Chapter Text
He comes to at the distant sound of people walking and going about their day. He must be in an alleyway somewhere.
Waking up is a pain in the ass.
Law hisses as he sits up, his stomach dropping at the familiar ache all over his body. The last time it hurt this much was before he took out the Amber Lead from his body, meaning..
He looks down at his body, and well. There's a lot to unpack.
First of all, he's tiny . A child! He lifts his shaking hands and turns them over in fascination. Large, white spots are littered all over his hands and arms. He thought he'd never see them this starkly against his skin again, not when they were so unnoticeable in his older body.
That explains the Amber Lead, he supposes. He forces himself to stay calm, pushing down his rising panic. He can always get rid of it, maybe. Does he still even have his fruit?
Exhaling, he puts his hand in a familiar gesture.
"Room,"
A blue dome covers him and the small alleyway. Good. He still has it. He feels his energy empty immediately and he sags as he releases it, laying back down at the ground in exhaustion.
Shit.
If one room leaves him this lethargic, then he can't get rid of the Amber Lead just yet then. He remembers being much older when he got rid of it. It's fine. He's sure he'll find a way back to his real age before then.
"Are you done?" Law jolts.
He looks at the presence he only noticed now. He struggles to stand, wary at the figure he can't see clearly standing deeper at the alley.
"That hat is quite familiar, I don't suppose you're the captain that allied with my little brother, are you?"
Ally? Little brother? Then-
"Sabo-ya," He says calmly. He finds it strange that he recognized Law right away despite the changed age, until Sabo steps forward and the light reveals a young kid with short, curly blond hair with a missing tooth.
Oh.
He got reverted to a kid as well.
"I'm hoping that you know what happened to us?" Sabo asks wryly. Law shakes his head, slowly laying back down to the ground.
"No luck,"
Sabo sighs, plopping down next to him.
He gives Law a disarming smile, "Well, Surgeon of Death, while you were sleeping, I took the liberty to scope out the area. I don't recognize this place. I was going to leave you here and steal the first ship I find but last time I heard of you, you were headed to Wano with Luffy. So I'm curious of what happened that ended up with you being here. Where's my brother, hm?"
Law raises an eyebrow.
"If it's Luffy-ya," Herolls his eyes, "then I'm sure he'll be fine,"
Sabo huffs, but seems to agree anyway, and gets to his feet, "Fine. We should start moving and find a way out of the island, after that I'll get into contact with Bonney and have her turn us back,"
Law hums in agreement, "Let's work together for now then,"
It's been days, and after the initial gawking at the odd looking people or as they call it here, quirked people, it's starting to sink in that they're not even in the same world anymore.
"This is the fifth map that shows this geography!" Law snarls, gripping the paper tightly. Sabo says something through his mouth full of bread, making some of them come flying out of his mouth, and he dodges them with thinly veiled disgust.
"Speak up, Sabo-ya,"
Sabo chews the bread thoughtfully and swallows, "I said, that maybe we're in a completely different world,"
He rolls his eyes.
"Gee, as if I didn't already suspect that." Law scoffs, harshly rolling up the fifth world map they've stolen that week. He groans miserably, "Why does this always happen when I'm with someone from your family?"
Sabo grins at that, taking the map from his hands, and turning it to the back, showing a map of the country they're currently in, "I guess we'll just have to stay here for now until we find a way back. Man, Koala's going to kill me,"
“Anyway,” The revolutionary clears his throat, “right now we’re in Musutafu, and…”
They eventually agree to stay at Musutafu, considering the mountain of trash on Dagobah Municipal Beach Park, as it’s easy to get something they might need there, and both of them have experience in going through trash, Sabo especially so. But with no way of knowing when exactly they’ll find a way home, they agree to change into inconspicuous clothes for now, since a kid with a tophat and a white-spotted kid wearing an equally spotted hat isn’’t exactly what you’d call unassuming.
Sabo takes the role of getting them clothes since a sickly kid like Law will only give them a higher chance of getting noticed. They move to a few cities to steal, they’d rather not have to go into hiding in Musutafu itself. He shoves his tophat on Law’s chest, pushing him back to the alley and away from the crowd, “Wait here,”
He enters the clothing shop with wide eyes, putting on the meek child act. Sabo walks past the cooing mothers and disgruntled children to look for comfortable clothes that will hopefully last them for a while. Law says he prefers black or yellow clothes, so he takes a few of them in those colors. Just some hoodies and shirts, really. He picks out the same for himself but more on the blue side. He feels the curious eyes of the cashier, so he walks over next to the register and stands there with the clothes.
He hears him clear his throat, and he looks at the man.
“May I help you?” The cashier asks politely.
Sabo deliberately shuffles a bit, readjusting his hold on the small mountain of clothes on his arms, “My pa told me to pick out clothes and wait until he gets here so that we can buy it together,”
He gives the cashier a shy smile.
The man smiles back, “That looks like a lot, though. How about you go sit there for a while? I bet your dad wouldn’t want you to be tired when he gets here,”
“‘Kay.” He obediently walks to one of the seats provided by the store, making sure to use the path with the most people, messing with the balance of the stacked up shirts at the side as he passes by.
By the time he almost reaches the seats, a child yelps at the pile of clothes that falls on her.
“You reckless kid!” A mother admonishes.
“I’m sorry!”
“It’s fine, let me fix that for you,”
“Ah, I’ll help!”
“No, no! It’s fine, hon,”
“Let the nice man fix it for you, you’ll only be bothering him.”
Sabo leaves the store in the middle of the commotion. He breaks into a run when he hears the man shout after him.
He runs past the alley he left Law in, making eye contact with him as he passes. He pushes through the pedestrians, looking back to see that the man also ran past the alley.
And.. now.
He gets warped to where Law is, leaving behind a piece of trash.
“Great job,” Sabo says, taking the already tired Law by the arm and dragging him next to a group of dumpsters.
Sabo makes quick work of changing his clothes, before taking Law’s hat. “Let me borrow that for a while,”
Law mumbles something, scowling as he watches him put on the hat to hide his blond hair. He stuffs the clothes into the ratty, old laundry basket they found on Dagobah and cleaned up for that very moment. Sabo hums, and attempts to take the basket from him.
“You’re too tired and sick right now to carry that,”
“I’m not helpless, and I’ve dealt with this sickness in the past, I can deal with it now,” Law replies in irritation.
He holds his hands up in defeat, "Your choice,"
They leave the alley and calmly walk past the shop, headed to the direction of the laundromat they found earlier, when they're really heading back to Musutafu.
"That went relatively well," Sabo says offhandedly. Law gives him a look.
"Only because you had to be caught at the last minute," He huffs.
"The cashier had floppy dog ears!"
"Yeah, yeah."
Well, whatever. Sabo links his hands behind his neck, as long as it all worked out, right?
There is one thing for sure though.
They make a good team, and it will bode well for the both of them in the future, if they end up staying here for a while.