~

There were cheers all around, laughter and food and drinks, and friends. Why wouldn't everyone be there when Luffy called for them, for a feast for achieving one of his dreams, why wouldn't anybody be there when Luffy called for them, as the Pirate King.

At Raftel, they had found the meaning of D. and Robin had immediately sent a message to the Heart Pirates, specifically to the Hearts captain, she had also sent coordinates and navigation routes with the help of Nami, but she didn't know if the other pirate group ever went to Raftel on their own, to find out the truth for themselves. The Strawhats had vacated Raftel soon after Luffy's achievement was all over the news, the rubber captain had found the island too boring to stay for more than a few days, so they had set sail, for the small island near Sphinx, to hold the biggest banquet the world had ever seen, to hold that banquet with Ace.

The party went on for days, literally everyone was there. From Luffy's first friend outside of Foosha, Coby, to Johnny and Yosaku, to Smoker and some other reluctant marines, to the Revolutionary Army, to Boa Hancock and her pirate group, to Shakky and Rayleigh, to Hachi and Pappagu and Camie, to Shiroahoshi and her brothers, to Bege and Chiffon and Lola to Aladin and Katakuri and Branch, to Luffy's Grand Fleet, to Shanks. Everyone was there.

Everyone but the Heart Pirates.

Everyone but Law.

For the first few days, Luffy felt the absence terribly, then everyone diverted his mind off the missing person, but when the party started dying down and everybody needed to go back to their jobs and kingdoms, it was then that Luffy started staying up through the night, looking at the horizon, hoping he would see the submarine Franky and Vegapunk had designed for Law and had made faces when Law painted it yellow.

But a whole month went by and there was no sighting.

The Pirate King was eventually dragged away from the cliff he had made his vigil post because he still had things to do and asses to kick. That took more time than Luffy liked to acknowledge, more time than Luffy liked without seeing Law or hearing from him or hearing of him. Luffy was already bad at lying and it was only getting worse to hide his worries as more time went by. Luffy hadn't seen any divorce notification in the newspaper so he knew he was safe in that regard but he still worried. Luffy hadn't seen any death notifications either and he was relieved in that regard too. But Luffy's heart ached for his lover, longed for him. Luffy missed his Torao so much.

Being the Pirate King, Luffy had more access to information and he had asked Robin to use those means to find out about Law but even with such an asset, there was no information for a whole year.

~

"Again?" Shachi groaned and snatched the newspaper from Law's hands. "You're very stupid you know."

"I will put you on bedpan duty, be careful." Law warned and took the newspaper back, resuming his reading on another article about the Pirate King. He smiled, wistful and bittersweet, but not regretful.

"Law seriously, just seek him out." Penguin pushed, rolling his eyes.

"Go check on your patients." Law said and turned the chair away from his friends, signaling the end of that conversation.

"Stupid." Shachi pouted.

"Idiot." Penguin agreed.

"He had bigger dreams, I didn't want to hold him down." Law said in a small voice, revealing his thoughts after a whole year.

"You know he will punch you if he hears that, right?" Shachi questioned, angry, but Law didn't answer anymore and the two took it as their cue to leave the surgeon alone.

When Robin had called the Heart Pirates about Raftel, Law had waited for the Strawhats to leave, then he had went ahead and found out his own truth, and Law's goals was achieved. He just wanted to learn some history and know about the meaning of D., he left it to the Strawhats to reveal the truth about the world, as they would no doubt do.

It was as Law had told his friends, he stopped sailing after Raftel because he didn't want to hold Luffy down and constantly make him look over his shoulder to make sure Law was still there and still ok. The Hearts captain took his crew to a nice resort island and told them he was disbanding, not in the mood to sail anymore. Law was tired. The Hearts were angry and then they were kicked off the island but not one, single person left.

The twenty strong Heart pirates followed Law to the marine base where Sengoku was. Akainu had been booted from his seat and while the younger generation was still racking up experience points, Sengoku was handling the matters of the Navy. Sengoku had pardoned Law of his life of crime, and he had very gratefully took Law to Rocinante's grave. Law had talked to Cora-san for days after that, just sitting in front of the gravestone and telling him about everything.

After Law felt like he was finally peaceful enough to leave everything behind, he sought out a small but growing island in the North Blue, closer to Flevance and set up clinic there. He had told his crew that the Heart Pirates were officially disbanded but still, nobody budged. They all took up jobs on the island and bought a whole building so they could all continue to live together. Some of his idiots went ahead and asked Law to teach them medicine so they could help him in the clinic. Law had cried publically that day, in front of his friends for the first time, then he had gotten his shit together and learned that the Hearts won't ever be disbanded and learned to live with that.

Law learned to live with all that but his heart broke for Luffy every second of his life. He missed the younger terribly, he missed the innocent little touches, the fierce hugs, Law missed being able to let his guard down around Luffy without consequences. Law loved Luffy but he would never be able to forgive himself if that love cost Luffy his dreams. So while it broke Law, he learned to live with that too.

"You guys go ahead, I'll close." Law offered to his friends.

"We'll wait so we can go together." Bepo suggested. Law looked up from his reports then shook his head.

"I still have to write the reports for the two surgeries I did today, so it's going to take time."

"Fine. But if you aren't home by at least two hours past midnight, we are coming back here." Penguin threatened. Law waved them off with a smile.

Law wasn't lying, he really did have reports to write. He shifted the setup to the emergency room, to be able to help if some unfortunate idiot stumbled through the doors. There weren't many late night emergencies in town but one could never be too careful.

And Law was right when he heard the ER door open and someone walking in, steps heavy by the sound of it. The former Hearts captain wondered what kind of a medical problem he would encounter at such an hour. He was taking out the patient forms, back turned to the person. "You're lucky I am still here, what seems to be..." Law trailed off when he turned around. "...the problem."

"It's my heart."

And it was Law's heart too the moment Law's eyes set on Monkey D. Luffy, Kin fog Pirate and the King of the World. Luffy was crying, Law realized he was crying too. Luffy wasn't smiling or grinning, he wasn't manic or energetic like he usually was, he looked very sad and very tired.

"Luffy..." Law uttered and found himself enveloped in a rubbery hug. The younger was shouting something, angry and irritated but it was all incoherent because of the tears that were gushing like waterfalls.

"Marry me! Right now!" Luffy said and pushed himself off Law.

"Wha-"

"You're an idiot Torao! You thought you could get out of this relationship just like that-"

"I didn't want to get in your way-" Law tried explaining, he could see Luffy was very angry.

"I get in my way all the time! Why did you think I'd think that you were getting in my way! Torao you are so stupid!"

"I got tired Luffy." Law said and sat down on the chair, guiding Luffy to sit down on the other. "I didn't want to sail anymore... you wouldn't have let me go-"

"Of course I wouldn't have!"

"I didn't want to see the sea anymore... I didn't want to see the world anymore. So I left. I couldn't bear to burden you with the guilt of having to let me go, so I left."

"Did you hate me so much?" Luffy asked in a small voice and if Law's heart was already broken, the pieces were now broken into a size smaller than the atoms.

"No, of course not! Why would you think that!"

"Because you just left, you didn't even tell anyone where you were going, there was no news, it felt like you hated us so much that you were glad to be rid of us!"

"I didn't tell anyone because then you would have found out and you would have dropped everything to come after me."

"I definitely would have!"

"And I couldn't have that Luffy. I wanted you to achieve your dreams, even if I wouldn't be there to see it happen."

"Well I have achieved all of them! So marry me now!" Luffy puffed his chest.

"You can't just demand marriage-" Law rolled his eyes, he missed Luffy but forgot how bullheaded he was sometimes.

"If I don't, you might run away again."

"I won't, I am settled here. I have no intentions of leaving this place, ever."

"Then marry me and I will live here with you."

"You can't stay in one place for too long, Luffy, you're not built that way."

"I can if it's with you."

"I can't watch you throw your life away like that." Law avoided eye contact.

Luffy stared at Law for a while, trying to understand what was going on with the older's face. Luffy didn't believe he would ever have to worry about it but his words did form that question. "Is there someone else?"

"What!" Law's head snapped up.

"Is it Buggy? You were praising him at Wano-"

"What?! No! What the fuck even!"

"Then why are you saying all this!"

"Why do you even want me around!"

"I carved out a place in this world for two, but it's empty without you."

"I told you! I can't bound you to me forever! You're not meant to be bound! You would still want your adventures but I wouldn't be able to keep up!" Law pinched the bridge of his nose.

"So don't then! I won't force you! Just marry me! So everyone stays away from you. I will keep going on my adventures when I want, and come back to you! Be my home then!"

Law shut up for good after that. He couldn't make any arguments to that. Luffy wanted to give Law the honour of being his home, how could Law deny.

"Fine. When are we doing this?" Law asked rubbing his temples.

"Right now." Luffy took Law's left hand and slid a ring on his ring finger. While Law was distracted with the sudden action, the younger pulled him by the collar and kissed him. Law answered the kiss with equal passion. "There, we are married now."

"The fuck..."

"Yeah, I'm the Pirate King and King of the World, nobody would go against me."

"That's abuse of power."

"Too bad Torao, we are married now, nishishi."

Law shook his head at his now husband and looked at the ring. It was pitch black but somehow clear and see-through, but it was a plain band. "I thought you said the marriage ring would be fancier than the promise ring."

"I made it from a rare black gem, Torao, it's as fancy as it gets."

"You're responsible for telling everyone that you married us without a big party, I'm not having the entire world hunting my ass."

"Nobody would-"

"Yeah I know, Pirate King huh, perks I guess."

~

Happy LawLu Day!

Thank you for sticking around and reading !

<3