( to say that spending time with the strawhats is never dull would be an understatement. in spite of all the horror-terrors that law was made not only to relive whilst being in dressrosa with doflamingo again and the strawhats ( mainly luffy, really ) not following things according to plan, he manages to make it out alive. somehow. considering everything that luffy and his motley crew have been through since they started making waves here on the grand line, it's a miracle all of them still have their lives.
the point of all this is to say: law is extremely tired and feels as if he's aged fifteen years just while being in this ""alliance"" with luffy. nevermind all the other baggage that came along with digging up his past with the donquixote family. that's a wound that will never fully heal correctly and at times will tear and bleed anew. the more he tells himself he's fine with it and he can live with it, sometimes he still feels like that child in the snow with nothing but the faint echo of affection keeping him afloat.
but, he'd be quick to shove that away and pretend that he's plenty well-developed and sane, especially in the face of others. it's something he does often enough, so he easily hides his feelings, thoughts, everything behind his usual grumpy mask. it's easier here than it is on the thousand sunny; none of the strawhats understand the meaning of personal space and law can't stand it. but here, thankfully, most of that simpering strange man's crew are obsessed with luffy and his crew so law is left to his own devices.
which is fine by him. the journey to zou could take a while. ( or whatever. who even knows what goes on with time in one piece??? i don't. )
tonight has everyone in a jovial mood, one that law doesn't share ( when does he ever?? ) so he finds his way to a quiet part of the deck and sits down with a small plate of onigiri and a cup of... beer, probably, he's not sure. someone just shoved it into his hand on his way out of the galley. he sits and immediately starts to eat, suddenly missing his own crew and ship; not that he'd tell anyone. from here he can hear the revelry and it's almost an easy thing for him to think he's on the polar tang instead, as if any moment bepo will show up to quietly sit beside him while they eat.
it's not like he misses any of them or anything. don't be stupid. )
[ being on barto's ship is both fun and weird at the same time. fun, because there's so much to see, and the crew's super nice to them, and there's plenty of good food to eat at any point during the day (and night, too, actually, sometimes he gets hungry and wakes up and wanders to the kitchen and there's always leftovers waiting for him) —
but it's also weird, because it's not the sunny, and luffy misses her just as bad as he misses nami, and sanji, and chopper, and brook; because the food isn't as good as sanji makes, and, most importantly, because barto keeps falling into something like fainting spells that remind luffy of hancock and hero-worship is totally stupid because he's not a hero and worship is a waste of time, anyway.
and so, after snacking through the entire preparation of the meal, and then eating twelve full plates, he grabs one more, piles it full of meat and wanders out to the deck.
his initial idea is go sit on top of the very large straw hat (which, also weird, but whatever), but his eyes settle on the solitary figure on the side of the deck. and here's the thing: he's not stupid, or maybe he is in the areas where people like nami and robin and chopper and law are smart, but not in this. not in the way he remembers the look in law's eyes, in dressroba; not in the way his shoulders had been tight with desperation and then turned tight with relief, after; not in the way you can sometimes be alone and not be lonely, but sometimes they're both the same thing.
tonight's one of those times, and luffy pivots, marches over until he's standing right next to law and then he just drops, ungracefully, into a heap on the deck while somehow still balancing the plate full of meat perfectly in his hand. ]
I wonder how everyone's doing, [ he says, starting a conversation from the middle, not even bothering with any kind of a greeting. ]
( to wish for peace and silence in a world with luffy is truly a futile effort. there's no way anyone would be left alone — lonely or not ( and, for the record, law would never, ever, ever, ever say he's lonely. not even under threat of death ) — with luffy is around. he has this annoying aspect of his personality that he seems to just know things and has intuitive feelings about things.
it's all very annoying in law's eyes.
so, it's no shock to him when he hears that quiet plap, plap, plap of flip-flops and sooner rather than later there's a warm body sitting next to him. sometimes law thinks to himself — kind of, not that he'd admit to thinking about Thee Mugiwara-ya at all — that it's only by sheer luck of the force of gravity that luffy doesn't just vibrate off the very ground they stand on. he's constantly in motion, even when he's still. law exhales a slow breath to beat the annoyance of being disturbed but finds he's... not all that annoyed to begin with.
not really.
not going to think about that, either.
he cheeks a mouthful of onigiri to take a pull of his drink — yes, beer — and swallows that before continuing to stare rather bleakly out at the dark water. )
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the point of all this is to say: law is extremely tired and feels as if he's aged fifteen years just while being in this ""alliance"" with luffy. nevermind all the other baggage that came along with digging up his past with the donquixote family. that's a wound that will never fully heal correctly and at times will tear and bleed anew. the more he tells himself he's fine with it and he can live with it, sometimes he still feels like that child in the snow with nothing but the faint echo of affection keeping him afloat.
but, he'd be quick to shove that away and pretend that he's plenty well-developed and sane, especially in the face of others. it's something he does often enough, so he easily hides his feelings, thoughts, everything behind his usual grumpy mask. it's easier here than it is on the thousand sunny; none of the strawhats understand the meaning of personal space and law can't stand it. but here, thankfully, most of that simpering strange man's crew are obsessed with luffy and his crew so law is left to his own devices.
which is fine by him. the journey to zou could take a while. ( or whatever. who even knows what goes on with time in one piece??? i don't. )
tonight has everyone in a jovial mood, one that law doesn't share ( when does he ever?? ) so he finds his way to a quiet part of the deck and sits down with a small plate of onigiri and a cup of... beer, probably, he's not sure. someone just shoved it into his hand on his way out of the galley. he sits and immediately starts to eat, suddenly missing his own crew and ship; not that he'd tell anyone. from here he can hear the revelry and it's almost an easy thing for him to think he's on the polar tang instead, as if any moment bepo will show up to quietly sit beside him while they eat.
it's not like he misses any of them or anything. don't be stupid. )
no subject
but it's also weird, because it's not the sunny, and luffy misses her just as bad as he misses nami, and sanji, and chopper, and brook; because the food isn't as good as sanji makes, and, most importantly, because barto keeps falling into something like fainting spells that remind luffy of hancock and hero-worship is totally stupid because he's not a hero and worship is a waste of time, anyway.
and so, after snacking through the entire preparation of the meal, and then eating twelve full plates, he grabs one more, piles it full of meat and wanders out to the deck.
his initial idea is go sit on top of the very large straw hat (which, also weird, but whatever), but his eyes settle on the solitary figure on the side of the deck. and here's the thing: he's not stupid, or maybe he is in the areas where people like nami and robin and chopper and law are smart, but not in this. not in the way he remembers the look in law's eyes, in dressroba; not in the way his shoulders had been tight with desperation and then turned tight with relief, after; not in the way you can sometimes be alone and not be lonely, but sometimes they're both the same thing.
tonight's one of those times, and luffy pivots, marches over until he's standing right next to law and then he just drops, ungracefully, into a heap on the deck while somehow still balancing the plate full of meat perfectly in his hand. ]
I wonder how everyone's doing, [ he says, starting a conversation from the middle, not even bothering with any kind of a greeting. ]
no subject
it's all very annoying in law's eyes.
so, it's no shock to him when he hears that quiet plap, plap, plap of flip-flops and sooner rather than later there's a warm body sitting next to him. sometimes law thinks to himself — kind of, not that he'd admit to thinking about Thee Mugiwara-ya at all — that it's only by sheer luck of the force of gravity that luffy doesn't just vibrate off the very ground they stand on. he's constantly in motion, even when he's still. law exhales a slow breath to beat the annoyance of being disturbed but finds he's... not all that annoyed to begin with.
not really.
not going to think about that, either.
he cheeks a mouthful of onigiri to take a pull of his drink — yes, beer — and swallows that before continuing to stare rather bleakly out at the dark water. )
I'm surprised they let you leave their sights.