Law wakes up first this time, and stays there, in the sunshine, curled up against Bepo, and staring at his sister's face.
She's not as tall as him, but she's familiar, and her hair is the same color as their mother's. The French braids are holding perfectly well, though, and she stirs under his scrutiny.
"Great nap spot," she agrees, and he can't help himself; he smiles.
"Yeah," he says, and relaxes back into warm white fur.
"Hey," she says sleepily. "Hey, I was thinking. You think the Royal Science Academy might know what's up with this?"
Law keeps himself still, but his heart trips over itself to speed up and he's suddenly wide awake. The Royal Science Academy would probably know exactly what's going on, especially if amber lead is somehow the cause, but that's assuming it's still standing.
Which it isn't, because it was the Royal Science Academy of Flevance.
Lami shifts a little. "Uncle Alphard teaches that class on non-standard travel," she muses. "And I think there was a group of seniors a few years ago that were working on teleporting, remember? With the watermelons?"
He swallows, once, and forces his fists to unclench. "Uh," he says instead of you know I don't. "That's—yeah, good idea. Later, though, we've got to, uh, check with someone else first."
"Mmkay," she says, sleepy and trusting, and he smiles at him. "Thanks, bro."
"Yeah," he chokes out, and jerks himself to his feet. "I'm gonna go—talk to someone. About that."
"Yeah, yeah," she says and yawns, covering her mouth with one hand. "Hang on, I'm coming."
Law stays, but he's twitching. He needs a distraction, stat.
"Hey," he says, and reaches out a hand to haul her to her feet. "Are you still in residency?"
"Nah," she says, taking his hand and taking absolutely none of her own weight. He has to lean back to drag her up, and she rubs at her eyes with her free hand. "Finished about a week 'fore I woke up here. Finally caught up on sleep, and picked someone up at a bar to celebrate—"
Completely on instinct, Law's hand tightens and his free hand goes to his waist, looking for Kikoku. She catches it and rolls her eyes like only a younger sibling can.
"No," she says, and promptly pushes him over the rail.
He windmills, then goes over, eyes wide and mouth open. There's a splash, and Lami sniffs and puts her nose in the air.
Someone screams, "Captain overboard!" and several people go scrambling over the rail after him. Lami watches them in bemusement.
The fall was less than three feet. She's dunked him from far higher. "He can swim," she tells them.
And that's how Lami discovers that Law, in this reality, has a Devil Fruit.
He's still shivering and wet when lunch rolls around, so he ditches Lami to go change. She can find her way to the mess if she's hungry.
He's finally dry and wondering where he'd left Kikoku, because the sword in not in his room or at his side. He'd had it last night, but not at breakfast—must still be in the guest room.
Then the alarm goes off.
Law likes his submersible because it's clever and quick and stealthy. They aren't usually spotted by the average pirate, which makes getting around a lot safer and easier.
It means, though, that when they are spotted, it's by someone with SONAR or something similar, which means that whoever it is is usually big enough to be an actual threat.
The detection alarm is loud, clanging through the hallways. The lights used to change, too, flash and go into a red spectrum. It was very appropriate but not very helpful, though, so now the lights just come on.
"Marines," Sachi says when he hits the bridge. "Looks like a cruiser."
Not the best case scenario—that's big enough that they'll definitely have the good equipment—but not the worst either; it's a small enough complement that he'd stand a decent chance alone, if he had to.
He doesn't have to, though, not while his crew is here. Still, they're not the only ones around.
"We run," he says, making the snap decision. "Take us deeper, and change our heading."
"Yessir," Sachi snaps out, and the door to the bridge shrieks open.
"Law?" Lami says, leaning in the doorway. Her hair is a mess again and her eyes are wild. "Alarm? Enemies? Hurt?"
"It's fine," he says, instinctively reaching out to her. She comes to him, stepping forward and grabbing onto his arm. "We saw them before they saw us."
She hums. "You always were good at hide-and-seek," she says, yawning and leaning into his arm. "I mean, usually you were the seeker, but—"
"More like you were bad at it," Law says. There's so much he's forgotten about Lami, about his family—so much he's tried to forget. It's coming back to him and he lets the old knowledge cut into him and settle under his skin like little razor blades. "You didn't have the patience to sit still long enough to hide."
She huffs and steps on his toes. He winces but stands firm; he's right, he knows he is. "So we're running?" she asks.
"Yeah," he admits. "With a ship that size and—"
"You don't have to justify yourself to me, Law," she cuts in. "If you think it's the best course, then I trust you."
He blinks. He's forgotten, a bit, what it's like to work with people who think strategically; his most recent adventures have been lead more by instinct than strategy, and by people who consider avoiding an unnecessary fight cowardice.
"Yeah," he says, and coughs once into a fist. "Good. Thanks."
Lami hums, and she watches the screens with him. He doesn't ask if she understands them, and she doesn't ask for details.
"About that running away," Sachi says, turning in his chair to look up at Law, but Law's already noticed the Marine ship coming about to match headings.
The Marine ship is much larger, but its engine is much faster. It's a brutal piece of engineering, unlike the elegant Polar Tang, but it's made for destruction and hunting. Not to mention the way they tend to call in reinforcements; Marines tend to go by the motto that overkill is never-enough-kill.
Law is not getting chased into an ambush. Not today.
"Turn us about and take us up," he says, voice just as calm. "Looks like we're gonna fight anyway. Lami, please don't—"
He turns, and she's got a fistful of sharp little scalpels and steady eyes. "Yes?" she all but dares him.
He blinks. Sometimes it's so easy to see the little girl in her, but then sometimes something like this throws it in his face that this is not his Lami. "Uh. Please don't…get hurt?"
"Mmhmm. Same to you."
He sighs and goes to fetch Kikoku, making it to the guest room and back before the sub breaches the surface. His crew's at the door, waiting, and he pushes through them to stand in the front.
He doesn't give orders; the crew knows what to do. He doesn't give a pep talk, either; he just waits, one hand on his sword and one hand on the door. Then he turns, catches a flash of white and orange, and says, "Bepo."
Bepo's there, a second later, and Law leans in and says, low and quick, "Watch over Lami for me." Bepo grunts and melts back through the crew, presumably to take up a station near Lami, and Law turns his eyes to the metal door and waits.
The sub breaches, the pressure equalizes, the door opens, and he steps out into the fight.
"Trafalgar Law, you are under arrest—" someone starts trumpeting from the Marine ship, and he ignores them, racing ahead to plant a foot on the railing and leap for the ship. The second he's in range, a Room blooms around him and he Shambles half the Marines for half of his own crew.
Unlike the Marines, his crew is ready for it, and the battle is joined. There's a lot of screaming, a couple splashes, and rather less blood than there should be. Law stays balanced on the railing of the Marine ship closest to the Polar Tang and maintains the Room.
Law's dangerous in a fight but he's deadly in a battle. He stays on high and Shambles his crew around to better advantage, watching everyone's backs and swapping people back to the sub when they're hurt. He cuts up anyone who comes near, but his role is commander, not front-line fighter.
When the force is whittled down enough, there's a small knot of Marines around the ship's Captain and just about the same amount of Heart Pirates as Marines still standing. "Everyone off," Law says, stepping down onto the deck and pitching his voice to be heard over the battle.
His crew immediately turns and runs for him, and the Marines, for the most part, let them go. The Heart Pirates gather beside him and he gives them the mark. They all, as a whole, jump over the railing of the ship, out into open air.
Law marks the Marines on the deck, especially the defensive knot, and at the very peak of the Heart Pirates' jump, he Shambles them all with the Marines, who find themselves mid-air and plummeting.
The Captain, previously surrounded with his best fighters, now finds himself surrounded by pirates, grinning wide and vicious, and he swallows and raises his hands. He's still holding a Wanted poster in one and his sword in the other, which he promptly drops.
Sachi rips the poster out of his hand, and Law stoops to the nearest body and tugs the guy's kerchief off, which he promptly Shambles with the Captain's sword. Lounging languidly against the rail, the Captain's sword over his shoulder, Law says, "We'll be going now. You won't be following."
The captain stares at him, eyes burning with hatred. "Just kill me," he spits. "That's what you do, right? Rip out hearts indiscriminately?"
Law narrows his eyes and says nothing.
"C'mon, pirate," the captain taunts. "Kill me!"
"No," says Law, and he grabs the rail and settles back on top of it in a deep crouch. "I don't think I will. You want it too much." Then he stands up and holds out his hand. His crew straightens and he closes his hand, twisting, and his crew is back on the Polar Tang.
"Let's get out of here," Law says, and finally drops his Room. "Sachi, point us north-northwest toward—"
Sachi salutes, but Lami is right next to him on the deck, and she tugs the poster. Sachi lets her have it and the crew scatters to get them back underway.
"Nice battle," Lami says, but Law's already frozen in place, eyes locked on her. "Well-fought."
He should say thanks, or wave it off, but there's a spatter of red across her cheek and on her jacket cuffs. His eyes are stuck on the red, and he swallows. "There's," he says instead. "There's something you should know." His eyes flick down to the paper.
She follows his eyes and looks down at the Wanted poster and raises her eyebrow. "Surgeon of Death?" she reads out loud.
The words drop into silence. Law's tense, shoulders tight and high, and he's not looking at her. He is, in fact, pointedly not looking at her, because he doesn't want to see whatever is on her face.
She sighs, fabric rustles, and she says, "Law."
Law flinches, and if his shoulders go any higher, he's gonna leave the ground. Which would be great, really; he'd kill or die to keep her safe, but he'd rather kill himself than have her be afraid of him.
"Law," she says again, and her voice is far closer to frustration than fear. "I'm your sister. I spent my entire life learning to read you, and this version of you didn't even learn how to lie to me. Law. Did you think I didn't know? Did you think I couldn't tell? Flevance is gone here. Did you think I wouldn't notice?"
"I hoped," he says quietly, all over blood and still looking away. "I wanted—my hands are bloody here, Lami," and, "you deserve—better."
"I don't care," she says.
"I killed—" he tries but—
"I don't care."
"I let you die—"
"I don't care."
"I did harm, Lams," he says sharply, dragging out his wounds for her because this is still his biggest sin. He was raised to be a doctor; it's all he ever wanted to be, and he may never have taken the oath but he still carries it in his blood and his heart and his dreams. "I did so much harm—"
She steps up and wraps her arms around him, the blood still warm between them and she doesn't even flinch. "I don't care."
He stands there, looking down at her hair, and then she looks up at him.
"You," she says, "are an idiot. If you weren't a doctor, you'd still be my brother."
"But—"
"if you were the most feared assassin ever to live, you'd still be my brother."
"Lami, I—"
"Maybe this you didn't teach me how to ride a bike. Maybe this you didn't show me how to apply eyeliner or let me try wine early or take away my cigs and yell yourself hoarse over it. Maybe this you never helped me study for med school entrance exams. Maybe this you didn't. But Law? Law, look at me, Law. Given the chance, you would have. You could have. You did. I don't care what you aren't, Law. You're my brother, and that's always been enough for me."
It's not forgiveness because he didn't ask for it, and it's not absolution because he doesn't need it. What it is, is validation, and trust and family and, and truly, perfectly unconditional love. Love without limits.
It's the kind of love he lost with his home.
He shakes himself apart in her arms, and she catches him and tugs at him until they're both sitting on the deck. He wraps himself up in her and cries into her hair.
He cries because he has to, for her and for himself and for what he lost and what he could have been and had.
He cries because she's his in every way that matters, except permanently. He cries, because she cares so much, and because and he can't keep her.
This Lami belongs with a different Law, in a different world and a different life. She's got a home and a family and a future, and he's taken enough from her already.
So Law holds her close while he can, not careful or gentle, and he cries, and even now, he doesn't let himself pretend.
It turns out that, despite his best efforts, Trafalgar D Water Law is still human after all.
Who knew?
He's human enough to be selfish, and he sits there, holding her, long past the point he's run out of tears. "Thanks," he says, and it's raw and awful, but she still doesn't flinch.
She doesn't say anything, just nods and sits there patiently. He searches his pockets until he finds a bit of fabric and tugs it out to wipe his face. It used to be a surgical towel, long ago, before it became a pocket rag.
She huffs at it. "Still use those?" she asks, leaning back a bit. "Me too. I've got 'em everywhere at home. I tried to cook in a friend's kitchen once and couldn't find any kitchen towels because they weren't surgical blue."
He tries a smile, and it's not big but it's there. "Yeah," he says. "Bought a pallet of 'em a few years ago. They're everywhere on this ship."
"Most useful towel in the world," she says solemnly. It's something their father used to say, and he squeezes her one more time and lets her go.
They're alone on the deck; the rest of the crew has cleared off to let Law have his little breakdown in peace. That's good; no one needed to see that.
"Where is everyone?" Lami asks, looking around.
"Probably hiding," he says, and accepts the hand up she offers. He means to hop up fast enough to mitigate the weight she has to pull, but she's faster and tugs him up with practiced ease. "They're scared of, you know. Feelings."
"Ha, they really are your crew, aren't they?" Lami says, wandering over to the railing. She hasn't let go of his hand, so he's tugged along in her wake. "I like them. Bepo is the best nap buddy ever."
"He really is," Law agrees. He gives her a small, quick smile, and she grins back. It's easier to smile, these days, and to mean it.
"Hey," he says, "little Lams, I—"
The look she gives him is pure acid. "You what, large Lawsie?"
"…Point taken," he says, making a mental note to drop the nicknames. Clearly this Lami, all grown up, doesn't care for them.
"Thank you," she says primly. "Now, what were you says?"
"I was just thinking—"
"Don't hurt yourself."
"Funny. Look, I…may know someone who could help."
Lami tilts her head, raising both eyebrows, and it hits him low and hard—that's something their mom used to do, waiting for an explanation. He'd forgotten.
"He's kind of a last resort," Law says, looking away from her. "I don't want to ask him unless we have no choice."
"Ah, he'll ask a high price?" Lami asks. She's clever, his Lami, and surprisingly cunning. It suits her.
Law makes a face. "He will get you home, probably. If there's no way, he'll bend the world until there is one, and he won't stop until he does. It's a…a commitment, is all." Law will tear the world apart if Lami asks it of him, but he's not going to Monkey D Luffy with his hat in his hands unless he's desperate.
"Mmm." She knows there's a lot he's not telling her, he can feel it. She'll probably sidle up to one of his crew later and ask simple questions with a friendly smile until she knows the whole story, but at least he won't have to admit to anything. "Well, I don't think we're in that much of a rush."
"Won't they miss you?" Law asks.
"Well, yeah, but. I don't know, everyone knows I can take care of myself, so it's not as immediate."
Law mutters something under his breath, about disappearing on family, and she looks away and pretends she didn't hear him.
"It's just—" she sighs, wrapping her hands around the railing and leaning back, letting it support her weight as she sways slightly in place. "It's just that…I guess I'm tired of always being just another Dr. Trafalgar. It's been so nice here, being just Lami."
Law opens his mouth to say something, anything, and comes up empty. He closes it again.
"Look, I'm smart and talented and pretty, and that's because I'm me," she says, and he snorts and adds in, "And humble," but she ignores him. "And I'm determined, and I know how to learn, and that's because I was raised well. But I'm also extremely adaptable, and that's because I'm your little sister."
Law squints at her and tries to think that through. He's a hellraiser and drags chaos in his wake, sure, but that's intentionally and purposefully done. If given the chance, he thinks he wouldn't have wanted to travel much at all. "What does that mean?"
She sighs. "Nothing, Law," she says, and gives him a flat look. "Not a single thing."
He feels like he's missed something, but he has no idea what. Lami's got a whole life of inside jokes he's not privy to, and in the end he just looks away and back at the horizon.
She sighs again and looks that way, too, and they stand there in silence for a long moment.
"Hey," says a voice he's never heard before, and suddenly there's another person there, leaning against the rail on Lami's other side. "Need a ride home?"
It's Law, except not. This new one is a bit taller, broader in the shoulders but thinner in the chest, and has no tattoos. He's wearing white and there's a lightness to his face that Law's never seen in the mirror. Lami, though, is already leaning into him, and the strange Law raises his arm and wraps her under it like it's a reflex.
They're in the middle of the ocean, though, and Law blinks and says, "How—"
"Thanks, bro," Lami says, shifting a bit further into him. "Good to see you again."
"No, but how—"
"Big Brother Powers," the new Law says, and there's a hint of a grin on his face. "If Lami needs a way out of trouble, I'll be there."
"But the dimensional—"
"Maybe you didn't hear me," he says, deceptively calm, but his arm tightens around Lami. "If my baby sister needs me, I'll be there."
"Chill out," Lami says, and the new Law jerks and grunts like she just elbowed him in the ribs. She probably did. "Hey, speaking of needing a ride, though…"
The new alternate Law squints at her, and when she doesn't continue, he says, "That doesn't sound good."
Lami sighs. "Yeah, well. I don't."
Law—Original Law—trades a look with AlternaLaw, and the latter makes a face. "What, sound good?"
"Need a ride," she corrects.
"You don't? Then how are you gonna get home?" AlternaLaw asks.
"I'm not," she says, and it's simple and factual.
"What," both Laws say at the same time, staring at her.
"Law, c'mon. You moved in with your wife ages ago-"
"What," says Original Law.
"-and you're gonna take over the family practice. You're the perfect Trafalgar heir; you always have been. There was never anything I could ever do that you hadn't done first. I love you, bro, but you never needed me."
AlternaLaw looks positively stricken, all pale and upset, and it matches the feeling in Original Law's gut "No, that's not—" AlternaLaw protests, but Lami is having none of it.
"Yeah, you love me, I know that, you moron," she says. "But you don't need me."
"I—"
"He does," she says, gesturing to Original Law. "This you, he lost—everything. We died here; the whole family died. I died, and I ripped out his heart when I did. He has no family, no home, no Flevance, just—just rage. And he's hurting, brother.
"There's nothing I can do at home that you haven't done first, but I'm still a doctor, you know? You made me that. So I'm going to stay here. Where I'm needed."
There's something in Original Law's throat, something as heavy as regret and as bitter as bile, but it feels a lot like hope. "Lami, you can't—"
"Oh, shove it, other brother," she says, turning on him, her pigtails whipping out behind her. "You think you can tell me, Trafalgar Lami, what to do? Shove it up your ass, Law. Sideways."
"Uh..."
AlternaLaw meets his eyes over her head. "Are you sure you wanna keep her?" he asks, and it's light but there's pain underneath it.
Original Law looks from him to Lami's stubborn, unimpressed face. "I feel like maybe I don't get a say?"
"Finally, some sense from you two."
"Hey!" AlternaLaw protests.
Original Law, though, tilts his head and decides, "...fair."
"Hey!"
"Fuck off, brother," Lami says, not so much leaning into AlternaLaw as bodychecking his entire side. "And—and have a nice life, yeah?"
"...I love you, little Lams," AlternaLaw says, and wraps her up in a hug so big he lifts her clear off the deck. "And I'm so, so proud of you."
She squirms until he puts her down, and then stops fighting. "Yeah, you too," she says, and leaning into his hug for just a second. Then she shoves him away and squares her shoulders, lifting her chin, and she looks so much like their dad that it takes his breath away. "...just. I love you. Go."
"If you ever need a lift, though," AlternaLaw says, and then he reaches into his pocket. He fiddles with something there, hesitates a long moment, and then meets Original Law's eyes. "Take care of her," he says, and then he's gone.
"Excuse me," Lami says, affronted. She turns to fix a gimlet eye on Original Law, now once again the only Law. "Who does he think is taking care of who, here?"
Law looks at her. She's shorter than him, smaller, younger, and when she's pouting like that, she looks younger still. She's stubborn and headstrong and, like all Trafalgars, once she makes her stand nothing will move her, and her stand is apparently here, next to him.
He laughs, then, because he can't do anything else. "Yeah," he wheezes, leaning against the rail, shaking and weak with relief. "Yeah, Lams, you tell 'em."
Happy end!
...
Next time they cross paths with the Strawhats, Luffy says, "Traffy!" and they both say, "what" and the Strawhats promptly lose it.
Luffy makes Law shout. Lami immediately says, "this is mine nao ktnx". Everyone is extremely pleased except Law, who will never be allowed to have dignity ever again.