~
"Gomu gomu nooooo pistoruuuu!!" Law shielded his ears from the loud cry of his allied captain's attack before the hand that was holding his, just minutes ago, was shot out, the fist colliding with a charging marine.
"We don't have time for this Mugiwara-ya! Retreat to Sunny!" The Hearts captain reasoned, pulling Luffy by the back of his vest. He opened a ROOM and took them as close to the Strawhats' ship as he could in a single opening.
They were on a new island. They were being attacked by marines. Big surprise. Luffy wanted to fight. An even bigger surprise.
"I wanted to fight!" Luffy complained when the captains landed on the grassy deck. Law rolled his eyes.
"You've barely recovered from your previous fight, show some self-preservation."
"Luffy! You were fighting?!" Chopper fumed, overhearing the conversation. "Even when I told you so many times to stay away from fighting!!"
"Good luck." Law whispered to the rubber captain, smirking, knowing Chopper would give Luffy a hard time, and went to the Polar Tang to get the hell off the island. They would be meeting up soon in calm waters so there was no need for long goodbyes.
~
The Strawhats were partying. Why? Their captain never needed a reason to party and today was just like any other day. The catch today was especially big so that might have been a reason to bring out the good booze and dance the day away. Luffy and Chopper were doing just that, dancing their weird dance with chopsticks in their noses and baskets in their hands.
"That's very unsafe and unhygienic." Law commented landing on the Thousand Sunny's deck. They were supposed to meet a few days ago but both the crews had run into trouble and drifted a little farther from each other.
"Torao! Come dance with us!" Luffy yanked his chopsticks out and offered it and the basket to Law who didn't bother to hide his disgust and swatted the rubber hand away from him.
"Not even when I'm drunk." Seeing Luffy's pout, Law sighed. "Brought you something." A big ROOM opened and the empty space on the upper deck was soon occupied by a dead sea king.
"Uhyooo! More meat!!" The Strawhatted captain jumped, excited, stars in his eyes. "Sanji!"
"Yeah I'm on it." The cook got up and handled the situation.
"Thanks Torao! You're the best!" Luffy hugged Law, wrapping his rubber arms around the other captain a few times.
"I know." The older whispered, pushing the strawhat back and kissing the exposed forehead of his lover.
"Awwwh~" Law rolled his eyes at the cooing of his crew arriving aboard the Sunny.
"Aren't you two sweet~" An unknown voice spoke and immediately the light air and music died, replaced by a threatening aura from all the crews present. The interloper was casually sitting on the stairs that led to the upper deck.
"What a cutie-" Sanji started his simping but was cut off by Zoro.
"Who are you?"
The woman grinned, not evilly per se, but it wasn't welcoming or comforting to see either. Everyone was tense and battle-ready, except for one rubber idiot.
"Wanna party with us?" Luffy offered, a grin on his face, letting go of Law and putting his hat back on.
"Luffy!" The Strawhats crew all protested simultaneously.
"Mugiwara-ya! We don't know the intentions-" Law started.
"Don't be a party-pooper everyone!" Luffy remarked and turned to the woman. "Let's party!"
And so the party commenced. More booze was brought from the Polar Tang, drinking competitions took place among various crew members with Nami leading victory. Luffy inhaled piece after grilled piece of sea king meat, sometimes raw, invoking his cook's wrath. Law sat on a side, quietly chewing on some rice and meat and enjoying delicious tea, perfect for the weather.
"So how long have you and Monkey D. Luffy been together?" The woman asked hanging off Law, invading his space without invitation. She was bothering somebody else a few moments ago.
"That's none of your business." The Hearts captains replied, heartlessly, and moved away from the unsolicited contact. "And please keep your distance."
"Loyal to your boyfriend?" Law decided to ignore everything that was coming out of her mouth. "I am Yeaa Rebaasaru by the way and I am a devil fruit eater." That was the comment that got Law's attention. "Wanna know my intentions?" The captain stayed quiet. "I will tell only you~" Law secretly shambles-ed a tone dial and began recording, he had a gut feeling this will not end well.
As soon as the words were out of Yeaa's mouth, Law felt a touch on his shoulder and he closed his eyes from the momentary pain that went through his entire body. When he opened his eyes, everything was different. He was seeing... The Strawhats? Didn't they go off the radar an year ago? When had they gotten back? Upon closer inspection he found his own crew enjoying food and drinks with the other crew.
Law didn't remember how he got here, what he had been doing before this exact moment and why his head was spinning so much and why his pants were loose? He always wore tight pants but right now, they were loose. He took a look at himself and found something odd, his shirt was a little big as well. He didn't know what was going on and he felt vaguely threatened in even such a relaxed environment.
"Torao! Let's dance!" The sounds registered in Law's brain after a body collided with him and as per his usual response, a ROOM was open in less than a second and the body in question was cut to pieces. "Hey what's the big deal?!"
All noise, music and laughter died that instant, everyone present confused about what they were looking at. Law was sure the man lying on the ground in pieces was Mugiwara no Luffy but he didn't know how it came to this.
"What am I doing here?" Law opted as the safest question. "What is my crew doing here?"
"Torao, you seem different." The Hearts captain looked down at the talking head of the fellow Worst Generation captain.
"Captain what are you doing?" Penguin interrupted and when Law moved to look in his direction, a shell, conch? of sorts fell from his hand, he didn't even know he was holding it.
"A tone dial?" Nami moved to pick it up and Robin's hands elevated it off the ground for her aid. "Luffy, where is that new person?"
All heads moved to search for the woman Luffy had invited to the party but she was nowhere to be found. Law didn't know what person they were all looking for and felt very confused at the moment.
"Nami, play that dial." Robin instructed. "Something has happened here to Torao-kun and we don't know what. He was in possession of that tone dial so maybe he had figured something was going to happen and recorded it."
"Ok." The navigator nodded and pressed the top of the shell.
"Usopp is an idiot! Usopp is an idiot! Usopp is an idiot!" The dial played in Luffy's recorded voice.
"Oi!" The Strawhats' sniper gave his captain a look. The dial wasn't finished replaying so everyone quietened the long-nosed man.
"Usopp is an idiot- You do want to know right? My name is my devil fruit power. Year Reversal. I touch you and you start losing one year every day~ Until you have none left~ Of course your memories and abilities recede too and you relive everything, good and bad. I wonder how long you have actually known Monkey D. Luffy, because you are going to lose all memories of him if it's not long. And I wonder how he will react, trusting someone so lightly and paying the price this way. See ya Mr. Trafalgar."
"What the fuck does that even mean?!" Law was furious for some reason he did not know. Well, he was confused and the shell replaying some voice message only made his confusion worse. "What does it matter to anybody- why are you looking at me like that?!" Law ended glaring at the Strawhat captain giving him a wide-eyed look.
"So you have already lost one year." Robin provided and turned to her captain. "Luffy, I'm afraid this is Torao-kun before he made the alliance."
"Alliance?" Law echoed.
"Yes captain, you were-will be-ugh, had been?-" Shachi stammered not knowing how to explain.
"How old are you right now?" Penguin asked, trying to make sense of things.
"Twenty-five." Law answered, guarded.
"Ok, so, you have lost an year like the tone dial repeated. You were twenty-six when you sent us to Zou and went to Punk Hazard and formed an alliance with the Strawhats and..." Law raised his eyebrow at the abrupt discontinuation.
"And?"
"And you fell in love with Mugiwara." Bepo continued, patting Penguin's back for an explanation well done.
Law stared at his first mate for a while then shifted his glance to Strawhat Luffy who was looking at him with hope in his eyes and Law was now even more confused. "No way."
"Yes way Torao-"
"Who the fuck is Torao?!"
"Can you put our captain back together please?" Usopp asked politely, hiding behind Robin. Law looked at his crew for guidance, they seemed really relaxed about the situation.
"It's ok captain, we are all telling the truth." Penguin insisted knowing Law would wreak havoc if they did not get him to trust them. "Umm," He turned to the nearest Strawhat who turned out to be Franky, "where's the latest copy of News Coo? Maybe a newspaper will convince him."
"I supppeerrrrrr have it rrrrright herrrrre." Franky opened his chest cavity and pulled out a crisp newspaper.
"Look at the date." Peng handed the paper to Law who first looked at everyone cautiously then took the news and read through it. The more the Hearts captain read, the more the stiffness started dissipating from his posture.
"I'm sorry about this." Law whispered to Luffy, crouching to his level. "It seems like you're all telling the truth."
"Oh thank god." Usopp deflated in relief. "Man that was scary."
Law started putting Luffy together, feeling dangerous stares of Roronoa Zoro and Kuroashi no Sanji behind him. "They seem to want to murder me." Law spoke silently so the words would stay among him and Luffy. He was still confused but decided to trust his crew on the matter and there was something about the way the rubber captain was looking at him that had Law believe the truth.
"They won't." Law nodded at the other's words, putting his legs in the proper place and picking the strawhat from where it had drifted to when Luffy was cut to pieces.
"Your hat." The Hearts captain placed the namesake on his ally's head, dispelling the ROOM when the job was finished.
"Torao-"
"I'm sorry, I need some space to process this." And everyone let him be.
~
"So we allied and defeated Doflamingo?" It was the next evening that the Hearts captain had gathered enough courage to face the other captain and seek him out for some details and answers.
"And Big Mom and Kaido too!" Luffy answered, all smiles and wild gestures that Law was talking to him. It was a huge hit on Luffy's heart when he was looking at the same man but the look he received back was not from the same eyes as the ones that fell in love with him.
"Now you're just making things up." Law scoffed, relaxing more into the railing behind him as the other's laughter rang in the air. The sun was going to go down soon and something struck Law that soured his mood all over again. "When did I lose an year? What time? I'm pretty sure that woman said one year every day."
"It's ok, we have a plan at hand – or so Robin says." Luffy affirmed and Law scanned the deck to see that all of the Strawhats were around, busy in various tasks but close enough to act should something happen. What were they anticipating would happen?
"This is annoying. I won't remember any of this. I am sorry you'd have to go through this again and again unless you figure out how to break this power."
"Chopper's at it."
"Ok-ugh!" Law had doubled over in pain, he remembered this particular detail as the starting point of all this mess.
"Torao, where does it hurt- I'll call Chopper- uh oh." Luffy's silence that followed alerted the crew and all the Strawhats gathered around. When Law raised his head, Luffy couldn't control his laughter at the clothes that were even looser on the man now.
"You're... Mugiwara-ya? This is strange. You look older than your recent bounty poster. What's going on here? Why are you laughing?" Law being the perceptive twenty-four year old he was, looked around and noticed all the other Strawhats as well. "All of you look older than your posters..." He was alarmed and cautious and about to make a ROOM but Luffy wrapped his arms around the older to momentarily delay him. Law glared at rubber boy with so much hate and disgust that Luffy's arms loosened in stunned silence. Thankfully, Robin took over and they were able to put some seastone cuffs on Law. "What're you doing?! Remove these!!"
Luffy felt a guilty pang in his chest, he knew Law didn't like being caged, and he had seen his fear when Doflamingo had put up the birdcage. Luffy talked with Robin and Sanji about Law's visible discomfort and mistrust, negotiated, both sighed and ended up agreeing with Luffy, taking off one of the cuff's from Law and putting it on their captain.
"We are not doing anything bad to you Torao." Luffy started sitting with Law.
"You're dumber than you look if you think I'll believe a pirate." Law spat.
"Look I also have a cuff, you can trust me."
"I'll cut your arm and run away, what sort of an idiot are you?!"
"The one you allied with."
"What?" Law stopped. This was a chance.
Nami put the paper in front of Law and the entire day began again. "You've been hit by an enemy attack. You're aging backwards, an year a day."
"That's bullshit. I was on my way to Sabaody-where's my crew! I swear if you've killed them-!!" Law was angry and despite the handcuff, a small room could be seen forming. He was overpowering the cuffs by sheer anger and will.
"They're ok!" Usopp shrieked trying to calm Law down.
"Where are they?" Law asked calmly.
"Captain- oh no he's smaller now." Penguin was the first to arrive abroad the Sunny. The twenty-five year old Law had told the Hearts to all stay in the Tang while he talked to Luffy so that's where they were.
When his crew was in sight, Law believed what he was being told but still not a hundred percent. "Loosen the cuffs. I have a way of confirming what you are saying."
"You-you-you won't murder us all, right?" Usopp asked cowering behind Luffy.
"Only if you're lying." Law smirked and rubbed his wrist when he was free. He initiated a ROOM and began analyzing ages of everyone's cells. Comparing all the data he already had with that he got at the moment, he decided he was being told the truth. "Fine, I believe you."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and rejoiced that they won't have to repeat this until tomorrow. They were exhausted at just the second day. The problem was that Law was getting younger. If he were getting older, they wouldn't have had the need to explain everything again and again but now they were all tired from daily explanations.
Days passed and the Strawhats and Hearts were frantic about finding the devil fruit user while Law turned younger and younger. It was now the day that he was twelve. Everyone was already exhausted minus Luffy of course, who saw all of this as an opportunity to have fun with his lover. But even Luffy was having a hard time putting up a smile when he saw how broken and utterly devastated Law looked. He had white patches on his entire visible skin, his eyes from red and puffy from continuous crying that he won't talk about. He was inconsolable.
"Torao, you have to tell me what's wrong." Luffy tried again. He was sitting with the young Law in the men's sleeping quarters, trying and trying to get Law to smile but it just wasn't happening. Luffy was increasingly worried how just one year back got Law looking so small and weak and underfed. Luffy had never really cared about the pasts of his nakama, not tying them to it but right now, he wished he knew more about Law so he could help.
"C-cora-san..." A choked whisper escaped the small body. It was enough for Luffy because he remembered Law telling him how Mingo killed his benefactor. Was this the year he lost him? When he was twelve?! Luffy hugged the small boy who only cried harder until time passed and his amber lead burned the weakened body with high fever, making the boy lose consciousness.
"Chopper!" Luffy called making his way to the infirmary, Law wrapped in his arms. "Something's wrong!"
Robin who was also present in the infirmary, helping the reindeer doctor with some notes looked horrified, recognizing what this was. "Luffy, we can't help him right now." She said, choosing her words carefully. "This will get better tomorrow on its own. We can only find the user to undo this."
"Let me ease the fever at least." Chopper had his captain lay the vulnerable Hearts captain down on the infirmary bed and fixed a medicine to help with the symptoms. He knew from seeing Law that it was amber lead, he had learned a lot about it from Doctorine.
~
Days continued to pass until Law had hit ten. It was scary for everyone involved because if they didn't do something soon, Law would hit year zero and cease to exist. The boy was still in the infirmary from recurring bouts of fever and unconsciousness. Luffy stayed with him all that time.
The ten year old Law, fresh into the loss of Flevance and his family, opened his eyes to an unknown place. He had seen enough cruelty of the world to not allow anybody any leniency, especially not to the stupid looking man sleeping with his head on the bed Law was on. The boy discretely grabbed a scalpel he saw on the table away from him, he gathered this was an infirmary. He didn't know what he was doing here.
"Nhmmm." Law tensed at the man rousing from his sleep. He rubbed his eyes and grinned looking at the young boy. "Torao! You're awake-" Law stabbed him with the scalpel he had picked when the red-vested man lunged at him and made a run for it.
Law was out of breath. He ran out the door and arrived on a deck of sorts. He glanced here and there and saw a pirate flag. Law panicked, not knowing how he got to where he was and it looked like the ship was sailing. He was going to make it across the deck and jump probably. That was his plan. He made for it but a green-haired, bulky man stepped in his way.
"Oh Torao you're up." Zoro started, then his attention went to the infirmary door flying open and his captain running out with his hand clutching his abdomen and blood pouring out of it. "Luffy what the-" Zoro was quick when little Law pushed against his legs and tried to run. The swordsman picked the kid up and suspended him there at an arm's length, confiscating the weapon he had in his hand. "Man, you're dangerous."
"Let me go!" Law squirmed in his place until he swung his legs to grab Zoro's arm and once he had a firm grip, he bit him where he could.
"Ow! Fuck!" Zoro let go of Law and on his way to the ground, the shithead kid kicked Zoro in the balls, running away sniggering evilly at the outcome. Usopp who was silently observing burst out laughing with Luffy in tow. "This Torao is the worst."
Roronoa Zoro was right because Law got more and more scared he turned a few years younger still.
"Where am I?! This isn't Flevance!" Law screamed, scared, backed into a corner, the scalpel somehow back in his hand.
"Where is Flevance?" Luffy asked the small boy, trying to approach him.
"Luffy." Robin interrupted with a hand on Luffy's shoulder. She was probably the only person in their crew who knew about the White City. "Torao-kun, please put the blade away-"
"Where are my parents?! Where is Lami?! What have you done to my sister?!"
Everyone shielded their ears from painful screams of a scared boy. Luffy stopped in his tracks. He was lost. His Torao had a sister? His Torao had also lost a sibling? From the look on Robin's face, Luffy understood Torao had lost everyone. It was Luffy's fault that his happened, he took it all on himself. He was responsible for making Law relive this. They needed to find the user. And fast.
But they couldn't. Not until Law had officially run out of years. The Hearts captain was now a baby. Luffy was holding him and Nami was teaching him how to keep the head steady. He had been sleeping most of the time but when he was awake, he was always yanking on Luffy's face, the rubber making him laugh. Luffy couldn't find consolation in any of it. He couldn't even face the Heart pirates. He had brought this on Law. He was going to lose another person close to him without being able to do anything. A lone tear escaped his eyes without his knowledge.
"Oh so it has come to this." Everyone recognized the voice and in an instant sprung to action in order to trap the woman who started this mess. She appeared annoyed when Usopp's seastone cuffs had met their mark, immobilizing the year-reversing woman.
Luffy quickly made his way on the deck with Law still in his arms, playing with his cheek and cackling. "Turn him back!" Luffy yelled, command in his haki.
"He looks pretty happy to me like this." The woman observed.
"This is his last year! Turn him back!" Everyone was silent, Luffy had that look in his eyes. He was always protective of his nakama but this was different. He was afraid. There was fear evident on his face that what if he lost Law too. The thought unsettled him and he was about to advance for an attack when the woman held up her hands. Law had started crying from all the loud voices.
"Alright fine. What a bore. He would turn back on his own when his years have run out. My powers don't kill, idiot."
"We will have you keep us company then until your words have come true." Robin said sweetly and tightened the cuffs a bit more. The sun was going down and Luffy was anxious. He took Law and locked himself in the captain quarters. The crew was excessively worried. Everyone was tense. The sun went down. Everything was quiet. Then came a thundering threat from the captain's quarters,
"I'll fucking cut you to pieces!" Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, collapsing where they stood. Law was back.
"How is this my fault?!"
"You wanted to party with that witch!!"
"So?! I didn't know she would do this!!"
"That's your problem! You just jump into things without thinking!!" Then all was quiet again. But the crews were relieved. Law wasn't dead or had ceased to exist.
"Can I go now?" The woman in their captivity asked. They released the woman and dispersed to get some rest and to give the captains some privacy and time to themselves.
"Why are you quiet now?" Law asked annoyed when Luffy refused to look at him, hiding his face in his chest instead. "If you're going to be like this then I'm leaving to get some clothes. Let me up."
"Tobaoooooo! I ab sobbbyyy!" Law laughed out loud at the sobbing mess his lover's face was at that moment, forgetting that he only had a sheet covering him and needed to put on some clothes. "Don't laugh!"
"Your face!" Law stifled his laugh to chuckling and patted Luffy's head. "Alright alright. I am sure you must have had a hard time too. I wasn't the most cooperative kid so I must have given you hell."
"You kic-ked Zobo in the fably jewels!" Luffy explained, still sobbing.
"Was I ten then?" Luffy nodded and Law sighed. "Figures. That was a particularly bad time."
Luffy wiped his tears and snot on the sheet that was covering Law. "Tell me everything about yourself so I can help you if something like this happens again." That earned the rubber captain a haki-clad slap on his head.
"You're not partying with random shady witches again!"
"But-"
"NO."
"Fine." Luffy grumbled and let Law go to put on some clothes. "You were a cute baby though. You liked playing with my rubber face." Law was glad that he was hiding his face picking his clothes because he was embarrassed as fuck. "I love you Torao." At this, Law did look at Luffy and felt all the pain and fear the younger must have felt during this whole situation.
"I know."
"Hey! You're supposed to say it back!"
"I will when you stop inviting random people to parties!"
"Torao this isn't fair!"
"Get used to it!"
The bickering was much welcome on the Thousand Sunny, to the ears of Hearts and Strawhats alike. Their captains were alive. Their captains were ok. Their captains were in love~
~
Vote and leave a comment if you enjoyed <3
Itachi_Warrior desu~! ^/_\^