#sanji has screamed bloody murder about it

[somnas-writes]

The straw hats bite each other

[akwolfgrl]

Recipe for recovery part 4

As Zoro carried Sanji onto the deck, to the chair waiting for him, he couldn't help but notice how light he felt in his arms. The sound of his scream still haunts him. Zoro didn't know what he would do without the blonde in his arms. Someone had already piled the chair in pillows. Everyone was working together to get Sanji to take it easy and rest. Robin and Nami were already sitting on either side of his chair, Zoro thought it was a bad idea that Sanji would be worried about serving them instead of resting.

“What's that smell?” Sanji asked, sniffing the air.

“Frankys got the grill going,” Zoro told him as he placed him on his throne of pillows. Zoro sure as shit didn't know how to grill. “Luffy and I killed a few animals,” Before Sanji fell, they had to go back to grab them and Namis tools.

“I'll need to do inventory later,” Zoro sat down by the foot of the chair, extra precaution from Sanji attempting to stand.

He and Sanji were both far too alike in that regard. This wasn't something he could train for. When he or a crew member had been hurt in the past it was something Zoro could train, work harder to prevent it from happening again. However there was no out training for a freak accident, an act of nature and bad timing.

“Already done Sanji,” Robin replied with a smile. “I got you something to read, it's a mystery novel. Hannah Swensen runs a bakery, specializing in cookies, called The Cookie Jar. When a delivery man is found, shot dead, in her loading bay, Hannah decides to take matters into her own hands and find the killer herself. It's quite a good series thus far, I'm on book ten carrot cake murder. There are recipes inside, between them and your notes on the crew we can manage until you feel well enough to order us about. I'll hold it for you, Choppers already told us everything,”

“Thank so much Robin, but you don't have to go that far for me. It's my job to take care of and serve you,” Sanji replied.

“Nonsense, now sit back and relax. I have your reading speed timed perfectly,” Zoro had no idea how she did it but it was Robin, if anyone had that figured out it would be her.

“All right! Luffy, are you ready for some Super!! good BBQ?” Franky asked a drooling Luffy.

“Yesh!” Luffy cried, throwing his hands in the air.

Zoro sat back and watched as Franky loaded Luffy's plate with chicken, burgers, ribs, kabobs and hot dogs. Luffy eagerly tucked in.

“Mm! Ish almosh ah goo ah,” Luffy swallowed his mouthful. “Sanjis!”

“Thanks bro, that's high praise! BBQ is my specialty!” Franky struck another pose, his arms above his head. “It's the only thing in can cook to be honest,”

Zoro got up when the second round was ready, Nami right behind him. Robin stayed behind to keep Sanji company. She could easily use her devil fruit to get her own food.

“You'll keep an eye on him tonight right?” Nami asked him when they were out of earshot.

“Yes, I should have been there when he fell,” Zoro knew it wasn't rational but he could still hear Sanji's scream over the sound of crumbling earth. The sight of his bloody mangled body would haunt his nightmares. It was one thing to get hurt during a fight, it was expected even.

“Are you finally going to confess?” Nami asked, loading up her plate and both his plates.

“When he's not on painkillers,” He had confessed to Nami after she caught him staring at the blonde's ass one too many times. She of course had plied him with drinks first, that women sure knew how to make one hell of a drink.

“Good, I'm sick of the pinning and if this accident has taught us anything is there's no time to waste…although Yah don't confess while he's high, I'm surprised he's not loopy,”

“Zoro, Sanji and Luffy's pain tolerance is high, that might be the reason why the medicine isn't kicking in as fast as I would like, Zoro and Luffy burn threw it too fast. Luckily Luffy mostly just needs meat to recover,” Chopper chimed in. “Sanji might be nauseous from the painkillers, so don't put to much on his plate,”

“All right Chopper, whatever he doesn't eat we will just feed to Luffy,” Nami agreed.

“Luffy will eat anything,”

“No alcohol either,” Chopper added.

Zoro whinesed, he was guilty of the last thing, he had drunk plenty of booze when he shouldn't have. They made their way back to chairs, Robin already had a plate on her lap.

“Here curls,” Zoro sat on Namis chair, she sat on the end without a fight. She normally lounged on it like some queen, but today everyone was focused on their cook. “Open up,” Zoro took a small fork full remembering how Sanji didn't just shovel food in his mouth, he took small bites savoring his food.

[one-piece-drabbles]

Skyburst

Notes: A warning for violence and unhealthy family dynamics. Inspired by this post from Nari ( @authenticaussi3 ) - years old now, so I’m either late to the party or just that slow of a writer. Take your pick.

For all that Luffy likes a good surprise, he thinks—and in all honesty, it takes him a few seconds to come to this conclusion—that he doesn’t like hurtling through the sky without any sign of how he got up so high. He’s pretty sure that the white stuff below him is just clouds and not weirdly-colored ocean, but that doesn’t answer the question of what’s below the white carpet. Or how he ended up like this.

Nami would know, but she isn’t around to ask. His whole crew is gone. He twists in the air, wind stretching and pulling his skin, but he can’t see any sign of his ship. Still falling and now blinded by the sun, he brings a hand up to his chin and tries to remember the last thing he did. Were they in a fight? No, he had dinner, Sanji kicked him out, and then he went to sleep in his hammock. And woke up in the sky.

He groans, spreading out his limbs in frustration. He finally stops spinning just in time to hit the tallest cloud. The cold, annoying before, is now biting as water soaks his skin, hair, and clothes. With little choice but to keep falling, Luffy shields his eyes. A rumble he can feel in his bones shakes the air, followed by a teeth-rattling boom. Bright blue light flickers around Luffy in constant flashes. The cheery sunlight of before dies under a suffocating blanket of gray.

He’s falling through a thunderstorm. But the weather was clear when he went to sleep—Nami even talked about it, saying that Usopp would be able to fish for a while before anything hit.

Maybe this is a dream. That would make the most sense, right? Even though he’s never had a dream like this before…

He breaks through the lowest layer of clouds and the water vapor becomes torrential rain. Lightning strobes the sky and thunder roars. Luffy claps his hands over his ears as one thunderclap goes off way too close—only that makes him spin again, so it’s either painfully loud noises or throwing up in freefall. Luffy chooses the former. He’s getting far enough from the clouds now that it shouldn’t be deafening anymore.

Maneuvering himself with plenty of trial and error, Luffy finally gets a look at the ground below, blinking almost continuously against the wind. It’s an island, the only one Luffy can see, not that visibility is all that great. Even in the downpour, fires rage all over. The closer Luffy gets, the more details he can make out. There’s a fight going on between white-clad people and…one person?

He’s going to crash down right in the middle of the plaza in the thickest tangle of it all. Water gets into Luffy’s eyes and he wipes it away. He orients himself one last time and braces for a hard landing.

Something slams into the ground a foot to Ace’s left. It isn’t a cannonball or a bullet, no—the force of the impact knocks Ace off his feet. Several marines try to take advantage of the opening, but Ace catches himself on his hands and spins with his feet in the air, releasing a cyclone of flames that burns them all twice over: first with the fire and then again with the steam.

Flipping back onto his feet, Ace eyes the impact crater. It’s too deep to see to the bottom from his angle, and he’s not getting any closer in case the marines are trying another one of those surprise explosives.

A hand shoots out and scrabbles on the upturned brick of the plaza before finding a grip right on the edge of the hole. A second hand joins it, and then any body parts are just a blur of motion. Ace rolls out of the way of the human missile and comes up swinging, knowing that whoever it was would’ve stopped against the wall just behind him. He catches sight of wide eyes and a panicked expression before the stranger bends impossibly far backwards to avoid the hit, nearly slamming his own face into the wall. A stream of fire easily twenty feet high explodes out from Ace’s fist, leveling the entire block behind the house and roasting all the marines too slow to get out of the way.

The attack sputters and dies when the stranger’s feet hit Ace’s shins and knock his legs out from under him. His jaw cracks against the ground and bloodied rainwater splashes all over. Ace snarls into the shattered brick at his own amateurish mistake. The rainwater isn’t enough to stop him, but there’s just enough ocean in it to stop his full-fire transformation. He slams a fist against the ground and releases an omnidirectional explosion that clears the ground for thirty feet in every direction. Ace gets to his feet, wiping his freshly-sopping hair out of his face, and finds the kid who knocked him flat.

Kid. The realization makes him pause, the pouring rain drowning out all the thoughts in his head for a second before he can bring it all back. The stranger can’t be older than twenty, with short black hair and a scar under one eye. That scar rings uncomfortable bells in Ace’s memory, and fire flickers to life on his shoulders.

“Ah, wait!”

Staring in disbelief, Ace watches as the kid jumps up into the air, fingers grasping at something floating down from above. It moves erratically, battered by the same rain still doing its damndest to drown everyone out in the open, but the kid eventually snatches it and jams it onto his head.

And now, Ace thinks, the universe has to be playing a trick on him, because he knows that hat. He buried that hat. How the fuck does this random asshole have it?

Ace is so caught up in memories he wants no part of that he doesn’t realize for several seconds that the rain has stopped. Water runs in rivulets down his face and bare chest, collecting between his shoulder blades before sliding in freezing lines down his spine. Without a curtain of rain in the way, Ace can finally get a clear look at the kid, more than just random details, and it stops him cold.

It doesn’t matter that Ace’s memories are more than ten years old. It doesn’t matter that this kid is almost three times the age of the Luffy he knew. None of it matters, because this kid—this kid—

He looks like Luffy. He looks like how Luffy should’ve looked if the world let him live, right down to the round features that Ace had always figured he’d grow out of and the straw hat Luffy refused to let out of his sight. He looks so much like the Luffy Ace wanted to grow up with that it makes his chest clench, and he balls his hands into fists on reflex. How long has it been since he thought about Luffy? A year? Two?

He blinks, time restarts, and a bullet chips the ground an inch from his left foot. Ace leaps back, a retaliatory barrage of fireballs consuming the sniper’s chosen roof a second later. As the marine screams and falls to the street below as an inferno himself, Ace goes to work on the stragglers who weren’t cowardly enough to run when they had the chance.

Watching him, Luffy can’t bring himself to move, to speak, to do anything but witness as Ace, alive again, murders scores of marines with uncaring brutality. He isn’t concerned about ending life quickly, only incapacitating until the next attacker is down, so the groans of the dying quickly fill the air until Ace goes back and kills them too.

It’s all too much like Marineford, and that snaps Luffy out of his trance. He acts without thinking and joins his brother against the marines. They’re all retreating now—when Luffy propels himself onto a nearby roof that avoided Ace’s flames, he can see ships pulling away from the harbor—but they’ve left a few dozen to cover their escape. Ace and Luffy make short work of them, and while Luffy could catapult himself after the fleeing ships, he doesn’t want to take his eyes off Ace.

Because it is Ace. It has to be, even if he’s not…right. He’s missing his tattoos and his hat and and he’s got more scars than the old Ace ever had, plus there’s something wrong behind his eyes that makes Luffy shiver. Despite all that, he’s still Ace.

Right?

As they stand there on the beach, watching the disappearing ships, Luffy tries to keep himself together. His own grieving words echo in his head and he sneaks glances at Ace, trying to reconcile what he knows with what he sees. He can’t do it.

Ace catches Luffy’s look and turns fully to face him. There’s none of the warmth that Luffy is used to seeing in his expression and his voice is dangerously bland. “Just who the hell are you, anyway?”

Ace expects hostility, or fear, or at the very least trepidation from the kid in front of him. Even Luffy knew when to be afraid. He gets none of it; the boy just stares at him, gears stagnated and mental trains stalled at the station. Scowling, Ace waves a hand in front of his face. “Hey. I asked who you are.”

“You’re Ace, right?”

Irritation showing in the tongues of flame licking at his hair, Ace crosses his arms. He’s not surprised the kid knows who he is. Every single flat surface has his wanted poster tacked up on it these days. “Yeah, I am. Now, for the last time, who the hell are you?”

The kid gets a furrow between his eyes like Ace just asked him how far away the sun is. The gears slowly begin to turn. “You…you don’t remember me?”

More fire. Steam wafts up from Ace’s skin in deceptively gentle wisps. A rumble of thunder from the retreating storm shakes water from the shoreline trees. “I think I’d remember someone like you. Spit it out. Last warning.”

It’s like someone flipped a switch. The kid slides out of Ace’s reach with unexpected speed and offers up a laughably unconvincing smile. “I gotta get back to my crew, they’re probably looking for me—”

“Hold it.” Ace’s hand fastens around the kid’s wrist like a vice. He yanks him close. “Name.”

Luffy swallows. He’s never seen Ace like this before, not since those first few weeks at Dadan’s hideout. Ace’s eyes are hard, his expression promising retribution if Luffy doesn’t listen. There’s something so…so feral about it, and Luffy can’t get the memories of that haunted young boy out of his head. It’s unlike him, but none of this is right and he just wants a little bit of time to think, but Ace isn’t giving it to him, he isn’t acting right, he doesn’t even know Luffy—

Tugging ineffectually on his arm, Luffy tries to hide the pain from his voice. “You’re burning me.”

Ace’s grip tightens. “I know.”

Every ounce of experience in Luffy’s bones is telling him to run, but he can’t. It’s Ace. “I’m Luffy, okay? Luffy. Let go.” Ace’s fingers go slack in surprise and Luffy yanks his hand away. He stays several yards away from Ace, prodding his burned wrist. The skin is raw and pink.

Ace had burned him and hadn’t cared that it hurt. They’d hurt each other plenty of times growing up, that came with their home and with training, but it was never like this.

“Luffy?” Ace’s quiet voice makes Luffy back up another several steps. Ace is glowing with heat, the air distorting around him. “Is this some kind of joke?” He raises his head and his eyes are alight with rage. “Who sent you? How the fuck did they find out about my brother?”

“Ace—”

“I guess it doesn’t matter,” Ace continues, heedless of Luffy’s interruption. “You’ll either tell me or you’ll die. I mean, you’ll die either way, but you can at least give me the pleasure of putting up a fight.”

Fear—honest, unfamiliar fear—hooks its fingers in Luffy’s head and instinct takes over. Straightening and losing the confused edge to his expression, Luffy meets Ace glare for glare. “You’re not Ace, I am Luffy, and I really don’t like what you’re doing with my brother’s face.”

His sheer certainty throws Ace out of his reflexive rage. He takes a closer look at the kid. He’d thought that he was some kind of government spy, but really, there’s no way CP9 or any of those assholes know about Luffy. Ace has never talked about him. Plus, too many details are the same for this to be coincidence: the hat, the scar, even just his overall appearance. Hell, Ace is pretty sure that this kid has the same devil fruit powers, too.

The more dots he connects, the farther from the present moment he gets. Adrift in memories, he hardly notices Luffy edging away again—hardly, but he does.

“You can’t be,” he whispers. “I—you died.” The phantom blood spray arcs through the air as Luffy’s tiny body smacks into a tree and crumples to the ground. “You died.” The bear’s roar is a declaration, a challenge, and Ace can’t match it. Luffy is unconscious or dead and Ace—

It’s his greatest shame, a burden he will never be rid of, and his right hand curls into a fist.

He runs. Over and over again he runs. Night after night, year after year, he turns on his heel and he runs. Like a weakling. A coward. A selfish, worthless monster.

“Luffy.” The boy freezes, microexpressions flickering like strobes under a cracked mask of confidence. “You really are him. How—” Ace stops. “No, that doesn’t matter. You’re here now. We can be together again. Brothers. Family. Like we used to.”

“You’re not Ace,” Luffy repeats.

“What are you talking about?” Ace takes a step forward. Luffy takes a step back. “C’mon. It’s me.”

Shaking his head, Luffy maintains the distance between them. “You’re not Ace.” His voice hardens. “Ace wouldn’t do what you do. He cared about—about things. About himself. You don’t care about anything.”

A strong ocean wind washes over the island, picking up and spreading the nauseating odor of burning flesh. Ace’s rampage had spared no one, not a single soldier and not a single civilian. It was cruelty of the highest, most callous order. Luffy’s right foot slides back and he sinks into a ready stance.

“You’re not my Ace. I’m not your family. Leave me alone!”

Ace grins, teeth shining with reflected firelight from the village still burning in the background. Something broken and mad bleeds out from behind his eyes. “Leave you alone? No,no, I can’t do that. This is a second chance.” Flames race across his skin and bathe his face in demonic light. “I’m never leaving you alone again, Luffy.”

[lululawlawlu-writes]

Softly Stained with Spring

Part 5: War

note:  This fic was written for @lawlu-week!!  But I couldn’t keep up so I’m planning for updates to happen weekly instead~

rating: T

tags: canon universe, fluff and angst, hanahaki

Engaging the Straw Hat Pirates in all-out war was a mistake, Law has to confess. He really hadn’t intended for it to be anything more than a friendly competition between their crews. It was meant as an attempt to assuage Luffy’s anxieties, assuming that’s what’s been causing his pain. He hadn’t been at all prepared for the hell Luffy’s entire crew would bring down upon his own.

Here he is now, trapped on the Thousand Sunny, soaked in sea water and too weakened to initiate his room. Law skirts the battle, feeling with his haki to sense anyone that might notice him. He ducks into their storage room with silent stealth despite his nerves. His shaking hands fumble for the door, pull it closed, muffling the screams of his comrades outside.

Law jumps back as a thud sounds against the door. From the other side he can hear Shachi’s desperate pleas for mercy falling on deaf ears, cut short by the enemy. Bepo and Penguin’s cries to avenge Shachi slice through the air, are silenced not but a second later.

Law backs away from the door, raking his fingers through his hair. Trembling, he falls to his knees. He’s too late. He can’t protect them. He can’t save any of them. It’s a complete massacre and he’s left powerless, hiding away like a coward.

It’s so uncharacteristic of the Straw Hats to have staged an ambush, but Law has no other way of perceiving the events that have transpired. Law had never envisioned they’d use sea water or make it more potent just to render him useless. This is not what Law had expected when he’d proposed a water fight—water guns, water balloons, and such. The weather on the island was nice enough and it was intended to be simple, innocent fun.

“I found you, Torao.” Luffy laughs from behind him.

Law turns slowly toward the voice, no attempt to hide the abject horror on his face at the sight of the other captain’s contorted form crawling through the window.

“Torao, help,” he whines, dropping his water pistol to push against the window, twisting at the waist.

Law realizes then just how soaked Luffy is—even more than himself. He’s probably feeling the lack of his abilities too. There’s no harm in propping the window open so Luffy can slip through and tumble onto the floor in a puddle.

“I forfeit, just so you know,” Law says, hands up before Luffy can go shooting him with the water pistol.

“Okay. Everyone’s dead now anyways.” Luffy replies, slumps against a crate. He puts the end of the water pistol in his mouth, squeezes the little plastic trigger.

“I hope you don’t mean actually dead.” Law knows he means they’re just out of the fight. It was only a water battle. He takes a seat next next to Luffy, leaning back, feeling completely drained of energy. “I don’t want to captain the dead.“

“Captain of Death,” Luffy chuckles, “it’s your new nickname.”

“Don’t want it,” Law says, “‘Captain’ doesn’t strike fear the way ‘surgeon’ does.”

“Are people supposed to be afraid of surgeons?” Luffy hums, shoots some more of whatever he’s drinking into his mouth. “I’m alive because you’re a surgeon,” he reminds him.

Law knows that surgeons are meant to save lives and not cause death. If he simply went around causing death, it’d make him no more than a common murderer. The epithet ‘Surgeon of Death’ is meant to suggest that he could end lives in bloody dismemberment or worse, but he decides that it’s alright if Luffy doesn’t really get it.

“Want some?” Luffy asks, as though it’s an afterthought, holding his pistol out to Law for a second. A small amount of orange liquid ebbs and flows through the moulded plastic insides of the water pistol.

Law doesn’t really want it. But Luffy’s offered it to him—Luffy who’s rarely ever offered him something of his own before, at least in this sense. Luffy’s offered him so much else so much more easily—friendship, the fiercest of loyalty. Offering food or drink that he’s already laid claim to himself is just so uncommon. Law feels kind of silly for putting so much weight on the gesture while Luffy probably doesn’t spare it a second thought.

“It’s ok if you don’t want some,” Luffy says. He takes back the water pistol to shoot the rest of it into his own mouth.

No, you know what, Law does want it. Suddenly, he wants it more than he’s ever wanted anything. He wants it so desperately he gives no second thought to lunging forward, pressing his lips to Luffy’s to steal it from his mouth.

The sweet tang of orange hits his taste buds. He chases it over Luffy’s tongue. His mind swims euphoric, so caught in the moment it takes him a second to realize this isn’t just about reclaiming some juice. He’s kissing Luffy.

No. What has he done?!

This isn’t okay.

Law reels back, excuses, apologies on his tongue. He’s ready to make amends if Luffy will let him. He wants to save this alliance, this friendship. He shouldn’t have dared to go this far. Something dirty, repulsive creeps through Law to think how he’s pushed himself on Luffy. He would deserve it if Luffy hit him for this.

Luffy’s face screws up, eyebrows dipping, mouth twisting into a menacing grin. It’s an expression that Law has no idea how to read, but before he can even try Luffy’s diving at him.

Luffy tackles him to the floor, one arm wrapped around his neck, calloused fingertips pressed against his cheek, Luffy’s lips to his own.

It’s rough and unforgiving, the treatment Luffy’s giving him, pinning him to the floor, kissing him back like he’s out to devour his soul. Law would give it to him. Law would give him anything.

Law’s wandering fingertips threading into Luffy’s hair, his other hand slipping around the small of his back. His body feels so solid in his arms, so natural it’s almost unnatural. Holding Luffy like this is more than he’s ever dared to dream of.

It’s too soon when Luffy breaks the kiss. He hiccups, coughs flower petals that rain down onto Law’s face. Luffy’s body shudders, spilling even more over him. The scent of them is something metallic, like iron—like blood.

Law tries not to overthink it. He brushes them off, more concerned about how Luffy’s feeling than being covered in flowers.

“Are you alright?” He asks, grasping Luffy’s face in his hands.

“Yeah,” Luffy says hoarsely, pulling one more petal from his mouth. He tosses it to the floor and bends down close to give Law one more soft kiss.

Law can’t stand the thought that coughing up flowers has somehow become this weird little mundane thing Luffy now has to deal with. He’s going to fix this. He’s not letting Luffy leave him until he does.

“Are you in pain?” Law has to know. All he can do for now is hold Luffy in his arms, to try to comfort him but it feels like not enough.

“A little,” Luffy speaks, his breath warm and sweet on Law’s lips. “But about us, what’s next?”

Law wants to tell Luffy it’s entirely up to him where their relationship goes from here, but feels it ill-advised to admit it so easily and while he’s so high on infatuation. Right now he’d consent to being Luffy’s boyfriend, his lover, whatever Luffy wants.

“My crew won, so I do choose the next game?” Luffy asks.

“Wait, what are you talking about?” Law seriously needs to figure out how Luffy’s mind works. So far the only thing he’s got to work off of is that he and Luffy are apparently never thinking the same thing.

“The next game after the water battle,” Luffy explains. “There’s three games, right?”

“I had only intended to have a water battle for fun,” Law clarifies. “It’s not a Davy Back Fight or anything.”

Luffy looks a little put-out, frown curving across his lips.

“I refuse to give you any crew members or let you mess with my jollyroger.” Law has got to be firm about some things despite how Luffy’s existence pushes his boundaries. He never intended for any serious competition.

“You don’t have to,” Luffy informs him. “I just wanna win more kisses.”

Law is fighting a losing battle trying to decipher Luffy’s logic, but if Luffy thinks his kiss was the prize, it’s good enough for him.

“What are you going to do if I win?” Law asks.

“Hope you want kisses too?” Luffy supposes.

“Sure,” Law agrees, “but in private.” He’s not really one to flaunt his personal matters.

In any case, he still needs to find out what’s causing Luffy’s health problem, so there’s no harm in buying time with another competition or two. Letting Luffy win a few more kisses isn’t going to hurt anyone.

… … …

Friendly competition is often followed by celebration, at least for the Straw Hat crew, and parties are always mandatory when meeting up with the Heart Pirates. That night it’s the best of both. The deck of the Sunny is so lively that Luffy doesn’t notice it right away, mostly because he’s in the throes of dessert, but Law seems to have disappeared. Robin and Chopper don’t seem to be around either, but what concerns him more is Law’s absence. They still haven’t picked the next game.

The rest of the Heart Pirates are still around, mingling with his own crew. Some of them are helping with the post-dinner washing up. Some of them brought a traditional North Blue drink—some kind of alcohol to challenge Zoro with. A few of them are about to go into debt with Nami who’s gotten out her hanafuda cards. None of those things interest Luffy, but so long as they’re still on the Sunny, there’s a good chance Law is too.

Snatching up a few extra slices of Sanji’s honey castella to munch on, he sets off in search of Law. There are few places on the Sunny that Law would wander off to—either the library or the infirmary. Robin being gone as well just makes the library all the more likely. Otherwise, he’ll check to see if Law’s with Chopper in the infirmary.

Luffy sprints off to the back of the ship, stretches up to grab hold of the ledge of the red and yellow striped roof which houses the library below. The room comes into view through the window as Luffy reels himself up on his rubber arms.

He has to laugh to himself a little, pleased to know how predictable everyone is, because there’s Law with Robin and Chopper as well sitting at a table in the center of the room. They seem to be having a pretty intense conversation. Their voices carry a serious tone.

“It doesn’t say anything about the flower being poisonous,” Chopper informs the other two, leaning over a thick medical text. “It releases spores into the body, which provide it with the ideal environment to grow.”

“So in other words, it’s parasitic,” Law surmises.

“That would confirm what it says in the legend about the Lover’s Curse being a slow death,” Robin notes.

“I was told by a local that it’s poisonous,” Law says. “Why would anyone lie about such a thing?”

“In the story it says ‘Leiana sought the poison of the Lover’s Curse, for a slow and painful death in love would surely save her from a long and painful life without,” Robin reads from the small book in her hands.

“You can take care of it, right?” Chopper asks Law.

“With the use of my ability, I can and will be able to separate the spores from his body,” Law reassures them. “I don’t want to cause any undue stress, so I’ll do it when-“

The slightest sound from Luffy sliding the window open cuts off their conversation. Robin sprouts extra hands to help him open it enough to slip inside.

“Oh my, what are you doing out there?” She smiles warmly at him, demeanor completely changed from seconds before.

“What’s with you and crawling through windows today?” The tone of Law’s voice seems to carry a little playfulness even though his expression is still etched serious across his face.

“I was looking for you, Torao,” Luffy explains, “We didn’t decide tomorrow’s game.”

“I’ve got to go back to the island tomorrow,” Law says, decidedly. “That place in the woods-“

“Hunting atlas beetles!” Luffy cries, his mouth moving faster than his mind. It’s the perfect competition for them.

“Atlas beetles?” Law asks, one eyebrow raised. If he’s never hunted them before Luffy could show him how. It’s not that hard.

“They’re a great treasure!” Chopper adds, emphatically. “Maybe even as great as the One Piece!”

“Maybe,” Luffy concurs. “It’s really hard to say. But that’s what I want to do! We’ll see who can find the biggest one!”

“Alright,” Law supposes.

“Okay!” Luffy cheers. “I’m gonna win more kisses from Torao!” He can't wait to get back to the island even if those stupid meat flowers are going to be there. He just won’t eat them this time.

Tomorrow is going to be a great adventure. Law has some good ideas, but this competition was really the best idea.