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“Torao!”
Law sighed. They had run into the Straw Hats on the next island after Law had freed his crew, and Luffy had been hounding him ever since. Law got the sense that he was feeling bad about not being there to help when Law and his crew were in trouble. It was a ridiculous notion. They weren't allies anymore, and despite Luffy's insistence that they were friends, neither of them had any responsibility towards the other. Law didn’t exactly mind having him around, but he was everywhere, all the time. He thought he had at least gotten away for the morning, but apparently not.
“Yeah?” he sighed again, turning around. “What is-”
The words died in his throat as he stared at the man approaching him, waving happily towards him. He was tall, maybe even taller than Law, broad-shouldered, with dark hair and a bit of scruff on his chin, but there was a familiar scar on his face and an even more familiar scar on chest. Law stared at him in disbelief. It was impossible, wasn't it?
“Wow, you look so young!” Luffy (?) said, grinning widely. “I guess that guy wasn’t kidding, huh?”
“...what guy?” Law managed through his shock.
“Right, you wouldn’t know,” Luffy said dismissively, then held out his arms. “But look at you! You’re so pretty!”
Law blinked. “What?”
“Well, you’re still pretty when I’m from, but you know what I mean,” Luffy laughed. ”Come here!”
If Law hadn’t been so busy trying to figure out what the fuck was going on, he might have been able to avoid the arms that coiled around him and pulled him closer.
Luffy kissed him.
Luffy.
Kissed.
Him.
No. This had to be some trick, some utterly insane plan by the marines or other pirates to capture him. And if so, it was apparently working. Goddamnit, the man could kiss. Law practically melted for a second before he realised what he was doing.
“Torao?”
Great. Just great. There was the other one. The real one.
Law cast a Room, replacing himself with a pebble on the road. As he reappeared some metres away, he saw the older Luffy stumble a step from his sudden disappearance. The normal Luffy and a few of his crew were standing nearby, watching with wide eyes.
“Torao? Who’s that?” Luffy asked, and there was something strained in his voice. Probably because he had just seen Law kissing a weird, older version of himself. Law was never living this down.
Law scowled and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “You tell me.”
“Holy shit, Luffy,” Nami said, staring at the older Luffy, and yeah, that was an appropriate reaction.
The older Luffy just laughed as he walked up to them. “You’re all so young! And tiny!” he said, then looked down at the real Luffy. “Especially me! Wow! I don’t remember being that small.”
“Hold on a second,” Nami said. “Are you really-”
“Luffy?” Zoro asked, squinting in suspicion.
“No way that’s me,” Luffy said angrily. “He’s wearing long trousers and boots.”
“Torao insisted. Winter island,” the older Luffy shrugged. “Or it was. No idea where I am now.”
“Torao?” Sanji asked.
“That’s right!” the real Luffy exclaimed. “Why were you kissing Torao?”
“I can kiss my husband if I want to,” the older Luffy grinned. “Don’t be jealous. I’m you, just older.”
“Hold up,” Law said, and the older Luffy turned to him. His eyes went soft, and Law had no idea how to deal with that. “We’re not married.”
The older Luffy blinked. “We’re not?” he looked around at the others. “When is this?”
Nami gave the date, but older Luffy just looked at her with a blank expression.
“We came from Elbaf, Torao came from Pirate Island,” Zoro clarified.
“Oh,” older Luffy said, wide eyed. “You’re really young. I thought you were at least past Wano. The second time, I mean.”
“Don’t tell us!” Luffy shouted. “You’re not me! I wouldn’t tell.”
“You are kinda shit at keeping secrets, though,” Nami pointed out. “How about this: tell us something only Luffy would know?”
Older Luffy grinned, looking over at Law, who just gave him the finger. Older Luffy just laughed happily, like this was par for the course. Law supposed it was, for him. If they were really married.
Law vaguely felt the need to sit down.
Older Luffy gestured for his younger counterpart to come closer, then leaned down and whispered something in his ears. Luffy’s eyes went wide.
“How did-”
“I’m you, remember?” Older Luffy laughed.
“What did he say?” Zoro asked, arms crossed.
“Nothing!” Luffy said. “Just something I’ve been thinking that I haven’t mentioned.”
He glanced at Law, and Law did not want to deal with whatever that was just then.
“If you are who you say you are,” Law said instead. “How did you get here?”
“Met a guy with a weird fruit,” older Luffy said. “He was pissing me off, so we fought and then he sent me here.”
“So you don’t know how to get back,” Law concluded.
“No, but it’ll be fine,” older Luffy said. “My crew is there as well. They’ll figure it out. Let’s go eat something!”” He grinned and attempted to put an arm around Law, but Law shook him off and stepped away.
Sanji was giving them a weird look. “So, you are really going to get married in the future? For real married?”
Older Luffy said “yes” at the same time that Law said “no.”
Older Luffy looked at him, and he seemed a little hurt. “We are. I can prove it.”
“In your future, maybe. But it’s not necessarily the same as our future,” Law pointed out.
“So you don’t want to get married?” Luffy asked, and Law groaned.
“I’m not having this conversation right now,” he said.
Older Luffy chuckled. “I had forgotten how prickly you used to be. It’s cute.”
Law glared at him and started walking away, partially to hide the heat rising in his face. After a moment both Luffys ran up to him, falling into step with him on either side, and he realised they were all following him. Like he was heading somewhere rather than just storming off.
For lack of a better idea, Law took them down to the harbour. He didn’t go near his (temporary) ship, his crew definitely didn’t need to see this shitshow, but it seemed better than being repeatedly humiliated in the middle of the street.
There was a vendor selling waffles nearby, and both Luffys abandoned him in the quest for food. Law considered taking the opportunity to escape, but ended up waiting for them to return. Though he made sure to stay far enough away that they didn’t pester him to pay for them.
“So, you and Luffy are getting married,” Zoro said, standing beside him with his arms crossed.
“Do I have to explain it again?” Law sighed. “It’s not our future.”
“So you said. But I know Luffy,” he said, giving Law a look. “It means you’re going to have some decisions to make, soon. You can’t have divided loyalties on this sea.”
“Tell that to Luffy,” Law said. “I’m loyal to my crew, first and foremost. That will not change.”
Zoro nodded. He looked like he might say something else, but the Luffys returned, followed by Nami and Sanji.
“You’re paying me back for that,” Nami told older Luffy, who just laughed.
“Sure. When I get back to my time,” he said.
“Fine. Tell future me I set an interest rate of 10% per year,” Nami said, and older Luffy agreed. Law hoped him and the future version of Law he was married to had separate finances.
“Did you want food, Torao?” younger Luffy asked.
“It’s waffles, so it’s technically bread,” older Luffy said. “He hates them.”
Law blistered. He wondered if eating it anyway just to prove him wrong would be worth it. Probably not.
“There you are!”
Law looked up, and saw himself walking towards them. He was wearing a black outfit under a white coat, and had glasses on his nose. There was a bit of gray in his hair above his ears, but he had aged surprisingly gracefully. If it wasn’t for the furious expression and the yellow eyes Law would have thought he was looking at his father.
“Torao!” older Luffy perked up, bouncing towards older Law. “You found me!”
“And you didn’t make it easy. Would it have been so hard for you to just stay where you dropped?” older Torao scowled.
“I knew you would find me,” older Luffy said, leaning in for a kiss, but older Law just grabbed his ear and stretched it, then let it go so it slapped back into his head. “Ow.”
“Do you have any idea how worried we all were, you moron?” older Law shouted angrily. “It’s fucking time travel, we had no idea how to get you back!”
“You figured it out,” older Luffy said, entirely unperturbed by older Law yelling at him.
“We should just have left you here, but who knows the damage you could cause,” older Law glared at him, then looked around and met Law’s eyes. “Or have already caused. What did you tell them?”
“Nothing much?” older Luffy tried, but older Law ignored him. Instead, he walked over to Law. He hadn’t grown taller, and looked thinner than he was now, but he moved with a confidence Law didn’t think he could ever achieve.
“You understand, right?” older Law said. “We’re not, necessarily, from your future.”
“I got it,” Law nodded. “Time likely diverged the moment he arrived here, if not before.”
Older Law looked at him, then gave him a small smile. “You just got your crew back, didn’t you?” he said. “If that idiot over there hasn’t completely soured you on the idea, you should stick to the Straw Hat’s for a bit.” He paused. “And check your blood pressure. You’ll thank me later.”
Law snorted. “I’ll keep it in mind,” he said.
“What, you can tell them the future but I can’t?” older Luffy pouted.
“Hush. This is damage control,” older Law said, though Law didn’t miss the way his eyes softened while turning to his husband. His husband! If Law hadn’t believed it before, he certainly did now.
“Are you really married?” Luffy asked, echoing Law’s thoughts, and older Law scowled again.
“Really? You told them?” he said, and older Luffy shrugged.
“He kissed Torao,” Luffy said, and older Law looked angrily towards older Luffy.
“You’re cheating on me with my younger self?” older Law said with ice in his voice, arms crossed.
“It’s not like that! He’s you!” older Luffy said. “You’re the same person, right? Just different ages.”
“Oh, that’s how you think it is? Fine then,” older Law said, turning towards younger Luffy. “Indulge me, Straw Hat.”
He leaned down to kiss him. It only lasted for a second before he was pulled back by older Luffy, who looked distressed.
“I get it. I was wrong. It’s not the same,” he said, holding older Law tight, arms wrapped several times around him. He buried his face in older Law's shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
Older Law idly patted his head. "It's fine. It's a weird situation all around," he said. “We should get going.” He turned towards Law again. “Good luck.”
Older Luffy waved, then they were gone. Just blinked out of existence, with no sound or fanfare. Law carefully looked over at Luffy, who was still rooted in the spot where older Law had kissed him. He looked dazed.
Irritated, Law snapped his fingers in front of his face, and he blinked.
“Torao?” he said.
“What?”
“I want that,” Luffy said. “What they had. I want that.”
“As that version of me so thoroughly demonstrated, we’re not them,” Law scowled.
“Not yet. But we could be,” Luffy said. “We could be better.”
“We could be worse,” Law pointed out. “If we’re actually considering this: there are no guarantees we would grow into those people we just met. Because we met them, I’d say our chances are worse.”
“I don’t care about that. I want to try,” Luffy said. “I’ve been thinking it for a while now, but I wasn’t sure that’s what it was.”
“You’re not making sense, Straw Hat,” Law sighed.
“I want you, ” Luffy said. “I don’t care who you turn into in the future.”
Law stared at him. He reached up to bring his hat down over his eyes, before he remembered he didn’t have it. “How can you just say that with a straight face?”
“I’m not joking, Torao,” Luffy said. “I want-”
Law kissed him,
It was very, very different from the kiss he’d gotten from the older Luffy earlier, and Law suspected the same could be said for Luffy and the older Law. It was awkward and a bit weird. Luffy pushed against him with no idea what he was doing, and Law also felt a bit lost. He had been attempting to prove it wouldn’t work, but he found he didn’t want to let go.
Luffy apparently felt the same, and Law felt his arms coil around him, wrapping several extra times to keep him there.
When they eventually parted, it took Law a few seconds to remember they had an audience.
“So, when’s the wedding?” Nami asked, and Luffy just grinned.
“We’re not getting married,” Law growled. “Not yet, anyway. Let’s just see how this goes, Straw Hat.”
Luffy laughed. “It’s going to be great,” he said, and kissed Law again.
Law had a feeling he was right. Time would tell.