#luffy and law saying i love you as a form of pleading; please stay alive

[joyboying]

luffy and law saying "i love you" to each other truly hits so different when you remember ace and cora-san literally their most important person said "thanks for loving me" and "law i love you" before they died to them. their similar backstory when it comes to this gave it more nuances almost like a proof for second chance or a promise to each other that surely this time whatever lies ahead before them the outcome will be different.

[misc-headcanons]

C-can I request some angst please? 🥺🙏🏻 Sanji, Law, and Zoro finding a severely injured girl drifting out at sea and they save them and eventually become their s/o scenario or headcanons please? 🤩✨ I love your angst!!!

(These got kind of specific as I tried to come up with something angsty, haha. The content warnings on this one are a really weird combo, just a heads-up)

CW: References to slavery (Sanji and Zoro’s), cannibalism (Zoro), and medical experimentation (Law). Nothing explicit, but I’m adding this just in case!

Sanji

The Thousand Sunny had come across the wreckage of a ship and from the smell of cannon smoke in the air, it had likely only happened a few hours or so at most. The ship that had attacked was nowhere to be found, and there were several bodies floating in the water.

Sanji had noticed that among the corpses floating in the water, there was one that seemed to be alive. A young woman was clinging to a piece of driftwood, and the top of her head was covered with blood; as she bobbed in the ocean, her head barely lifted up to look up at the ship in front of her. Immediately, Sanji dove into the water after her and yelled up to Chopper. “Chopper, one of them is alive! Here, once we’re up on deck, take her to the clinic!”

Sanji carried her to the clinic, not minding the blood and seawater that was staining his clothes. The woman’s eyes were glassy and unfocused, but she was still alive. Chopper examined her and cleaned her head wound. By some miracle, the only injury she had received during her ship’s destruction was a concussion.

Chopper set up a small cot for her in the clinic so he could watch her overnight. Sanji immediately volunteered to watch over her as well, and he and Chopper worked in shifts (Sanji would leave to cook meals for the crew, and Chopper would sleep whenever Sanji got back).

At one point during the night, the woman stirred and realized that she was in a strange place. Sanji reassured her that she was safe, and tried to ask her who she was (Chopper had mentioned that testing her memory and cognitive skills would be a good idea when she woke up). She struggled to recall her memories, saying that she could only see fuzzy bits and pieces. What she did remember made a pit of unease form in Sanji’s chest: Cold chains on her wrists and feet that were too tight, seeing a glowing piece of metal and watching in horror as it burned into her friend’s skin, screaming and pleading not to be branded, the pain of having her head slammed against a pillar, and the deafening sound of splintering wood as some monster in the water bit into the ship before she fell into the icy water.

Strangely enough, she didn’t have a brand on her body; the ship had been attacked just as she was about to be burned. Sanji felt an urge to wrap his arms around her and comfort her, but he worried that it might make her uncomfortable and scared given what she’d been through. He offered to make her something to eat instead, and she nodded. When he started to get up, the young woman grabbed his hand. “Could…Could you stay with me for a little bit longer?” Her voice broke as she squeezed his hand. “I don’t want to be alone.”

Sanji’s eyes temporarily turned into hearts at the sudden physical contact, but he quickly controlled himself. He smiled and sat on the foot of her bed, still holding her hand. “Of course, my lady; as long as I’m able to draw breath, you won’t ever be alone again.”

Sanji took every opportunity to treat ____ like a princess, serving her gourmet meals, escorting her around the ship and on different islands the ship arrived at, buying all sorts of gifts, decorating her bed with all sorts of flowers, etc. Every time he did something, he noticed how taken aback she was by the kind gesture and she would protest. “There’s no need to fuss over me,” she said with wide eyes, “This is just…so much!”

Sanji would always reply that someone like her deserved everything good in this world, and that he was actually disappointed that he could only give her a fraction of that with his meager abilities. She’d always be flustered by his kindness and chivalry, but she started to warm up to being treated so well. He’d always comfort her when she would start to recover another memory of her prior life; some of them were happy, some of them…weren’t. They were always overwhelming, and ____ would find herself feeling a sudden rush of strong emotions that made her heart and head feel like they were about to burst. But no matter what, Sanji was always there to hold her and bring her back to reality.

One night, he had brought her a piece of cake and a cup of her favorite type of tea to her room. The two of them chatted together, and when she finished she gently brushed her fingers on his cheek. “You know,” she remarked quietly, “Whatever my past was, sometimes I think it doesn’t matter.” Sanji raised an eyebrow; ____ had spent so much time contemplating what her life was life before, trying to put together the “missing pieces” as she called it. What changed? She smiled and kissed his cheek. “Because whatever it was, I’m glad that in the here-and-now…I’m with you.”

Zoro

Of all the things for a shipwrecked cargo vessel to be carrying, it had to be meat. Crates and crates of meat, refrigerated in specially-made crates, bobbing up and down in the water. As he watched the wreckage float on the water, Zoro thought that if the ship’s builder had spent more time reinforcing the actual ship instead of making some special meat-preserving crates, then maybe the entire crew wouldn’t have died like idiots. The logos on the crates were hand-painted: Miss Terry’s Butchery. “Our meat is to DIE for!”

His thoughts were interrupted when Luffy cannonballed over the side of the Sunny with stars in his eyes. “FREE MEEEEEEEEAT!” He landed in the water, and Zoro dove after him. “Oi, you can’t swim, idiot!”

Zoro managed to grab Luffy by the collar before he sank like a stone, and he noticed another person in the water with them clinging to one of the crates that was half-flooded and starting to sink. He grabbed them as well and hauled them both up onto the deck of the Sunny.

It was a young woman, and even though she had been submerged there were visible tearstains on her cheeks. As Chopper attended to her and Luffy, Zoro noticed a small brand burned onto her right arm: Prop. of MTB. Chopper gave her mouth-to-mouth, and she coughed up a bit of seawater as her eyes fluttered open. Immediately, she saw Zoro’s swords and screamed in terror as she tried to scramble away from him. “D-Don’t harvest me, please,” she sobbed, burying her face in her knees. “I’ll do anything, I’ll…” She looked up and saw that she wasn’t on the cargo ship anymore. “Where…where am I?”

Zoro cocked his head at what she had first said. “What do you mean, ‘harvest’?” The young woman looked at him suspiciously. “Look, your ship wrecked. Looks like you’re the only one who made it.” He pointed out to the ruins of the cargo ship, and she slowly rose up to look out over the side of the Sunny.

She stared at the boxes of meat, her eyes filling with tears. Her knuckles tightened as she gripped the railing, and she tried to take deep breaths. “So…I’m safe,” she breathed. “I’m not gonna be…” Her eyes drifted to the floating boxes of meat, and she trembled. Zoro stepped forward, worried that she might pass out and fall over the side of the ship.

Luffy pouted and crossed his arms. “Man, all that meat’s gonna go to waste if it sinks,” he whined. “Hmmm, maybe Sanji can get the seawater off the ones that are wet.” He cupped his hands and called out to Sanji. “Oi, Sanji, come out here! Can you cook–”

“NO!” The young woman cut him off sharply. “You…don’t, don’t eat that meat! It’s…” She absentmindedly touched the brand on her arm, and Zoro realized why she was so terrified.

Zoro awkwardly put a hand on her shoulder. “We won’t,” he promised. “You’re safe now, alright?” Luffy protested, asking why they couldn’t eat so much meat ripe for the taking, but Zoro cut him off with a glare.

The young woman spent the next few weeks with the crew, getting to know everyone but revealing little about what had happened to her on the ship. Zoro was the only one who didn’t ask questions about her (or, well…any questions really. He wasn’t much of a conversationalist), and so she preferred spending time with him. One night they were sharing a bottle of sake in the dining room, and Zoro asked why she always preferred being around him compared to everyone else in the crew.

“Honestly? I dunno,” she replied, her voice slurring a bit. “I mean, Nami and Usopp and the others are really kind, all of you have been…really kind.” She took another swig. “But you were the one who saved me that day. I’d been born and raised in the pens, and I wasn’t even treated like a person by the butchers.” She stared off. “I only learned to talk because the other livestock–um, people–taught me. Even though it was pointless, haha.” She sniffled a bit. “Even if you say ‘no, please,’ when it’s your time, the butchers ignore every word you say. It’s just easier to pretend you’re a cow mooing, or a chicken clucking. Not a person.” She looked over at Zoro. “You were the first person outside of the pens to treat me like a human being. You talked to me. You listened to me.” She leaned her head against him. “You saved me.”

Zoro stiffened at the sudden contact, and he awkwardly wondered if he should put his arm around her; from how she was leaning, his arm would be touching her brand. Still, he didn’t want her to think he was being intentionally callous by not doing anything to return her gesture of affection. He decided to just rest his hand on top of hers, and she leaned closer onto his shoulder. They both fell asleep together in the dining hall, and it was the first time in years that ____ slept without a single nightmare. Seemed like Zoro was her guardian even in her dreams.

Law

The Heart Pirates were out on open waters, headed towards the island of Punk Hazard when they came across the splintered ruins of another ship floating in the water. Oddly enough, it wasn’t a large ship at all; from how little wood there was in the water, it almost seemed like a one-person raft instead of a proper ship.

From how the wooden planks were charred at specific points, it seemed as though a flurry of lightning strikes had hit the ship during a particularly strong storm. The Heart Pirates had seen a few lightning strikes in the area a few minutes earlier, so they had gone underwater to avoid any potential hits to the ship. A young woman was slumped over on the largest piece of wood, shaking and trembling. The smell of nitrogen was sharp in the air, and it seemed like she could sink under the waves at any moment.

“Bepo, bring her up,” Law ordered. She was a stranger, but as a doctor he felt some obligation to treat her wounds. Besides, she might have information on this area of the New World and Punk Hazard specifically.

Bepo quickly swam out to grab her, and he and Law took her to the medical bay. The rest of the crew was surprised to see Law with a new patient, considering they were in the middle of nowhere. They knew better than to ask questions when someone needed treatment, so they did what they could to assist their captain.

She appeared to be in cardiac arrest from the lightning strike, and thankfully the crew had arrived when they did. After a few minutes of resuscitation, her heartbeat returned (though it was strangely erratic– quickening, slowing down, and occasionally appearing to stop again despite her ability to breathe) She wasn’t able to talk coherently, occasionally mumbling and moaning out random phrases: “Had to leave,” “Kodō-Kodō no Mi,” “No more experiments, please,” “I’ll kill you, Caesar Clown…”

The crew examined her while she was sleeping, and they got a clearer picture as to where this woman came from. She was wearing a jumpsuit with three logos on the back: A Marine logo on the left, the World Government insignia on the right, and the personal symbol of Caesar Clown in the middle below the other two. There were various syringe marks and scars from surgical cuts and other signs that she’d been experimented on for a while. Most of the surgeries seemed to be near her heart, and when Law removed it with his Devil Fruit to examine it, it glowed with bright, swirling colors inside its cube. It seemed like this woman was a test subject of Caesar Clown’s, and that somehow she’d managed to escape.

Over the next few days, Law would record some of her mumbled phrases. When she came to, she recoiled in fear at the sight of so much medical equipment and a stranger looking down at her. She flinched and she formed a heart symbol with her hands; her chest began to glow a deep red. “St-Stenosis Beam–”

Law quickly stopped her from attacking him, and he explained that he had rescued her from the wreckage of the ship. He knew she was from Punk Hazard, and he assured her that he wasn’t allied with Caesar. She relaxed a little bit, and asked why he had saved her. Surely he wanted to use her and her ability, just like Caesar…

Law simply replied that as a doctor, he had an obligation to treat her injuries. If he had ignored her, it would be violating his own moral principle. ____ was shocked; the only doctor she’d ever known since birth was Caesar Clown, and the idea of one with a moral code seemed unbelievable.

She spent the next few weeks recovering in bed, and Law spent every day with her. They started to grow close, and she explained that her Devil Fruit could manipulate her heartbeat and the heartbeats of others. She’d been fed the fruit at a very young age, and that Caesar had been experimenting on her since she had eaten it. It had been a long period of torture, but she finally found the courage to escape during Akainu and Aokiji’s fight on the island. A lightning storm had left her stranded… ”Until you came along,” she said with a small smile.

She was exhausted, but she managed to find the strength to reach out and touch Law’s hand as she sank into the pillows propping her up. She gently squeezed him and stared up at him, tears brimming her eyes. “Thank you,” she whispered hoarsely. Her eyes fluttered, and she fell asleep with her fingers still intertwined with his. Law felt his heart flutter a bit, and he was confused at the sensation. ____ was just a patient, after all–Surely, ____was using her Devil Fruit to tamper with his heartbeat…right?