low in his belly. The growing buzz in his veins is less punctuated and more smoldering, a sustained thrill that sits hot and constant inside him. It's by far the slowest build he's had in some time, and he wonders distantly if he should be using this more often to get off.
Law's quiet when he cums, his hands still by his head and his face buried in the pillow, hips stuttering against the sheets to draw out the sensation for a full minute after. His breathing is fast but not ragged, his body pleasantly buzzing and sinking further into the mattress. Law is both fully aware of himself and the uncomfortable stickiness puddled underneath him yet entirely unable to care or physically do anything about it for lack of control of his limbs.
It's the most quietly blissed out he's felt in ages. The fact he hasn't blue balled himself again doesn't cross his mind until later, when he finds the energy to clean up. All he can think is an anticlimactic 'huh', and 'what changed for that to happen?' before he falls asleep.
The Corazon and Sunny meet up again on Baflin, a spring island in the middle of its version of autumn. The air is crisp with a chill, but there's still too much moisture present with unfallen rain. The locals in the port town of this otherwise sleepy agrarian backwater all seem to have mastered the trick of suffering the short-lived morning chill just long enough to bask in the afternoon sunshine.
Law is still taking in the view of the town from the deck of the Corazon when his observation haki lights up in warning.
"Toooooooorraaaoooo!"
Luffy crashes into Law, sending them both careening across the deck. A lesser man would have lost his legs under the sudden onslaught of rubber. Law is proud that he is not a lesser man, and stays standing, if ten feet away from where he originally stood.
"Luffy-ya, miss me?"
Law loves having Luffy in his arms, wound tight around him and crushing his soul back into his body. He just wishes sometimes that it wasn't so painful when the younger man slammed into him in all his rubbery sling shot zeal.
Luffy's face, when it pulls back from Law's neck, is full of worry. For a moment Law thinks one of the Straw Hat crew must have been badly hurt for Luffy to look so distraught. The younger man grabs Law's face in his hands and exclaims with the utmost urgency, "Torao, there's rabies on the island! We gotta check it out! We gotta save the meat!"
"There's what?"
As is turns out, the Straw Hats picked up a stowaway who called Baflin home, and who told them about a mysterious illness infecting all the livestock on the island. Luffy being the carnivore that he is, immediately decided this was the most important thing ever and of course they'd help save the meat from certain doom.
Law wonders sometimes at just how he came to love such an adorable food-motivated idiot.
They split into teams to investigate, because it's impossible not to get caught up in Luffy's pace when he's excited about something. Law, Tony-ya, Penguin, Black Leg-ya and several others each lead small teams around the island to find the source of the so-called rabies. Law's not entirely convinced that's what's happening here. But that's what the investigation is for. It's certainly not just a way for Law to spend more time with Luffy.
Law's grouped with Luffy, Bepo, Nico-ya, and Long Nose-ya. They circle the southern peninsula of the island, where goats, rabbits, and sheep have dropped dead mid-chew near their feeding troughs and other smaller animals are following suit. Long Nose-ya is on the den-den mushi with Shachi, who is with Chopper's team examining a herd of living sheep not far from them.
"Yeah, we're still here. Torao's still doing the corpse-report thing and- Fine. 'Performing the autopsy'. How're things with Chopper? Great! Oh, Luffy? No, he's here too. He's… Yeah, he's poking the body with a stick."
Law's devil fruit slices through layers of tissue and organ, searching for a root cause to the issue. Could be a toxic algae bloom infecting the animals. But then the plants around the fresh water sources and on the shoreline would have been more visibly affected. Maybe a targeted attack by a neighboring kingdom looking to take over. Although Law couldn't recall any political unrest in the region from the newspapers or gossip. Were all animals being infected on the island, or just specific livestock. Specific farms within the island even.
Thoughts and theories churning through his head, Law deftly avoids the stick Luffy's using to poke the rabbit he's studying but answers the younger man's more inane questions anyway.
"What's that flat thing?" The spleen.
"Why is it so weird looking?" Because this is a rabbit. Rabbit spleens don't look like human spleens. Do you actually know what human spleens look like, Luffy-ya, or are you just-
"Why's it smell funny?" Because it's- Huh. That's worth looking into further.
Long Nose-ya hangs up "Hey guys! Shachi says Sanji's team found something big on the north side of the island. They want a couple more hands to help move it."
Luffy jumps at the chance to run around the island. "I'll go! Hey Bear, come with me!"
Poor Bepo doesn't even have a chance to reply before Luffy is racing down the road. Distress growing on the mink's face as he turns to Law. "Uh, Captain?"
"It's fine. Keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't eat anything that looks infected."
Bepo runs off, still mink-quick but not as fast as the boundless Straw Hat captain. Without Luffy around, the world goes quiet in a vacuum of air. The very energy pulled from it along with the sound.
Nico Robin breaks the vacuum of silence first. "I know you love our captain, but it doesn't seem like you trust him to handle this himself."
"I trust Luffy-ya with my life and my crew's. But I don't trust him around free, potentially infected food."
She hums, "Fair enough. Now then, you were finishing the spleen, so will you move on to the liver next? I'm told there are certain cultures who prefer eating sheep's livers raw. Do you believe this island is one them?"
Next to her Long Nose-ya complains she's "being so creepy! Stop that Robin!"
With Bepo running off and just Nico-ya and Long Nose with him, it's as good an opportunity as any to get their thoughts on Sabo and Ace. But first Law returns to his autopsy, teasing apart tissue from itself and organs from their innards. Notices the abnormal way the spleen and liver have absorbed certain minerals, the stomach too.
He describes his observations so Nico-ya can take notes and takes a little sadistic pleasure in watching Long Nose-ya squirm. Law tells himself it's not about wasting time or delaying the truth. That it's all perfectly essential to the investigation.
He's finished the spleen and liver and is slicing through a stomach that's the wrong color for anything be it living or dead when he finally works up the nerve to ask, "What do you two think of Luffy-ya's brothers?"
If they're thrown by the suddenness of his question, they hide it well. Nico-ya answers first. "I never met Fire Fist Ace myself, but from his reputation I understand why Whitebeard made him a division commander."
Long Nose chimes in next. "Some of us met Ace in Alabasta, and I remember thinking he was so much more polite than Luffy. And reliable! He took out all these navy warships with a bunch of flips and a single flaming punch! It was so cool!" The memory has awe-struck stars bursting from the man's eyes. "He's the kind of guy you'd want watching your back. The kind of guy you'd want to be your brother."
Law tries to ignore Long Nose's last comment. But because he's a glutton for punishment Law asks for yet more fuel to the fire in his brain.
"And what about the other one? Sabo."
The other man tilts his head sideways, as though the change in angle will jar the memories loose somehow. "Well, he's… I mean, he's great! Super reliable and smart and more polite than Ace even and you don't get to be number two in the Revolutionary Army without being super strong and ambitious, right? But he's also…" His hands gesticulate in vague motions that don't translate to anything so much as a giant asterisk*.
"Also…?"
"He's a polite, feral gremlin," Nico-ya clarifies. "Koala once described him to me as someone who 'wants to set fires and watch the world burn over a cup of tea.' Why do you ask?"
"Ran into Sabo recently. Just curious."
"Oh, how nice! I hope he's doing well!"
"Koala's not sleeping with him for a while. That's how he's doing." Law will admit to taking petty pride in sharing this bit of gossip. But not out loud.
Long Nose pales. "He gave you the shovel talk, didn't he?"
After further investigation and subsequent shenanigans that are par for the course with the Straw Hats involved, the rabies turns out not to be rabies at all. Instead, a new farmer that supplied a cheaper livestock feed to the island was selling feed cut with a look-a-like plant known to make livestock lethargic or, in the case of animals smaller than a pig eating larger concentrations of the stuff, sick and dead.
The look-a-like plant was overgrown this year, out-competing the regular feed components. The farmer was new to the trade and new to the island, and didn't want to admit he was out of his depth. Hamlin's razor at work.
After relaying his findings to the others, regrouping just outside town, Law arrives to find Luffy looming over a sniveling coward of man, the farmer in question. Law hears Luffy growling at the man, "You should've asked for help if you didn't know. You're supposed to take care of these animals. They trusted you and you broke that trust because you couldn't talk to the people here."
"I thought I could figure it out myself! I'm sorry! Please, I can learn!"
Zoro-ya stops Law before he can make his way over. "Luffy's just finishing up. The asshole isn't going anywhere anytime soon."
The two crews and the town celebrate solving the mystery by throwing a party. With the food supply on Baflin compromised for the foreseeable future thanks to the compromised feed, the party is catered by the extra food stores from the Revolutionary Army on the Corazon and the Thousand Sunny. Luffy is as excited about the piles of preserved meat as Law knew he would be, squeezing Law into a soul-crushing embrace in thanks and promising filthy things in his ear at a volume Law wishes were lower but knows better than to correct. It's a surefire way to only increase the volume.
Not long into the celebration, Law finds himself sitting in the sand leaning against a driftwood log in front of a bonfire. Luffy finds his own seat on the log behind Law, legs on either side of Law's shoulders and a stick of salami dangling from one hand. "Sabo called a few days ago. Said he ran into you."
"He did, yeah. We raided a place called Garsinnia before he and the Army could get in. Traded intel and supplies with them." Law takes comfort in the warmth radiating off Luffy on either side of him. Let's his fingers idly trace the exposed skin on the younger man's legs.
Luffy inches his legs closer toward Law in appreciation, takes a loud bite of salami, then hums as he asks, "He told me I should give you a pillow to sit on. And maybe some burn ointment. Why'd he say that?"
Law scowls. "No clue." His ass is healed but he fights the urge to fidget in his seat all the same. "Your brother's an impressive guy, Luffy, but he's an asshole."
Luffy just laughs at that. "Shishishi, yeah, I know. He's still the nice one." Law tilts his head backwards to stare up at Luffy, incredulous. Had he missed something about Fire Fist Ace being the bigger asshole of the three brothers? "Ace took being a big brother real seriously. Always had to handle everything himself. Kinda like you do with your crew!"
Law's scowl deepens. His hands stop their stroking to simply hold Luffy's leg in place.
Later, they sneak off together onto the Corazon. Law trusts the locks on his doors more than those on the Sunny. Likes to take full advantage of the deadbolts whenever they're together.
Law has Luffy under him on his bed, mouths fused and tongues twisting together. Luffy's hands are everywhere but keep finding Law's ass, squeezing and ghosting between the cheeks, even through his pants. Law's so grateful his ass is healed enough for this. Grateful Sabo's not around to burn him again.
He hates that the combustible blonde is still in his head at a time like this.
He knows Luffy's impatient and Law wants them to get on with things too, but his head can't stop itself from churning over his obsession from the last few weeks.
Luffy must notice Law's not as engaged as he should be and groans, pushing him back with a huff. "What's up with you? Can we take our pants off yet? I want to fuck you this time."
Law doesn't stop the shiver that crawls up his body at the image. "In a minute. Just want to ask you something first."
When Law doesn't immediately say what's on his mind, Luffy prods him with a foot literally prodding his ass. Law shifts onto his elbows, staring down at Luffy, and concedes.
"Last time we fucked you called me Big Brother. Have you ever done that with anyone before me?"
"I did?"
Law sighs. Goldfish memory strikes again. "Yeah, you did. It's no big deal," Except Law has obsessed over it for weeks since then, "I just want to know if that's a kink or something you're into."
Luffy has the gall to look even more confused than before. "If you say I did, then I trust you, but I really don't remember?"
"It's fine, forget about it."
Law starts leaning down, intent on kissing the conversation away and reigniting his cooling lust, but Luffy surprises Law by pushing back, crossing his arms and putting on a serious face. "Did you like it or hate it when I called you Big Brother?"
"I don't hate it," Except that he definitely does still.
"Seems like you do." Now Luffy's frowning. It's adorable but it's not what Law wants to see on the younger man's face. "I don't wanna say something you hate, even if it's an accident."
"It's just that when you said it before…" Law struggles for the words before remembering this is Luffy. Subtle for Luffy is taking a hammer to the face. "It made me think about your brothers."
The scrunched up, disgusted, horrified expression Luffy makes is one Law plans to burn into his memory forever, just for the joy it sparks in Law's head. The added gagging, sick-to-his-stomach sound effects however, will not be joining the visual.
"Gross! Ewww! I don't wanna think about my brothers when we're naked! And I don't want you thinking about them either. You gotta think about me. I'm the one fucking you." Luffy emphasizes this by wrapping his legs around Law's waist and grinding up into him hard. It sends heat pulsing through Law's body and he doesn't fight the matching groan.
"It's stuck in my head now."
Luffy squeezes him tighter, grinds up harder. "I'm the only thing that should be in your head right now."
"Just wait a sec- One second! Do you think you can remember what was going through your head last time when you called me That?"
Luffy huffs, annoyed at the delay, but scrunches his face in deep thought anyway. It looks pained and only lasts a few seconds before he complains, "I don't know! How am I supposed to remember stuff like that? I just know what it feels like when we're together and I like how that feels! You're strong and you feel safe and fun! Even when you're grumpy, you're fun."
Law's not sure a shiver of delight is the right response to being excited that Luffy feels those things with him. And Law really shouldn't be pushing further, but they've come this far and he needs closure dammit, otherwise it'll always be in the back of his head. "And how did your brothers make you feel growing up?"
Luffy rolls his eyes. "Safe and fun and strong but that's different! I don't wanna fuck my brothers. They're my brothers! I love you and I trust you, Torao. And you trust me too, so maybe it just came from that? What's it even matter?"
And Law does trust Luffy. They've seen each other at their lowest points, after Marineford and Dressrosa, and pieced each other together again. Law trusts Luffy with his fears and his hopes and his crew and that level of trust is an intimacy too, just like sex. An incredibly intimate and vulnerable thing. And just like with sex you lay yourself bare to another person and trust that they won't rip into you, that they'll take care of you and piece you back together when you come back to yourself. Who wouldn't want to feel safe in a vulnerable headspace like that, however people choose to name it in the moment?
Law's relief is a physical thing. His entire body slumps and all the tension and overthought from the last weeks falls off him in a single plop.
He's still not sure he can stop his brain from overthinking things all the time, but this is a good start. If nothing else, he can think of Luffy's disgusted face at the prospect and focus on other more important things.
Things like leaning down from his elbows and pulling Luffy close, fingers tangling into the hair visible under his straw hat, smiling into a short kiss.
"You're right, Luffy-ya. It doesn't really matter. But do me a favor. If you think you're about to call me some other name, can you make it Sir or Daddy or um… Doctor, or something like that?"
"Ok, but why? You don't even like those kind of names."
"That's not- It's less weird than Big Brother." Luffy's face twists again into that joy-inducing look of disgust and Law can't stop himself from chuckling at the sight. "Now then, didn't you say something about fucking me this time?"
"That's right, I did!" Luffy's grin is wide and heated and sharp. His hands pull at the waist of Law's pants to free his hard-on. He leans in close, nosing at Law's throat and chuckling under his breath.
Law falls into the feeling and into Luffy, finally free of the stranglehold that sexed-up familial title has had over him these last weeks. He just needs to remember that Luffy says things with so much honesty and so little thought sometimes that there really isn't any rhyme or reason to half the things he says. It's more about the feelings behind them anyway. In this case, one of those feelings being trust.
"That's it, relax Torao. I've got you." Law can taste the sea on Luffy's skin, can already imagine the heat of him inside and the blanket-like comfort of holding each other close in the blissful afterglow. He can feel Luffy's mouth, tilted into a smirk against his throat. "Gonna take care of you just right, Big Brother."
Law snaps backwards, "If you call me Big Brother one more time we're never having sex again, you little shit."
Luffy laughs. "Knew you hated it! Should've just said so!" Now Law's the one frowning and Luffy's the one coaxing him back into the mood with clever hands and heated touch. "Whatever you want. I'll fuck you however you want, Doctor."
-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Do I think the Hearts would actually name a new submarine The Corazon? No. It just worked for the purposes of this story.
TL;DR Bedroom preferences are weird and shouldn't be over-thought.
A friend once described Daddy kink (and Mommy, Sir, Captain, Master, etc.) as being related to safety and trust. Trusting that the person you're calling Daddy/Mommy/Master is going to take care of you. The Noun-Title is less important than the feeling it evokes. That was their personal experience and I'm sure other people have different thoughts/experiences with it.
Leave a comment and let me know if you liked it!