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It's not all that unusual for Law to go missing when the Heart Pirates dock at more peaceful islands, either taking some time away from the sub’s close quarters or pretending none of his crew know he's a sucker for anything cute; the crew’s got a silent agreement not to mention that their captain can be found helping locals and playing with small animals.
The actual problem comes when the sun sets, and none of the Heart Pirates have seen their captain, who was supposed to be back already.
Shachi goes searching for Law, and it doesn't take him long to find a very surly snow leopard tangled up in a pile of their missing captain's clothes with a very apologetic-looking woman sitting next to him.
Honestly, it takes longer to calm Bepo down than it does to figure out what happened, but they get there eventually, leaving Bepo with Law to hopefully calm the mink down, which works except for the wet spot of fur sticking up on the back of Laws head where Bepo has been wiping his tears.
Turns out the only solution is to wait. The woman turns out to be a devil fruit user who’s not quite in control of her powers yet. To the best of her knowledge, there’s nothing to speed it up; it's just a waiting game.
Upon hearing this, Law spends a good hour refusing to even look at Penguin, who had been the one to break the news to the crew. Penguin argues that Law’s just punishing the messenger, and it's unfair that everyone else gets a chance to pet their captain, but his complaints are ignored.
Either way, the crew is stuck with a big cat instead of a captain for a few days, or maybe its more accurate to say they’re stuck with a cat as their captain; they're not quite sure because despite not being able to talk or operate anything in the sub, Law is still managing to be his bossy surly self; He’s been batting at the crew's feet to herd them around and swatting offending items off tables to get attention.
The crew had a problem with Law trying to get into coffee, and they had to start watching their mugs or Law would get into them. After being denied and lectured, Law’s stopped trying to drink the coffee and taken to swatting cups and mugs off tables in petulant revenge; Penguin’s coffee has been a regular victim.
The Heart Pirates decide to keep traveling to the next island in their plan despite Law's condition. They had suggested waiting to move on until Law was human again, and Law had protested. Loudly.
As if it wasn’t enough for Law to be in this mess, it gets even worse when they dock at their next island.
It's early in the morning when the Polar Tang's sensors light up, signaling the approach of a large ship. The ship turns out to be the Strawhats. Law wishes it was Marines if only to avoid the embarrassment.
No matter how aggressively Law bats at Shachi and yowls at him, he can't stop the other from contacting the Strawhats and agreeing to dock with them. With his fate sealed, Law gives up on abusing Shachi’s ankles and flops bonelessly on the floor of the Tang.
Law knows it's unbecoming to throw a tantrum like this, but with the possibility of Strawhat seeing him like this and his sanity on the line, he figures it’s justified.
Law ignores his crewmates as they try to convince him to come out and see the Strawhats, teasing him about not wanting to see ‘his sweetheart,’ a comment that earns Shachi's ankles another attack and a fluffy glare.
Law hates that his crew found out about his hopeless infatuation with the Strawhats' captain. They've been insufferable about it.
Eventually, they send Jean Bart to force him out, but when the other bends down, hooking his arms under Law's front and trying to haul him up towards the ladder, Law refuses to cooperate, staying completely boneless and chuffing as Jean curses.
The sound makes Shachi, who’s watching from the hatch, balk. “Are you laughing at us? Just get up, you fluffy menace.”
Law is fully planning on playing Slinky until Jean gives up, until he hears a very familiar laugh approaching the entrance to the Tang. Luffy seeing him like this would be the objectively worst thing to happen right now, but Law does not manage to scramble away before the other captain is in the room and has already spotted him,
“Woah, you have a cat, too. I thought you just had the cool bear!” Law barely has time to react before Luffy is all over him.
Shooting Shachi the most withering glare he can as Luffy pets him and coos about the ‘fluffy kitty’ he's found. Shachi is completely unhelpful and just barely keeps from laughing like a madman.
Law loses his last remaining shred of dignity when Luffy reaches up and scratches at the base of his ear, causing Law to lean into Luffy's hand. It takes Law until Luffy starts laughing again to realize he's purring.
Embarrassingly, Law finds himself morning the loss of Strawhat’s attention when the other looks up to ask Shachi and Bepo where Law is
Shachi and Penguin share a conspiratorial look that always spells trouble for the Law.
“Well, that's the thing, Captain’s not here at the moment.”
Strawhat freezes. “What do you mean? Where is Torao? Is he in town?”
“Nope, he's not in town; we'll not be seeing tall, dark, and grumpy for a bit. Turns out the last person who saw him was a devil fruit user. Now we gotta go catch him.”
“We’ll help find Torao, I wanna see him!”
“Fantastic! We think he's on a nearby island. Bepo can give Nami the log pose.” Shachi nods his head towards Law, “Whatever happened to Captain, this guy was left behind so he's coming with.”
Law decides he's going to throw Penguin in the ocean when the other approaches with a shit-eating grin.
“Hey, Luffy, would you be willing to do us a favor?” Penguin drawls.
“Sure! Wait, Usopp says I have to know what I'm agreeing to before I say that; what's the favor?”
“It would be better if our furry friend was above water instead of stuck in the Tang. If you're coming along, would you be willing to take him with you?”
“Yes! I'm gonna show everyone. He's so soft.”
Law makes a sound not unlike a squeaky toy when Luffy's arms around him tighten even more; Law’s already being held like a teddy bear. He doesn't look at his crew as Luffy hauls him off the ground. Traitors, all of them.
He makes another embarrassing noise when Luffy springs up, taking Law with him out of the hatch and onto the dock, where Luffy presents him to his crew like a new toy: “He's coming with us. Torao got sent somewhere else by a devil fruit, but we're going to go find him.”
“What!” Usopp shrieks, “That is a carnivore, a predator; what if it eats Chopper in his sleep? What if it eats all of us in our sleep!?”
The rest of the crew gives Usopp skeptical looks, and Nami says, “Seeing as he's letting Luffy treat him like an overgrown house cat, I doubt he could take anyone on the ship.”
With that, the crew moves on from the subject . Robin leans down, running a hand over Law’s head and looking at him in her unsettling way, which always makes Law a little nervous. “Does Kitty have a name? “
“Oh, uh,” Luffy looks back at Law's crew.
Looking at the Law with a half-guilty expression, Jean Bart answers, “We didn't get a name from the devil fruit user.”
Luffy hums, considering what name to use until Sanji arrives and speaks up, scolding his captain, “That is a snow leopard, not a house cat. He's almost as big as you, Luffy. Put him down before he claws your face off.’”
“But he's been so nice. “Luffy pouts but lets Law down anyway before turning to study him with surprising intensity, “ He must like me at least a little since he hasn't clawed me at all!” he looks up, grinning wide, “We should call him Torao! He looks like him, and human Torao got swapped with him” Luffy suggests, startling Law with the accuracy then starts laughing again.
Law looks over at his crew to find them also laughing their asses off at his expense. He's going to kill them when he's human again.
Sanji looks at Law when Luffy turns around, distracted by something else that's caught his attention, before leaning down to look him in the eye, “I get to joke about it, but if you even look like you're going to eat Chopper, you're gone. Do you understand?”
Law knows and respects how much Sanji cares for his crew; he'd never eat Chopper anyway. His fellow doctor is a friend, not food, so he looks at Sanji, does his best imitation of a nod he can in his body, and chuffs. Sanji looks startled at his response, and as he leans up, Sanji says, “damn, Torao two here is smart.”
Law is incensed by his crew's betrayal, and by being carried around by Luffy, he decides not to swipe at any of the Strawhats' feet until he's on a ship. He might be cursing his crew at the moment, but they're right, he would be better off not in the enclosed space of the Tang until he's human again.
Thankfully, Luffy, the Strawhats, and the Heart Pirates seem to be on the same page, focusing on getting to the next island as fast as possible, if for different reasons. That doesn't stop Law from staring down his crew as Luffy hauls him onto the sunny. Luffy's rubber arms make it so he can pick up Law no matter how difficult Law tries to make it out of spite.
Realizing his defeat, the Law starts cooperating.
Once on the Sunny, Luffy is convinced to let Law go and leave him alone to explore and get used to the ship despite Law not really needing to as he's already familiar with the Sunny. He takes the opportunity to find somewhere to hide, hopefully for the entire trip.
He manages to find refuge in the library, figuring no one will think to check for a large cat among the bookshelves.
Law is pleased with his hiding spot until dinner time rolls around, and he quickly discovers that the no-skipping meals rule on the Straw Hats ship extends to random animals they've picked up. Now he's curled up behind a sofa that smells strongly of robin. He assumes it's her reading chair, so he hopes no one will move it. He hears various voices calling out for “Torao two.” outside.
Laying low doesn't do any good for him when Usopp finds him startling himself and immediately screams, bringing Franky and Zoro to them. Law grumbles at the swordsman as he comes to try and pick him up. He considers lashing out briefly but decides it’s better not to get on anyone's bad side by hurting a crewmate, so he stands up and resignedly follows the two into the galley. In the galley, he discovers in a horrifying mirror of his first stint traveling with the Straw Hats that there are sandwiches absolutely piled high on the table.
Curling up on the corner, Law figures he can wait out the dreaded sandwiches and scrounge something else later. Or he can just stare at Sanji until the other inevitably feeds him.
His planning is interrupted by Luffy crouching down in front of him and stretching his arm out to shove a sandwich in his face. Panicked, Law scrambles to press his flank even further into the wall he’s already leaning against in an attempt to get away, cursing his decision to hide in a corner. Thankfully, he's saved by Nami and Sanji, yelling at Luffy that cats don't eat sandwiches and to eat his food and leave the Law alone.
The rest of the crew has frozen, staring at them as Luffy pouts, retracting his arm and stretching out his mouth to swallow the sandwich whole before laughing his signature laugh and reaching for another sandwich.
Law hears someone, he thinks Usopp, mutter something about Luffy trying to give him his food in what almost sounds like shock.
When night falls, and the Straw Hats start settling down for the night. Law finally lets himself relax, which is a mistake he should have known to avoid. He only gets a few minutes of peace as he closes his eyes and rests his head on his front paws. Unexpectedly, Law finds himself scooped up under the armpits and pulled into a hug. He flails for a moment, seeing if he can get to the ground, but instead, the arms around him wind around a few more times and pull him back against a strong chest. Law stops struggling realizing its luffy as the other drags him to a bedroom that looks like it must not have been touched in a while judging from the stuffy nature of the air. This isn't the situation he wanted Luffy to drag him to bed in.
Law has decided his favorite move while stuck in this form is going completely boneless, so he does just that. Luffy just laughs as he dumps Law's front half onto the bed before scooping the rest of him up, too.
Law briefly considers getting up to leave, but as Luffy climbs into the bed and burrows his face into Law’s fur, he decides that just one night isn't too bad, and it's not like Luffy will know to tease him about it anyway.
He expects Luffy to knock out immediately but is surprised when, instead, the other captain starts talking half-muffled into the back of Law's neck.
“You're so soft. I'm glad that Torao is letting me hug him.” There's a pause, “I wish human Torao would let me hug him like this, but he always yells at me when I try.”
For a moment, Law thinks he might be hearing things or dreaming because there's no way Luffy actually said that. Also, Law complains because Luffy always tries to hug him at high speed. If Luffy tried to hug him like this, Law would let him.
“You're grumpy just like him, but it's cute on you too. You're more cuddly, though.” Law considers doing something but doesn't get the chance before Luffy starts talking again, “I'm not used to wanting something I can't have, anything else we can just steal except this. Torao is one treasure I can't, but its hard, so I take and treasure whenever i see him,” Luffy trails off, “hmmm you know, Toro’s pretty like treasure too.”
Law can only lay there stunned as Luffy mumbles one last sentence, “I want to tell Torao all the things in my head so he knows I love him, but I'm not as good at pretty words like Robin or Usopp or Sanji; Torao deserves pretty words and love letters.”
Luffy, the guy he's been in love with embarrassingly long, just told him, inadvertently, that he loved him, and now, judging from the snores coming from behind him, immediately passed out after flipping Law's world upside down. Law spends most of the night awake until the warmth radiating off Luffy becomes impossible to resist and lulls him to sleep.
In the morning, Law manages to slip out of Luffy's grip, which had slackened in his sleep. Remembering everything Luffy’d said, Law needs to think. He's not running away; He just needs to think, so he slinks off to find a thinking spot, a hiding spot.
About midday, Law’s still secluded in his spot, but he can hear Luffy and a few other Straw Hats calling out to prepare the ship for docking, making Law perk up at seeing his crew. Despite their role in getting him into this mess, he does miss them. When he feels the boat stop, he tries to sneak towards the deck and wait for most of the Straw Hats to leave the ship so Law can sneak off and avoid ending up carried around by Luffy all day, something the other captain has taken to doing around the ship the past few days.
Luffy is looking for him, calling out around the ship for him until he's distracted by Nami. Law waits until the deck is clear to dart off the ship onto the island. A quick scan of the dock has Law pinpointing the Tang. Taking off towards the sub, Law decides, still feeling the need to get a bit of payback, decides not to slow down and immediately pounces full speed onto Penguin, bringing the other screaming down to the dock under him. Once the rest of the crew figures out Penguin's not actually being attacked and it's just Law, they have a good laugh at Penguin's expense before going about restocking and lazing around in the fresh air.
As the rest of his crew members cycle through their duties and relaxing Law ends up curled up against whoever's around lulled to sleep by the warm sunlight a vice he's never been so fond of but cant resist now and by the familiar sounds of his family around him.
Law is woken up in the late afternoon from a very nice nap draped across Bepo, who had also fallen asleep, by multiple Strawhats calling out his name. Opening one eye, he sees Sanji jogging towards the Tang. Whatever he wants, Law decides he wants no part in it and stretches out, rolling off Bepo and landing in a heap behind the bear where he can't be seen. Despite not wanting to be involved, Law does want to know whatever information Sanji has, so he fully intends to listen in when Sanji accosts Sachi but misses whatever the Strawhat has to say when a near deafening commotion breaks out from the town. By the time he focuses back in on Shachi and Sanji's conversation, he's only able to hear the cook curse, “shit Luffy” and run off towards town.
Law huffs, of course, Luffy would be the cause of this. The other captain couldn't go anywhere without a scene.
Law is broken out of his thoughts by Shachi quickly rounding Bepo’s still sleeping form and skidding to a stop when he sees Law; the other looks concerned, which he really shouldn't be since they've met up with the Strawhats enough at this point that Law’s whole crew is more than aware of their tendency to get into any and every mess they can.
“Fucking hell, cap, you gotta get back to the Sunny before Luffy tears up the whole island,” Shachi sounds frazzled “ I can't believe you didn't tell any of them you left ?”
Law wants to point out that he technically couldn't have told anyone, but he still can't talk.
Shachi seems to figure out what Law is thinking, or he might just know Law well enough at this point to tell.
“You know what I mean, you ass? They're worried. Now go!”
Law must look hurt by the dismissal as Shachi takes a deep breath. “Sorry, Cap. We’ll see you on the next island. Now, please, go make Luffy stop breaking things.”
Law keeps a leisurely pace as he stands and plods back over to the Sunny, but he does go. Once he’s standing in the shadow of the large ship, he's noticed by Chopper just as something explodes in town. Chopper yells for Robin. The older woman comes to the railing and peers down at Law before Law sees her cross her arms, signaling the use of her devil fruit, hopefully, to call back the rest of the Straw Hats.
Law hears Luffy before he sees him, or, more accurately, he hears Luffy, gets barreled into by Luffy, and then sees him, which also happens to be how Luffy tends to greet Law when he’s human.
“Torao, there you are! We couldn't find human Torao, then we couldn't find fuzzy Torao. “ Luffy squishes Law into an even tighter hug as he chatters. We can't lose both Toraos at the same time.” He leans back before pouting at Law and pointing an accusatory finger in his face, “Not allowed! As captain, I forbid it,” before crossing his arms and looking quite satisfied with himself.
Sanji appears next to Luffy, covered in a thin layer of dust, and coming from the direction of the town with Zoro not far behind, says, “Fuck. For a grumpy ball of fluff. You sure can start problems, can't you?”
Law huffs at Sanji's comment but otherwise ignores him.
While they'd been unable to find Law on the island, Law's crew assures the Strawhats that they’ll find him on the next island.
For the rest of the evening, even as the island disappears over the horizon as they head towards the next island, Luffy never lets Law out of his sight. Law finds himself feeling bad for worrying Luffy, so he doesn't put up more than a token resistance until that evening when Luffy drags Law into bed again.
Law swears Luffy has a tighter grip on him than the night before, like he's afraid Law will disappear. Law hadn't expected that hiding for a few extra minutes of peace would have put Luffy off so much. Hoping to calm Luffy down, Law rubs his face against Luffy's until the other starts giggling.
“Toros, so cute.” Luffy laughs, and his smile is stunning. Law wants to mess with him, but without thumbs or access to his devil fruit, he has limited options.
He plans to sneak off when the devil fruit wears off anyway, so no one connects him to the snow leopard, so fuck it; Law decides that if no one ever knows, he might as well give in to the absurd impulses Luffy brings out in him. Turning around to reach him, Law licks Luffy's face, making the other laugh even harder. Law feels better, having seemingly cheered Luffy up as they curl into each other and fall asleep.
Law is lulled into a sense of security after breakfast by the warm sunlight on the lawn and awakes from the nap he'd fallen into by Luffy and Franky calling him. By the sound of their conspiratory laughs between calls, Law can tell that whatever they want can't be any good.
Law considers slipping back into the spot he found to hide in before, but the sunlight is addicting, so instead, he curls up, hidden by Nami’s trees, hoping they won't look over here. Hopefully they’ll get bored and move on.
Unfortunately, they don't seem to be moving on like they had last time when they'd tried to put various hats on him.
Eventually, though, Law sees Nami's shoes stop in front of him, and looking up, he meets the navigator's eyes. Unable to speak, Law does his best to convey his message through a pleading look: please don't tell anyone where I am
Unfortunately, Nami is an evil woman and ignores Law’s pleading to shout for Luffy. Nami’s supposed to be a cat burglar, cat burglar; she should be on Law’s side.
Before the Law can run and hide somewhere else, Luffy comes bouncing into view and is on Law before he can blink.
“Torao, we have a surprise for you!”
The other captain is excited and Law caught up in the other's energy finds himself following Straw Hat without argument as he’s led out onto the grass.
Regret comes quickly; he should know better, but Luffy's smile is distracting and drives all sense from Law every time. He realizes too late that Franky has handed Luffy something curious. Law leans forward to try and get a closer look, only for Luffy's hands to snap into Law's physical space. It takes Law until he hears the click of a buckle and feels the weight around his neck to realize what's happened.
A collar, what the fuck, Straw Hat has collared him like a pet Law is fucking mortified and immediately flops on the ground and starts trying to squirm out of the collar, but his efforts are for nothing leaving him no option but to glare at Straw Hat and his crew as they laugh maybe hell throw them in the ocean once hes huma too.
Straw Hat reaches out to pet Law, and Law fully intends to pull away or bat at the other’s hand, but then Luffy scratches that particular spot behind his ear, and Law decides to murder the other later.
When Luffy tries to drag Law to bed again that night Law jumps out of bed and each time Luffy tries to put him back he moves again until Robin notices the repeated thump of him jumping to the floor and tells Luffy to leave him alone, assuring him that Law can't disappear while the ships sailing. Luffy protests, but Law takes the chance to get out the door and back to his thinking spot for the night.
He realizes after being unable to sleep for hours that he misses the warmth of Luffy wrapped around him. He scolds himself for missing it. He's not going to go back. He's mad at Luffy, and there's only so much he can do without his devil fruit or thumbs. Fuck Law misses thumbs.
Eventually, Law, unable to sleep and feeling strangely energetic for it being night, decides to go for a walk or go as close to a walk as he can on a ship in the middle of the water. He makes his way to the deck, hoping to roll around on the grass without being cooed at, but his plans are foiled when he gets to the Lawn and flops down onto his back before hearing a snort from the side of the ship, dreading whatever interaction is coming Law rolls over to his side glaring at the person laughing at him who turns out to be Zoro.
“Looks like someone decided to come out of hiding,”
Zoro might be right, but Law isn't just going to admit it, so he just glares at Zoro from where he lays
“Staring me down won't work, especially with your new accessory. Look like a proper house cat now,” Zoro laughs. “You'll get used to it. I know you don't like it, but you really freaked Luffy out with your disappearing act. Traffy’s missing, and it's got Luffy on edge. You're part of this, somehow, so you disappearing on us really got to him.”
Law stands up and walks over to Zoro, hoping he will say more.
Zoro sighs when Law sits down in front of him ” I’m talking to a fucking cat. Well, you might not know what's going on even if you seem oddly intelligent sometimes. We can't find one of our nakama, specifically the one Luffy wants to marry. Luffy want’s him back.”
Law can't believe his ears; Luffy wants to marry him. Him? Laws is going to lose his mind if people keep telling him Luffy loves him. Law wishes he were on the Tang if only for the privacy to properly freak out.
Zoro reaches up, running his hand over Law's back and looking up to stare at the stars as he talks, “when Luffy loves someone, it’s just a fact of the world, unshakable and unconditional. Everyone we meet can tell luffys in love. He talks about Torao obsessively, has since we met back up. Never shuts up about his Torao. Luffy couldn't love someone quietly if he tried.”
Law can't get anything else out of Zoro after that, but he does end up sleeping out on the grass with the other.
Law still spends the next day making a right menace of himself as revenge for the collar, but with the weight of Zoro's words last night on his mind, he doesn't try to escape the collar anymore. It's humiliating, but he understands.
taking every possible chance to knock something over or off counters and tables, is his due for it, though he knows better than to try anything in the kitchen no matter how tempting the mugs of coffee at breakfast are, taunting him with the smell of coffee he can't have.
Around noon, he finds Chopper reading. He knows not to eat the little doctor, Chopper’s too cute to eat anyway, but he'll mess with him. Plus, the book looks interesting.
Prowling up behind the deer, the other doesn't notice him until Law gently grabs the other's scruff in his mouth. The doctor shrieks as Law picks him up, bringing the other Straw Hats rushing out to see what's happening.
Law takes off, making sure the little doctor hasn't dropped his book, and brings Chopper back to his thinking spot, where he drops him. The other is shaking, and Law feels bad for scaring him, especially since Chopper is one of the Straw Hats completely uninvolved with the collar, but still.
Nudging the deer to sit where Law wants him, Law curls around the other, his larger body able to completely surround Chopper. Law plops his head and front paw on Chopper’s lap to pin down his hostage and waits for the Chopper to calm down.
“Don't eat me!” Chopper squeaks.
Law huffs. Chopper should shush before the others find his hiding spot. He can hear frantic footsteps around the deck above them.
Then Law remembers the other can talk to animals, something he's been ignoring to make sure the deer doesn't realize who he is. If there's anyone he can communicate with, it would be a Chopper: “Not eating you. Read.”
Chopper stops struggling, though there's still a slight tremble in his arms; Law decides he's calmed down enough for Law to lift his head and nudge the book, hoping the other will start reading again so Law can look over his shoulder and read too.
Shaky hooves pick up the book and flip it open. Law drops his head down to relax again and settles in, briefly flicking his ears toward the wall where an eye has formed the wall. Watching
They get through about one chapter before Robin gives Law up, and pounding footsteps rush toward them.
Law can hear Usopp chattering about how Chopper must have been gruesomely devoured and how he just knew that Torao was dangerous from the start.
Zoro is clearly pissed off that he drops down to look into the cubby.
Law meets the other eyes, and Zoro says, “Here I was thinking you had some sense after last night.”
Maybe messing with choppers was a bad idea, but if the swordsman decides to murder him for it, at least the book was interesting, and Luffy loves him.
Zoro scoops up Chopper and starts carrying him back to the deck. Law decides he might as well follow, they know where his spot is now, and he might as well hear whatever Usopp tells the rest of the crew.
Surprisingly, it is Chopper who defends him when Usopp says they arrived just in time to stop Law from sinking his giant fangs into their doctor.
Once it's settled that he isn't going to eat or otherwise harm the crew’s doctor, Luffy's next priority is, apparently, that “both human Torao and fluffy Torao like Chopper more than me!”
Law decides he's maybe menaced Luffy enough and can be a little forgiving. At least, that's the reason he gives himself when he finds himself looking at a sleeping Luffy and deciding to climb into the bed, too. Luffy is still not completely forgiven, so Law decides to lay on top of him, maybe squash him in his sleep or something.
Usually, Luffy is an absurdly deep sleeper, but apparently, about 100 pounds of snow leopard landing on him elbows first is enough to wake the other captain up.
“Oof, Torao, that wasn't very nice.” silence settles. “shishishi, I’m glad Torao isn't mad at me anymore. Law is in fact still mad, and to communicate such, he flops over trying to smother Luffy in the fur of his side. Rubbery arms wrap around him and roll him back off Straw Hat and onto the bed next to him. “I guess Toros is still a little mad, isn't he? But he came back. You’re a lot like human Torao. You pretend to be all grumpy, but you just need some snuggles. I wish human Torao would snuggle like you, but I don’t think he wants to.”
Law finds himself coming back to Luffy every night from then on, and every night Luffy tells him he loves him, well human him, and wraps Law up in a warm hug, Law would feel bad for invading the others privacy but any guilt is outweighed by the selfish desire to hear Luffy's words and feel his warmth.
At breakfast in the morning, Nami announces they'll be docking at the next island midday tomorrow, and Luffy starts rambling about finally seeing him while Law is plotting to slip away without freaking the Strawhats out again. He has a tingling feeling under his skin, which he suspects is the devil's fruit wearing off.
Turns out all his planning is for naught, just like every other of his plans involving the Strawhats.
In the morning, Law wakes up slowly, languishing in the warmth and reaching out to rub the sleep from his eyes with his hands.
Wait.
Hands?
Fuck
Eyes flying open, Law pulls his hand away from his face to see familiar hands, tattoos, and long fingers instead of claws and spots.
As if waking up naked on a sunny day in a Luffy’s bed with with Luffy is not enough of a situation, Law can feel Luffy's arms still draped around his waist.
Luffy's arms tighten around him, distracting Law from marveling at being back in his own body. Law's heart drops as he feels Luffy's chest shaking behind him and hears the other’s signature laugh.
“Torao’s awake.” Luffys arms wrap a few more times around Law’s waist like he expects Law to run. To be fair, Law is seriously considering shambling himself to the Tang out of sheer embarrassment.
Luffy rubs his face against Law's back. He'd done the same when Law was under the devil fruit's effects, but now that he's human, it seems different. “Toro is not as fluffy like this, but just as cute.”
Law chokes. He has no idea how to respond to this. Why isn't Luffy upset? Law had taken advantage of the situation, and Luffy should be upset.
Law, still in shock, asks, “You're not mad?”
Luffy laughs again. “Why would I be mad? Torao is so cute, he came back even after I Said I loved him, so I bet Torao likes me too.”
Law nods, face burning. “Mugiwara-ya, I-”
“It's ok if the Law doesn't love me the same.”
“Wait!” Law can't find the words and finds himself gaping like a fish until he ends up saying, “You are good at pretty words sometimes.”
Luffy has always been stupidly good at reading people, Law included. Thankfully, that applies now as the other seems to understand Law's probably near incomprehensible response and kisses him, taking Law by surprise, but he quickly kisses back before Luffy gets the wrong idea.
Luffy laughs at him when he pulls back, and Law unconsciously tries to follow him.
Law blushes and tries to pull back into himself in embarrassment, which only gets worse when Luffy reaches out and flicks the tag on the collar still around Law’s neck, reminding Law of it’s presence.
“Torao should keep this. I like it; then people have to give Torao back.”
Law can feel his face burning even worse than before, and he practically headbutts Luffy in the chest with how fast he goes to hide his face against the other.
Law’s bashfulness ends quickly, though, and is replaced by the need to strangle Luffy for the collar. Law forgets about the weight around his neck as he throws on pants and chases the other around the ship, shouting.
Law does not realize until later, when both his crew and Luffy’s are half drunk and partying, that he's still wearing the collar.
Fuck. He is never going to live this down, is he?