Chapter Text
The ground shook beneath Law’s feet. One foot after the other, Law panted as he ran through the halls of the gigantic Skull Dome. The walls shook and crumbled with the chaos of battles at every corner of the island. Every few minutes a huge tremor would hit from below, more than likely from one of the larger than life monsters fighting beneath. Law didn’t mean the Numbers.
Seperated from Kid and Big Mom, Law had two options; rejoin the battle or look for that red poneglyph.
A loose wooden board cracked under one of Law’s footsteps and he staggered. Catching his breath, he wondered how he was still moving after Big Mom’s last attack on him. The ache in his stomach was starting to bother him.
It didn’t matter; he needed to keep moving forward.
Faint whoops and battle cries could be heard from down the wooden hall. A thin paper door right to his side. A buzz came from Law’s pocket; reaching inside, he pulled out the small snail transponder. Giving a quick look around to check for incoming enemies, Law answered the call, “What is it?”
“Captain! We finally got in contact with you!” Ikkaku said over the line, “We’ve saved Straw Hat from drowning but he’s … hungry?” Her concerned and flabbergasted tone made Law huff a small laugh.
Even in times of war, Luffy could find a way to make Law amused.
“Good then, guess all that wasn’t just a bluff,” Law said, remembering the announcement given by Momonosuke just a bit ago. The room next to him caught his attention for a moment. “Get Mugiwara-ya that food immediately. He’ll need it. When he’s done, tell him I’ll be waiting.”
All of their hopes rested on Luffy at this rate. They had been outnumbered since the start, and they all needed to do their part in order to win this battle. The faith Law had for Luffy to get back on his feet surprised even himself.
“Captain, he’s eating out our stock as we speak. I don’t think we have en-”
Observation Haki alerted Law mid-sentence. He dropped the transponder snail; his eyes moved to the shoji door to see a large shadow approaching from the other side.
Rookie mistake, not checking the room .
In an instant, the door slashed apart horizontally, air blade aiming right for Law’s neck. Ducking down, Law prepared his stance to skewer the large figure flying towards him. The white suited man held a strange round mask with one hand, and used the other to deflect Law’s blow with a haki-coveted finger.
The snail transponder fell to the floor with a thud, still on the line with Ikkaku.
Past the unknown man, Law spotted two other men in the room calmly watching their clash in front of a go board.
CP-0.
Law had the singular thought before the CP agent attacked him again with the same finger. Just barely blocking each blow with his sword, Law realized he could do nothing about three agents on his own. Two with some luck, but three? That's a death wish.
“Thank you for the new information on Straw Hat, Surgeon of Death,” the one with a white and black eye on his mask spoke in a robotic tone, “However, you’ve strayed too far from the main battle.”
It shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Law had noticed them in Wano after escaping the Hawkin’s cell with XDrake’s help. The World Government would be glad to watch the two sides tear each other apart - either side winning, or losing, is a victory for them. Of course, they would watch comfortably to gloat.
Or to send the marines to capture exhausted winners.
With that in mind, Law couldn’t afford to not give this information to the others. He gives the agents one last middle finger before shambling to the hall below and away from the immediate danger. Law sprinted towards the battle to retrieve an ally; it could be one of the Scabbards or members of the pirate crews, anybody would do.
Law hadn’t stayed behind long enough to see the CP-0’s react to his quick escape.
“Be sure not to kill him,” the leader said calmly, stirring his tea.
Just then, the floor above Law broke through. Wood splinters poured down as the masked man appeared through the cloud of debris, barrelled himself in Law’s direction. Thinking fast, Law shambled himself to the end of the hall. His heart pounded hard against his chest, trying to escape from this cat and mouse game.
The chase between the two literally tore the walls apart. Law couldn’t abuse his ability too much to save his energy for an actual fight, but at this rate, the other could catch him at any moment. The masked man had some sort of super human speed, easily catching up to Law in under a second.
Turning the corner sharply, Law felt something graze the side of his head as dirt kicked under his heels. Blood poured down the side of his face as he skidded to a halt in shock. If it had been an inch closure, Law would have been killed instantly based on the sheer force the projectile had been launched at.
It seemed running wasn't an option. Whipping around, Law readied himself for a fight. If his opponent had such abilities, he needed to have his full attention on the fight. Yet the masked man stood silently in the middle of the hall. Without another word, the figure turned and ran away down the hall - disappearing in a blink of an eye.
He was tensed up for an attack, but he waited to find no attack was coming.
His head hurt like hell.
Debating his two options again, Law re-evaluated his usefulness in a battle against Big Mom. He hated to admit he might not be able to catch up to the likes of Kid at this point. He could tell his stamina had depleted far too much - and with CP-0 on Onigashima, the Red Poneglyph was more likely to be taken from them before they could get a copy.
Turning away from the encounter, Law decided he would regain his energy while he searched the island once more. The massive stone had to be somewhere within Kaido’s reach.
The Skull Dome had been nearly entirely explored. Law figured if it wasn’t inside, it would have to be outside. Among the caves and ruins of the outside. The beautiful cherry blossom trees outside the battle fell as he ran on the wooden bridge. Exploring the outside, Law couldn’t help but feel useless as he searched. There was no feasible way he could find the Red Poneglyph all on his own without his ability, but he needed to try anyway.
The caves right behind the Skull Dome had an entrance connected to it. The sight surprised Law and he took the opportunity. Going through the entrance, Law gripped Kikoku tightly in his hand. The farther he walked through the dimly lit cave, the quieter the ruckus from the outside world sounded.
He could begin to hear his own heavy breath echoing off the walls.
It confused Law. He should be gaining more energy after not using his ability. Law’s legs began to feel as heavy as stones. Why did it feel like he was losing energy by the second?
The cold cave dripped water from it’s roof. The sound of Law’s boot clacking against the floor gave him an eerie feeling. At last, he made it to the end of the cave with a large arch. Peeking inside to see it was safe, Law slowly walked out to lay eyes on a breathtaking sight.
A clean, bright crimson red stone sat in the middle of the circle. The engravings held secrets beyond the knowledge of nearly every person on this planet. The stone itself was a work of utter mystery.
He had found it. Now he needed to make that copy for Robin.
The floor suddenly tilted violently and the entire island rumbled. Law barely kept his balance, watching the red stone slide slowly thanks to its weight. It scraped loudly against the floor as it moved.
Just what the hell are those idiots doing out there?!
The sound of a grunt and yelp immediately put Law on guard. He turned to the end of the cave, sword in hand as the floor steadily moved back into place. The walls and ceiling cracked deafeningly and trembled. Another large jerk to the island couldn’t stop Law from falling on his side.
His energy was depleting scarily fast.
The CP-0 agent.
He didn’t have time to dwell on that thought.
The ceiling collapsed. The large rocks above in the cave fall. Law had enough to activate his room one more time and tried to in order to move himself and the stone out of the cave immediately. It would not hold much longer and Law would be crushed.
His focus broke when the sound of a man yelling at the end of the cave towards him.
The split second of distraction was disastrous.
A large chunk of the rocks fell directly over Law, dazing him. Opening his eyes again, he saw his left arm was stuck under a large pile of rocks that had fallen. The ringing in his ear annoyed him. Law could move his left arm fine with only a bit of pain. That meant either the rock hadn’t crushed his arm completely or the adrenaline pumping through him was that strong.
Letting go of his sword, Law huffed for air while the floor beneath him rumbled. Law’s vision kept focusing the world in and out so much it dizzed him. His hat laid a couple of feet away from him.
I need to get that Poneglyph at least. God, why is everything going so wrong? Activate the room at least one more time.
The vision of Luffy pulling himself up, battered and bruised in the middle of Dressrosa came back to Law. If Luffy could bring himself back up to fight, Law needed to do the same.
A warm, small hand suddenly tugged at his hand from the other side of the rocks. Law really needed to get away now, but his mind began to slow down. Whatever that CP-0 agent had given him, it was making Law faller deeper and deeper into exhaustion. The sides of his vision started to fade.
A sudden bright, glowing light flashed in front of him, hitting Law with an unbearable pain in his head. His vision went black. He wondered if he had finally passed out.
Until a large gust of wind blew from underneath him.
Breathing heavily, Law could no longer feel his limbs. All of the weight had been taken out of him. The cold air pushed all his limbs back as he tried to open his eyes once more. The cold air stung his eyes.
The sky. He was looking at the sky. The midnight sky of Wano. He hadn’t passed out. He was falling.
Adrenaline burst through his veins. Breathing rapidly, Law turned himself around in wonder and shock.
Where is the island? Why am I falling?
Every second the ground got closer and closer. His heart pounded in his chest as he threw out his hand. Law stared down at the ground with intent, readying to activate his ability once more to save his life.
The trees of Wano got clearer and clearer. Any second he could hit the ground at full force. Gritting his teeth, he called for his room, shambling with a large tree in an instant.
Law collapsed on the ground. Heaving and bleeding, he stared at the solid earth beneath him.
Off in the distance, the tree he had switched with had crashed against the ground, disturbing the peaceful woods.
The blood on Law’s left arm continued to trickle out of his body. Getting up in his one good elbow, Law attempted to pull himself up from the ground. But his body was too heavy. His eyes were stinging. Regret was keeping him awake. The regret of no longer being able to help in the ongoing war in the sky.
I can’t stay awake. I’m sorry … Mugiwara-ya.
The night and trees blurred together and Law collapsed back on the ground. Exhaustion washed over him as he laid on the grass. His breathing deepened while his vision went dark.
The peaceful sounds of birds chirping drew Law out of his sleeping state. Laying on his bed, he steadily opened his eyes to the bright blue sky and dark green trees towering over him. The calm atmosphere distracted him for only a moment.
The memory of the night before shot Law to sit up on the grass. He winced at the pain in his arm, he dried blood sticking the shirt to his skin. Annoyed, he began to wrap the wound with what was left of his torn up blue coat. As much as he wanted to think about they’re current situation, Law felt as though he woke up ten hours too early.
Trying to stand, Law’s legs wobbled and he sat back down disgruntled.
“Great,” Law muttered, leaning his back against one of the trees. He was in no condition to even walk .
The sickening anxiety in his stomach only grew the longer he sat down.
How did he end up outside of the island? Where was his crew? Did they win? Did Luffy actually do the impossible yet again?
Law stopped and hunched in on himself.
Was everyone okay?
The battle looked and felt absolutely brutal. There had to be casualties on either side. There was no getting around that fact.
Groaning, Law remembered another not so helpful fact for his mental state. He hadn’t been able to inform anyone on the location of the Red Poneglyph. Unless someone else found it, the enemy could have taken it away. Or worse, they had lost and the stone would be forever Kaido’s clutches.
There was only one way to find out.
Whatever the CP-0 agent had hit Law with had weakened him earlier. Thinking back on it, Law figured that the CP-0 could have killed him after all. All the masked man needed to do was scrape Law a little. The chemical or whatever Law had been hit with would take him out of the fight entirely.
The moment he stepped into that cave, Law had been set up for failure. He could have passed out without shambling himself away from the falling rocks. But that piece of information bugged him.
Did he actually shamble himself out of the way of the rocks? That had to be impossible given where he started to fall from. He went from inside the near center of Onigashima to falling from the sky. Through his fuzzy memory, he couldn’t even remember spotting the island of Onigashima as he fell. But if not him shambling, how else did he get outside?
The rush of emotions going through his head made him feel sick.
All his mind kept coming back to being one person. Luffy who had so much confidence in his abilities, had thrown himself head first at the strongest creature in the world. Luffy proudly held everyone’s hope right on his back, never faltering at the thought of him being unable to succeed.
It would be a straight up lie to say Law and Luffy’s relationship hadn’t grown stronger. Law’s stomach churned at the thought of Luffy standing right before Kaido on top of that rooftop. The reassurance Luffy had given Law right before the battle. The reassurance the two of them would end up on top.
The two of them.
War gave no time for such thoughts. Law pushed those vile thoughts out of his head.
As soon as Law could stand on both feet, he trudged through the forest steadily. As long as he made it to the flower capital, he would find out the outcome of the battle in an instant.
Worrying and stress would do him no good. Law needed to see the outcome for himself. Whether he could accept it was another issue. But deep down inside, he let himself believe they had won. It was pointless to resist the trust he had for Luffy to win.
There had to be no other outcome.
A small village came into view and Law hid himself with the large trees. He analyzed the area but it didn’t look familiar. It definitely had Wano’s architecture but the village itself was one Law had never seen.
Did we win?
Having spent a decent amount of time in Wano, Law knew most of the smaller villages outside of the capital. But this one seemed to be thriving. People bustled about, moving food and water in wagons. The children played right outside their home. Some vendors worked on selling their products.
This place definitely wasn’t the Flower Capital. It was too close for how far Law had walked and didn’t look the same.
Risking the movement, Law activated his ability to switch out a kimono from one of the vendors with a rock. He couldn’t walk around in his bloodied outfit. It would draw too much attention to himself.
Walking around the village, Law felt his hand empty without Kikoku in his grip. He needed to move on, he could find his weapon and hat later.
The longer he walked, the more he saw the decorations for the Fire Festival were being taken down.
We had to have won. There’s no way it’d be this peaceful. But why does it feel too peaceful?
The citizens were going about normally. Their tyrant of a ruler had been taken down yet, no one batted an eye. There were no celebrations or tears of joy. They had been saved, hadn't they? Or did they not hear of it? That would be impossible given there was a large island floating in the sky waiting to crush them.
The more Law walked, the more confused he felt. The Flower Capital, if Law could call it that, had been redone nearly entirely.
The capital was also terribly crowded. So crowded that Law couldn’t be bothered to walk through it. There were people chatting and talking cheerfully to one another. They laughed and bustled about their day, working or having their leisure time.
Law watched from between buildings.
Why is it all so different? Did everything change overnight?
The welcoming atmosphere suffocated Law. He didn’t like the sudden change to the people. They acted as though everything in the world was perfectly fine.
A sick feeling pooled in his stomach as he remembered Kaido and his fucked up minion Orochi starving the people to death.
As bad as it sounded, Law couldn’t stand just how happy they all appeared.
The worst of it was that he couldn’t find even a trace of any of his allies. It was as though they had disappeared overnight. There were no mentions of any pirates or war on the island. Law could find no one he recognize to ask for help.
It began to feel as though it had never happened in the first place.
Walking away from the Flower Capital, Law’s attention was caught by the massively built building on the mountain. The same mountain that Kaido had destroyed, attempting to kill Luffy and their allies.
Instead of taking the normal path, Law rather not draw in any suspicion and walked through the forest. Up the hill, Law began to grit his teeth in frustration. There was no one to go to and everyone on the island acted as though nothing had ever happened. Everything had changed so fast and buildings appeared that had never been there before.
Had he been knocked out for a week or something?
Law’s legs burned as he made it over a hill. He hadn’t saved up too much energy after all. A small clearing appeared at the top, taking him aback. He had been heading to the massive building but instead found rows of stones beneath the hill on the other side. The clearing on the top had only one with the forest not too far away.
Walking closer, Law had a desperate voice in the back of his head, screaming at him to turn back. All instincts told him to stay away but the sight of something white and spotted kept him moving closer.
Law stopped in front of the stone. His thoughts were wiped away in an instant.
The stone stared right back at him. It had Kikoku resting on a stand on top of it. His hat rested neatly above it. The environment had obviously had its fair share of wearing the items down. His hat didn’t look nearly as nice and proper as it did yesterday.
The stone words took the air out of Law’s lungs.
The words read;
Trafalgar D. Water Law
Captain of the Heart Pirates
The date of birth and death burned into Law’s head. His mouth went dry as a terrible dread consumed from the inside out.
The disbelief kept him from falling apart at any minute. He desperately tried to convince himself that this was some kind of mistake. But the images of the people in town, how different Wano appeared, and the disappearance of Onigashima came back to him.
The overwhelming motions boiled inside of Law as he stared at the grave with a blank look.
Taking charge, Law quickly shoved those emotions down. He forced himself to have a level head, knowing that letting his emotions take control would get him nowhere.
There’s a serious mistake. There’s no way I had been asleep for a couple of years. Somehow, some way, I’ve been moved forward in time? Time or another world? Time seems more likely but just how many years?
Looking up, Law needed to tear his eyes away from the ominous tombstone in front of him. The bright, blue sky caught his attention.
This is the same sky. This is the same island but it’s all so different. We’ve obviously won the war but there’s no way reconstruction would take a night or two. It’s been several years at most based on how these look.
Law lifted the hat off the tombstone, feeling it was no longer the same hat he had on at the battle on Onigashima. It felt too foreign. Almost as though it was no longer meant to be worn by anyone, not even Law. The soft material didn’t feel as durable as before, no longer fluffy in his hand.
Something about it made Law not want to put it back on.
That only gave a sick feeling in Law’s stomach.
This has to be the work of a devil fruit. Some sort of ability by the enemy? Whatever the case is, I need to find familiar people who know of me. In the right way of course, so I need to start searching.
Keeping the hat at his side, Law reached for Kikoku. Kikoku being a sword felt the exact same in his hand. A little dusty but the weight relaxed Law with its familiarity.
“Hey!”
The angry voice nearly startled Law. The loud, booming voice was coming from downhill, the stomps on the grass got closer and closer.
“Put that down! It doesn’t belong to you!”
Something about the demanding tone irked Law. He wasn’t going to listen to some random man telling him what to do. It was Law’s after all.
The other, larger man made it near to the top fast, still angry over what Law had done. He was a scruffy, dark haired man, and couldn't have been older than forty. Wearing a red coat, Law noticed he had a large, muscular figure that would tower Law. Those features alone wouldn’t have put off Law, if not for the aura the man gave off. The stranger was strong and Law knew he shouldn’t underestimate that. But something about them did seem familiar.
“You put those back. I don’t care why you picked it up but-”
The older man stopped in his tracks. The angered expression dropped in an instant. He hadn’t made it fully up the hill, staring at Law with wide eyes.
He doesn’t look like a Wano resident. Another pirate, who recognizes me. But who?
“These are mine,” Law said confidently, holding Kikoku on his shoulder, “I don’t know who you are but you-”
“Torao?”
The name had been spoken so softly, Law nearly missed it.
Law’s face morphed from confusion to a slowly, descending expression of shock and horror. His nerves went ice cold. Every muscle in his body tensed up the more Law’s mind placed the pieces together. The familiar features began to form another picture in Law’s mind he did not wish to see.
The scar under the man’s eye. The large scar on his chest, the one that had burned itself into Law’s memory for how long he had worked on it.
The two stood staring at each other on the hill, shellshocked.
Something had gone horribly wrong.
Mugiwara-ya?