Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Woah, is this Amber Lead?” Ikkaku exclaimed, lifting a candleholder made of the pure white material. “Haven’t seen that in ages!”

“Put that down!” Law ordered with an angry shout. 

Startled, she dropped it into the treasure chest from their recent haul that she had been examining.

He opened his room, scanned the chests and soon after the candleholder and a pile of white dust settled on one of their tables in the mess hall. Neatly on top an old piece of cloth that had not previously lain there. The captain was breathing hard, as if that had exhausted him more than it should have. Ikkaku had seen him lift boulders heavier than him, pick up every grain of a spilled sack of rice and throw around cut apart Marines as if it was nothing.

“Captain?” Clione voiced Ikkaku’s concern, but the man in question just stared at their discovery.

Amber Lead was a complicated topic in the North Blue. While it had been present for the first part of their lives, it had vanished one day. Accompanied by words like “disease” and “contamination”. Ikkaku had been too young to fully understand the situation. But the stuff had been extremely valuable in the past. Now it freaked her usually calm and collected captain out.

Without warning, he got up and tied the cloth tightly. “Catalogue the rest of the loot while I get rid of this,” was all he said before he turned to leave.

“Are you afraid the Marines will come after us, if we try to sell it?” Uni dared to ask, holding him in his tracks.

“No,” came his dry reply. There was more in this one word than it seemed, but Ikkaku could not put a finger on it. “This stuff could get you killed and that’s not happening on my watch,” he muttered more to himself than the crew before teleporting himself away.

“The hell?” Ikkaku looked around the room and found only dumbfounded faces staring at the spot where their captain had just been.

All except the oldest crew members. Bepo was anxiously kneading his paws; she could already hear the apology waiting to leave his lips. Penguin and Shachi were seemingly holding a silent conversation until the former got up to follow the captain.

“Well, you heard the man! Let’s finish this!” Shachi declared, clapping his hands.

~~♥~~

Their little crew had more than doubled in the last few years and it did seem that all of them wanted to stick around. A fact that still baffled Law. How could they so easily accept his invitation to join his ranks, when they did not know him at all? Well, he was about to change that. And if it meant, he would lose some of them, then they were not meant to be on his crew in the first place. Though, he was not sure if he could get rid of them permanently if they were going to betray him over what he was about to tell them. Law had tried to keep his distance, but despite that, they had found their way into his heart. This would now determine, whether or not that had been a mistake. 

“You got this,” Penguin encouraged him for the umpteenth time since he had dissolved the Amber Lead into tiny, harmless particles.

With a sigh, Law pushed open the door to the mess hall. The crew had shoved the tables aside and got out the beanbags and fluffy carpets. Their card games and chatter halted once they became aware of him. Law could feel the tension in the room from his earlier, unexplained, actions. He sat down cross-legged in the spot Bepo had left for him on a carpet that was as white and soft as his own fur while Penguin joined Shachi at the wall to the side. Both alert, to protect him if necessary. A grateful smile crept onto his lips and he answered their nods with one of his own and took a deep breath.

“There is something only a few people know about me.” He paused for a moment, his hands playing with the material of the carpet, not willing to look at his crew. Then he blurted his deepest secret out in a rush: “I’m from Flevance.”

A few gasped, others nearly fell off their chairs, one choked on their drink. This was followed by a lot of questions of “How?” and “What?” and Law let them pass over him until the Hearts grew quiet again, waiting for him to elaborate.

“I’m sure you’ve all heard what was said about Amber Lead. That it was contagious, a disease,” he waited for some to confirm this, before declaring: “It was all a lie.” He took another deep breath. “The mining and usage of Amber Lead caused the population of Flevance to poison themselves with every exposure. It accumulated in their bodies over time, more with every generation until the outbreak.” Again, Law paused, fighting against the images that were clawing their way to the forefront of his mind. “People fell ill, died and the government decided to eradicate us all. They closed the borders, let us starve. When that wasn’t enough they sent in soldiers to finish the job. They gathered children to shoot them all at once. They shot researchers who were trying to find an antidote,” his voice broke, desperately trying not to think of his parents lying in their own blood he squeezed his eyes shut. “I remember how happy my father was when he told us they were close to finding one. That they sent out a paper for peer review. Only for the government to retract and destroy it as soon as it had been published.” His father’s anger at that was a sharp memory he thought long forgotten.

“Your parents were among the researchers?” Came the quiet question from his crew, taking him out of his reverie.

He solemnly nodded, not looking up to see the pity some of them would clearly hold in their eyes. “The best doctors in Flevance.”

“How did you survive?” Was the next question. Law was getting there, but he understood the impatience. Or was it concern? A small hope nestled between his ribs. None of them had reacted negatively so far. That was a good sign. Right?

“Tell them about Lammy first,” Penguin prompted and Law’s head shot up to meet his steady gaze. One of his oldest friends, the one that felt like an older brother just nodded for him to continue.

“Who is Lammy?” Someone wanted to know only for another to quietly add: “Or was?”

“My sister,” Law whispered, his eyes still glued to Penguin. “She- I-.” He could not continue, his throat constricted and his eyes started to water. He felt movement beside him and soon after found himself cradled in Bepos arms. Slowly his breathing calmed down, as he tightly held onto his best friend - and little brother. When the four of them became this close he felt as if he was betraying Lammy when he accepted this truth about their relationship. But Bepo was the one who broke through those thoughts by simply stating: “You’re not replacing your sister, you’re gaining brothers!” and proceeded to fawn over his big brother Zepo.

“She was four years younger than me and the poison had her bedridden when it hadn’t even started showing on my skin,” he did not look at the others, instead staring at Bepo’s paw that he was absentmindedly kneading. The last time he felt this vulnerable, he had told his story to his best friends, fully expecting them to finally have enough and abandon him. This felt just as terrifying if not more so. “When the soldiers came, I hid her in the room’s closet and went out to investigate. Only to find the hospital up in flames when I returned.” Bepo squeezed him tightly and he was sure to hear a few sniffles from the others. “I ran as fast and far and most of all quiet as I could, to not be found. I hid among the corpses to cross the border.” Again a few sucked in a breath. “After that I just wanted to watch the world burn. I had three years left to live and wanted to take as many people with me as I could.”

“How old were you?” Ikkaku asked, a clear wobble in her voice. She was just barely older than Lammy would have been and the first to ever question if he had any younger siblings, simply because of the way he treated the younger members of the crew. Back then he could not answer her, now she finally knew the truth.

“Ten.”

Another heavy silence followed his answer. Law used that moment to change his position against Bepo. Instead of sitting sideways across the other’s lap, he now leaned against his broad chest. Bepo’s arms still around his middle, Law continued: “I looked for the most destructive crew or gang in the North Blue and ended up with the Donquixote Family. They trained me to become an executive member, but my condition worsened. And Doflamingo’s brother took pity on me when he heard my full name.” He knew what question would come next, so he answered before it could be asked: “Trafalgar D. Water Law.” Then he repeated his name in the way it was pronounced in Flevance, without the distracting vowels to hide his connection to his past and his parents. “I don’t know what the D. stands for, but those who carry it as part of their name are said to bring a storm.”

“Perfect for what you have planned then.”

Uni’s comment had Law snort. That was one way of putting it. In a way he was still that little brat that just wanted to see the world burn. And judging by the determination he saw in his crew’s faces they would be right there beside him when he did.

It was one of those rare moments where the whole crew gathered in the mess hall. Usually, about half of them were resting while the others completed their daily tasks. But now, Law had called them all here, the previous shift hopefully awake enough to understand what he was about to tell them. It would be a lot to take in, he was certain, but he needed them to understand before they agreed to join him on the next part of his journey.

Anxiously he kneaded his hands, glad he had left Kikoku in his room or she would probably complain about him crushing her. His crew chatted amongst themselves as he gathered the courage to do this. He had called them here, disrupted their schedule, he could not back out any longer. Law shared a look with Penguin and Shachi, who leaned against the wall opposite of him. They and Bepo knew what this was about. It had been their idea to call the meeting after all. As they nodded with solemn encouragement, he got up from his place at one of the many currently bolted down tables with a sigh. The screeching of the chair against the metal floor made him cringe. The Hearts fell silent so at least he already had everyone’s attention. His head bowed down he made his way to the front of the room. He felt all eyes on him and wanted to just sit down again and continue like before. Unnecessarily he cleared his throat as if that would help him find the words he had practiced and rearranged for the past few weeks.

“As you know, I became a pirate with a goal in mind,” he finally started, his eyes locked on the ceiling above their heads.

“To overthrow the World Government!” Someone shouted.

Law was far too nervous to determine who it was. “That’s one reason,” he agreed, rubbing the tattoo on the back of his hand that stood for both “Death to the World Government” and “Death at the hands of the World Government”. “The other one is Cora-san’s sacrifice. I want to pay back his kindness and take out Doflamingo once and for all.”

He had told them his whole story; they knew his deepest, darkest secret and the light that had taken him from the brink of utter annihilation. The reason he was still here today and the inspiration for everything their crew stood for. Including the smiling jolly roger.

“So what exactly is your plan?” Uni asked without hesitation, probably tired from his shift and annoyed at Law’s dilly-dallying, keeping him from his bed.

“I want to enter the Grand Line and make a name for myself. Then I will take up the position of a Warlord to gain more information about Doflamingo to plot his downfall. He will pay for what he’s done.” The gravitas in his words had them silently contemplate them for a moment.

“There aren’t any open spots?” Someone interjected.

“Yet.” Law just shrugged, he was prepared to create one himself if necessary.

“What makes you think, they will just accept you?”

“My fruit. Even if they don’t see me as a threat, they would love to get their hands on it. I’m sure of it.” He did not wish to elaborate on that. They had all seen what he was capable of. 

“I mean, I get that it’s epic, but it feels like we’re missing something.” Ikkaku destroyed his hope of skirting that particular topic. She crossed her arms and eyed him skeptically.

“Because of the ‘Perennial Youth’ Operation,” Penguin supplied, stepping up beside Law, the brush of his shoulder a grounding sensation. “It’s an operation that basically grants immortality,” Law felt all eyes return to him, just like the scepticism, the worry, the awe that brought along with it, “at the cost of the user’s life.”

With that all hell broke loose. Shouts of denial, demands begging him to never perform that surgery. It took both Shachi and Penguin to calm them down.

“How do you know that?” Ikkaku asked, worry clear in her voice.

“Back when we sneaked into Marine bases to gather information, we found a log of one of the previous users that talked about the abilities they used,” Penguin explained casually. It was a well-known fact, that they had created Marine-aliases to gain access to information. A ruse that went so far that they occasionally submitted fake reports and were able to collect their amassed salaries at whichever base they passed.

“Mostly for surgical procedures, though. Captain is the first to use them in battle as far as we know,” Shachi added proudly.

“Yeah, cause Captain is awesome!”

Law could not hold back the fond smile at the declaration. Well, it was time to ask them the question, this was all about. He stood a little straighter, Bepo had joined him to his left, Shachi and Penguin now standing steadfast to his right. They had given him their answers already, so no matter what, they would be at his side. “Now you know what is ahead of us and I won’t judge you if you want to leave the crew now. Before we enter the Grand Line.”

“Are you kidding? Who would not want to be there, when you kick that pink bastard’s ass?!”

“Hell, yeah! We’re going to the Grand Line!”

A wild cheer rang out across the crew and Law could not be prouder of the people he had chosen.

At this very moment, Law hated himself for his desire to be honest with his crew. He had told them of his deepest secret and of his plans to become a Warlord and they had stayed by his side throughout all of his trials. But now, now he needed them to understand that he had to take the next step alone. They were all having lunch together and picking at his scrambled eggs, Law waited for the perfect moment to tell them. Like he had done for the past few weeks, pushing his deadline. He needed to get a move on as soon as possible.

This time Penguin made the decision for him. “What’s the matter, Captain?”

Besides Bepo, he was always the most attuned to Law’s mood swings. Unlike the Mink their older brother rarely held back commenting on it, though.

Law could lie, could deflect, come up with something completely unrelated. Opening and closing his mouth a couple of times, the words slipped out without him wanting them to: “I need to leave.”

This understandably confused Penguin and Bepo too turned towards him.

Law dropped his fork, the clinking ringing in his ears. “It’s time.”

“Time for what?” The question was nothing more than a whisper, but full of apprehension.

Law looked at him, both their eyes for once not shielded by their respective hats. He did not know what Penguin saw in his, but the loud “NO!” accompanied by the slamming of his hands on the table spoke volumes. Penguin got up, the chair crashing to the floor behind him. All attention was now on them. “You are not going alone!” He yelled, staring him down.

“Going where?” Shachi interjected, coming back from the kitchen with a freshly refilled tray in his hands.

“This asshole has decided to go after fucking Doflamingo on his own!” Penguin pointed his finger accusingly at him and Law would have liked for the ocean to swallow him whole as murmurs and protests rose up around them.

Forcefully Shachi put down the food, his glare obvious even through his sunglasses. “You can’t be fucking serious?!”

Clenching his fists, Law tried to recall all the arguments he had put together before, but this conversation was already so far away from his original plan that he felt at a loss. “I have to,” he finally whispered.

“NO!” Came the protest from most of his crew, loudest of all from his brothers.

They did not understand. How could they? They never experienced Doflamingo’s manipulations, how he made families turn on each other with a simple flick of his fingers. “He’ll kill you,” was all Law could say, yet it was too quiet for anyone but Bepo to hear it.

“You don’t know that!” The Mink tried to argue, forgoing his usual apology for once.

“He’ll kill you,” Law repeated louder, staring down his oldest friend, his little brother.

“Don’t you think we’ve trained enough to fight him?” Penguin folded his arms over his chest.

“He’ll kill you!” This time Law yelled, getting up himself, gesturing wildly with his arms. “He will use his powers to make me do it or have you kill each other!”

His outburst left the mess hall utterly silent, except for the heavy breaths escaping him. That scenario was his biggest fear and worst nightmare. The “I love you too much, to watch that happen” was left unsaid, but not unheard.

Penguin lowered his arms into a position as if he was soothing a frightened animal, his expression changing from anger to disbelief to defeat within seconds. Yet, he seemed unable to find the words to continue.

Shachi, however, did, for once being the reasonable and calm one of the two: “What is your plan exactly?”

Law turned his attention to him, took a deep breath and explained how he was going to Punk Hazard, wait there for the Straw Hats to enter the New World and lure them in by setting up a distress call that would draw their attention. He would then use them to first destroy the SAD production and capture Ceasar Clown and afterwards destroy the SMILE factory on Dressrosa, which would lead Kaido to finish the rest.

“Why them?”

“He owes me.” His decision to save Straw Hat at Marineford might have been a spur of the moment one, but the more his plan came together, the more it seemed like the perfect opportunity to have back up, when he could not have his crew with him. Besides: Straw Hat Luffy had a reputation of being a miracle worker. And this plan of his might just need one of those.

“And what about us? You’re not planning on disbanding the Hearts are you?” Shachi’s tone held a treat in it, daring him to disagree.

“No,” he assured, holding his gaze. “We’re in the New World. I thought-,” Law paused looking at Bepo instead, feeling much calmer now that the initial yelling was done “we could meet up on Zou. Afterwards.”

Silence settled around the mess hall, followed by Bepo’s wails and a tight hug he pulled Law into.

“What do you need us to do?”

Penguin’s question surprised him and Law gently wormed his way out of Bepo’s hold. “You’re not going to argue?”

“If there was a way for us to prevent you from doing this, believe me, I would take it,” his brother replied his tone harsh but resigned. “You’re one stubborn bastard.”

Law could not deny that and huffed a laugh, looking down.

“There is a condition, though.”

This had him look up again; a raised eyebrow was all he needed to prompt Penguin further.

“Swear to us, on Lammy’s memory, that you will try your damnest to get out of that alive, to meet us on Zou.”

“I swear to you, on the memory of my sister and the man who saved me, that I will complete this task and come back to you,” Law declared with conviction. He had no intention to give up what Cora-san had granted him: a second chance at life. And there was no way in hell, he would let that pink feathered bastard win.

“Good,” Penguin accepted and repeated his question.

With that, they got to plan his next steps. The exact time he needed to get to Punk Hazard, the route he would take to reach Zou, how they would find an ally on Fish-Man Island to inform them once the Straw Hats passed through it. The clock was ticking. He would finally get the revenge he prepared for all these years. And his crew, his family, would be save while he did so.

~~♥~~

“Why did we agree to let him go on his own?” Shachi asked for the umpteenth time, staring at the smoldering Vivre Card of their captain, their brother.

“Because he would not let us help either way,” Penguin said through gritted teeth.

“Let’s never do that again,” Shachi declared. “Next time he’s on some kind of suicide mission at least one of us is with him!”

“And if things get dicey, we get him out of there,” Penguin added.

“There are no Hearts without him. He is our Heart,” Bepo mumbled, his snout on the table.

“Yeah,” the others agreed.

Loud laughter rang through the air. Bepo looked up, turning his ears towards it. He knew that voice: Straw Hat. Hope flowed through him as he got up.

“I’ll be right back! Sorry!” He told Law in a whisper, who did not stir the slightest.

Pushing down the worry that it was a mistake to leave his captain alone, he rushed towards the sound. Stumbling over roots and his own feet, he finally reached the beach. Some of the Straw Hats had already gathered there, the rest were still on board the Sunny. Tears gathered in Bepo’s eyes as he stepped into sight, a stream of words leaving his lips.

“Hey! You’re Traffy’s bear!” Straw Hat exclaimed, then paled. “Does that mean, he claimed the One Piece before me?!”

“What?” Was all Bepo could muster, staring at the other captain in confusion.

“We’re on Laugh Tale,” Robin calmly answered his unasked question and it clicked.
Somewhere on the island that Bepo had chosen after their fight against Black Beard to save his captain, was the legendary treasure of Gol D. Roger. “Oh, I’m sorry.” He hung his head for a second only to snap it up in urgency. “I need Chopper’s help! Captain, he-”

“What’s with Traffy?” Straw Hat interrupted him. “And where is your ship and the rest of your crew?”

Bepo wanted to cry, finally let out all the emotions he had held back since he had rescued his captain, his brother. His lip trembled and his mind replayed Penguin’s words from the deal they had made on Zou on repeat. If things get dicey, we get him out of there. He had done that, completed the mission. And now, help had finally arrived. A gentle hand on his arm, took him out of his spiraling thoughts.

“Where is Law?” Nami asked, a kindness in her voice that warmed his heart. He had completely missed her getting to shore.

“I’ll show you,” he croaked and set off to the meagre shelter he had built for them. While they ran there he rattled down all the captain’s medical needs he knew to the Straw Hat’s doctor, who sprinted beside him in his reindeer form. “He hasn’t woken up since the battle,” Bepo ended as they had reached the hideout. It was nothing more than branches and large leaves protecting them from the elements, but it was all he had been able to build while also taking care of Law’s medical needs with next to no equipment. Luckily, most of his injuries weren’t open wounds, but rather broken bones.

“He feels funny,” Luffy commented, startling Bepo. He had not noticed the Straw Hat’s captain accompanying them.

“Maybe it’s some of Black Beards powers still lingering inside him. He couldn’t use his fruit anymore or he would certainly have won.” Images of the fight, of their captain struggling to summon a Room, surfaced unbidden. Bepo shook his head, trying to get rid of them. “That darkness is a scary power,” he whispered.

“Darkness, huh, let’s see if light helps!” With this Straw Hat started to glow, the gear he had acquired on Wano activated as simple as breathing. He knelt down beside Law and put his hands on the faintly moving chest.

Then he did something Bepo could not comprehend, but it caused Law to spasm, then he open his mouth and released a large black cloud that dissipated into fireworks. When the last spark had vanished, Law opened his eyes, breathing heavily.

“Captain!” Bepo could not contain his joy as he hugged his oldest friend, his brother tightly, tears streaming down his face. He might have lost Zepo, Penguin’s and Shachi’s fate might still be jeopardy, but at least he had not lost Law.

“We have to get back,” were the first words Law spoke once Bepo let go of him.

“You need to regain your strength before we face Black Beard again!” Bepo urged, giving Chopper access to check Law’s injuries. Reluctantly Law let him and that was as much of a concession to his words as Bepo could ask for. They were both more than aware that rushing in would only result in further failure.

“We shouldn’t have left,” Law murmured after a while.

“It was the best thing we could have done,” Bepo argued, “without you there are no Heart Pirates!” That is why, when he was on his mission to defeat Doflamingo, the Hearts had decided that if it ever came down to it, they would make sure the captain survived no matter what. Shachi had called it “Operation: Heart Break”, because it would not just break apart their crew, but it also would break everyone’s hearts. He had sworn to not tell the captain that their current situation was the result of that.

Law sat up, anger in his eyes. “What good is it that I’m alive, when everyone else is-” Bepo did not let him finish the sentence. “They’re our friends! Our family! We will find them and rebuild! And then kick Black Beard’s ass!” His conviction stunned Law. “We will get them back,” Bepo concluded his speech, not apologizing again.

“Shishishi, let’s have a feast, so you can recover and then I’ll go look for the One Piece and then we’ll go and kick Black Beard’s ass!” Straw Hat declared, running off to probably tell their cook about it.

Eventually, Law had allowed Bepo to carry him to the banquet the Straw Hats had sat up. And apparently it was much needed sustenance as he cleared one plate after the other, while recalling everything that had happened since they departed from Wano. Behind his back Bepo gestured to Blackleg to keep the food coming as long as the captain kept eating. It was a well-practiced tactic the crew had developed over the years in order to have him actually eat his fill, when he felt up to it. He rarely skipped meals, but he had his moments of only poking or nibbling at his food. Though this time, the captain noticed, staring at the pile of plates and bowls towering beside Bepo.

Law bit his lip self-consciously, still unaware that he had the appetite of a “D” as well, even if it were only moments like these, when he was completely drained, that it reared its head. “I'll reimburse you. I just have to get my money from the bottom of the ocean.” 

“Don't make a deal with the witch, she'll bleed you dry!” Zoro warned, holding up his tankard.

“Traffy is a friend! Friends don't pay friends for food!” Luffy interjected, starting a shouting match with his navigator.

It stung hearing it and judging by the look on Law's face he too was reminded of Penguin and Ikkaku arguing about this new thingamabob being absolutely essential for the Tang. Reaching out, Bepo placed his paw on his captain's hand.

“We'll find them,” he assured, earning a small smile and a nod as the hand turned to hold his paw as well.