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The gulls were quiet, the palms were still, and even the waves couldn’t be bothered to do more than lazily lick at Sunny’s hull.
It was not a day meant for sailing, or really much else, which was probably why Law was so agitated when, for the fourth time that afternoon, Penguin came around on Sunny, notepad in hand, to read him the details of their most recent acquisitions.
“That’s four crates of dried meat, five crates of plain flour, ten barrels of drinking water - all purchased this morning and added to the pantry. Captain, this is on top of the….”
The Straw Hats were all wisely taking refuge inside Sunny’s carefully climate-controlled rooms, with the glaring exception of their insane captain, who could be seen lounging on Sunny’s mane, attempting to fish when all the marine life were hiding away in the cooler depths away from the ocean’s sun-baked surface.
Predictably, Strawhat had caught nothing - though he showed remarkable patience for once, as he’d been trying since lunch and still hadn’t given up yet. Law had been observing him in disbelief the entire time from the shades of Nami’s mikan grove. He felt desiccated just looking at Strawhat, like an inescapable heat was burning him from the inside out. As Penguin droned on, Law finally stood up. He meant to march over there to do his diligence as a doctor and convince Strawhat to give it a rest before he succumbed to heatstroke. But Penguin stood in his way.
“Damn it, just take care of it,” he snapped. “You handled the logistics just fine without me for months.” His voice was gravelly, low. Law hadn’t realized he’d been so parched.
Penguin bore Law’s attitude in good stride, but instead of looking contrite for bothering his captain with all this nonsense, he was scrunching up his face in an expression of pity and embarrassment.
Penguin exchanged a helpless glance with Shachi, who’d been standing to the side this whole time, uncharacteristically silent. “Actually, Captain, Bepo usually handled all this. But you know him with this heat. He’s totally out of commission. And, Captain, well, we were hoping you’d come down to the Polar Tang and give everything your seal of approval, so we can, you know, get on with it?”
Penguin and Shachi were giving each other looks again, and simultaneously shuffling their feet. Sweat gathered in Law’s collar; his mind fought the blanketing cloud of heat and humidity in an effort to understand what his crew was trying to tell him.
Get on with what? Law was a smart man. Really, he was.
Shachi cleared his throat. “Captain, the crew has been wondering, why are we still here?”
The clouds cleared as a gust of cool clarity cut through the storm. Why was he still there, having his Polar Tang tugged behind Thousand Sunny like a dog out on a walk, following the Straw Hats to not one but three islands after their mutual mission had wrapped up more than three weeks ago, dragging his heat-sensitive vice captain to this ungodly hot archipelago for what - just so he could sunbathe on another pirate crew’s ship as though he had no other responsibility in the world?
Law was spiraling. And on Sunny’s mane, Strawhat began to sing:
“The water is stiiiill.
The air is hoooot.
There’s no fish at aaaall.
I’m too sweaty to rhyyyyme.”
He collapsed on his back, laughing, and his fishing rod slipped onto Sunny’s deck. Law was by his side the next second, checking him for signs of heatstroke.
Strawhat looked up from under the brim of his hat when he felt Law’s hand on his wrist. “Oh! You’re still here!”
Law flinched back. Strawhat was laughing. He was fine.
“Not for much longer,” Law said, backing away. “My crew has been preparing for our departure. We will leave tomorrow.”
Strawhat’s ever expressive brows scrunched up in confusion. He said nothing initially, but as Law turned away, Strawhat announced, “You can’t leave tomorrow. We gotta have a going-away banquet. You can leave the day after.”
Selfish, demanding - the way Strawhat laid it out like an order raised Law’s hackles. He was ready to reprimand Strawhat for making assumptions and to remind him that he too was a captain and was not to be bossed around. But when Law looked back, Strawhat was smiling again, the one where he showed all his teeth and his joy reached his ears and eyes.
Law acquiesced. “The next morning then. Banquet tomorrow; we leave first thing the following morning.”
Still smiling, Strawhat nodded. “I’ll tell Sanji to start prepping!”
“You’d better get inside and drink some water. I have to go check on my crew.”
The heat was too much. Law didn’t wait around to hear Strawhat’s reply. He Room’ed himself back into the Polar Tang and instantly breathed easier.
The first crew members to notice Law’s return greeted him joyously. Only then did Law realize it had been more than four days since he’d come aboard his own ship, even though he had been merely steps away on Sunny this entire time, sleeping there and eating there and commanding his crew from there.
Embarrassing. How utterly embarrassing.
Polar Tang was in a busier state than he’d expected. Everyone was running around checking on supplies, making repairs, plotting routes, and generally doing their job while their captain had been missing in action. Law poked his head into every nook and cranny and tried to offer his assistance, only to find that his crew was frightfully competent and he, unnecessary. He eventually found Bepo napping in the operating room with the climate control on high. Glad for the silence, Law curled up next to Bepo and willed himself to sleep.
When Law woke up around dinner time, Bepo was wide awake already. His vice captain looked at him - with pity, Law realized, but zero judgment - and asked, “Are you going to have dinner with the Straw Hats again, Captain?”
Law took his evening meal with just his crew that day, for the first time in a very, very long time. No one from Thousand Sunny came looking for him. Law tried not to care.
———————
Someone from the Straw Hat crew did visit the Polar Tang the next morning. It was their skeletal musician, who’d come on their chef’s orders to gather information on the Heart Pirates’ food preferences and dietary restrictions. Brook danced through the corridors and found time to joke around with Law’s crew, but he didn’t stop to speak to Law other than a perfunctory “Good morning!”
It was still early when Law finished breakfast. On account of having absolutely nothing to do, he once more tried to lend a hand to his hard-working crew. It seemed, however, he was more hindrance than help when it came to the minute operations of his own ship. After he messed up the organization of their vegetable stock - how was he supposed to know Clione had devised a new sorting system for the dry pantry while he’d been away - Law was politely asked to vacate the premise. He dawdled for as long as he could before heading to the surface.
It’d rained sometime during the night. The sound of raindrops hitting the Polar Tang had prevented Law from getting a decent night’s sleep. Owing to that rain, this morning was much cooler than the day before. Gulls were out hunting, and there was even a slight breeze that moved the waves and rocked their ships.
Law didn’t want to look toward the Sunny, as it was now habit for him to do, but the noise emanating from that direction gave him little choice.
“Jinbei, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” threatened the sharpshooter as he stuffed a fishing net into Jinbei’s arms. “Sanji says we need about 40 fish. Good sized ones. You can either go down there and grab just enough, or Zoro will start slashing at the sea, and you know that’s an ecological disaster waiting to happen.”
Their navigator was standing on a step ladder and shouting “Robin, a little higher on the right!” to Nico, who was using her fruit powers to hang an absurd number of lights, streamers, and bunting all around Thousand Sunny. Just as Law looked over, the reindeer rushed by in his human form and knocked into the step ladder by accident.
“Watch it, Chopper! What’s the rush?”
“Franky just told me we might not have enough charcoal for the barbecue! What kind of barbecue doesn’t have enough charcoal?! I need to go into town to buy charcoal!”
Said shipwright popped his head out from the galley. “And cola! I need more cola!”
“And cumin!” Sanji’s head appeared underneath Franky’s. Law could tell he’d been stress-smoking. “Why the shits are we so low on supplies? Who’s running this operation?”
“We had plenty of supplies; just not enough for a last-minute banquet,” replied Nami defensively. It took about two days’ travel with the Straw Hats for Law to see that their captain took responsibility for precisely zero percent of the crew’s logistical planning, and their navigator often took command over such matters.
The cook spotted him. “Yeah, what the hell, Law? How the fuck do you expect me to pull this off in less than 24 hours?”
Law wanted to shout back that he’d seen Sanji pull off far grander banquets in far less time, but he suddenly found everyone’s eyes on him. The cacophony had ceased, and he didn’t know how to break that silence.
They stared at him in bizarre unison as though he was a stranger. Not a smile could be seen, friendly or otherwise, which was odd considering the jovial and frustratingly blasé attitude typical of this crew.
A door slammed somewhere. He heard Luffy say, “They were so good roasted. I think Sanji marinated them first. Hey, Sanji, where did you get those mushrooms? The yummy ones. Oi, what’s everyone staring at?”
Curious eyes peeked over Sunny’s starboard railing. “Oh, good morning, Torao. Why’s everyone staring at ya?”
Usopp chimed in, “Oh, nothing, just wondering why we’re upending our day to throw him a good-bye party with no warning.” Usopp’s usually affable manners were nowhere to be found. He oozed so much disdain that Law actually took a step back. He always thought Usopp was the most honest of the Straw Hats. If even Usopp was this angry, he couldn’t imagine how inconvenienced the rest of them felt.
Zoro - the one Luffy was chatting to about mushrooms - sauntered up to Usopp and tapped him with a half-empty bottle of rum. “I don’t think Law’s the type to demand a going-away banquet. You know Luffy will take any excuse to party.”
“Yeah, but -”
Zoro tapped him again, perhaps a little too hard this time because Usopp rubbed his arm and was now pouting. “Alright, fine. But don’t pretend you’re not also annoyed about being kept up all night.”
Zoro rolled his eyes. “Hey, Curly-Brows, where did you get those mushrooms Luffy won’t shut up about? Town market?”
For once the chef didn’t respond with his own insult. “The ones with gray dots? I foraged them from the woods on the northeast side of the island,” he said almost too evenly. “Plenty to be found, but there are also poisonous ones with dark blue dots scattered about.”
“Right,” answered Zoro. And that was somehow the most polite exchange between these two men that Law had ever witnessed. “You’re a doctor, Law. You should have enough brains to tell gray from dark blue. Mind going mushroom foraging?”
Law was pretty sure Zoro just took a jab at him, which was extra insulting considering the man couldn’t tell left from right. He was about to ask why Luffy couldn’t go find the mushrooms himself, but the Straw Hats were still staring at him, so he quickly decided it was best for him to get away from their ire, even if it meant menial labor.
As soon as he nodded his agreement, Zoro threw Luffy at him. “Take him with you. He’ll just get in the way here. Don’t let him eat any poisonous mushrooms. I don’t care that his body can take it.”
Law hastened to catch a flying Luffy and narrowly missed the empty picnic basket that followed. He and Strawhat were told not to return before filling up the entire basket. He would have protested taking orders from Zoro if his first priority hadn’t been to get away from the Straw Hat crew at once.
“Your crew mates are acting very odd,” Law complained as soon as he and Luffy were out of earshot.
They walked northeast side by side, Luffy carrying the basket and Law holding on to Kikoku. For once Luffy didn’t volunteer him to be Rocketed somewhere for expediency’s sake, and Law didn’t even think to use his powers. It was a gorgeous morning, and Strawhat was quiet for once. Law didn’t mind the jaunt.
Very quickly, though, the silence became unbearable to Law. He didn’t think Luffy had ever been this quiet in all the time they’d known each other.
Slowly panicking, Law felt an urge to fill the silence, which had never happened before. “We can call off the banquet,” he offered. “I don’t want to put everyone through the hassle.”
Luffy looked up, big dark eyes blinking fast. “Are you not leaving then?”
Law stuttered. “What? No, I am. We are. I just… We can just go, today, and save you all the trouble is what I mean.”
“Oh.” Luffy turned his attention back to the road. Law could breathe easily again. “No, that’s silly. It’s tradition. They’re not mad about that.”
Law really wanted to argue that they looked pretty mad just moments ago, but something in the way Luffy sped up warned him he would get nowhere trying to cancel a banquet that Strawhat already had his heart set on.
For the remainder of their walk, Luffy was a few steps ahead of Law the whole time. He stayed silent, which was honestly a bit terrifying. By the time they reached the woods where Sanji said the mushrooms spawned, Law was legitimately worried. He didn’t get a chance to ask Luffy what was going on, because Strawhat had shot off like an arrow toward the first cluster of mushrooms he saw.
“Hey, wait. Check the coloring of the dots before you put them in the basket.” Law ran after Luffy and prevented a potential disaster. Luffy just grinned in response and ran off again.
They played a weird version of tag for a while, following clusters of mushrooms deeper and deeper into the woods. It was getting hotter, too, as the sun rose higher in the sky. Although the canopy provided them with plenty of shade, enough humidity got trapped as well, and Law was panting and sweaty before long. He also realized belatedly that neither of them had thought to bring any water.
“Strawhat, stop!” Law finally caught up to Luffy. He steeled a hand on Luffy’s shoulder to prevent him from running off again. “Aren’t you thirsty?”
Law grabbed a thick running vine that had wrapped itself around a tree, one of many he’d spotted in these woods. He unwound the vine and cut it at an appropriate spot with Kikoku. When he tilted down the severed end, fresh water trickled out of the cut like it was a faucet. He drank a few gulps to test its quality, then offered the rest to Luffy.
“Drink. There’s plenty around. Let’s take a break.”
Luffy stared at Law in awe and drank obediently. With Luffy this quiet and agreeable, Law couldn’t help but feel protective, even if what he really wanted was to shake the younger man and demand to know what was going on.
Instead, Law examined their basket, which was already half full and did not include a single poisonous mushroom. He remarked on the size of some of them, pointed out a stowaway bug to Luffy, and made more one-sided small talk about the island they were on and the heat, all to an attentive yet maddeningly mute Strawhat.
Law gave up. He’d already said more words in one morning than he usually did in three days. He sheathed Kikoku and gestured for them to get a move on.
The more he pondered, though, the madder he became. He had less than a day left with the Straw Hats. There was still so much left unsaid, and he had enough trouble articulating those thoughts without zero feedback from Strawhat.
The mental countdown that had started when he informed Strawhat of his departure ticked ever louder. To have Luffy walk next to him but be practically non-responsive was surprisingly difficult to bear. It felt like they’d already gone their separate ways.
Law couldn’t take it anymore. He stopped abruptly to ask, rather vehemently, “Did I do something wrong?” Only, an echo with Luffy’s voice answered him using those exact words, almost at the same time.
“What?” Law asked dumbly.
The floodgates opened.
“Did I do something wrong?” Luffy repeated. “Usopp said you probably had enough of me because I talk too much, so I tried really hard to not talk so much, but you still seem pretty mad. It got too hard to not talk anyway. I thought I might as well try Jinbei’s suggestion and just talk to you. So?”
Luffy looked at him expectantly. Law’s brain was having trouble catching up. It only allowed him to repeat “What?” like an asshole.
The tables were officially turned. Luffy had no trouble filling in the conversation for both parties. The only issue was that Luffy was now providing too much information too quickly.
“Don’t wanna talk either?” Luffy pouted. “Ok, well, Brook and Franky both said I can just take my pants off and sit on you and that’ll solve everything but Sanji disagreed and said I should start with a kiss like a gentleman. I’m not sure whose idea is better, though, and I don’t wanna mess up again. Hey, what if I do a little of both?”
Purely because Law thought it would’ve been rude to ask “What?” a third time, and not at all because he was progressively short-circuiting with every word that came out of Luffy’s mouth, he muttered in a daze, “I think being around you makes me stupid.”
Luffy laughed. “Zoro says that too.”
A light shove and Law was on the ground, his back pushed not so gently against the trunk of a tree. Luffy was on him, legs splaying open to entrap his, while battle-hardened hands played with tendrils of his sweat-dampened curls. The scar under one of Luffy’s smiling eyes gleamed.
“Yeah, I definitely like this better than talking,” Luffy murmured against his lips.
Then they were kissing, and Law was burning. His hands were suddenly moving everywhere, touching and feeling and groping for something he hadn’t even realized he needed. He pulled back to say “You—“ but forgot the rest of it. Or he decided whatever he had to say wasn’t nearly as important as Strawhat’s lips on his.
Somewhere in time between tracing Luffy’s palate with his tongue and gripping Luffy’s hips to better align their groins, Law had knocked that famous straw hat to the ground. Luffy didn’t stop to pick it up. He did, however, let go of Law’s hair to unzip Law’s pants.
Law shivered at Luffy’s touch on his naked skin, as if a current had traveled through him from scalp to toe. Air ran short between them. He had to bite his lip and throw his head back against the rough bark in order to hold back an embarrassing groan. The momentary pain centered him enough for him to plead, “You too. Together.”
Luffy was still grinning cheekily, though the spots of red on his face and the watery sheen over his eyes assured Law he was just as affected. Strawhat leaned in to kiss him again, and Law’s eyes fluttered shut despite himself. He felt Luffy shuffle on his lap. A short while later, his hands felt the loss of Luffy’s shorts and made contact with the tender flesh of Luffy’s bare thighs.
It was Law’s turn to laugh - short, abortive chuckles of disbelief. His brain finally caught up to the impossible events currently unfolding. Remembering the question that sparked all this, Law made sure to lock eyes with Luffy when he replied, “You didn’t do anything wrong, by the way. I’m not angry at you. My crew has been wanting to go for a while. Ikkaku has a little sister she needs to look in on, and I promised to help Jean Bart find his family. I’ve lingered too long already, not wanting to leave you.” He chuckled again. “I didn’t know, not until now, how much I don’t want to leave you. How embarrassing.”
He buried the last bit of his self-condemnation into the crook of Luffy’s neck, where Luffy’s pulse raced. They stayed like that for a brief respite, taking in much needed breaths and finding some calm in the unrelenting heat.
But the urgency for each other’s touch couldn’t be stalled for long. Law began to nibble at that convenient pulse point, and Luffy’s right hand was once again moving along Law’s exposed length.
“Oh, I almost forgot Chopper’s advice!” Luffy exclaimed suddenly.
His right hand still busy, Luffy dug through his abandoned shorts with his left and fished out a vial. Law tried not to think about the conversation between Luffy and Chopper that precipitated the vial’s presence.
Luckily, Luffy didn’t give him any time to think. He uncorked the vial and poured nearly a third of its content directly onto Law’s erection.
“Hey, that’s too much!” Law reprimanded light-heartedly. Luffy was already working the slightly viscous liquid over Law’s cock with two eager hands. Law nudged him again, wanting to feel Luffy’s cock pressed against his.
Luffy closed the gap between them in response. To Law’s incomprehensible surprise, Luffy shifted his weight to his feet the next moment and slowly but confidently began to lower himself onto Law.
“Luffy!” Law choked out. Luffy shifted and sat all the way down, until Law was entirely, hopelessly, fantastically sheathed inside of him.
Law shuddered all over. The pleasure that had crawled along his body in waves now concentrated low in his belly. He was terrified to move. All he wanted was to move.
“You said my name,” Luffy mumbled in wonder.
Law wanted to laugh and yell at the same time. “Luffy, what the hell? Are you in pain?”
Luffy shook his head. “I stretch, remember?” He added, “Don’t worry, I’m only stretching a little. You should still feel good.”
“I should… That’s not the issue here! Fuck! You maniac.”
There wasn’t much else to do but grab Strawhat by the neck and kiss his stupid grin. Not to be beaten, Luffy started to rock.
The little ember inside Law was now an unforgiving wildfire. It drove him on a quest to devour. Bracing their weight against the ground with just one arm, Law met Luffy’s stuttering hips with purposeful thrusts. His other hand stroked Luffy’s erection from base to tip and back, over and over, eliciting an endless stream of moans from Strawhat, all of which he promptly swallowed with his insatiable mouth.
Luffy’s rhythm was failing; his inexperience finally showing. Law’s desire, having been baited so mercilessly, no longer had any patience. He grabbed Luffy’s thighs with both hands and tipped him on his back. He drove into Luffy’s welcoming body to a staccato of wanting. Luffy finally ceased smiling. It was all he could do to hold on to Law’s shoulders in a desperate embrace and cry “Law! Law!” until he came, voice hoarse and eyes blissfully blank, into what little space remained between their bodies. And when Law finally let himself go - after thoroughly demonstrating the extent of his stamina - he did so while peppering languid kisses over his lover’s cheek, his fingers making curls in Luffy’s locks.
After, they lay there in companionable silence for a long while, uncaring of the sweat that accumulated on their skin. The urgency had gone; what remained was somehow more suffocating and painful.
Lowly, as though he was afraid the words would chase Luffy away, Law said, “Luffy, I still have to go. I have responsibilities —“
“I know,” Luffy said. He was gleeful in a way Law couldn’t understand. “I didn’t do this to make you stay. I did it so you’ll come back.”
Law was stunned. For a lack of something better to say, he kissed Luffy again, and again, and more until a dimming sky reminded them they had to go back.
They washed each other with the water collected from more vines. Law watched in awe as the hands that toppled tyrants and subdued emperors ran playfully over his belly and thighs, and he felt the stirrings of renewed desire.
“Come to my quarters on Polar tonight. I’ve more privacy than you do on Sunny.”
This time, Luffy’s smile resembled more of a smirk. “Why? What do you have planned?”
Law dangled their basket of mushrooms from Kikoku and took Luffy’s hand in his. “Among other things, figuring out the logistics of my crew’s regular rendezvous with the Straw Hat Pirates.”
—————
End