Chapter Text
Shanks stares at the younger captain, still sleeping on the bed. Wrapped in bandages, but Shanks knows what's under them. Has seen for himself what's written across his hip.
And it makes everything so much more complicated.
Shanks hadn't thought it would be, not when they plucked Trafalgar and his mink out of the water. Just a debt repaid, simple enough. (For Luffy. For being one of the people to free Oden's home.)
Pull them up, give them to Hongo, drop them off somewhere later. Nothing complicated about it at all.
Until Beck had come to him, 20 minutes later. Said that Hongo had found Trafalgar's soul mark and that Shanks needed to see it. All while looking worried in a way that had Shanks on the defensive.
Now, Shanks has Trafalgar in a separate room. Has been watching him for the past few hours, trying to figure out what, exactly, he's going to do with this.
Unable to pull himself away.
Trafalgar can't be his. Shanks was twelve when his own mark appeared, the initial D burning itself onto his shoulder.
He still remembers how Roger laughed, as if it was the greatest joke in the world. Before clapping Shanks on the shoulder, promising that his life would be ‘quite interesting’. Shanks has been looking and waiting and wanting since then.
All for nothing. Even following the trail to Dragon hadn't let him meet his soul mate. (Not a bad thing, in that case. Shanks respects what Dragon is doing, but they wouldn't be good for each other. Wouldn't fit.)
He's starting to think that his soul mate might already be dead. D's make noise and the World Government hates them.
The Celestial Dragons hate them.
Which makes Trafalgar Law a problem. Because Shanks does owe him. The pirate who saved Luffy.
Who became a dog of the World Government.
Then slipped his leash to ally with Luffy.
Who Luffy is sure to trust and Shanks now doesn’t know that he can. Who has made things so much more complicated.
Everything was tossed on its head the moment Shanks saw the name Figarland emblazoned on Trafalgar's skin.
~~~
Law wakes up in a bed. That's unexpected. The best he had hoped Bepo would be able to find was some cave on an isolated island. Shelter for while Law heals himself enough to do what needs to be done.
Instead he is comfortable when he shouldn't be. He can smell the familiar sharp scent of disinfectant. Can feel the bandages wrapped around his wounds. All supplies they shouldn't have had access to.
And he can feel eyes on him. Watching. Assessing.
Ignoring how his body protests, Law pushes himself up. Eyes automatically scan the room, looking for Bepo or Kikoku. Neither is anywhere in sight.
Instead, staring straight at him, is Red-Haired Shanks. Wonderful. As if Law hasn't dealt with enough Emperors recently.
(Part of him, a part that is always there but that Law rarely listens to, notes that this means he's met every single one of the Emperors. Unbelievable for a child of doctors in a peaceful country.
The luck of a D.)
Despite his current state, Law refuses to let himself be intimidated. He's come too far, has fought this man's equal. Multiple times over at this point. Law is in no state to fight, but he refuses to cower or be less than he is.
Especially in front of Red Hair.
So he summons up what bravado he can, ignores the pain in his arms to stretch them back behind him and lean on them. Makes himself look as casual as possible, for all he's sure that the tension he feels through every inch of him gives that away as false. The fact that he's even attempting the pretense is what matters here.
“Red Haired Shanks, longest reigning Emperor of the Sea. Who apparently never learned it's rude to stare.” Call him out, see how he reacts to the challenge. To the reminder that two who ruled longer than him recently fell, and Law was there.
His reaction turns out not to be much at all as he shrugs, the motion contained enough that red hair doesn't shift at all. “Not everyday I come across someone like you. Can you blame me for not daring to take my eyes off ya?”
What was that? An acknowledgement of Law’s ability to be a threat?
Law doesn’t have time to overthink. He'll play this whole thing by ear.
“Right. You can stare all you want once you tell me where my sword and my navigator are.” Law glares, feeling the height difference with him forced to recline in the bed while Red Hair sits in a chair. Law hates it. Hates having to request Bepo and Kikoku. “So. Where are they? ”
“You should relax some.” That is advice Law will absolutely not be taking. And notably, Red Hair doesn't change his posture one bit. Still alert. Still watching Law. “Cause I think you and I need to have a little talk.”
Haki flares, and Law feels it. It's subtle, to scare him. There's a chance Red Hair didn't even think he'd notice, just that it'd make Law on edge and more likely to go along with whatever it is he wants.
Law is long past the point where such a small amount of Conqueror's will do anything but irritate him.
It does so now, his chin tilting up in defiance.
“If you want something, just come out and say it. I don't have time for messing around.” Law needs to see Bepo and then he needs to start making a plan. His crew is in danger, Hopefully. In danger means still alive. Law can't afford to be wasting time on stupid things like pleasantries.
He needs to gather resources and move.
He isn't safe here
.
Red Hair sighs. “Alright then Trafalgar, so much for being nice. I'll get straight to the point.”
The red head's posture goes relaxed even as his posture becomes more tense. Haki grows thick in the air, Law feels like an invisible blade is being held to his throat.
“So. Should I expect to see Shamrock bursting in anytime soon? Cause I gotta say, I'm feeling a bit unprepared for a visit.”
Who the fuck is Shamrock?
Red Hair reads something from his reaction, Law has no clue what cause he knows all he was doing was looking at the madman in front of him. Either way, he sighs again.
Notably his haki doesn't let up. Still a very obvious threat, if one that Law would be ignoring even if this whole situation made more sense.
“You can't have expected that I wouldn't recognize his name on you.” Law goes tense immediately.
This is about his soul mark.
The mark that had Cora pale and swearing the second that he saw it. Cora. Who might have been clumsy but had nerves of steel. Showing it to Cora when it came in? Law thinks that's one of the only times he ever saw the man afraid.
Law’s eyes go without thinking to the Emperor's famous hair. Red as blood and how had Cora known? Known that whoever this Figarland is, they'd managed to piss off an Emperor.
Red Hair hadn't even been an Emperor back then!
Marine intel. Something Doflamingo knew. Red Hair has always been one to watch, due to his connection to Roger. That must be it, that he’s been under surveillance this whole time.
And he knows more about Law’s soulmate than Law does. Not that he knows that yet.
Law has maybe three seconds to decide how to play this, before silence gets suspicious. Can he pretend to know? No, ignorance would be revealed too quickly and who knows how Red Hair would react to the lie.
The truth then.
Law takes in a breath, letting it out calmly. “Seeing as I've never met my soulmate, I've put very little thought into who would recognize their name.”
A complete lie. Law has spent several nights in his life, wondering what kind of person could have Cora so scared. Knowing that the name written across his skin, supposed to be for him, is just another bit of proof that the world hates him.
Well. Law refuses to let it kill him now, not when he has so much to do. He can't die until his crew is safe.
“Sorry,” Law says, not looking away from Red Hair as he smirks at him. “But you won't be getting any visitors, since this Shamrock must be as unaware of my existence as I am of his. ”
Red Hair’s responding chuckle isn't nice.
“You really expect me to believe that, Trafalgar? With how you've been looking at me?”
Law doesn’t know what the man is talking about. How he's been looking at him? What does that even mean, cause Law doesn’t know.
“Well I wasn't expecting to see you. Or to have this conversation. Forgive me if I'm a bit on edge after these past few days.”
“Really gonna keep up the act?”
Red Hair is still watching him, looking at Law like he's some kind of… Law doesn’t even know what. Something unpleasant, that he doesn't know what to do with.
Law isn’t doing this.
“Look, the only thing I know about this guy is that when the name came in, I was warned to stay away from redheads, okay? Something I had been doing a pretty good job of until now. ” Excluding Eustass. Thank the Seas that Law isn’t somehow connected to him.
“And I'd like to go back to that. So,” Law pushes himself up more, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. “Give me my crewmate back and we'll be out of your hair as soon as possible.”
Law's lived this long without learning anything new about his soulmate, he doesn't mind keeping it that way. He doesn't need them, whoever they are, and they have lived this long without him.
Besides, his priorities are elsewhere right now. With people he does care about. No time to worry about Red Hair when he has to figure out how to deal with Blackbeard.
A hand on his shoulder stops him from standing. It's embarrassing how easily the older man keeps him in the bed. “I don't think so, Trafalgar.”
The grip on his shoulder isn't quite tight enough to hurt. It gives away the man's strength though. Between it and the fact that Red Hair stood up to hold Law in place, it succeeds in making Law feel small.
Law hates that feeling. And he's only ever had one response to things he hates.
To fight.
“I wasn't asking, Red Hair.” With a gesture, Law summons a Room. It's weak and hard to hold, he doesn't have the energy for this. But he didn't have the energy for Doflamingo or Big Mom either. He didn't let it stop him then.
He certainly won't now.
“And here I was trying to be nice about things.” The hand on his shoulder tightens, as Law slaps a hand onto Red Hair’s arm.
“Counter Shock!”
Red Hair pulls away and then a wave of Conqueror's comes crashing down on Law's shoulders. Powerful, stronger than Doflamingo or anything he felt at Onigashima. A few months ago, it would have knocked him out.
Now, Law grits his teeth and forces his Room to get bigger. Forces himself to ignore the haki and the demands he can feel it trying to force on him. Kikoku, he needs Kikoku. With her, he can fight and–
Something wraps around his arm, Law's strength suddenly vanishing as the weight of a body pushes him down onto the bed. A dozen injuries protest as pain floods his body.
Stupid, stupid move. Paying too much attention to trying to find his weapon and not enough to what his enemy was doing.
“Hard way it is.” Even as Law is gasping, Red Hair is unphased as he pins Law. A chain is wrapped around his arm and Law immediately recognizes it. Seastone. With manacles on the end Red Hair just hadn't bothered with. “Gonna have to wait for Beckman to get here to put those on right, kinda hard to do it with just one hand.”
Law tries to throw him off, but between Red Hair’s haki and the Seastone weakness, he can barely move. “Get off. Let me go! I have more important things to deal with than a soulmate I don't even know, you idiot!”
Wearing the second most infuriating, patronizing grin Law has ever seen, Red Hair leans down to pat his cheek. “Unfortunately for you, very few things are more important for me to worry about than my brother.”
The man then straightens, shrugging his shoulders as he keeps Law pinned with just his weight.
The door to the room opens as Benn Beckman enters. Red Hair seems to perk up, speaking to the man though he never looks away from Law. “Perfect timing, Beck! It seems we're taking our guests prisoner.”