Give Me Your Heart!
LawLu Month 2024: Day 2
General Prompt: Confession
Trope prompt: Heart Swap
Quote: "I thought I'd lost you."
The most important thing about eternal youth surgery was not the fact that the user of the ope-ope-no-mi would die. Rather, many people overlooked the most important factor: the quality of life the person who received the surgery was left with. Doffy was intelligent, so would've guessed it; yet the lure of immortality was strong for him.
In my quest for revenge, I would've granted him the life he wanted. Forever frozen in time, his mind would age but his body wouldn't, so by the end of two or three centuries he would be plagued with madness so severe he would beg for death, and she would kick him in the chin and walk away laughing.
Yet everyone wanted me, or the power of my devil fruit.
"Captain," Sachi called out to me and broke my train of thought as they wrapped me in bandages. "You have to stay conscious, you can't pass out." Who was the doctor here, you scum? Who taught you the basics of medical care? "Why will I pass out? It is a regular stitch!"
"Captain, lift your arm, your stitches from Dressrosa are opening up! Just because you can use your powers doesn't mean you have the luxury to detach your arm! You are not as powerful as Emperor Buggy!" Penguin lifted my arms and Ikkaku stitched my old wounds.
"Don't compare me with that idiot Buggy!" I glared at the three nincompoops towering over me. They were giving me questioning eyes, "Strawha-ya told me Buggy is an idiot. And his crew vouched for Buggy's idiocy. That doesn't mean I will not take him seriously, after all, he became a Yonko didn't he? But if Strawhat-ya kicked his arse in East-Blue, I think he is right about Buggy?"
From a distance, Jean Bart butted into the conversation, "And you off all the people believe that brat who will eat stones if his cook tells him it is edible?"
"He defeated Kaido, I must believe what I saw right, guys?" No matter how much I called that idiot, an idiot, he was smarter than he let on, or maybe he didn't realise he was smart. "And you saw him become that white-ghost-like thing, didn't you? I have to accept he knows a thing about Yonko Buggy."
"You defeated Big Mom too…" My whole crew cried in unison. Immediately I was reminded of the choir I was forced to be part of because the people of the church loved my voice. And it was Lamy who wanted to sleep to me humming. Immediately, memories of that destroyed building by the buster-call and Lamy's little scared face jolted me up.
"Captain, are you okay?" Jean asked, he sensed something triggered me.
"I am fine."
The fear of buster-call still haunted him. Thanks to someone's immense Haki, I don't know who it was, but we avoided another buster-call on Wano. Looking at Luffy's reaction later in the evening, I am assuming it is someone he trusts and respects. Someone who was going to be a formidable enemy for my crew. If my hunch was right, it was a Yonko, his favourite Yonko
Ikkaku and Cilone consoled me, I was not upset, just irritated. I needed to master my devil fruit to its maximum capabilities. "Captain, you have a 3 Billion Bounty too! You defeated a Yonko too! Please don't feel down."
"Not alone." I gritted my teeth, more than the injuries to my internal organs and arm, I was offended that I had to team up with him. It was already an insult that a 19-year-old Luffy was both my ally and also was my rival in the race to One Piece. He was a brat, selfish, and impulsive, and he enraged me every living moment of my life. Yet he was a miracle who I wanted to see do well in life. But the one I had to team up with to defeat Big Mom, made me angry, I didn't want my name to be associated with him, ever. "Bepo," I called my vice-captain, who was busy jolting down something in his lab book. "Come here!"
Putting aside his books, he came running to me, "Aye, captain!"
"Make a copy of the Road Poneglyph that I collected with Nico Robin."
"Why?" Again the choir-like cry filled around me. "WHYYYY!"
"To give it to Kid Pirates."
Penguin almost stabbed me with the suture needle, "But he is our rival!"
"Do you think we can succeed ahead with trickery? No matter how much I hate him, Strawhat and I agreed that we should give Jaggy a copy of the road poneglyph and the more copies there are the better. If something happens to our copy, we can always beat them up?" I smirked.
Sachi asked, "When did you talk to Strawhat?" What was he, a wife keeping tabs on her husband's daily commute? "Strawhat woke up from his deep sleep last night. As far as I recall you didn't participate in the banquet, you were busy flirting with Nico Robin were you not?"
"For your information, she flirts with everyone. And I trust her more than her silly captain with confidential matters like knowledge of the void century!."
"CAPTAIN SSSSH! Walls have ears!" Sachi hissed. "Bring the salt, throw it on Captain!"
"On it!" Cilone was gone in minutes.
"OI!"
"By the way Captain, that only answers one part of the question." Penguin was a shark, who wouldn't leave me until he got a satisfactory answer.
"I met with Strawhat-ya after he was done gobbling and dancing with that metal-head." I was waiting to delay the conversation about the maps with him. But when I saw him hugging that metal-head and being pals with him even after the banquet ended, my hands moved automatically. So I stole him. "I told him of my plan to share the map, and he agreed."
"Just like that?"
"Yes, just like that. He, too, thinks this is the right way."
"Captain is so smart and honourable! He even tamed and made Strawhat-ya agree to his goodhearted plan!" Uni chimed. I didn't have the energy to snap at them, so I let my crew fuss around me and went back to thinking. They continued chatting about how I had made Luffy a better person with my company and chuckled about how he ate our three-months worth of ration. My crew was not full of idiots, they too knew Luffy was a good person. He genuinely was kind despite all his brattiness. It was not a question of making him agree to my plan, it was rather my heart that was slowly but steadily coming to terms that the alliance was coming to an end. The moment we left the waters of Wano, he would be my rival.
"I am back with salt!" Cilone threw salt at me and I pretended to be a statute and let them do whatever the fuck they wanted.
"Captain, you trust Strawhat a lot don't you?" Uni asked.
"I guess I do."
To me, Monkey D Luffy was a miracle.
He fell from the sky into my lap like an angel of justice and bothered me like an annoying demon. At every given moment when I thought of allying with a fellow pirate, I stopped myself because of the countless betrayals I had witnessed in my life. When I approached him on that snowy mountain in the blizzard, I thought he would hate me and my guts. At one moment, I thought he would assume I was extracting payment for saving his life after the Marineford war. When I told him that I wanted to ally with him to take down a Yonko, he surprised me with an instant yes, despite his crew's scepticism. Technically, I tricked him when I told him we first had to take down Doffy. I sold him the idea as a mutual goal. It was only an original goal of mine, which I had intended to execute alone. His appearance escalated my plans at an alarming rate. Into my personal goal, I roped him in.
For thirteen years, it was my dream and nightmare to destroy Doffy's empire alone, and he made it possible within three weeks.
Together we were successful, not only did we take Doffy down from his throne, but we also got two Yonkos in one night. I broke the gears of the status quo in Punk Hazard, and he destroyed the whole hierarchy of pirates and marines in one night.
We had achieved more than what I wanted. This information didn't sit well with me.
The universe had a strange sense of justice and balance. In this ruthless race for the One Piece, my crew and I were still weak. Intelligence and planning were advantageous, but our immediate future enemies Shanks and Blackbeard were aces on the high seas. They survived this long because they knew how to plan and play around if their plans failed. Hence, there was an ominous feeling that my journey was going to enter some terrible waters once we left the comforts of Wano.
My crew and I would run into one of three Yonkos sooner or later, and who is to say, they wouldn't want me alive or my dead body for the powers I carried? I didn't want to brag about it, but I was one of the best doctors on the seas and also the user of the most expensive devil fruit in this world. I was a walking target attached to the back of my crew.
"What is this?" Sachi again broke me out of my trance again.
"What now? Can't you guys let me close my eyes for a few minutes? I didn't even ask for dressing my bandages." I snapped. "You guys used to be so disciplined, look at you mingling with the Strawhat-ya's crazy crew has spoiled you all!" I knew I was blaming the crazy bunch out of habit. "Don't avert your eyes, Jean, I saw you toast your cup with Jinbe! And you…" I looked at Ikkaku, "I saw you exchange clothes with that scary loan-shark navigator of Strawhat-ya!"
"But her dresses are so pretty!" Ikkaku pouted. "I am tired of jumpsuits."
"And a bikini top is your idea of comfort?" Penguin laughed.
"Don't judge me, I saw you exchange recipes with the hot Blonde chef of Strawhats!" Ikkaku pouted. She found Black-leg-ya hot? What was wrong with my crew? "And Bepo has been secretly meeting with that little racoon doctor too, Captain!" I turned my head around. Even him? Was no one immune to Strawhat Crew's wild charms?
"Bepo do you love Chopper? He is Minor even if he is an adult in racoon years!" Sachi asked. "We can find you an age-appropriate lover in Zou. I am sure."
"Bepo care to explain?" I asked.
"It's something very private." My best-friend was hiding something from me. I wanted to ask what it was, but Bepo tapped on my chest. "What were you asking Sachi about to Captain?"
"OH RIGHT! This mark on your chest. What is this, captain, it was not there yesterday. I almost missed it because of the tattoos."
"What mark?" I pretended to be ignorant.
"This!" Ikkaku ran her finger over my chest. She traced the mark I was ignoring, "Where is your heart, Captain?"
"Right here." I lied. I tapped on her hand. "Here, it is beating."
"I don't believe you, Bepo, go get me a stethoscope," Ikkaku didn't believe me, so she placed her hand on my chest. "Something is off here." Now Penguin, Sachi, and Jean Bart were all looking at me speciously. "Get us the phonendoscope."
Soon they all pushed me down and placed their respective stethoscope and phonendoscopes and took turns to hear my heartbeat. I could room them all away, but I was too tired, so I let them do what they wanted. It felt strange to be the one lying on the examination bed.
"His heartbeat is different." Ikkaku mused.
"His heart is not there! He took it out." Sachi hissed.
"It is there." Jean Bart agreed. "Captain's heartbeat was never this fast."
"No, it's the movement of his lungs."
I let them enjoy the debate and said not a single word. Then the two idiots hovered over me. "Are you on drugs?" Penguin and Sachi cupped my face and examined my eyes and mouth. "Did you snort the left-over steroids from Beast Pirate's stash?"
Cilone joined the other two cooking up more bullshit ideas, "Captain is still on drugs?" What did he mean by still on drugs? When did you see me taking drugs, you rascal? It was the painkillers that often made me disoriented. I take those pills to subdue the occasional ghostly pains in my bones that were the side effect of recovering from amber-lead. Whenever have I taken drugs? "Hakugan, let's run tests on the captain."
Hakugan wasted no time and drew my blood from my arms to do the test. I wanted to say so many things, but they all talked simultaneously that I didn't even try. So they continued manhandling me and I gave up. Why did I pick them up from the streets as my crew members, I wonder?
"Are you planning something again to protect us?" My sweet Bepo was angry. "Are you planning to die alone while you keep us safe again, captain? Are we so weak that you can't even rely on us?" Oh shit, he was furious.
I sat up, "Bepo," I really didn't know what to say. "It's not that I think you all are weak, but a Captain must protect his crew."
"And what about the crew's duty? Are we paid to just act as your crew? Are we to be on the sidelines, while our boss gets turned into a baba ganoush?" It was always Penguin and his foul-mouth. "Bepo is right, you can't keep hiding your plans from us forever. How can we protect you, if you don't rely on us? First Punk-Hazard, then Dressrosa and now Wano. I know we are medics first, but you can't keep us on the shores and head into the battle alone. How are you any different from Strawhat? Captain, you are equally reckless!" Penguin was upset. I should say something, but I didn't know what to tell them. There was the reason I didn't want to pull them into my life-threatening situations, I wanted to do something reckless. "Captain! We know you did something to your heart. Did you pawn it to keep us safe"
"Penguin shut up!" Sachi was too late. "Captain he didn't mean to"
"Pawn?" Flabbergasted was an understatement. "Pawn? Next thing you will ask who I spread my legs for too eh?" Okay, I snapped. That was a pathetic retort. I know he meant well. How did the mood change in a few minutes?
The regret was spreading like wildfire on my crew's faces. My reaction to a dumb comment shouldn't have been so reactionary, "Captain…" Penguin was about to cry. He bowed, "I didn't mean… it."
"No, you are not wrong. I really should've discussed this with you. I am sorry. Not only that, but I was in the wrong." I stood up. "I need to clear my mind." I stretched my arm, "ROOOOOOM!"
"Captain Strawhat," I heard the screaming before they arrived in our area. I would turn around when they were physically present in my periphery. Since I couldn't sense Law with them, it must be regarding the day of departure. Did his crew come to negotiate on the choice of date? I was not going to budge, Law can complain about it like he complains about being my friend, for all I care.
I continued helping Usopp with selecting the nails from the toolbox. "Luffy, they were looking for you," Sanji said from a distance. "The Hearts specifically asked for you, our dumbass captain." So my cook was their shepherd.
Sanji's glare pierced my skull, so I turned around, "Hey Bear!" I waved at Law's fluffiest crewmate and others. They looked tense and guilty. "What's the matter? Is it Kaido's men? Or are the Big Mom pirates still here? Or was it the marine guy with a green tree thingy like power?" Finding no reply from usually a jolly lot made me feel twitchy. "Is Traffy okay?" The crew's faces fell apart with sadness. "Where is he?"
Again there was no reply. The guilt on their face answered my question, though. Law was not okay. "What did you guys do?" I placed my hands on my hips. In the absence of their captain I could commandeer them, did Law tell me that? No. But he did so for my crew in my absence, so I will do the same. "Tell me?"
"It was Penguin!" The one with a plain cap and spiky hair pointed at another guy with a cap on. Thankfully, his cap had his name printed on it, Penguin. Extremely helpful, especially with the entire crew wearing jumpers, I couldn't tell the difference between any of them except the Bear. "He said something awful to the Captain, and now we can't find our captain. Captain is missing."
"Are you sure you can't find him?" Zoro asked from the top of the crow's nest. "Or your captain doesn't want to be found out?" Immediately, whatever colour was left on the crew's face drained. Their faces now matched their pristine white jumpsuits.
"Zoro is right, it is impossible for Traffy to be missing! I am sure he will come back when he has cooled his head off! He can't be angry with you guys for long."
Sanji whacked my head, "Do you both have no filter? They came to you asking for help not to feel guilty! If you can't help them, then don't rub salt on their wounds!" Then he immediately sky-walked to Crow's Nest to pick a fight with Zoro. "You, too, don't act like you are Luffy's age!" I heard him screaming at Zoro.
"You should help them Luffy, you are friends with Law!" Usopp added. "They look worried. And scared for some reason."
"Our captain is busy, if you want his help, it will be 300 million berries." Nami peeped her head out from the navigation room.
"We will pay!" The Bear replied. "Captain has not returned to the deck for three days. He never goes out of contact like this ever."
"So Traffy is indeed hiding from you all?" I had to suppress my laughter. "What did you guys do that made your captain a runaway? He went to hell and back to keep you weaklings safe, how did you all hurt him, huh?"
"Oi, Luffy, you can't insult them like this!" Usopp smacked my head, "I apologise my Captain is stupid, everyone is weak in his eyes."
"Not Shanks! Shanks is strong." I replied. Usopp pinched my lips.
"Don't jinx it. As much as I want to meet your precious role model and my father, I would rather not! We want our next route to be as smooth as possible. Franky, throw some salt on this foul-mouthed creature."
"I have Cola? Will that do?" I couldn't spot Franky on the deck, so he replied from the engine room via the speaker den-den mushi.
"Sanji, can I have some salt?" Usopp asked a Sanji who was busy on the Crow's Nest having a dance of legs and swords with Zoro.
"I will not waste good quality salt on superstition. Use the eggshells I grounded for you. I left them by the tangerine garden."
"But they are my fertiliser…" Usopp cried.
"Use that or zip it! I am busy here!"
"I help you, but you have to tell me what is it that upset Traffy?"
"Can we talk in private?" The Bear asked me. "It's something to do with Captain's medical history."
"Can Chopper join?" I had to ask. As much as I cared about Law, if it was a matter of Law's health, having a doctor with me would help me understand. "You can trust Chopper."
"Sure." The one with the plain cap nodded. "Go tell him Bepo, Captain only listens to him anyways."
For three days I had avoided my crew. When I vanished, I just wanted to clear my head. By the time I calmed down, I was too embarrassed. How could I have reacted the way I did? Not only did I spoil the whole mood of my crew, I tarnished the joy of a hard-earned victory. If my intuition were to be trusted, these were going to be the last of the few peaceful days for us.
Unlike other Ds, I didn't have a great Observation Haki, yet. I wanted to hone this skill which could show me a potential future. Through sickness and tragedies, I developed a strange intuition; which more than often proved similar in its function to an Observation Haki and helped me right in both good and bad times.
Change was in the air, and instead of preparing my crew for that change, I was avoiding them like an angsty teenager.
"How long are you going to sit on top of that statue, Traffy?" How was he here? I looked at him, grinning widely and looking at me with cocky eyes. "Sanji sent me with a picnic basket. There are your favourite rice-balls with plum pickles inside and steamed fish. He also added a fresh jar of rice wine for you! I had to hide it from Zoro's greedy paws." From my height, I couldn't tell if his greedy paws had not already rummaged through the contents. "Why are you here? Is the view nice Traffy?"
I didn't choose this spot on purpose, I just happened to keep walking until I found this old statue of a long-forgotten god. The spot gave me a vantage point as I could see the whole Wano, so for three days I camped here. "Isn't it disrespectful to sit on top of a god's head? Momo told me, some old Sun-god who people prayed to before the Orochi burned down the prayers." It was hypocrisy, daylight hypocrisy he off all the people had no right to talk about respectfulness and history, he didn't give a flying fuck about old gods. Nico Robin has told me numerous times what he has done to ancient artefacts and architecture like the temples of Alabasta, the Golden Bell in Skypiea and the 900-year-old ship Noah on Fishmen Island! If I asked more, I am sure his crewmate would hand me her notebook of all the crimes he did by destroying things of historical importance...
"What—" I took a deep breath from lecturing him about history. Monkey D Luffy was not a child, he just acted like one because it made his life easier while the rest of us mortals suffered. "How did you find me? I didn't sense you."
"You are just like my brother."
"Which one? Blonde or the Raven-head?"
"Both, but more like Ace."
"How so?"
"Ace tried to runaway from his problem all the time. AND I always found him. Through heavy rains, storms, and blazing heat waves, nothing stopped me. Once I have smelled you, I can find you."
"You smelled me?" The rest of the question didn't leave my mouth, as it was killed in my heart: are you a dog?
"Yeah, I carried you, remember? Now it's here in my head. I am not good with faces, remember, sometimes they blur in my head, so smell is helpful!" I had no words to offer as a reply, except I knew that the human mind was strange, why wouldn't his mind be any different? "You are like Ace too, a grumpy loner who loves to overthink!" Was he here to find me or insult me? "And he climbed up high places to get a vantage point and stay hidden behind trees as a camouflage."
"Your brother was brilliant."
"He was." Luffy stretched his free arm to grab onto the crevices between the old concrete of the statue and shot himself towards me. He could've asked me to room him, but he loved the adrenaline rush. "Now it is better to talk." He flopped beside me and smiled as he carefully placed the food basket. "Here, Robin gave me a mat." What was she cooking? Trying to set me up with this manchild.
"Did my Crew ask you to come find me?"
"Yes, and your crew paid my navigator 300 million berries for my sniffing services." Luffy made a funny face and acted to sniff me out.
I pushed away when his nose reached near my ears, "What the fuck! 300 million? And do you know the meaning of personal space?"
"I know right? 300 million is too cheap, you are priceless Traffy."
Was he joking?
Was he flirting?
Was he being friendly?
I could never tell with this idiot. My heart knew there were little seeds of attraction planted in me. There was no desire on my part to water them and grow roots of attachment. Being rivals with someone like him was already a hassle, I couldn't imagine loving him. Hence, I was in a rush to end this alliance and leave Wano as soon as possible. When a few years had gone by I would reunite with him with a calmer heart that had settled itself. If I spent more and more time with him, I would fall in love with him, and I would be offended at myself.
"I don't understand you!" I chided him. "I can't believe the entire world thinks you are innocent."
"What's there not to understand about me? I am me, I eat when I am hungry, I cling to people I care about and I punch people when they hurt others!" Luffy smiled, "You are the one I don't understand. Everything I learned about you was hard-earned!"
Rolling my eyes, I took the mat from his hand and spread. "What do you not understand about me?" Did he help unroll the map? No! Rather, he was busy eyeing me like a hunting dog sizing its prey. I ignored him and settled under the shade of the three that had grown on this forgotten Sun-god's head.
He followed my action and sat with the big basket of food. "This is the first time I saw a Pirate Captain runaway from his crew! Did the Bear and the cap guys bully you?" My cheeks burned at the thought of those idiots bullying me. So I avoided his gaze like I avoided giving him a reply. I knew it was embarrassing and borderline childish. "Your crew is worried about you. I think three days is a long time to make them repent and regret, no, Traffy?"
"I know." I pulled my knees to my chin and hugged my legs. "I know," in his company, I acted like a child too. My heart was consoled that no one was here, I didn't need to pretend or keep up the strong persona to keep the spirits high of my crew. After everything he has seen and done for me, could I even fool alliance mates? "I am worried." I confessed.
"About your crew? Hmmmmm." Luffy pretended to think by tapping his forehead. "You know Traffy for someone so intelligent, you behave like an idiot sometimes." It hurt, it hurt so much that an idiot seven-years-younger than me was calling me an idiot.
"Oi!"
"We are captains, it is our responsibility to keep our crew safe." He paused and then extended his arms and coiled them five times around my waist. His powers were ridiculous, I couldn't digest the fact that I was fascinated by his powers the day we finally met in Shabody. As I was pulled closer because I didn't resist, I was used to him manhandling me now. "Yet, you can't predict everything and protect them forever on your own. You have to rely on your crew, there is a reason you chose them to accompany you on this journey, right?"
After a nod, I looked up at him. His shit-eating grin was so pretty and infuriating, and his eyes were still on me. My mind rolled back and wondered why he was behaving like a mature one between the two of us today. "It's a sort of trauma response—" I stopped. "No, not a trauma response. It's more akin to an urge, to keep the ones I care about from harm's way."
"Because you lost your family and your saviour?" When he was so perceptive, I hated him. Barely an adult, yet those eyes that were scanning me felt so aged as if all the wisdom from all his past lives resided in his mind. How much had he witnessed to understand my heart?
"You know, Traffy, after I lost Ace. There were days when I thought I shouldn't reunite with my crew." My expression changed faster than I could process his words. "Yes, I thought, Nami, Usopp and Chopper are so fragile how can I ever protect them after I couldn't save my brother, who was the strongest." Then he rested his head on my shoulder and continued, "Then I thought will Zoro and Sanji ever believe in someone like me, who was not even able to defeat a fucking Vice Admiral?" With my free hand, I removed his strawhat and patted his head. Like a cat, he settled his fluffy head more comfortably on my shoulder. This was the first time we were physically this close without the exhaustion of constant running and the strain of chasing. So I let myself indulge in this brief moment of sweetness, "When I thought of Robin, Franky and Brook, I kept wondering if I had the right to ask them to wait for me. Brook had waited 44 years alone, how could I do this to him?" Luffy's words made sense to me. "But then Jinbe reminded me that you and others who all protected me gave me a second chance. This was a chance for me to protect the people I love. I am a captain and I have to be stronger but…" Luffy chuckled. "But I have to put faith in my crew too, when I rushed to save Ace, I didn't have the luxury of time to prepare with my crew."
"You wouldn't have followed the plan either way, would you?" I smiled as I rubbed slow circles on his head. A small chuckle hit my collarbone as he hid his entire face in the crook of my neck.
"Point. But, having my crew would've made a difference? Maybe the outcome would've been different."
Who knows? Would we never know the answer? Never. I have revisited all the tragedies that have happened to me multiple times in my waking and dreaming hours. In the end, I didn't there was only one truth: what happened has happened.
We have to build a time machine to go back to the past and change the outcome. Knowledge of which neither Luffy nor I possessed.
"But I know I can't change it, right?" The brat lifted his head with a grin, but his eyes were so sad. I nodded again. "So, what I am trying to say to Traffy is…" He squeezed me harder. "You were loved by your family and saviour before, and you are still loved by your crew. You were protected by your teacher and family, and you are protected by your crew now. So trust them." I understood every word he said. I just didn't like hearing it from him. "You are not their parent, are you? You can't shield them from bad things forever. We are pirates, we should know better!"
"I trust them." I snapped. "They are just too emotional and soft-hearted! You, too, know that's a bad idea when it comes to the world of pirates!"
"Says the guy who gave his heart to Caesar to learn of Mingo's plans and tried to break our alliance in the middle of battle because he was worried about me and my crew. Traffy you are a big softie, you can't even kill bad people now I know the papers lied."
With a frown, I asked, "You know how to read? Did you not cry because you didn't know how to count your bounty?" There was no plan in my mind to pull this mean card, but I heard his Skeleton Musician tell Nose-ya how Luffy was crying about his bounty decreasing, all because he didn't know his decimals.
Instead of being offended, he smiled sweetly. Luffy often smiled like this when he recalled memories of his childhood. "Shanks taught me the letters, later Makino and Sabo taught me how to read and write. Ace tried to help, but he was bad too. And he was a softie like you too. So if I cried that I didn't want to read books, he would let me off." Luffy pulled his lower-eyelid with his free hand and poked his tongue out. My desire to whack him was at the lowest point of my tolerance.
What was he?
A child?
Then I reminded myself he was a new-adult, Lamy would've been his age too, if she had survived. She too behaved like him because she was a spoiled younger sibling like him.
"And I don't read papers, Robin reads them out to me!" There was so much pride in that smug little round face. I could see why Robin cared for him the way she did, he made people want to look after him just the way I want to do now.
My hands on his skull never stopped moving. With my overgrown nails, I slightly scraped his skin, just like Lamy liked. He was enjoying this, if he was a cat, he would purr! "I had my reasons." To my surprise, his hair and skin felt like rubber too. After I stole him from Marineford he was unconscious for days. My crew and I couldn't tell how far his powers affected his physique, so we let our curiosity be. In Punk Hazard, I was still in shock that he had survived and was still capable of smiling as sweetly as he did from the first memories of Luffy that I had. In Dressrosa, I had no time to pay attention to stretching my arms and legs. Now that I was touching him casually, my doctor's brain went on an overdrive. I could steal some of his skin from his scalp and study them later when I was away from Wano and him. "My reasons are jumbled at the moment, Strawhat-ya."
"Yes, the reasons are called emotions! Traffy is such a mess. You should read those thick books Robin reads. You will learn a few things about your mind and heart. Chopper will help you too!"
Medical interests be damned. I pinched his ear and raised my other hand to press it on his chest, "You do realise, I am a doctor and this scar you have on your chest is because I operated on you? Otherwise, you would resemble a sundew flower!"
Luffy's eyes glowed. "The insect-eating flower?" I nodded and was impressed by his interest in obscure information like me.
I drummed my fist on his scar. "I saved you so that you can become a formidable rival and kill my boredom and not because I want to be lectured by a nineteen-year-old smart-mouthed brat!" I pulled his ear more like I did for Lamy.
"Shishishishi! Then behave like a smart person!"
"You are being too cocky! And we are too close." My attempts to wriggle out failed. I could've ROOMed myself out of it. Somehow, the warmth of this dumbass was making me comfortable and I didn't try harder.
"Now that we are talking about scars, excuse my behaviour." Luffy pushed me. I felt like a house of cards. My head never hit the ancient concrete underneath the flowery mat, as a coiled hand cushioned my head. Then the coils of his arms shifted to my lower waist, and his free hand shamelessly unbuttoned the shirt.
"Strawhat-ya! What are you doing?"
"Checking your chests. Wow, the tattoos make it hard to spot things on your body, don't they? Did it hurt when you needled them? It must've. It hurt when I did my 3D2Y tattoo, it stung so bad! Worse was removing it!" He grinned and then shamelessly patted my chest. I had never felt this humiliated before, but it seemed there was more humiliation left for me. "Traffy, don't you eat at all? I see that packs have gained weight, but they are so lean compared to Zoro and Jaggy!"
"How dare you!"
"No, I am worried. You were skinnier than this. I asked Sanji to feed you better than us when you were on our ship." No wonder that blonde chased me up and down that silly ship to write down my favourite food items. It was Luffy's orders!
"Can you stop groping me?"
"There I found it." Luffy tapped his finger on my heart. "The Bear said, these white scars only appear when you take your heart out and keep it away from your body for days." Bepo where patient confidentiality! "Where is your heart?" He asked, not so gently.
"It is safe." His crazy eyes refuse to believe me. "I am not lying. I took it out and hid it. But when my heart is not inside me, the scars from amber-lead syndrome resurface now and then. No, I am not relapsing, okay!"
"But why is your heart out?"
"It is insurance."
"For what?"
"I have the most expensive devil fruit powers in the world. You heard Doffy didn't you?"
"The immortality-thingy?"
"Yes," I nodded. "If something happens to the crew and me, I want to make sure I am not completely incapacitated. Keeping my heart away assures me that I have a back-up-plan."
"So you want to keep your heart away so that in case you get caught, you will use it as bait to escape or use it as a bargain?"
"Why are you suddenly so smart?"
"Why are you suddenly being an idiot?"
"..."
"Cat got your tongue Traffy?" The cold mockery pierced my heart. "Where do you want to keep the heart anyway?"
"I have not made a plan yet. I was just testing if I could live without the heart for a few days."
"Why are you doing this?"
"Because every fibre in my body is telling me, something bad will happen to my crew and me, once we leave Wano."
"Did it feel good saying out loud the truth?" Luffy asked. It actually did. He uncoiled my waist and moved both his hands to cup my face. "Do you want to exchange your heart with mine?"
My hand stopped playing with his hair, "What?" He was sincere, but he was a stupid kind man.
"We have the same blood-type F right?" I nodded. "So why not put your heart in my body and mine in yours?"
"And what happens if I get into some danger, not only will I put my whole crew in front of the cannon, I will end up putting you in danger."
"You can use my heart as a bargaining chip!"
"You are not an object Strawhat-ya! Rival or enemy you maybe, but using you as an ace card to get out of pickle will do me no good!"
"Then why are you willing to be a gambler who gambles away their body toe-by-toe?" He glared. "Don't you dare say, it is Captain's Duty! Shanks gave up his arm for me because I was stupid. Ace gave his life to protect me. Do you think sacrificing yourself will make the person you protected happy? In your case, do you think your Crew will be happy to know that their beloved Captain again tried to give up his life while they were away from action?"
"Hey Strawhat-ya…" I mumbled.
"What?"
"You are glowing."
"What?" Luffy dropped his hands from my cheeks. He looked at himself and our surroundings. He poked his hand at the picnic mat, indeed the ancient concrete beneath him was now rubber. "Fuck, I am still learning to control this Gear5! Shishishi. It seems anger triggers me."
"May I?" I raised my hand, asking to touch his white hair. He bent his neck forward, and I touched his glowing hair. It was not rubber-like, but it felt like my hand was being warmed by some kind of gaseous presence. "Are you like a light fairy?"
"Do I resemble one?"
"You resemble someone that my Church prayed to."
"Was that a light-fairy?"
"A god."
"Oh…" Luffy pouted. "A good god I hope?"
"Strawhat-ya, gods are good." I bit my lips, it was a lie that I told Lamy when her sickness grew every day. When medicine failed, even a doctor's family like mine resorted to prayer. Hence, I too had prayed to that Sun-god of our church every day.
With an exaggerated pout, he huffed, "I once met a guy on the sky-island called Skypiea. He was a bad god! Very bad god and he had long ears like millipedes" Unable to stop myself, I patted his head. My adventure had been full of planning and caution. His had been spontaneous to the point of reckless, yet here we were two opposites discoursing about gods.
"My sister believed in the Sun-god of our Church. You remind me of him."
"Was the sun-god like the statue we are sitting on?"
"No… he was different, he was young with a smile and had a halo behind his head. Lamy always felt better when she prayed to him."
"Did you pray?"
"Yes!" Luffy grinned. Gripped by the desire to speak the truth all of a sudden, I told him, "I prayed to you too when you were punching Kaido."
"Oh…" He smirked. "Oh….." His hands coiled around my waist again.
"What? What are you cooking in that empty-workshop of a brain you have? And can you change back, you are hurting my eyes!"
"But when my light reflects on your golden eyes, you look even prettier!"
"Stop flirting!" I hit him on the chest, instead I felt his heartbeat. Under my fingers, they were moving in a rhythm. This was stranger than I could ever think.
"I am not flirting! You are as pretty as Robin!"
"Shhhh!" I pressed my ear to his chest. Luffy placed his hand on my head as if to secure me in his embrace permanently. "Your heart-beat resembles the 4/4 beats of a drum. How is this possible?"
"How do you know that this is the beat of a drum? It could be piano too!"
"Because I sang in a choir with this beat. Are you my Sun-god?"
"I am your Luffy?"
My tongue slipped, and I let him know the truth, "You are fascinating, just like the day I met you."
"Then…" Luffy pressed me against his body harder. "Let's swap our hearts."
"No…"
"Yes!"
"Why?"
"You need a reason to live, you are like Ace. Live for your crew, live for me so that we can have an epic battle for the One Piece. I know you want to battle it out with me."
"I do."
"So, take my heart, and give me yours. And when you are plagued by nightma—"
"How do you know about nightmares…" I blushed. I was glad I was not looking at him. "Can you even observe people's dreams with your haki, huh?"
"Look at my crew and me, you think we would make it this far if our lives were cosy? Would you have ventured out this far if your crew were not driven by the desire to live and explore?" Again, he was acting mature. I pinched his arms, but it didn't hurt him. "So when you have nightmares, press that den-den-mushi that you doctors use to hear the heartbeat of people, on your chest and fall asleep to the beat of drums."
"It is a phonendoscope." I sighed. He patted my head which was glued to his chest. "Are you serious? Do you want to swap hearts with me?"
"Absolutely."
"What if I sell it to the World Government?"
"Like you did with the 100 hearts at Rocky Port!"
"You know that too?"
"I listen to things Robins tells me!" No wonder, he turned to her for opinion when he declared he formed an alliance with me. "And if you sell it, you sell it. We have a Nami, she will try to do the same with your heart." I could imagine that woman doing worse, to be honest.
"Why are you willing to go this far for me?"
"You know, Traffy, I don't remember the days of you saving me." That was the reason I saved you, silly guy, I didn't want to dangle a favour above your head. "For two years, I was uncertain if you had actually spoken to me while I was unconscious." Unintentionally, my body stiffened and, like a snake, his arms adjusted. "There were these words that always pulled me out of bad places when I had nightmares: Your brother wants you to live, he would've regretted if things went otherwise."
On our way to Lovely Island, I kept checking up on him, I could only imagine his grief. But I could relate to Ace and I could understand why there was a smile on his face the moment he died. He was glad he saved his little-brother. As someone who couldn't save a little sister, I would give anything in this world to trade places with her. The younger ones don't understand, the moment they arrived in our lives, they became our most precious ones. So when Luffy was whimpering and crying in pain, I would whisper to him that Ace wanted him to live.
"Then you greeted me in Punk Hazard and I immediately knew it was your voice stuck in my head. Your voice was like the ocean waves that kept me in motion and drove away the nightmares. Since your voice soothed me, I think hearing my heartbeat would keep your nightmares away too." I pinched his arms again, I refused to believe he had come up with this idea. Was it Bepo or Sachi, only those romantic fools could think of something so stupid. It was an old cure for melancholy and insomnia. Doctors of the past recommended hearing the breathing or the heartbeat of someone you cared for to keep away your mind demons. "And…." He squeezed me as hard as he could, like an anaconda draining the life out of its prey. "When I saw you on that rooftop with a severed arm and bullet holes, I thought I'd lost you. If I have your heart with me, I will know you are alive. Even if you get battered and bruised again, as long as you keep trying to live, I will be at peace."
"I don't understand." I lied. I did. What was this if not fondness and care between us? When did a grown-ass pirate like me seek comfort in the arms of another grown-ass brat pirate like him?
"Liar." He laughed, and the Sun-god statue beneath us rumbled according to his laughter. I was terrified of these fake earthquakes, but he was enjoying it, as it made me cling to him harder. "I have never done this before but, you matter to me. You have mattered to me for a long time now, Traffy. Before you say that, I love my crew too and it is the same thing. I do love them, I do a lot. But they are my friends, you are my partner. I don't want you to live your life doing calculations and shaping it according to fear. So what in future if you lose? You are one of the strongest men I know in this world. You will cry, but you will lift yourself like you always do. As much as you believe in me, I too believe in you more."
"You like me that much?"
"I love you that much…" Luffy lifted my chin and smiled. "I haven't kissed before, but I know kissing is a way to show one's affection. Shall I prove it?"
"Did Robin teach you that?" I chuckled.
"No! Franky." Luffy's eyes were cartoonishly pink, and his puckered lips stretched them like he was a duck. Looking at him in this form didn't feel attractive to me at all. But my heart wanted to let him kiss me. "May I?"
"Since when did you care about others, huh?" I titled my head forward. "I thought you were the greediest pirate who takes what he wants."
"Sanji told me to ask permission before doing ero-ero stuff, shishishishi!"
"Shut up and kiss me!"
I sat on his lap and cupped his cheeks. Compared to him, I had a bit more experience, I guided his tongue for the first few seconds. But he was Monkey D Luffy, who shared his first kiss with me and knocked my senses off. He was a fast learner, and he was greedy, our roles in the kiss changed sooner than I expected. Under the touch of his glowing fingers and his naughty mouth, my body could feel things that I had never thought I was capable of. I understood attraction on a theoretical level, but never had found the practical aspect of it appealing. Sachi and Penguin had taken me places after I turned adult to show me the wonders of pleasure, to everyone's horror, I couldn't enjoy it at all and returned with a hand-print on my cheeks. Right now, it is different. With him grabbing me all over and kissing me like I was his favourite piece of Sea-King meat, I felt wanted. His wanting more than friendship and physical intimacy from me made my mind giddy! Unlike my previous encounters, I loved the way he was treating me with his wandering hands and mouth. I tried to grab his fluffy hair, but there was no place to hold onto it, so I moved my hands to his waist. Then he pushed me down and kissed me until my lips were left bruised.
After calming my heart, he turned to face me, "The kiss tasted like tea!"
"And my kiss tasted like rice-balls…" Luffy immediately pouted. "Were they not for me?"
"I only had one!"
"Did you, now? Let me check." I sat up and brought closer the feast Black-leg-ya had packed in the basket. Indeed, my partner had helped himself with one rice-ball. Before I could pick up my tasty rice-ball Luffy hugged me from behind.
"Let's swap our hearts."
"Are you afraid I will sacrifice myself?"
"Yup." Luffy rubbed his nose in my nape, "Give me your heart, please. Let me protect you and you can torture my heart with your overthinking!"
"Will you believe me if I say I won't sacrifice myself?"
"I will trust you. I have always trusted you."
"But I don't believe myself. So I will trust you with my heart okay? Take good care of me. I have had to stitch this heart back multiple times. I will not survive another loss."
"You will survive, we will survive. Believe in us!"
I stretched my arm, "ROOOOOOOM!" My heart popped out of thin air and fell into Luffy's lap. Then again, I used my powers to pull out his heart. With a grin, he placed my heart in the cube-shaped hole in his chest. I picked his drumming heart, his heart was so beautiful. "We will give it a try for the next few days, if we face physical discomfort or have side-effects, we take back our hearts. Deal?"
"Deal!"
That night, after I dropped Law back in the hands of his crying crew, I returned late to the ship. Sanji, Chopper and Robin gave an eye the moment I landed on the deck. In my hand was what Law had given me, an instrument to hear his heartbeat. All three of them had good eyesight, so they could see the Heart Pirate's symbol on the equipment. Three raised eyebrows were a question for me.
"Traffy is doing a new experiment, so he asked for my help as a subject." I tried really hard to lie. The three of them nodded. "I volunteered. This is a phone… den… ah yes, phonendoscope, Chopper has one too, right?" The three of them nodded. "Shishishi!"
"Did you get the 300 Million for finding and returning him?" Nami again popped out from the window of the navigation room.
"No. He is our friend, not a lost object, Nami!"
"Whatever, I thought he was as precious as treasure for you." She shut the window on my face.
"Friend?" Robin smirked. "I thought our captain saw Traffy as a partner."
When I felt nervous, I scratched my head, "Shishishi! He is a friend, partner, mate, nakama… He is just like you guys to me! I am going to turn in for the night."
"You won't have dinner?" Sanji smirked.
He just knew how to bribe me, I had some food with Law in his ship as well. But I could always eat. "I will. Can I have it now?"
"Me too!" Chopper raised his hands.
"Sure."
After dinner, when I was settled into my hammock, Robin's six hands popped up and helped me with the phonendoscope. I had a feeling she was keeping a tab on me when I went to search for Law. She cared about him a lot, and she cared about me the most. We both silently worked on opening the box and untangling the cord.
"Thank you again!" I whispered to her little ear that mushroomed on the wooden box of the phonendoscope. "I can do the rest from here, Robin." Then all her hands and an ear vanished.
When Law was living on Sunny, he slept outside on the deck. Many times Robin and I found him whimpering thanks to his nightmare. One night I hugged him as I didn't know what to do, that's how I knew how his heartbeat accelerated when he was dreaming. Later, Chopper confirmed my suspicion that Law was an insomniac who barely slept and ate properly. Robin and Chopper secretly spent hours looking for a solution to help him because I was desperate. Then they found an old book, which said hearing the heartbeat of a loved one helps. So every night we tried to make him hear something soothing with Brook's help. Yet, the nightmares continued.
As our departure came closer, I was worried, how could I keep tabs on someone who was like a lonely feral cat? Even if the sky broke down and the seas dried up, Law wouldn't ask for help. The opportunity presented itself this afternoon, and Robin suggested that I ask for a heart-swap, because she remembered clearly what he had done in Punk Hazard. Chopper explained how it could work, and Sanji happened to enter the room with the basket of lunch. Three of them were willing to help me because they clocked on my attraction towards Law before I did.
Robin and Chopper's theory was simple, if Law heard my heartbeat while sleeping as the books said, it would distract his brain from thinking bad things. Sanji thought it was worth a shot if I was serious about the idea of swapping hearts. It was a given bonus that my heart had a drum-like rhythm to it, and the Bear and the rest of the Heart Crew arrived at our doorstep crying! I was no god that Law worshipped as a child, but if listening to my thumping heart consoled his hurting soul, I was willing to gamble as well.
So I plugged in the buds of my hearing instrument and placed the flat surface on my chest. For the first time in a while, I could hear the calm heartbeats of the man I loved. Trafalgar D Water Law's heartbeat resembled the sound of steady raindrops that fell on a glass window pane.
On the opposite side of Sunny Go, in my ship, my adorable Polar Tang, I Trafalgar D Water Law plugged into my ears the phonendoscope to hear Monkey D Luffy's 4/4 heartbeat. His beating heart reminded me of drums, drums of happiness and liberation.
Then I slept like a baby for the first time in thirteen years.
THE END
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece
So this is my actual submission for LawLu Month 2024 Day-2.
Hi guys, sorry for the late update on the second day of LawLu Month. My mood has been sour, as some of you know, I again got laid off because of AI and my manager throwing my whole team under the bus. The most irritating part was I got logged out of my system even before they actually told me that I got laid off. So I had to do the whole shebang of calling the IT guy to let me rejoin into the system only for the HR girl to tell me: sorry we are downsizing! LOL!
Anyway, enough of sad author life, this fic was supposed to be 2000 words, but lalalalalalala! It is 9000+ words now. I am not a big fan of the whole heart-swap trope, so I never wrote one. So I had spent a few hundred words on just setting the mood up for the whole confession and kiss and let's swap the heart thingy.
Hope you all like it, again it is Demi Luffy and Demi Law. Lately, I like writing them in demi to ace spectrum setting more.
Hope you all like it, again it is Demi Luffy and Demi Law. Lately I like writing them in demi to ace spectrum setting more.