chronic toxicity
I tried something with this fic and idk you know?
this fic is… something alright; I did not mean for it to get this long but oh well; takes place vaguely post-Wano but before ch.1063/ep.1092; contains a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it-even-with-shipping-goggles ship tease but that’s not the ship here (Law & OC and Law/OC (you’ll see)); might edit later, might not, idk idk idk
[AO3] - [FFN] - [SqWA]
chronic toxicity; The Heart Pirates run into someone from their captain's past... someone who he thought he only knew anymore in dreams. [9517 words; mostly Law & OC genfic; minor Law/OC]
-_-_-_-_-_-_-
All Law had been doing was reading. He wasn’t trying to stick out or anything, so it made no sense for the group of kids to come over and knock the book right out of his hands and into the dirt.
“What’cha reading, nerd?” one of the bigger boys sneered. Bigger, yes, but not nearly as advanced academically. Law knew he was dreaming, because the boy’s face was covered in blood and Amber Lead lesions despite the fact they were all eight.
“Too advanced for you,” Law replied. Although it was not an answer he’d given back then (he preferred to keep his nose clean; imagine that), he expected things to go mostly the same as though it had: some taunting, then a bit of roughing him up before one of the nuns caught them. It wasn’t the worst dream he had, but it definitely was one of the more frequent. He looked at his bullies and grinned. “You’re just jealous I can read big words.”
That had evidently been the wrong thing to say, as the nearest boy punched him directly in the face. The other boys soon joined in, beating up Law for some unknown reason. He couldn’t understand it—why beat him up? There were other kids who were better targets… so why him? All he could do was read well… it didn’t make sense…
“Children!” It was one of the nuns, running towards them fast as her flowing habit would allow. The bullies all began to scatter, except one—the only one not covered in lesions—grabbing Law by the front of his bloodied shirt and getting in one last punch for good measure.
Law calmly opened his eyes as he woke, seeing the familiar environs of his cabin. He was unsure what was giving him these odd dreams, bringing him back to a time when the man he spent half his life hunting was simply a bedtime story used to scare children into behaving. Sitting up, he felt his stomach squelch—he needed food, if only because it would distract from the fact he was forgetting their names. He’d done his best to remember the names of his classmates, his teachers, his parents’ coworkers, and it was now fading with time. Names… faces… personalities… only the most prominent were starting to remain, which meant that the ones he remembered clearly were most often bullies and those who’d wrong him… alongside a very cute classmate with tight, curly hair and an actually-functioning brain stem and a kindness streak longer than he could fathom.
Some good that got her—the last he saw, half her face had been shot off.
It took Law a bit to get to the kitchen, but he almost immediately regretted it once he did. Both Penguin and Shachi were sitting there muttering to one another over the cups of sludge the latter called coffee, the remnants of sandwiches between them.
“Whoa, what the fuck’s going on with you, Cap?” Shachi asked. Penguin simply frowned, eyes obscured by the brim of his hat. “You look like you just fucked a ghost.”
“I’m fine,” he lied. Law poured himself a mug of the coffee-like substance and almost cheered when he found some leftover riceballs in the fridge—Clione needed a bump in his next off-shore allowance.
“You’re not fooling us,” Penguin mentioned. “Was it Spider Miles?”
“No.”
“Minion Island?”
“No—now stop prying.”
His friend fell silent—if it wasn’t Spider Miles and neither was it Minion Island, there was only one place left for the mysterious dreams to take place: Flevance. They tried not to ask much about his time there, though it was clear they were beginning to reconsider that stance. Law sat down next to Penguin, across from Shachi, and began to methodically eat his food.
“You fucking suck, you know that?” Shachi grumbled. “We finally got you back and we’re off to do our own shit on our own terms and all you do is keep having weird dreams that make you look like hell and you won’t even talk about it. How are we supposed to work with that?”
“Like you always have,” Law replied. “I don’t know why this is any different than before I went to Punk Hazard.”
“You lied to us about Punk Hazard being a Warlord mission and went off to die without us,” Penguin pointed out. “Save the crap for the latrine—you’ve always been dodgy about what’s wrong.”
“Never about the crew’s safety,” Law mentioned. His lieutenants stared blankly, unimpressed. “What… you want to mutiny or something?”
“Not mutiny, just…” Penguin pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. “When are we gonna get the captain that we joined under back? We thought he came back in Wano, but now… with this… I don’t know if he really did at all. You owe us that much.”
Law popped the final bit of the onigiri he was working on into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully as he pondered their ongoing mission. They’d never had an issue with a vague end-goal in mind before, but for now he was exhausted—hungry, tired, and all together moody—and wasn’t really raring for an intervention. Then again… few were the people who wanted an intervention, let alone was raring for one, but he imagined that there were some out there who were begging for one more than him.
“I just… need some time,” he claimed. “We’re going after the true history, which means we’re going after the One Piece, and I guess that’s doing shit to my brain.”
…which wasn’t entirely a lie. He’d known these men now for longer than he’d known the bullies in his dreams—he knew the answers they wanted to hear and which they’d accept.
“That better be it,” Shachi warned, “or we will mutiny and haul your ass to the nearest island with a licensed psychiatrist and dump you there until your head’s fully shrunk.”
“I think you mean psychologist—you fuckers want me medicated.”
“If that’s what it takes,” Penguin confirmed. “Listen: if you can put Jean Bart on uppers and say it’s okay, then why can’t we demand you see someone to get you on some yourself?”
“…because there would be no possible follow-up treatments due to our lifestyle,” Law stated. “I’m fine. Really. You’re worrying about nothing…”
…except, neither of them seemed convinced. It was then that the kitchen crew came in, chattering idly as they began to prepare for the oncoming lunch rush. Law used that as his excuse to take his foraged meal back with him to his room and sulk.
Would seeing someone help? Possibly. Probably. He didn’t have time for that, however. Maybe, when they all were tired of sailing and were ready to set down roots—if they all survived that long—but not now. There was work to be done, other pirates to dodge, and he wasn’t going to get very far if all he did was sit there allowing someone to slowly pick his brain. He needed to get to the end first, not so that he could be Pirate King, but so that whatever evidence was left there had the chance to be preserved by someone with actual intellect before Straw Hat came barreling in and ruining everything. He trusted the other captain’s archaeologist, but the man himself…? Not in the slightest.
Unfortunately for him, dedicated and licensed psychiatric specialists were not exactly the prime demographic to join up in a pirate crew, so for the meantime… he was just going to have to bear it. He had to; there was simply no other choice.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-
The island they stopped off at was an autumn island experiencing summer-like conditions, making it a bit too humid for the warmth underpinning the air. The Polar Tang needed only a few perishable supplies, but it was more that the crew needed to stretch their legs. After having spent months on-end in Wano, where there was no lack of space, they were beginning to become more antsy than a few hours working the sails would cure. The captain and navigator went off towards one part of town, the shopping committee towards another, leaving only the skeleton crew guarding the ship and the small group of Penguin, Ikkaku, Clione, Shachi, and Jean Bart to wander together.
“So you haven’t been able to figure out the captain’s moods either?” Jean Bart scowled. They were all wandering down a series of alleyways, taking the back route to the ship to relieve the ones still aboard. “Maybe we should refuse to work if he doesn’t see someone on the island before we leave.”
“Nice try, but he’s not falling for that old gag,” Shachi shrugged. “Captain’s a stubborn piece of shit, so we’re just going to have to learn to deal with it.”
“We’ve been dealing with it this entire time, you dingus,” Ikkaku scoffed. “What makes this so different from how he was before?”
“We knew he’d do a lot,” Penguin admitted, “but at the same time, I don’t think any of us expected solo suicide mission before he was in the middle of it. We could keep track of him easier in Wano, but not now…”
“Now he sticks to his room, the mess, and the navigation room,” Clione noted. “We had to chase him all over the place just to keep tabs on him, and he still was running around unsupervised.”
“Yeah,” Shachi said, “but that still involved him attempting to chase down a Germa soldier and having pissing matches with other Supernovas. He was more than supervised.”
Penguin nodded. “Now he just locks himself in his room and we just have to hope he’s not in there decomposing.”
“A rather bleak prospect,” Jean Bart admitted.
“No kidding.” Penguin sighed heavily. “We all knew he was fucked up when we joined, but how fucked up seems to change too often.”
“Boo-hoo,” an unfamiliar voice said. Everyone turned around and realized that Ikkaku was not there with them instead, she was being held by a cloaked stranger, one arm held behind her back while she struggled against the hand holding a knife to her throat. She couldn’t get enough leverage on the stranger to flip him over and break his hold, and any move otherwise risked the knife slicing into her skin.
Although Jean Bart and Clione both tensed at the sight of Ikkaku being held hostage, Penguin and Shachi both felt their blood run cold. The man who had their crewmate was covered in white splotches underneath his cloak, skin and hair marred by something they hadn’t seen since they were teenagers and the Heart Pirates were only a fantasy. He might have looked different, but he had the same fire in his eyes as their captain got when he was in the middle of a fight… the same spark that came from having lived for pure survival.
The man before them was dying of acute Amber Lead poisoning.
Fuck… their alleyway hostage situation involved someone with the same disease their captain had as a kid… that he shouldn’t have survived. Whomever this guy was didn’t seem to be taking chances based on Ikkaku being a woman; his hold seemed to be firm, despite the fact that this was Ikkaku… she could probably benchpress him if she wanted, meaning his strength had to be considerable despite whatever the poison was doing to him.
“Where is your captain?!” the stranger snapped. “I demand to see Trafalgar Law!”
“Hey, calm down buddy,” Penguin said. He held up his hands as he slowly approached—no tricks—trying to help his crewmate. “You don’t need to get violent; she’ll fuck you up if you’re not careful.”
“Where is Trafalgar Law?!”
“If you give me five seconds and our engineer back, that can be arranged.” Penguin caught Ikkaku as the stranger pushed her towards him, letting her disentangle herself from him and hide amongst the rest of the crew as she gathered herself. “Now… who am I to say is asking?”
“…an old friend.”
Shachi scoffed at that. “Captain doesn’t have old friends… at least, none as far back as us.”
“I can guarantee I go farther,” the stranger said. He pulled back the hood of his cloak and the mood in the alleyway became even chillier—now the white lesions were clearly displayed and the remaining pirates were able to mentally fill in the gaps. Penguin and Shachi didn’t react, as they knew they couldn’t play into his hand.
“Quite the trick you’re leaning on there,” Penguin said casually. “Not everyone can pull that look off.”
“What look is it?” Jean Bart wondered. Shachi frowned; of course he wouldn’t know.
“Don’t freak, but this guy has Amber Lead poisoning,” he replied. The rest of the group were stone-silent at the confirmation—even those in the overall crew who didn’t know much were at least aware that their Captain had dodged death’s door multiple times due to that. “How’d you come by that? Old building materials? Paint? Grandparents’ antiques? Expired candy…?”
“I lived.”
Those two words cut through the pirates, the admittance uncomfortable for some and grim for others. After a moment to consider it, Penguin pulled the baby transponder snail out of his coveralls and turned it on, waiting for the other end to pick up while not taking his eyes off the stranger.
“What do you want?”
“Hey Cap… got an old friend here to see you. I think you might want to come over here.”
“I’m standing next to the only friend I have that’s been around longer than you,” the snail scowled. “Who the fuck thinks they can trick me like that?”
“Gravina Lucas,” the stranger said, raising his voice loud enough for the snail to pick up. Within moments, a blue sheen cloaked the street and suddenly Law and Bepo appeared, the former’s eyes wild in confusion and ire. He went directly up to the stranger and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, holding him still so he could get a good look at him.
Oh…
…oh no…
“What’s the matter, Trafaldick?” the man scoffed. “See a ghost?”
No… what he saw was even worse.
Shit.
Fuck.
He couldn’t get himself out of there fast enough.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Law sat holed up in his cabin, not coming out for anything. Bepo was kind enough to bring him his meals and get direction from him every once in a while, but for the most part, he stayed away from everyone else, especially the newcomer they picked up.
When he had heard the name being spoken over the transponder snail, he could barely believe it. Gravina Lucas was one of the bullies he remembered in his dreams—the only one to never be covered in Amber Lead lesions—and now suddenly he was back from the dead. Of all the people he could have seen again after sixteen lonely, God-forsaken years… it was one of the assholes who picked on him that showed up out of nowhere. After so long of believing himself to be the last person from Flevance… and the one who had to prove him wrong was… was… it made him physically sick. The only thing he could do was keep to himself and hope the problem went away.
Except, it didn’t go away. In fact, Gravina Lucas, of all the people Law did not miss, was on his ship. He bullied his way on, just like when they were both young, and refused to leave until they talked. The only problem was… Law did not want to talk. In fact, he thought he’d made his peace…
A long time ago, a much younger Trafalgar Law, who was carving Amber Lead out of his organs while studying medicine, thought long and hard about the fate of his countrymen. There were good people, but there were also bad people, and there was everyone in-between. Loving grandparents, but also thieves and murders; friendly neighbors, but also bullies and grifters. Wonderful parents like his own and parents whose children trembled at the thought of returning home. He knew that—as he tortured himself bit by bit—none of them deserved death, even if some were bad. Some of them were even terrible. All they had done for their specific death sentence was be born and lived in Flevance. That in of itself was not a crime; the Flevench moral of respecting life from birth to death still knocked around in his brain despite Doflamingo’s best efforts. If they were to die, it should have been from old age or their own hubris, not lead from bullets and poison. The criminals had required reprimand and punishment, but with a trial and a chance to rehabilitate, as the nuns had explained one day; the Purge had been distinctly devoid of due process.
The Trafalgar Law that was an ex-Warlord and Emperor-class Supernova, however, was absolutely incensed that of all the people who lived, it was one of the assholes… one of the ones who made his life less-than-ideal on purpose. If it was one of the girls who avoided him because they thought he was weird, then fine; one of the boys who thought he was the asshole for not playing with them, that was also fine; the kind girl whose smile made his face feel hot and stomach knotted, he could only wish. It just absolutely boggled his mind that after all this time, he wasn’t alone, but it wasn’t even like he wasn’t alone because of someone he could talk to…
“Hey Captain,” Bepo said as he came into the cabin, holding a new tray of food. He replaced it with the old one—tea and snacks barely touched—and frowned at his friend. “How long are you going to stay in here?”
“Until he leaves.”
“…but, he said he wants to talk.”
“I don’t know what we could possibly have to talk about.”
“Maybe… what happened…?” Bepo shifted on his feet awkwardly. “You finally have someone else to talk to about then. Why won’t you?”
“We’re very different. Our common ground is minimal.”
“You can at least have a conversation with him…”
“I have never had a conversation with him before and I don’t intend on starting now.”
“Then heal him and send him on his way—you know that’s what he wants.”
“I thought he was dead, so what’s the difference?”
“…that there’s finally someone out there like you.” Bepo rested his chin on top of Law’s head, rubbing the underside of his chin in his best friend’s hair, knowing now that he truly understood garchu. “At least give him a chance.”
“The only reason my nose was never broken is because the cartilage was still forming,” Law grunted.
“Maybe he’s changed…?”
“He held Ikkaku at knife-point—he selectively targeted a woman from the group thinking she’d be the weak point and held her hostage, just for a chance to take a petty swipe at me. I doubt he’s changed that much.”
“Just talk to him,” Bepo sighed. His captain did not respond. “You know, when I got back to Zou, everyone I ever knew had changed. Some better, some worse, and some just… there. Everyone changes.”
“Not like he’d need to be changed,” Law replied.
“So… you’re turning down giving him treatment because you’re the one being petty?”
“No; I’m turning down giving him treatment because I’m too close.” His mouth felt dry and his tongue thick. “If nothing had happened and we were back in Flevance and he came to me for a procedure, I’d give him to someone else… someone who he hadn’t beaten up in the schoolyard. Personal feelings impact care quality.”
“Meaning: you’re being petty.”
Law shoved Bepo off with what was probably a little too much force, though the Mink didn’t comment on it. “You’d understand if you were there.”
“Captain… I was eight when Penguin and Shachi were bullying me… so… I think I do… more than you realize.”
That made Law feel even more like ass than he already did. He turned around and looked at Bepo, who knew that he was the perfect combination of adorable and pathetic to pull it off.
“Captain, I…” He picked at his paws awkwardly. “Sorry, but you’re like my big brother, you know that, and I don’t want you to keep hurting like this if you’ve got an out sitting there in the galley.”
“I don’t want to talk to him, heal him, do anything with him except drop him off at the next port,” Law said, exhaling heavily. “I just want to go back to him not existing.”
Bepo made a small noise, sounding entirely unconvinced. “We did an eval on him—he’s got a month, at best.”
“…and…?”
“Just thought you’d want to know.”
At that, Bepo left, bringing the old tray of tea and snacks with him. Law reached for the Germa 66 mug filled with herbal tea, blowing over the top of it before carefully sipping at it. A plate of biscuits sat there as well, one of which he nibbled at as he turned back towards the medical journal he’d been reading. The words were now blurs on the page—he couldn’t concentrate worth a damn thanks to Bepo’s guilt-tripping, because now all he could think about was the ship’s freeloader.
He didn’t want to; all he wanted was to stop thinking, yet his brain would not allow him even that comfort. His tea shook and biscuits crumbled—what was he in the grand scheme of things? Not a doctor or surgeon—not really—but a random pirate doomed to sail the seas until the Navy or some younger act or even the ocean herself ruined him. Then why did he feel this way? Why did it upset him so much?
Couldn’t the asshole have left well enough alone?
-_-_-_-_-_-_-
He slept fitfully that night, dreaming of Flevance.
Lami playing happily with her dolls in his room, her skin covered in intense burns.
His parents helping him with his homework, bodies torn by bullets.
The nuns at school, covered in blood as they cheerfully taught the lesson with dead eyes.
Inka, the girl he had a crush on—by Nika, when was the last time he had a genuine crush on someone—cheerfully lending him a pencil with only half a face…
…and Lucas, whole, untouched, clean, dumping his books and pushing him down into the dirt.
Whole.
Untouched.
Clean.
Not a speck of anything on him.
It made Law’s blood boil.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-
“Why is he still here?” Law scowled as he entered the galley the following day. Lucas was huddled in the corner, sourly poking at a plate of curry rice.
“He won’t leave until he talks to you and we won’t make him,” Shachi shrugged, as though it was the most normal thing in the world.
“Then I order you, as your captain, to ditch his ass.”
“He’s dying; we can’t,” Jean Bart added.
“So you disembarked from port with him still onboard?”
“There wasn’t much else we could do,” Clione said.
“Alright, then who let him on my ship?” No one answered, but Jean Bart’s eyes instantly flicked towards Bepo, who was offering Lucas some tea—of course. “We drop his ass off at the next port.”
“We don’t know when that will be, Captain,” Penguin reminded him. Law did his best to not grind his teeth in irritation. “He’s not a threat—when he got the jump on Ikkaku, he was having a good few minutes or running on adrenaline or something. Since then he’s been in nothing but constant pain, has hit-or-miss coordination, and less of an appetite than you. The dude’s half-blind and can barely hold chopsticks—he’s harmless.”
“He’s not authorized to be on my ship.”
“Well he’s here now, and we should best make the most of it.”
“I should throw you in the brig for that.”
“We don’t have one and you know it.” Ugh—he was right. Annoyingly. “At least pretend that you have the higher ground.”
It was tempting… but so was using his limited ability to command his Devil Fruit under the waves and swap Lucas and all conspirators with something more useful… like halibut. Yes, halibut flopping around the ship would be better than this.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-
He was dreaming again, putting a new chapter in the alternate life his brain had conjured for himself during dark, lonely nights where he yearned for a better lot. Another successful day at the hospital was under his belt—successful surgeries and quiet recognition from his parents and their colleagues—and he was headed back home, taking in the wonders of summertime in Flevance. He could taste grilling sausage in the air as food cart vendors hocked their wares; heard packs of children running around without a thought to their studies; smelled the water in the canals as it moved lazily along. The steps leading up to the door of his townhouse felt like nothing as he ascended them with a hop in his stride.
„Is that you, hon?” a voice called out as Law stepped into the small foyer, the tones of his mother language welcoming him. He finished kicking off his boots and glanced down the corridor, seeing someone that made his chest tighten in delight. She was a handful of centimeters shorter than him, with curly, dark hair and curves in her figure and eyes that gleamed in delight. The woman met him halfway and they shared a quick kiss—fleeting, but by no means devoid of passion. „You’re home early.”
„So are you,” he noted. „Inka, I thought you had patients today.”
„I did, but Fenne was acting up for the daycare and it was my turn to be called.”
„They should really call me more.” Law held her face in his tattoo-free hands, thumbs caressing her cheeks. Her eyes were a warm, earthy brown, just as he remembered. „You’re not the only one who can stop what they’re doing to pick her up.”
„True, but a GP and a surgeon would stop two very different things with two very different response times,” she reminded him. His hands shifted so his fingers found the hairline at the base of her skull, gently stroking underneath the curls he had little chance of carding through. „At least she’s finally down for a nap.”
„Is she now?” He felt a grin tug at the corner of his lips. „What ever will we do to pass the time?”
„Maybe… work on that second one we were talking about…?” Her hands rested on his chest, then moved up to his shoulders. „A little sibling for your daughter to boss around…?”
„My daughter?” he teased, grabbing at her hips. „You make it sound like she takes after me.”
„In all the best ways.” She pulled him down into a kiss, which she broke to give him a flirty grin before running up the stairs. He chased after her, catching up by skipping steps, using the wall as leverage to lift her into his arms while they kissed, carrying her past the peaceful nursery to their bedroom.
He made love to his wife.
They basked in the afterglow.
Cooked dinner together.
Fed a cranky child with her hair and his eyes strained beans and over-soft noodles, working on their ability to dodge the entire time.
The evening passed with them on the sitting room rug, playing with the brightly laughing toddler until a knock at the front door.
„That should be your sister,” she said. „She said she’d bring over her coursework for you to check over.”
„Alright.” He kissed her and went towards the door, where the knocking persisted. „Lami, you brat, I’m coming! I’m coming!” He opened the door and it wasn’t his sister.
It was the adult version of Lucas, covered in Amber Lead lesions, pulling back his fist to land a punch square on his jaw.
Law shuddered awake, snapped out of his dream with nearly enough force to make him fall off his chair. It had been a while since he’d had a dream about his childhood crush had she grown. Inka might have never made it out of Flevance, but the memory of her did, and the ghost of a very normal life where they both grew up—no Amber Lead, no Doflamingo, no death and pain and despair—had haunted him the entire time since he was scrounging around in the garbage, eating moldy bread to survive because no one would come near a sick kid. The first time he’d dreamt about it, he thought he’d died, but it was simply his brain playing tricks on him in order to soothe him to sleep. They never truly stopped, giving him a peek into an alternate, tranquil life with his family and friends and the farce that he ever had a chance with the first girl that made him acknowledge his own hormones were activating.
Was it fair to her? Likely not. Had it stopped his subconscious from imagining them growing close through secondary, courting through med school, and beginning a life together that was free of everything that made every facet of such dreams an unachievable nightmare? No… it hadn’t. He could still see her face, the one in his dream, warmly smiling as they laid embraced in their sex-soiled bed. Closing his eyes, he tried to keep hold of the image, a shiver overtaking him as her fatal bullet wound came seeping into view.
It would never be a matter of sailing to his mother waters and romantically showing up on her doorstep with flowers and an apology. He could never sweep her off her feet and beg forgiveness for being away for so long any more than he could have shared awkward glances at the start of secondary school. She was gone, just like his family and everyone else who they both knew so long ago…
…everyone, except for Gravina Lucas.
Law staggered towards his tiny bathroom and was able to splash some water on his face, making himself feel a little better before he paid down atop his still-made bed. Why Lucas? How come, after all these years, it was Lucas who staggered back into his life? He was absolutely certain that Doflamingo was mocking him from whatever pit the Navy had thrown him in. It honestly wouldn’t surprise him if the man was able to orchestrate it all himself, even from the recesses of Impel Down. He made a blood-enemy of Donquixote Doflamingo, after all, and that was a status one was meant to regret before everything ended.
Regret. He’d had a lot of that, didn’t he? Regret that he couldn’t save his sister, that he couldn’t save Cora-san, that he wasn’t ultimately the one to do the spectre that loomed over half his life in… now he was given the chance to make something right… but he couldn’t figure out for the hell of him what the fuck it actually was. Law had no regrets when it came to this particular former classmate, though at the same time… part of him always had and always would regret not going with the rest of his class back then. Cora-san would still be alive, and who knows…? He could have even found some other broken child to worry about as he took down his brother. Could he have saved Baby 5 instead…?
No. There would have been nothing making anyone or anything do anything different had he not been alive to be there. Lami would have died. Inka would have died. Cora-san would have died. Doflamingo would have taken over Dressrosa and held court over a nation of tortured toys and ignorant people. The Straw Hats would have come onto the scene and ruined everything that the ex-Celestial worked to achieve whether he had been there to orchestrate a ruined plan or not.
Then why did Law look at Lucas and get the feeling that he was there for a reason?
After laying there with his eyes closed for a while, Law sat up and concentrated on figuring out where everyone’s Haki signatures were. His crew’s Haki wasn’t necessarily all strong, but they were all unique signatures, allowing him to find and identify everyone with ease. The only one he didn’t immediately recognize was, by default, the ship’s guest, who was hanging out alone up on the top deck, giving him the perfect opportunity. It was late and dark and no one was stupid enough to spy on them after such a long time of Law insisting that Lucas be kicked off the ship, right? He hoped so, because he checked himself over in the mirror real quick and headed out before he could talk himself out of it. The night sky was cold and clear as he went onto the outer deck, finding Lucas leaning on the railing as he stared out at the horizon.
“What do you want, Trafaldick?” he scoffed without even looking. Law furrowed his brow. “Only reason I’ve survived this long is because I figured out how Haki feels; don’t act surprised.”
“Most of us on the ship can do that,” Law countered calmly, clinically. He needed to keep his wits about him if he was going to see where this was going and not get baited by nothing more than a schoolyard terror all grown. “I came here to talk.”
“Yeah…? What abouts? I thought you didn’t have anything to say to me.”
“A lot happened since we last saw each other back in class,” Law stated. Well, duh, of course. “I have some questions about the meantime.”
“Fine then,” Lucas shrugged as Law joined him against the railing. “Shoot.”
“Where were you when everything happened?” he asked plainly. Lucas shrugged.
“In Chappsala, with Mom’s family. We left suddenly because my parents were getting a divorce and it was messy. Turns out two days after we set sail the royal family left and the border shut down.”
“No one knew where you were.”
“By design; like I said… the divorce was getting messy.”
“…and you never thought to… do anything…? Find anyone…? Not in any of the years after?”
“When mentioning Flevance was essentially a death sentence?” Lucas scoffed. “No one looked at us because we didn’t have the symptoms… not at first.”
“Where is your mother?”
“Dead.” The word came out heavy, like a different sort of poison. “Hers started first and no one knew what it was until an old soldier recognized the symptoms and shot her on-sight. That was ten years ago; been alone since.”
“Yeah, and what do you think happened to everyone else?” Law deadpanned.
“I dunno… they all got so scaly it was a mercy kill? He’d been there, and he didn’t give a fuck about murdering a woman in the street, so it must’ve been bad.”
“People burned to ash in their homes, unable to leave because they were too sick and the doors were barred; our classmates, who thought they were going to an aid ship, laid mangled on the cobblestone from bullets designed to take apart mountain leopards; bodies and parts thrown into mass graves dug on the playground and in the park, Lucas, all while you sat safely in Chappsala.” His voice was becoming increasingly sharper, anger bubbling up from within and simmering just below the surface. “You might have lost your mom, but you didn’t have to hide under her corpse to avoid being killed in cold blood.”
“You were always so fucking dramatic.”
“Dramatic or not it’s the truth, you piece of shit, and I can’t fucking change that now out of all the people, it’s trash like you who actually survived long enough to find me again.”
“I take it you’d rather see someone else?”
“Oh, and here I thought I was being subtle.” Nika… he hoped the other man could read his sarcasm.
“You couldn’t do subtle if it got you better marks on an exam.”
Oh, he was frustrated, so frustrated that he slipped into their shared mother tongue. „Fucking hell! Why couldn’t my parents survive instead of you?! Or my little sister?! Or Inka?! At least we could have done something with ourselves!”
„Hey, Inka was my girlfriend!”
Finally, something in Law snapped.
„We were ten! She was polite to you because that’s just what she was!”
„She liked me!”
„…and do you even remember anything about her?! About the rest of our classmates?! Our teachers?! Our neighbors?! Or are you just being a shithead about it because you stopped maturing the day you left?!”
„I stopped maturing?! That’s some mighty high shit you’re flinging, Trafalgar. You can’t even look at me! Say it’s good that not everyone you used to know is dead?!”
„Yeah, someone who gave me black eyes and lacerations and kicks to the stomach because I could read better?! I’m supposed to be glad someone like that is my last link to my childhood?! Fuck off!”
Lucas clenched his hand into a fist and landed a punch square on Law’s jaw, making him stumble slightly to catch his balance. All either of them saw was red as they began to fistfight; no Devil Fruit, no weapons, just their own physicality as they beat each other up.
„Goody-two-shoes bastard!” Lucas spat as they swiped at each other. „Never fucking knew how lucky you were! Fucking golden boy who couldn’t do any wrong!”
„I worked hard, damn it! Even back then I studied hard!”
„…because you were allowed to study hard! Your parents didn’t fight so fucking loud you couldn’t concentrate!”
„That was what the library was for!”
„You think I was allowed to go that far by myself?!”
„Doesn’t mean you have to take it out on me!”
„I’ll take it out on whomever I damn well fucking please!” They separated, blood starting to ooze from scratches and cuts, while their fists and faces were beginning to swell. Bruising bloomed from where they made contact—neither of them were going to come out clean. „If you think you’re my fucking therapist, then how the fuck do you think I feel, with you as the only person who seems to have been able to cure Amber Lead disease?! Our teachers always treated you better!”
„Our teachers grew up with my parents and their siblings! They just knew each other! That’s normal!”
„…maybe yours, but not mine! How would you like it if you were never good enough from the first day of school?! That no one knew you because they were too busy with others?! I lived in your perfect fucking shadow, Trafaldick!”
„You can’t even use my real name!”
„You can’t even admit your crush had a crush on me and not you! That I was better!”
Law lunged at Lucas and the two continued fighting. Tears and blood blurred their vision as they kept on, not even stopping when hands pulled them apart and Law felt fuzzy paws hold him tight.
“I got it! I got it!” Who was that? Law felt something poke his arm and suddenly he felt very soft and heavy…
…shit.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-
He came home to find her packing—no warning, no lead-up, just packing.
“What is going on?” he wondered, feet planting themselves in the doorway of their bedroom.
“I’m going,” Inka said. She refused to even look at him.
“Why…? What did I do…?”
“Nothing—I just…” She closed the suitcase, her hands shaking. “You need to live your life, Law. I’m taking Fenne and we’re leaving.”
“Where… where are you going…?”
“A… friend’s,” she replied. It felt as though he was hiding something… as though where she was headed, it was more than a friend waiting for her, but a warm bed and a tender embrace. “They’re expecting us.”
Finally, he was able to move towards her. He gently touched her shoulder and she turned further away. “You can’t go.”
“This… it’s not real, Law,” she replied.
“None of it…? From the beginning…?”
She turned towards him and he could see the killing blow, oozing brains and other tissues down what was left of her face.
“It never was.”
-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Law did something he had not done since he was a young teenager: woke up vomiting. He was barely able to roll over in time, most of what he expelled being caught by an expedient set of hands bringing over a nearby wastebin. Once the entire sum content of his stomach was out of his system, he wiped his mouth on the back of a shaky hand—what the fuck was that…?
“You’re up.” He looked and saw it was Shachi holding the wastebin, while Penguin was the one who talked as he held up a clipboard. “We were beginning to worry about you.”
“How long was I out?” Law wondered.
“A few hours,” Penguin shrugged. “Exactly the amount of time the sedative is supposed to work.”
“…and why the fuck did you give me a sedative?” Law tried to sit up, only for Penguin to—very easily, mind—push him back down. “The fuck, Peng?”
“You and Lucas were about to murder each other,” Shachi offered. “You gotta get your strength back, Cap.”
“…and where is Lucas?”
“Right here.” Penguin stepped aside to show that Lucas was sleeping in the other infirmary bed, looking just about how Law felt: like hell. “You two roughed each other up pretty badly before Hakugan saw you on the scope.”
“It was under control.”
“I don’t know what the fuck you were fighting about—and in Flevench of all things—but it was worse than I’ve ever seen you,” Penguin said.
“Yeah,” Shachi added, “it was even worse than the time we had to break out of Rubeck with you in seastone.”
Somehow, Law’s stomach squelched at the memory. “Can I at least recover in my own quarters?”
“Not this time,” Penguin said. Damn it. “As two of the few people who have a hope of telling your ass what to do, you gotta stay where we can see you.”
“You’ve been worrying us, Captain,” Shachi said. “You’ve been worrying Bepo… you can’t do that.”
Guilt washed over him—he hated worrying Bepo. It reminded him too much of when they were kids, the little Mink being beaten up by a pair of bullies. Now it was the bullies who were admonishing him, of all things…
…bullies could change; Penguin and Shachi were both proof of that fact. Shit… they were going to hold that over him, weren’t they? He let himself sink down onto the bed, giving his friends a sour glare.
“That’s a good captain,” Penguin said. “Now just get some sleep—you need some more than you realize.”
“…which is all the time,” Shachi nodded. The pair agreed between one another and also offered the wonderful extra bonus of seastone and restraints if Law didn’t lay down and get some (supervised) rest.
This nonsense of having crew members who could tell him what to do was precisely that: nonsense.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-
He was not dreaming this time, Law instead floating aimlessly in unconsciousness. It had been difficult to get to sleep with the chill and the noise of the infirmary, but now that he was, he was at the very least content. There was no nightmares about Flevance, no wishful-thinking about what could have been, and no anything otherwise. It was peaceful, it was calming…
…all except for a constant, annoying beeping.
Law woke up with a groan, the overhead lights blinding him on accident. He noticed that the infirmary was full of people panicking, which made him snap awake and sit straight up.
“What’s going on?!”
“The sedative should have worn off, so we were trying to wake Lucas up to get some vitals, and…!” Shachi moved over to show that their guest was now convulsing on the other bed.
Snapping into doctor mode, Law quickly took the IV out of his arm and scrambled out of bed, orders be damned. He grabbed a scalpel as he opened a Room—a Scan on Lucas indicated that his entire body was beginning to shut down.
If he didn’t do something, the man laying on the bed in front of him would die.
Gravina Lucas was about to die and if he didn’t do anything, it would be Law’s fault.
A life in his hands, no matter how infuriating.
Annoying as shit, yet deserved Amber Lead poisoning as much as anyone.
He could double the chances of Flevance enduring if the asshole in front of him lived…
…but only if he made it so.
Fuck.
“Give him half the normal dose of tranquilizer and strap him to the table,” Law ordered. He put down the scalpel long enough to roll up his sleeves and scrub himself up. Once another Room was in place, he began to divide up his patient, isolating his kidney, heart, and lungs, as well as several points within his veins and arteries. “Get him on oxygen, now, and I’m going to need a sterile tray separate from everything else.”
“What are you doing, Captain?!” Clione asked, trying to not sound panicked.
“What no one did for me,” he replied. Lucas eventually calmed and his heart rate normalized—time to get to work.
Slowly, methodically, Law began to pluck the Amber Lead from Lucas’s body. He made his movements precise and meaningful as he scooped and scraped out the poison. It took much longer than he had originally intended, eventually breaking out in a sweat as his Devil Fruit was taxed. He kept going, pushing himself further and further, until a Scan revealed there was nothing left.
Lucas was cured.
He was no longer dying.
Someone else from Flevance would live.
A nasty bully, but someone else nonetheless.
The Room dropped and Law stumbled, fainting for a moment as Bepo caught him. He shook the fatigue from himself as he tried to stand on his own; for once, Penguin and Shachi had nothing sarcastic to say.
“What do you want us to do with this, Captain?” Penguin asked, gesturing to the tray full of bloodied Amber Lead. The pair looked uneasy around the substance—he couldn’t blame them.
“Give me a minute and I’m going to seal it up in something,” Law decided.
“So… we can chuck it to the bottom of the ocean…?” Shachi wondered.
“No. There are volcanic islands in the Grand Line—I want to toss it in one of those, so it can’t accidentally hurt anyone again. It would leech out if we chucked it into the ocean.” Law could see his friends’ body language relax. “Get me an empty sharps container and I can transfer it all in so it’s safe for transport.”
They did and, after a few minutes, Law was able to use his ability to Shamble the Amber Lead into the container, which was then sealed, labeled, and stuffed away on the floor of a cabinet “because this shit’s heavy”, according to Penguin. The four pirates looked at one another, then at the sleeping Lucas, and let out a collective breath in relief.
It was done.
A heavy weight seemed to lift off Law’s shoulders and he felt light-headed. He saved someone else from Amber Lead poisoning… and someone from his hometown at that. Staring at Lucas, who was now sleeping peacefully, he exhaled and knew that at least, as he closed his eyes and collapsed in exhaustion, his friends would be there to catch him.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-
It all felt so empty.
Dropping off his daughter at daycare. His job as a surgeon. Coming home to a silent house because Inka took the toddler to whatever place they were staying at. Poking at a plate of leftovers. Going to bed alone. The unsigned papers on the nightstand.
It was only a dream.
Empty.
Dream.
Nothing could change that.
It was only a dream.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Nearly a week passed with Lucas still unconscious as his body attempted to recover from Law’s procedure. Different Heart Pirates kept watch over him while he slept, making sure he was stable within the confines of his recovery to make sure their captain did not wear himself back out after bouncing back from the stressful, taxing surgery. Luckily for him—or unluckily, depending on one’s view of things—the surgeon in question was there when he did wake up in a panic, nearly ripping out his IV as he tried to get out of bed. Law held him down by his shoulders, looking him directly in the eyes as Clione and Uni began to panic.
„Calm down!” he ordered in Flevench. „You’re not cleared to move yet!”
„I feel like shit! What did you do to me!”
„I saved your life!”
„We just beat the shit out of each other! Why the fuck should I believe you?!”
“Because I’m a doctor, you jackass!” Law snapped, unconsciously switching to the more common tongue everyone shared. Lucas stopped resisting and stared slackjawed at him, allowing Law the ability to relax, switching back to Flevench. „You’re the only one who understands what I’m saying right now.”
„…no one else…?”
„Not fluently.” Law exhaled heavily and glanced over at his crewmates, who were both watching them cautiously. “Leave us for a sec, please?” They both paused for a moment before listening, leaving only the old schoolmates in the infirmary. „I was hoping that maybe you’d not be such a dick if I scraped it out of you.”
„How…?”
„My Devil Fruit allows me to alter anything inside a specific area, bodies included. You’re going to be sore for a long time while your body adjusts and recovers, but you should be free of Amber Lead.”
“Free…?” Lucas looked at the back of his hand, seeing that the splotch that had been white against his skin was now reddish. „You mean… I can be normal again…?”
„You and I are the only ones who have not only survived but also completely recovered from acute Amber Lead poisoning,” Law stated. “We can live normal lives, whatever that looks like. You will still have nerve damage for a bit, and probably chronic pain, but that will go away with physical therapy. Other than that and needing to get your strength back up, you should be in the clear.”
„Really…? It’s all out of me…? Honest…?”
„Honest. Your symptoms during recovery might differ from mine, but the end result should be the same. Never tested the theory, but as long as sterility isn’t a side-effect, we won’t even pass on the poison to our children. That was how everyone came down with it at once, despite the fact people our age should have had minimal exposure time.”
„…children…?” Lucas seemed to be hit by the word, as though it was the first time he considered it for a long time. „…you mean… we don’t have to be the last two people saying these words…?”
„I prefer it that way, yeah, but you have to have that conversation with someone not me.”
„Well, yeah… just… why…?”
„I can’t have your life—or anyone else’s—be on my hands like that, even if I am a pirate,” Law frowned. „Besides, I’ve known some bullies who’ve changed, and it’s not a stretch to think that common lead poisoning and Amber Lead poisoning has overlap in neurological side-effects. Now don’t make me regret this.”
„You won’t,” Lucas swore. He looked back down at his hands again, absolutely shocked at the revelation. „If I’m cured, then why does it still hurt so bad?”
„Your body was so clogged with Amber Lead you almost had more of it in you than blood,” Law explained. „It’s trying to fill in those gaps—that’ll take a few months. At least.”
„That’s… I didn’t even think I had a few months.”
„Been there; weird feeling.”
„No shit.”
Lucas went quiet for a long time, turning things over in his head as the pair silently shared space. He then let out a long exhale.
„So… does this mean we’re good?”
„No. It means you have another chance to not be an asshole. Don’t fuck this up, or I will have just guaranteed my descendants will inherit a blood feud.”
„You say that as though a woman would get near that ugly mug of yours,” Lucas laughed. There was no bite to his words, despite the fact they would have when he was last conscious. „Thanks.”
„Yeah.”
Silence settled over them awkwardly—now what? Over a minute passed between them before Law scratched at his scalp idly.
“I guess I’ll have to get the idiots on the other side of the door to start your rehab,” he said. “We’ll drop you off in a port soon with some ointment for the topical irritation, but the exercises you’re going to have to keep up on yourself.”
„Whatever the doctor says,” Lucas replied, allowing himself a smile. It was a start, anyhow.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-
At the next port, Lucas was able to walk off the Polar Tang of his own volition, heading down the gangway onto the solid wood of the pier. His movements were slow, but they held a sense of wonder at the world he did not carry before. He glanced back, seeing his old classmate standing by the railing, and waved.
“If you’re ever back around Chappsala, feel free to drop in,” he said, smiling wanly. “You won’t regret this, Trafalgar.”
“Get out of my face, Gravina,” Law replied dully. Lucas nodded and walked into the town, disappearing into the crowd on the wharf. Law watched him the entire time; he let out a breath once Lucas was out of sight, relieved.
“You liked having someone else on the ship who was from Flevance, didn’t you?” He looked and saw that his crew had been watching him from the door to the lower decks, only the three he’d known the longest actually outside the Tang. “Why didn’t you let him stay?”
“He’s still a piece of shit,” Law shrugged. “Now I can wash my hands of it.”
“Captain’s such a softie,” Bepo beamed. Law scowled at that claim—he was not! The Mink still ran up to him in order to trap him in a big bear hug, lifting him up until only his tiptoes still touched the deck. “We really have the best captain ever!”
“You say that, but we have to get going,” Law said. His crew all glanced towards the island—but… shore leave! “We’re not gonna make it to the One Piece if we keep lagging around at different islands and let the others get ahead of us! Get back inside and ready to dive!”
“AYE-AYE, SIR!” the crew replied in unison, most of them saluting as well. Law took one last look at the wharf and felt a burden lift off his shoulders.
Chappsala… he was going to have to remember that.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-
He dreamt of buying flowers—daisy pomps, sweet-smelling roses, fluffy marigold, alstroemeria, and many-layered ranunculus, all in yellows and pinks—and bringing the bouquet with him as he went to a quiet little practice tucked into an out-of-the-way street. No one was in the waiting room and the nurse behind the desk let him through with a wink, stepping into Inka’s office with the ease of someone who’d been there hundreds of times. She caught the door opening out the corner of her eye and looked up, surprised.
„Oh! Law!” She looked like she was about to cry at the very sight of him. He presented her the flowers, her taking them with almost a sort of reverence. „Thank you—they’re gorgeous.”
„I’m sorry,” he said. Law bent down and kissed her, cradling her face gently in his hands as he lingered wantonly. „You deserve to rest.”
„What do you mean…?”
„I mean…” He pulled his face back, taking in hers as tears welled in his eyes. Smoothing out the small hairs that did not get pulled back into the bun at the back of her head, he felt his heart yearn unlike it had in a long, long time. What harm would it do to continue…?
„Law…?”
„Rest peacefully, Inka. I’m… I’m letting you go.”
They kissed one last time, pressing their lips together desperately until Law no longer felt her in his arms. She was now laying there—they were in the Purge—broken and lifeless on the cobblestone. Law sniffled and wiped his nose on his forearm, another sort of broken child against the unforgiving backdrop of death.
Suddenly, a hand tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and saw Lucas, whole and untouched, framed by flame and smoke and corpses, and took a step back as he anticipated the worst.
„Let’s get out of here, Trafalgar,” he said. Law watched as the other boy held out his hand. „Let’s be free.”
He took his hand.
They ran.
They lived.
Neither of them would be alone.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-
A/N: Let’s just say that I tried working through some personal, though theoretical, stuff with this fic and I don’t think I got there, ahaha, but can’t say I didn’t make an attempt.
Also, I did give Lucas a lot of actual symptoms of various levels of lead poisoning. It’s… interesting to read about, to say the least.
