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“Captain,” Bepo asked, “are you sure about this?”
He wrung his paws, pulling at snagged fur. Law made a mental side note to talk to him about that later. Too much fur between the pads would inhibit his grip. For now he only nodded. “Two Emperors are down,” he said, “we didn’t exactly do nothing. Fewer will challenge us, knowing we had a hand in half the world’s power system collapsing.”
Law paused. Averted his eyes. “Besides,” he said, almost idly, “We’re much stronger, now. I trust…” he swallowed, “I trust that, while in a more… vulnerable state, I will be…protected.”
Bepo did not speak. Law ducked low, looking without seeing his hands shifting on his coat, squeezing and releasing, folding and unfolding. He didn’t chance a glance up. He didn’t. He wouldn’t. But he didn’t take his words back, either. Why would he, when they were true? Bepo was his oldest friend and his closest confident, first only to Shachi and Penguin, and––
“Captain,” Bepo said, his voice terribly watery, “I love you, too!”
The mink lunged. Law shouted as he was hefted up off his feet, Bepo cradling all six feet of him close to his chest. His fur ground against Law’s stubble where the other nuzzled furiously against his boiling face. Snapping at him did nothing. Bepo was deaf and blind to the way Law struggled in his arms.
Law–– wished he was the same.
“I love you, I love you, I love you,” Bepo said weepily. Law’s ears burned. “I’m so happy you feel safe with us!!! We’ll protect you, I swear! Nobody is gonna steal your skin, not even Strawhat Luffy! I’m so happy!! I love you Captain!!!”
“Okay,” Law tried, “Okay. Okay!” He patted Bepo’s chest frantically. His hand sank into thick white fur. Law wondered if he was really going to need to use a Room. “Okay! That’s enough, now. Put me down.”
Bepo sobbed. He pressed his nose into Law’s hair, breathing in deep. Law stumbled a little when he finally set him down. “Sorry,” he said, still very wobbly, but his eyes glowed with happiness. “I’m just so relieved! You never even let us talk about it before. Not with the Strawhat’s Captain, not with Penguin or Shachi, not even with me! Or after Dressrosa…!” He sniffled. We’ve been waiting for you to wear your skin for years, Captain, please don’t be mad at me…!”
Law sighed. “I’m not mad at you.”
Huge dark eyes gleamed with tears. Bepo’s muzzle pursed as if to start crying again.
“I’m really not. Things were… my situation…” He turned away. “I was being… careful. Stubborn, I suppose. But it’s fine now. That’s all.” This was all far too much drama for late in the morning. Law’s stomach churned, just a little. He grimaced a little at his own surprise. It had been… a good while, actually, since he had felt that way. Since he had breakfast in him to make him sick. Since he had felt sick like that at all. Law shook his head, readjusted his coat in his hands. The fur was ruffled from Bepo’s excitement. He occupied his hands with smoothing it down. Sinking his fingers into the fur, running down the grain. Again and again. “That’s all. There’s nothing more to say on it.”
Bepo looked at if there was far more to say on it. Law stepped towards the door, sliding his sealskin over his shoulders like a cloak. Fur tickled his earlobes. “Are we doing this or not?” He commented quickly, before he could–– not sighing in relief at all as Bepo gasped and jumped to open the door ahead of him. Sunlight flooded the Tang’s metal halls. A cool sea breeze raised the hair on Law’s arms and goosebumps over his bare chest. He could smell it. The salt. The sea.
Bepo was waiting for him to go out. Law stepped out of the shadows.
“Cap!”
“Captain!”
Immediately, Shachi and Penguin swarmed them. The two careened forward as though pulled, gravity yanking them towards Law with faces flushed and excited–– and Law barely blinked even a little when they lit up in surprise.
“Captain?” Penguin breathed. His head craned up and down. Raking over Law’s bare feet on the deck, his shorts, the fur draped over his naked shoulders. “Law…?”
Bepo grinned with every one of his teeth, so wide his eyes nearly squinted shut. “Captain’s gonna go for a swim!” He announced.
Both men jerked as if shocked by a live wire. A noise like something being stepped on eked out of them, squeaky and high.
It was Law’s only warning before both men launched themselves at him.
“Captain!” Shachi wailed. The shorter man did a remarkably complex maneuver for someone in hysterics, twisting his legs around Law’s narrow hips and hooking his knee under his thigh, his forearms iron tight around Law’s neck, “Holy shit! Holy shit! Are you really?! No fuckin’ joke?!”
Penguin thumped a fist against Shachi’s shoulder, making him yelp. Another punch to Law’s next made him hiss. “You better not be fuckin’ joking with us, Law,” he growled, “I swear to the fucking seas, if you’re joking with us––“
“I-I swear he’s serious this time!” Bepo tried, waving his paws frantically. He hovered over the three, yelping when they tumbled to the deck in a heap of limbs at his feet. “Guys!!”
Penguin grabbed both of Law’s shoulders and shook him, hard. Law’s head bobbed back and forth. His hat got knocked off. “It took fucking Kaido for you to get fuzzy?!” Penguin roared, his voice a wobbly, strained mix of appalled and proud.
“Takin’ even more to get him wet,” Shachi shouted. Being muffled under both men and Law’s sealskin flopped over his face didn’t stop anyone from knowing he was waggling his eyebrows.
He only laughed as Law attempted to elbow him violently. Penguin did not help. It took Bepo prying both him and Law off to stop a preemptive murder attempt, Shachi simply wheezing beneath them both–– only putting them down to allow Law to access his coat again. “No more fighting,” Bepo pleaded, “Captain’s never gonna get wet at this rate!”
Shachi and Penguin both cheered. “Bepo!” Law screeched.
“I’m sorry!!”
Their ruckus seemed to draw a crowd. The Strawhats’ heads poked over the rail of the Sunny, watching the ongoing affair with mild amusement. A slight ways away from both ships Law could barely make out two of Kid’s cronies watching from the Victoria Punk. He knew without hearing they were likely calling for their Captain. Ugh. That was a hassle in the making. Law withheld the urge to press his head into his hands. Why couldn’t pirates mind their damn business? Dressrosa outing him hadn’t been enough?
“Just––“ Law pinched the bridge of his nose, “Just stand watch, or something. The Strawhats can come on board, but only them. And I don’t want anyone who can swim in the water if they’re not a Heart.”
The light atmosphere chilled a little. Not too much, Law noticed–– they must have good faith in their allies, even with their allied conflicts over–– but enough to straighten up. Their good cheer remained even if slightly dimmed.
“Got it,” Penguin said. His voice was stoney despite the smile on his face. “We’ll keep a look out.”
“Hakugan’s at the steer and Ikkaku is manning the torpedoes,” Shachi noted, almost idly.
Law nodded. He swallowed his heart down, just a little. “Good,” he managed smoothly. “That’s… good.” Check, and check. He ran his palm over his coat. The fur was smooth under his hand. Even when he had been on top of Shachi, the other had been utmost carefully not to disturb the skin. It was a level of subtle skill that was to be expected of his Hearts. Especially of one of his right-hand men. Yet Law’s chest stuttered at the reminder of it. Even his coat felt warmer for it, somehow, impossibly.
He lapsed into silence.
Penguin sighed. “C’mon, Law,” he said, a little quieter, “We’ve got you. You've got this. We’re not them, but you aren’t alone anymore. You have a family to swim with you, now. What does it matter that you sink?”
“I won’t let you sink, Captain,” Bepo added passionately.
“Seconded.”
“Exactly,” Penguin continued, “And you said it yourself–– though without actually saying it, because you’re a bastard and you’re lucky we’ve known you so long and so well so as to know what the hell you’re doing even as you do your best to be brooding and mysterious–– we beat two emperors. We beat Kaido! Just who is gonna honestly try their luck after this?”
“If anyone does, I’ll bite them,” Shachi intoned darkly.
Law colored. “I knew that,” he said, a little uselessly. A touch to his shoulders. He looked up at Bepo.
“If you know that,” the mink started, his face firm in a rare display of bravery, “then put your coat on.”
What was he supposed to say to that?
Law unbuttoned his jeans.
He was immediately halted by a shout of his name. Law quickly handed his skin to Bepo before Luffy could barrel into him. It took all of his weight to keep the both of them from slingshotting past the rail into the sea. “Torao!” Luffy yelled, directly into his ear. Law grimaced. He didn’t attempt to pry the other off, there was no point, but he at least did his best to wedge an arm between Luffy’s face and his. Luffy kept talking as if he didn’t even notice. “What are you guys doing! Why do you have your coat out?!”
“Shouldn’t you already know that?” Law ground out. Luffy leaned closer. Law sacrificed his second hand to shove at Luffy’s face. “Get off!”
Luffy’s eyes were dark and attentive. They gleamed knowingly. “Can I come too?” he asked.
“You can’t swim, Mugiwara-ya.”
Unrelenting. Luffy’s neck stretched past Law’s hands. His eyes stared him down. “Don’t care. Can I?”
“I––“
“Just let him, Torao,” the Strawhat’s Navigator called from above. Law didn’t bother to look at her. Taking the time to glare up at her would just blind him. He had enough going on. “You know he won’t give up!”
“I won’t,” Luffy added unnecessarily. “Can I?”
“For fucks sake,” Law snapped, “Fine, whatever. Go ahead and drown, while you’re at it.”
Luffy whooped loudly, making Law wince, and untwined himself with a snap . He happily bounced around the Tang’s small deck, singing as he pranced. Law only grumbled to himself. At least he had tried. Not very much, but he had tried. That was more than enough to betray the kindling warmth curled in his belly.
“Do you mind if I join you as well?” Jinbe called down. Law paused, taken aback. “I can provide nautical support. Personally, as well, I wouldn’t mind a little dip here. My skin is becoming rather dry.”
It was sound. It was normal. Sealfolk weren’t like Fishmen or merfolk, but their species was so closely adjacent it wasn’t as if there were no connections. Law would bet money there were at least a couple down below the sea, refuging in Fishman Island. Beyond that, Law was certain Jinbe of all people would be aware of his worries innate to his species, not to mention his setback and abilities. There were Fishmen with devil fruits around, after all. He wasn’t an isolated case at all, just an uncommon one. Excuse of skincare aside (though Law didn’t entirely doubt the truth of that, Wano was not a heavily wet country) Jinbe was one of the best options to have waterbound while he was… vulnerable.
He wasn’t blind to the way Shachi and Penguin bristled behind him. It wasn’t a challenge of any kind. Law knew it wasn’t. Jinbe was not the kind of man to make petty maneuvers like that, he was certain. Calculated ones, sure, but not petty. He opened his mouth, unsure.
“Nah,” Luffy cut in, “That’s okay, but thanks Jinbe! Can you keep an eye out though? I don’t want any bigger waves to come too close.”
“Of course, Luffy,” Jinbe nodded his head seriously. He lumbered his way towards the back of the ship, diving with a splash.
His crew relaxed behind him. Law shut his mouth. Well, alright. That suited him just fine.
…He had done enough stalling.
“Bepo,” Law called, only a little hesitant still. His coat was immediately returned to him, not place in his outstretched hand, but draped back over his shoulders. It’s weight and warmth buzzed against his bare skin. Law fought the urge to shiver. Who trembled at the touch of their own skin?
The Tang fell into a hush as he kicked off his pants, barely able to even focus on how everyone stared. It all fell to the wayside. Being naked was simple. Normal. Human. What Law was going to do, to become, was far more exposing than just being naked. It almost made him want to laugh. Hysteria was a vague tickle in the back of his head, in his throat. What a fucking mess. Who trembled at the thought of their own body?
Law’s heart beat in his ears. He had never done this in front of anyone but his own mother. He wondered what she would think of it all. He hadn’t done that in over a decade.
He hadn’t… done any of this in a decade.
Law clenched a shaking hand into his cloak. It sat innocently on his shoulders. It was cool. Cold, almost. It rubbed against his bare skin, less a living part of him and more a piece of clothing. Some discarded fur of another seal. A dead one, skinned and gone. Not his. Not his family’s. How did he even put it on, without a softer, warmer hand to guide him?
Bepos paw settled on his back. It pressed against him gently, just enough to bleed warmth against his spine. Penguin and Shachi shifted a step closer. Their hands didn’t take his— wouldn’t, in front of their allies and acquaintances, not unless he initiated it— but Law took equal comfort in the way their touch grazed against his arm, across his knuckles clenched white into his sealskin. It wasn’t a guiding touch. They knew impossibly less than he did. But if Law shut his eyes… he could almost imagine it. His mothers hands, cool as the water and warm as a hearth. Her long fingers, curled around the back of his neck, cupping his hand. The push and pull of a second body and one body and no body at all, sensation zipping together seamlessly, melting muscle into muscle, flesh against flesh. Filling and falling and reforming.
Law felt like a child again, bundled up in a warm blanket. But the blanket was him, and he was the blanket— and he was left blinking doe-y liquid eyes up at his friends as he was reborn.
Lower. Not small, but lower. Much lower. Law carefully placed his flippers on either side of his belly. He raised himself as much as he could. It was a wobbly attempt. He could only stretch so far, his flippers only so long, his body only so flexible. Law looked from them to his crew, back to them, checking and double checking the new height differences. It was… quite a bit. Spotted seals weren’t too small, really, in the seal world; they’re just an average sized Arctic seal. A normal seal. Law was normal. Maybe a little longer, a little skinnier than a true seal. But normal.
Normal. Average. Everyday. Indiscernible, his tattoos swallowed up by a seamless knitting of overlapping fur and flesh. If they hadn’t managed to see his actual transformation, an onlooker would glance right over him. Law raised himself the tiniest inch higher, staring up at the sky. It was cloudless. Blue as the seas. Doflamingo was gone, couldn’t possibly come to him now, but Law somehow felt as if it would have been fine if he did. He felt… he felt hidden. Unseen. Utterly unlike the certainty of watchedness that he swore his coat would condemn him to. If anything, Law felt like… like…
(A warm body against his flank. His mother’s nose, soft and playful where it poked at him, snuffling gently at his cheeks, whuffing warm breath over his whiskers. Lami’s whining little barks, noisy and shameless as she tried to chase after him in the shallows, tried to burrow into his side. His fathers broad hands tucked beneath his vulnerable underbelly, lifting him from the angelic white silt of Flevance. Their voices, a frothing cluster of bubbles buffeting his snout. A gleeful shriek and splash. Weaving feet in the surf. Dripping dry, under the open sun, his mother and sister slumbering in the sand, his head cushioned by his father’s splayed leg.)
They were… quiet.
Law’s eyes flicked from one person to another. Bepo’s rapid blinking, his face twitching in little microexpressions between anxious and happy. Luffy’s outright joy, sunny and bright. Shachi and Penguin’s faces were always shadowed, but at his new height that cast shade did little to hide their wide eyes from him now.
“Is it,” Law coughed. The sound erupted out of him more of a garbled bark. He swallowed. Was his throat always so dry? “Do… Does it look…” What was he supposed to say? What would a person even say, here? He didn’t want to come off as insecure. Especially not in front of his fellow captain. He wasn’t, after all. Not at all. “...correct?” Fuck.
He didn’t have time to think about it. Bepo’s eyes filled with tears in what seemed like an instant, huge and sparkling and getting Law’s fur soaking wet as the mink scooped him off the deck with a shriek. “I love you, Captain!” Bepo wept, “You’re so cool and brave and soft! I love you!”
His hysterics seemed to pop the weird bubble freezing Penguin and Shachi, the both of them bursting into tears hard enough to rival Bepo. They threw themselves at Law. “We love you too!!” they screeched, burying their faces into Law’s fur. Shachi almost knocked his damn hat off with how hard he nuzzled his cheek into Law. “You’re so cool!! We’re so proud of you!!”
Law blinked, overwhelmed. He looked past the crush of his crew. Luffy smiled at him. A little laugh, smaller and quieter than Law had ever heard from him, slipped through his bared teeth.
(He met Law’s eyes with a look indecipherable; communicating something so openly, so clearly, and) Law could do nothing but look back at him and wonder.
And breathe. He would like to breathe.
“Put me down,” Law finally demanded. No one seemed to even hear him. He warbled a bark, slapping at the closest body. His flipper smacked Penguin’s forehead. Penguin barely even flinched. He just squished his cheek against Law’s fur and made a remarkably whiny noise. Seals couldn’t blush. They didn’t do that. The warmth in his face was a phantom sensation of familiar bodily function. “Put me down!” Law commanded, wiggling fiercely. “I can’t move!”
A high, weepy sound moaned out of Bepo, but he obeyed readily. Law relaxed as he was gently set down… but Bepo’s paws remained wide and warm on his sides, keeping him in place. “Bepo?” Law called. He craned back, trying and failing to see his first mate. In response, something wet pressed to the top of Law’s head. “Did you–– did you just kiss me?” He asked, bewildered.
Shachi immediately burst into hysterics. “No fair!” he wailed. “That’s not fucking fair, why does Bepo get to kiss Captain but I don’t?!”
“I didn’t let Bepo do anything!” Law sputtered. He turned around, almost spilling onto his back instead. His attempt was less a smooth whip around and more a clumsy flop with an extra flail of flippers.
Bepo didn’t even look guilty. Penguin and Shachi were openly puppy-dogging him. Just who did they think they were, Bepo?! Not a chance! Law glared at them, whiskers bristling.
“Captain!! I want a kiss too!”
“I’m not kissing you!” Law shouted. Penguin and Shachi rounded on him. They stepped closer. Law snorted at them. “Stop that! I didn’t give Bepo a kiss either, he kissed me! Which I also didn’t ask for!” His crew loomed over him. Law pressed his flippers into the deck and not his stomach. He wasn’t a real seal, the threat wouldn’t even translate. “Stop it! I’m not kissing either of you!”
Something shoved under his stomach. Law barked as a rubbery arm wound around and around his middle, hoisting him up off the deck for the fifth time that morning––
“A kiss,” Luffy sang, “I wanna seal kiss, too!”
It was his only warning. Luffy’s smile pressed against his muzzle.
Law’s brain flipped and promptly shut off.
Luffy could barely stop grinning to kiss him. His lips were a strange texture, even against Law’s fur. A mix of rubber and skin, chipped and soft and warm against his mouth. Luffy’s arms squeezed around him in a weird, coiling hug, Laughter tickled his whiskers.
(“Eww,” Lami groaned, high and whining. Law squeezed her tighter to his stomach. Her hands were too busy shielding her eyes to hold onto his shoulders anymore. “Gross, daddy, don’t do that! That’s all wet and gross!”
His father laughed, raising his head. His kind face crinkled into a smile, mirrored by his mother’s warm gaze as it settled on them, “Hmm? What do you mean?” He asked, blithe. “I thought you liked being wet. What did I do that’s gross, Mimi?”
Lami wiggled. “You kissed mommy! With your dry-mouth!” She huffed, kicking her feet.
“Oh, did I? How rude, I must be a little confused. Did I do it like this?”
He leaned down. Law’s mother stretched her neck up to meet him, whiskers twitching happily. Lami shrieked, twisting in Law’s arms to stuff her face into the crook of Law’s neck. She giggled and wailed and whined as their father crawled over to them, peppering the top of her head in dry-mouth kisses. Their mother’s whiskers tickled Law’s face as she scooted close to his side, her soft, wet nose pressing to Law’s cheek.
(Law was sure in that moment that nothing would prove love was real more sincerely or honestly than to kiss a seal on the lips.))
Luffy pulled away with a snickering laugh, loud and free, and Law tried to think of–– anything. At all. He was failing. “What,” he said, wobbly, “you––”
“Okay, it was funny, but I don’t want to do that,” Shachi cut in. Law snapped around and stared at him. His crew pressed close to each other, Bepo’s paws on his cheeks and eyes sparkling, Penguin covering his mouth to hide what Law knew was a fucking smirk–– Shachi pursed his lips. “I love you, Captain, but I don’t think I want to kiss you on the mouth. No offense.” He paused, turning to Penguin. “Wait, that’s not homophobic is it? I swear this isn’t a No Homo moment, I love homos–– Law, you know I love you right?!”
Law stared at him. His mouth opened and closed.
“Peng, help,” Shachi whined, “Captain thinks I’m homophobic now!”
“It was a little homophobic,” Penguin said.
“No!! Don’t listen to him Captain, love who you love!!”
“Shachi,” Law started. What could he even say to that. What options were there even. He was still remembering how to speak at all.
“It has nothing to do with gender, I swear! I just don’t want to kiss a seal, I’m sorry Captain!”
Luffy hummed. Law jolted, squirming around in his grip–– how had he honestly forgotten he was–– was being held? Luffy’s arm was like a brand of heated steel around him. If Law focused, paid attention, he could feel the fast, hummingbird pulse of the other’s heart sinking into his fur. “Well, more for me, then!”
Law’s brain promptly crashed again. He stared without looking, eyes set forward towards where his crew stood in comical silence, their hands pressed to their mouths (Law knew they were smirking, those bastards––)
“Let’s go swimming, Torao,” Luffy said excitedly, “come on, come on—“
“You can’t swim,” Law repeated, his mind latching onto the one thing he could count on to be true. He scrabbled at Luffy’s arms. They didn’t budge. He didn’t expect them to. That casual resignation turned maybe to slight panic as Luffy turned towards the Tang’s rail. “Strawhat-ya, you can’t swim! Neither of us can swim! Do not throw us overboard!”
Bepo stepped closer, face pinched in anxiety. “Can you give me my Captain, sorry.” Law gave up. There was no dignity for seals. They were only blubber and fish and slap-slap. Did he think Luffy would kill him? No. But hurting him on purpose was unlikely, not zero percent, and hurting him accidentally was in the 200th percentile. Law bit into his cheek. He stretched his fins out towards Bepo.
Bepo’s expression hardened. He stepped closer. “I’m not sorry, actually. Give me my Captain, now, please.”
Luffy blew a raspberry, but he was surprisingly happy to release him. Law wiggled in slight aggravation as he was passed from hands to paws. What was he, a squeaky toy? He was able to move just fine, stupid as it looked. At least it was Bepo. If Shachi grabbed him he was going to bite him. “Alright, I guess. How long?”
Bepo only blinked, but Law twisted to look at him. “Wait until we’re settled in the water,” he said, “I don’t need you drowning us both splashing around; Bepo and I will get used to the water and then, maybe, you can come in.”
“Sounds good! I can wait.”
Luffy flounced off the Tang, rocketing with a shouting laugh back onto the Sunny’s deck and vanishing over her rails. Law could hear him shouting orders to food… and drinks, and music. Hm. That idiot better not make this into a party. Law should have just waited until they all split from Wano.
(He wouldn’t have. He wouldn’t. In this space, carved out of what was once enemy territory… this bubble wouldn’t last, but it was aglow with good (or decent, or tolerable) company, ripe with hands ready to defend, faces bright and smiling and pressed into his fur and wading in the wake––)
Would it have been better? Could it have been easier? Just what was he asking, to who, for who–– just what kind of answer wouldn’t hurt?
(––Nothing could replace them. Ever. He had a new family now, sure, but they were different. They weren’t his parents, or Lami. They couldn’t be better. Just different. Just alive. Just with him, where they could not. Filling the space at his side that once had been, was meant to be, his sister’s flank and his mother’s fins and his father’s legs standing like the stilts of a pier in the sand.)
He was going to do it. He was doing it. His coat was on. Halfway there. Further than he had gotten since Flevance burned. He wondered what he looked like. He wondered if his adult fur still bore the same spots down his back. The diamond shape Lami liked to nibble, the constellations his father pretended to map for his mother to make up a story. His mother’s eyes. His father’s hair.
“Are,” Bepo wilted. He hugged Law to his chest. Law tried to twist to look at him but he was held too tightly. He tilted his head back and snorted a noseful of fur. Bepo’s eyes were dark. His expression hesitant, nigh indecipherable but for the quiet spark of fear almost completely hidden. Law strained to look at him. He had only seen that look–– “Are you… really sure about this? It’s okay to say no. It’s okay to back out. It isn’t stupid, or weak, or cowardly. You’ve come really, really far already, Captain. Peng and Shachi an’ everyone tease, but we’re… we’re all really proud of you. This is more than you’ve ever done. It’s okay to stop. You can call it here. We can just eat and party and sleep.”
Law paused.
He wondered if he could let them go and live with himself for it. He wondered if he could simply never try and still forgive himself for it. “I’m,” Law said. His voice was thinner and more wobbly than he wanted. He swallowed. “I’m going to be okay, Bepo,” he settled on. His flippers curled over Bepo’s forearms. His wide paws, pads pressed gently under his belly. “It’s not going to be like before. It’s different.”
Bepo held him tighter. “I don’t want another Dressrosa,” he said.
Law winced. “I know it scared all of you. I know I–– It was bad, and I’m sorry. You all deserved better than that.”
“It was awful.” Bepo’s voice was solemn. “It was worse than scary. Worse than anything. Everyone was afraid. I was terrified.” His eyes cleared. He looked at Law. “I don’t want another Dressrosa.”
It was shockingly stern, for his navigator. Inches from an order. Law was almost impressed, if he wasn’t everything else at once. “I don’t plan for it to be,” he finally managed, voice breaking a little. He cleared his throat. It was weirdly wet. Reverberated through his blubber oddly. “It’s not going to be Dressrosa. I can do this and still be… okay. Eventually. Maybe even soon. I can. I will. I-I have to––” he took a deep breath. “I have to do this, Bepo.”
It was just–– an operation. A minor invasive surgery. Cut out the rot. Drain the pus. The infection had to be removed for the wound to heal. Law hadn’t even been left with scars. Decades later, and he never got to the point of scars. The wound, the memories–– they bled from him with every set. Mangled stitches in necrotic flesh.
He hadn’t worn his coat in over a decade. No matter how carefully he brushed debris and dust from the fur, it would not look healthy until he put it on. It was simply too disconnected from him. A whole part of his history, his family, his body, kept apart from him. He could not be healthy until he accepted it. How healthy could a body be, missing half of itself?
Law was crippled by several things. Amber lead’s lingering symptoms. The smoke of smoke and charred bodies. The cries of children, weak and fading. Gunfire. The silver flash of strings. The graze of feathers against his back, his hands, his face. The taste of his devil fruit, as rotten as his insides. The cold wash of water that was supposed to love him. Things he couldn’t fix. Things that couldn’t be changed.
But this could.
“I have to, Bepo,” Law murmured, almost feverish, “I have to. I have to know.”
Even if it hurts, even if it kills me–– but it won’t. Please. It won’t. Listen to me.
Bepo lowered his head. “Okay, Captain,” he said.
It felt as if the Polar Tang had fallen into a weird hush watching Bepo climb overboard. Shachi and Penguin crowded at his back like a couple of wolves. Penguin loomed practically on top of him, his hands subtly poised to scoop Law off the deck. Shachi at least had the decency to hover a step away. Less subtle, sure, with the way he openly bristled at the (drifting closer, Law noted with only some anxiety) Victoria Punk and their allies on the shore and even the onlooking Strawhats–– but more tolerable than Penguin.
Law wiggled forward. Just a testing wiggle. Penguin immediately twitched. Violently. Like a man running through a field and having just stepped on a mine. Law narrowed his eyes at him. “I’m fine,” he scolded, “don’t stand so close.”
Penguin’s face betrayed nothing. He didn’t even try to relax. “A bird might swoop down and grab you, Captain, I can’t risk it.” Law just stared at him. To his credit, Penguin didn’t waver. “You can’t say it won’t. Marco The Phoenix is a bird and he definitely can grab you. That King guy could too.”
“He wouldn’t,” Law stated firmly. He came that close to giving in and just slapping his flank. Penguin wasn’t as smart as a seal, he’d just find it silly. “Marco, that is. He has nothing to gain from assaulting me. If he held any grudge from my cherry-picking at Marineford, he would have already shown it. And ”that King guy” isn’t anywhere near here. At least half of the people here including me would have known immediately if he came into range. Back up. I can’t move like this.”
His subordinate didn’t look appropriately cowed. Nor cowed at all. But he reluctantly took the tiniest step back. Just enough for Law not to snap at him.
It was almost remarkable how his Hearts disobeyed him only now. All the bullshit he had pulled in Dressrosa alone, and only now do they show even the slightest hint of teeth.
Law wondered if it was because he was less imposing as a seal. Was it harder to respect a captain known to be cruelly pragmatic and powerful compared to a seal? They were rather harmless-looking. Soft. Round. Wet. He would have to fix that, somehow. Maybe he could transfer his tattoos into his coat, somehow? It could pose a risk to the health of his coat, but. It would also just. Be cool. Unless it covered up his spots. He didn’t want to do that. His mother gave him those spots. They were the shade of his father’s hair. At least, they had been once. He wasn’t sure if that was still true. He hoped so. He couldn’t really remember the exact color of his father’s hair anymore. He could barely remember Lami’s laugh. It was so long ago. Fuck, everything was so long ago. He––
Penguin crept closer again. The side of his foot bumped into Law’s hip, startling him. “Captain?” he whispered. “You’ve been sitting there for a while, did you change your mind?”
Law snorted at him. “No!” he barked. “I did not. I just…” Bepo was waiting in the water. He was… was he stalling? He hadn’t even noticed how he had fallen into his thoughts, just paused beside the Tang’s railing like an idiot. Law looked up at the rail. He raised a fin, halfheartedly scrapping at it. It was tall. He was very blubbery. Maybe not compared to a normal seal, but definitely when compared to his human body. A very weird turn of perspective. “...Get me over the railing.”
“Aye-aye, Captain!”
Hands dug under his sides. Law tried not to yelp as Penguin all-too-readily hefted him up off the deck. The arms around his midriff squeezed gently, pressing his back against Penguin’s chest. Law didn’t get the chance to check if he had hugged him on purpose before Penguin was shoving him up over the railing, less helping and more flinging.
Law really did scream this time as he cannonballed into Bepo’s outstretched arms.
He smashed into his navigator hard enough to topple them into the surf. Direct hit. Penguin was precise, if not gentle. Bepo splashed wildly, Law’s weight throwing him off balance. They both bobbed under the surface for a moment. Law sputtered loudly as water got sucked up his nose. It took him a moment to remember how things worked–– his burning nostrils squeezing shut instinctually before he could get another shot of seawater in his lungs. He still got one in his stomach before he could shut his mouth. It took effort not to not struggle in Bepo’s arms as the two of them stabilized, Bepo cradling him close to his wet chest, nearly hauling him out of the water entirely.
“A-are you okay? Captain? Sorry.”
“I––” The draw of the sea was immediate. Law sagged against Bepo. His flippers flopped over the broad paws steady against his fur. “I’m alright.”
Bepo eyed him worriedly. “Are you sure? Sorry. I can put you back on the Tang.”
Law shook himself. Thought better of it. He slumped further against Bepo, the bottom of his muzzle dipping into the water before he jerked it sloppily up. Water didn’t get up his nose this time, at least. “Yes. No. I’m… fine. I’m fine.” He rested his flippers on Bepo’s arms. Warm. Cold. Wet. He tried to move his hind flippers. They didn’t carve through the water. Barely did more than wiggle awkwardly. He felt oddly drunk in Bepo’s hold, heart slowly slowing down even as the sea pulled demandingly at him.
It was draining him. Being what he was didn’t, it seemed, protect him from the consequences of his fruit. Law wasn’t entirely surprised. He had, in all honesty, expected this outcome. Known, even if he wanted otherwise…
“Captain…?”
Well, despite everything, it was… kind of fine. Law leaned cautiously into Bepo’s grounding touch. A paw smoothed down his back immediately, less petting and more what seemed like instinctual soothing. The sharp tips of Bepo’s claws were feather-light where they combed through his wet fur. “I’m alright. The seastone intolerance is still present, though maybe a little muted. Whether this is due to the nature of my kind or because of the barrier made by my coat between my human body and the sea isn’t clear. I assume it’s because of my species, personally. My coat can’t be much of a barrier, it’s still my body. Unless maybe, because I haven’t worn it since before I ate the fruit, it has yet to carry over? We’ll have to do some more tests before we leave, maybe even afterwards––”
“Captain,” Shachi leaned over the railing. His head blocked out the sun. Law squinted up at him, blinking uselessly. “That’s super cool and all, but it doesn’t look like swimming.”
Law looked at him. Looked down at his flippers. “Weren’t you listening? I can’t swim. Of course what I’m doing isn’t swimming.”
“You can at least have Bepo do some laps, or something. It’ll be just like overboard drills.”
Penguin joined Shachi at the rail. He leaned onto it, propping his cheek on one hand. Behind him, Law could sort of make out what looked to be Clione and Ikkaku. They waved at him. He didn’t wave back. It was very hard to crane his neck enough to look at them, waving was out of the question. They beamed as if he had anyway, trotting merrily towards the aft. “Go on, Bepo,” he called down, “take the Captain for a swim.”
Law startled a little as Bepo’s hand lifted off his back. “Aye, aye!” he cheered, saluting seriously, “I will do just that! Hold on please, sorry.”
The warning really wasn’t needed. Bepo leaned back, keeping Law buoyed on his stomach, his paws anchored warm and heavy around Law’s back, and gently padded them through the water. It was slow. It was kind of embarrassing. The waves were far more choppy, far warmer than North Blue’s frigid surf, but Bepo’s mass cleaved them apart all the same. They licked at Law’s flippers, his flank. Ran lightly up against his belly, wetting the fur on his chin. Bepo moved so slow, so careful, that even Wano’s rougher waves barely splashed his muzzle. Law could have lowered his head down onto Bepo’s chest and still kept his nostrils and eyes open.
Law felt like a little kid. Small and weak and unused to his own flippers, clinging to his mother’s back as she drifted through Flevance’s canals.
Seals have no tear ducts. Selkies are not the exception. Law blinked rapidly anyway, clearing nothing but salt water.
“Hey! What the hell is going on here?”
His calm was broken by the shout. Law turned his head, snorting in startled discomfort as the fat ringing his neck refused to let him. It was still odd how that worked. Did his fat and muscle store different between forms? Were they non-transferrable? Bepo helpfully propped him up, a wide paw settled under his belly and another steady against the back of his neck. His careful, stable grip tilted Law just barely. Law felt oddly like an ungainly and oddly shaped sausage. He looked up at the approaching skiff.
Captain Kidd scowled back at him, squinting through the sharp daylight off the waves. “Killer,” He addressed his silent rower, “tell me that ain’t the fuckin’ Doctor.”
Killer only shrugged. Seeing his job done, he settled back against the edge of the small boat. Law wasn’t fooled. One of those broad, scarred hands rested tense against the water-worn wood at all times. As if, if it called for it, he could simply haul up the ship captain and all and toss it from the water.
“What do you want,” Law barked, slapping his flank once. Seals couldn’t blush, thankfully. The warmth in his face was a phantom sensation. He had nothing to be embarrassed about, anyway. “You already knew what I am. Don’t try to lie to me, I know it was all over the papers after Dressrosa. There’s no point acting shocked. Not unless you want to look even stupider.”
“Oi! I don’t wanna hear shit about lookin’ stupid from a fuckin’ trashbag of blubber .” Kid huffed. Looked away. Deceptively so; they all saw plainly the way Kid’s eyes roamed back to him, washing over his form as if startled it was real. “The news is right half the time, outright manipulative over half that. How’as I suppos’ ta know what’s up against what ain’t? Can’t trust shit till it’s with your own eyes, ‘Falgar, thought you knew that. Unless you want to look ‘ even stupider’?” Law didn't manage a word edgewise before Kid spoke again, strangely soft, as if he wasn’t even going to say it, “I’m just… surprised ta see your type still around, s’all. Can’t fault me for that.”
Law paused. He lowered his flippers to rest over Bepo’s paw. Their claws clicked gently together. “No,” he amended, “I suppose I can’t.” But I will remember it. His attention was much too quickly redirected to the head that jabbed over the high railing of the Thousand Sunny.
“Oh!” Luffy’s neck stretched further. Law watched in an equally distant fascination as his fri–– fellow captain’s head snaked down towards the sea, aiming for them both, “Jaggy!” He came to a stop right between them, his chin hovering an anxiety-driving foot above the ocean. It left the back of his head right in Law’s face. He huffed through his nose and craned awkwardly around as best he could. The straw hat was very good at blinding him. Could he not tilt his head like that?
Kid made a barely disguised wince, eyes narrowing in a slight cringe as Luffy rippled closer to him, almost smacking the rim of his hat into his forehead. “That’s gross, man, don’t fuckin’ do that.”
“I can do whatever I want,” Luffy said, overlaid sloppily with Law’s own snappish “You’re one to talk, Eustass.”
“Captain,” Penguin called from the railings. Law huffily turned up to him. Paused, considering. Penguin’s eyes were dark under the brim of his hat. “Do I need to get the others?”
Ah. Law wiggled, his flipper flopping awkwardly in his attempt to wave him off. “Unnecessary, Penguin. I have it under control.”
“We just want to join you, Cap, I swear,” Shachi chimed in. Law watched, but his other crewmate didn’t lean over like Penguin did, “C’mon, we’ll be very helpful. We’re the underwater forces. You know more than well by the way we easily sink ships with nothing but our bodies, swimming underneath and ripping the keel apart and dragging the crew through it, right, Peng?”
“Yes, the way we destroy galleons and drown devil fruit eaters,” Penguin continued, voice flat, jaw angled away from Law. Killer’s grip audibly tightened on the Kids’ skiff. “Exactly those ones. Anyway, mind if we join you, Captain? More the merrier, yeah?”
They were not sly. Protective bastards. It was often as if they had never grown out of that time together as teenagers.
Still, Law sighed. “Fine.”
His men whooped, vindictive satisfaction neatly layered over a sincere excitement that made Law want to curl his lips back. The idiots clambered gracelessly over the railings, fumbling with their zippers and shoes–– Jean Bart replacing their perch in time to watch them barrel overboard, hitting the water with barely a ripple. Seamless as ever. Law preened a little, watching the dark waters with keen eyes. They hadn’t risen yet. The waters were so dark he couldn’t even make out their silhouettes.
Behind him, Kid’s skiff rocked. Wood audibly splintered.
“Hey,” Kid snapped, alarmed, angry. Law tensed. They were only teasing, he knew, but the other captain did not know that, would not know that,
“I’M COMIN’ IN!”
Bepo shrieked as a rubbery shape cannonballed into the sea.
“Stra––!”
“Luffy!” Nami shouted, “I told you to wait!”
He wasn’t coming up. Law looked up, startled, but the idiot’s crew only stood there, watching from the Sunny’s railing. Were none of them going to retrieve him? Law certainly couldn’t! Surely they didn’t expect––
“Pwahh––!” Luffy’s head crested the surface, hair sopping wet and plastered to his face. Penguin buoyed at his side. Just behind them, Shachi bobbed into view. His hands were pale in the water where they splayed still at his sides. “Thanks! I was totally a goner there!”
“You fucking idiot,” Law scolded, already relaxing. Penguin had him. Shachi had them. He shouldn’t have panicked. Not that he was, of course, or would ever have. “Drowning is not swimming. You’re lucky my men were there.”
Luffy snickered. His laugh was hitching and thin, snorting out of him alongside a mouthful of seawater from his nose. Law cringed. “I wanted to swim with you!” he hollered. “Besides, I knew you wouldn’t let me. I trust you, Traffy.”
“What the fuck,” Kid murmured, his skiff slowly steadying.
Law stretched out as far as he could. Bepo paddled gently, bringing them closer–– sighing as Law reached out and smacked Luffy with a flipper. “Stop it,” he mumbled, eyes averted. “Just fucking ‘swim’ with me, you bastard.”
The other captain whooped, fist flopping in the surf as he tried and failed to throw it up in the air. Penguin had to jerk to the side to avoid it hitting his face. Despite that, the grin on his face was genuine, mirrored and matched by Shachi, by Bepo, by almost Law himself–– he could feel it. The twitch in his whiskers. The tension running down his spine. The thrill in his very veins.
“Go,” he asked, voice tight with excitement. His fur was bristling. Law laid flat against Bepo, letting his flippers drape down into the water. It sapped his energy from him immediately, leaving him an odd combination of adrenaline and exhaustion–– but as Bepo began to paddle again, slowly dragging them both through the water… His flippers in the wake. Salt in his whiskers. The current against his pelt, ghostly petting him like a hand brushing through his fur over and over, gentle and light. If he dipped his head down, shut his nose against the surf, he could feel the others without looking. His whiskers twitched and caught in the currents: Luffy’s flailing, barely held aloft by Penguin and now Shachi both. Kid’s skiff bobbing in the waves. The steady, familiar hum of the Polar Tang where she sat still, patiently watching for him. Countless fish and sand and stones and scales, Jinbei hovering at the back of the Sunny, a dangling set of fishing lures fluttering in the shallows.
His father’s hand in his fur. The warmth of his mother under his belly, the drag of her wake against his flippers. Lami’s chattering squeals, whiney and excited.
it was... all so natural. As if he had never stopped.
Why had he been so afraid?
“See?” Luffy called out to him. Bepo slowed some, twisting on his back to let Law more easily look back at him. The other captain’s dark eyes glittered. Something indecipherable glowed in them, bright and joyful. “See, I told you.” He reached out. His hand flopped awkwardly against the surface. It took several tries before he could maneuver his weak limbs through the water, dropping a hand on Law’s head. “You’re so soft!”
He was being pet. His fellow supernova was petting him. Like a dog.
Law leaned forward. He bumped his head against Luffy’s. Luffy giggled, turning and pressing a sloppy attempt of a kiss to his muzzle. His laughter buzzed against Law’s sensitive whiskers. They both ignored Kid's gagging and Shachi's exaggerated cooing.
“I knew it would be,” he said, something deeply satisfied in his voice.
Law couldn’t help but mirror that, too.