A.N. Should I mention that this story is my personal favorite? I'm really proud of myself for writing this… ^-^ Thank you guys for the feedback you gave on the first chapter (which was supposed to be the only one…)

P.S. This chapter is how Luffy sees Law.

When Life Laughs At You

It wasn't fair. But when was life fair?

Though, from the position of life (if he would assume that life has a position) everything is fair. Life gives us balance – for every good thing there is a counterbalance. For every good thing we get we have to get a trial, or maybe sacrifice something…

Luffy wasn't sure about all that balance in life, but he was dam sure that he didn't like it. Though in the long run Luffy understood that there was nothing he could do about it.

After all, if there were no balance in life, he would probably become Pirate King easily and where's the fun in that?

Luffy understood - maybe even better than others – that his dream, his ultimate goal wasn't being The Pirate King. It was all about the freedom you feel when you're on the journey, about all those things you feel when you sail. About all those things you have to do to move on from one spot to another, about what you learn, see and understand.

Being Pirate King meant that you did all that, that you saw all sorts of people and all sorts of situations, that you saw rights and wrongs in this world. Being Pirate King didn't mean that you were the strongest, the richest or the most fearsome – it meant that you had felt the ultimate freedom.

That was what Luffy was aiming for – freedom from wars and fights, from corruption and gore, from cries for help and punches of punishment. Being free meant being strong – it meant that in the end you won against ruthlessness.

And Law didn't come in that frame at all.

Of course, Luffy knew that he could never possibly know all those sharp turns life made, so, he could never really get ready for that feeling that met him. The only love Luffy ever felt was platonic and Luffy was pretty damn sure it wasn't the case with Law.

Law was cold and Luffy would have assumed that he was heartless if he didn't know better. But he did. For some unknown reason Law had let him take a peek at that small tender heart Law hid behind the walls of coldness.

For some reason whenever Law would be obdurate, Luffy could see Law's true feelings and thoughts.

Luffy was fascinated by what he saw.

When Law would be cruel, he would always be careful – his carefulness always came in the most gentle way Law was capable of.

When Law was apathetic, he would always care – but he hid his true feelings, Luffy understood why – not everyone was capable of ignoring other people like he was able to.

When Law had to be selfish, he would always retreat at the last moment – he understood that in the end his crew was the most important thing - family always came first.

Luffy didn't fault Law for that, even if it wasn't morally right.

Law wasn't a person with whom you could talk about morals with.

Luffy understood why there were black bags under Law's eyes, why Law had so many tattoos and one of them spelled D-E-A-T-H. Luffy could see it – the pain and torture Law had went through. Luffy didn't know if it was physical torture or mental, if the pain was his or for someone else's, but Luffy knew it was there. Law had lived through similar things Luffy did, but Law had it much worse.

Luffy didn't know who put Law through all of that, he didn't know why Law was a pirate, though Luffy's thoughts always came to conclusion that it was for the freedom… Luffy knew that no person who lived through cruelties of this world would ever be 'normal' again.

Even though Luffy knew about Law next to nothing it didn't stop him – it never did – from understanding Law, the reason for Law's action and the main flow of Law's thoughts.

So when Law felt the same pang Luffy had Luffy knew. Luffy knew that Law now felt that non-platonic love for Luffy. The-future-Pirate-King wasn't sure why Law started to feel like that, but he was kind of happy that it wasn't one-sided. Somehow it rubbed his pride in the right kind of way.

Naturally, Luffy craved for more than just knowledge that the feeling was there – though, Luffy wasn't sure for exactly what he was craving for – but Luffy knew that there was no changing it.

At least not now.

Neither of them could afford getting side tracked from their paths.

Luffy knew that the paths were going to separate soon and that there were a lot of challenging things up ahead of them. He only hoped that those paths would cross someday again, and that once they do, that the setting would be more favorable…