Chapter Text
Sabaody is, Luffy likes to think, one of the top five coolest places in the galaxy.
That he’s been to, anyway. There’s always the possibility that somewhere more interesting is out there somewhere, and that he just needs to find it. That’s part of the appeal of traveling the galaxy; it was so big, you never knew what you might find in its distant corners.
But Sabaody? Is definitely up there.
Part of that is the nostalgia. Luffy had known of this place long before he ever set foot on it for the first time. It had come up frequently during Shanks’ stories, and Luffy had many memories of sitting in the corner of Makino’s bar with his brothers, drinking in Shanks’ tales of giant tree pillars and spaceships of every possible design. Sabo’s first message back home had been sent from here, and he’d painted a picture of a place so different from the small asteroid they knew that it had only served to excite him and Ace even more.
Oh, and the amusement park! That had always been Luffy’s favorite thing to hear about. Ace had loved to hear about the ships, and Sabo about all the different things you could find in its markets, but as a child Luffy was fascinated by the idea that there was a place that had dedicated a whole section of itself to just having fun.
By now, he’d been to Sabaody plenty of times. He’d ridden every ride in the park more than once and been chased out of half the restaurants on this side of the port. But it always had something new to surprise him, and that was his favorite part. New people, new sights, new things to do. An ever-changing kaleidoscope of potential adventures.
And now he got to experience it with a new friend!
“I still can’t believe you know an Emperor,” Torao mutters as they make their way down the ramp that connected the docking stations to the main trunk of the ‘tree’ they’d left their ships at. “And that he gave you a hat of all things.”
“He wasn’t an Emperor back in Foosha,” Luffy explains patiently. Torao sure muttered a lot. “He was just Shanks. He sat in Makino’s bar and told stories and drank a lot of alcohol. He’d tell us about his adventures, and about the places he wanted to go, and about all the different planets he’d seen.” He dodges a miniature street-cleaning robot as they continue walking. “I bet he has a lot more stories now.”
“How frightfully domestic,” Torao drawls. “Foosha? That’s not the name of a planet. A settlement, then? You were from the eastern cardinal worlds, yes?”
“Yeah!” Luffy confirms. “It’s an asteroid resource colony called Dawn. Foosha was a smaller village outside the main city where the port and all the important people lived. Lots of fish. Not many people lived out there because they were scared of the wild animals living on the nearby mountain for some reason.”
Torao nods. “I seem to remember there being a lot of those types of places in the eastern quadrant. I’m from the north; more science and manufacturing. The degree to which the rim worlds are mostly relegated to resource extraction is telling, though. You don’t even really notice it until you’re out here and hear everyone talking about how highly specialized wherever they came from is.”
“Never really thought about it,” Luffy admits. He guesses that makes sense. Nami’s home was all about fish and fruit, there had been a lot of farmers where Zoro and Usopp were from, and Sanji had always talked up how his dad’s restaurant liner had access to the best ingredients because he knew all the suppliers worth their salt in the East. Luffy had mostly just focused on eating it all.
“That surprises me not at all,” Torao says wryly, as they arrive at the elevators down to the main concourse. “So where is this person you were talking about who you said would be able to help us?” he asks, as he pushes the button to summon a car for them. “I assume they’re not on the ritzy side of the port, but that still gives us a lot of ground to cover.”
“Oh, I dunno,” Luffy says honestly. Something catches his eye on the ground below them. “Oh, they have a new restaurant down here. We should try it!”
A firm hand grabs his shoulder right before he can jog over to the railing to get a closer look. “Straw Hat. What do you mean you don’t know?” Torao’s voice is quiet and steady, and that’s the only thing that keeps Luffy from shaking the hand off. When Nami talked like that it usually meant Luffy had screwed up.
“I mean, I don’t know,” he repeats. “I’ve never met them before. But Shanks always said, if we ever found ourselves in Sabaody and we needed information, then they were the best person to ask! Apparently, they know everything.”
“While that at least assures me this person is real and not someone you dreamt up, that doesn’t give us anything else to go on,” Torao says, sounding frustrated. “How long ago did he tell you that? It can’t have been recent.”
Luffy shrugs. “I don’t really remember when, but it’s fine, right? We just need to ask around until we find someone who knows them!”
“Information brokers traditionally don’t like random people asking after them, Straw Hat. Their exclusivity is part of what keeps them safe, just as much as the people they deal with.” Torao sighs again. “And Sabaody is huge. Do you have anything else that might help us find them? An address, a description…a name, even?”
Luffy ponders that for a moment. “Well, Shanks said they were ‘shaky,’ a few times, but I never really understood what that meant. Oh! And that they have a bar.” A thought occurs to him. “Oh, we could get food at the bar!”
“Sha--” Torao stops abruptly as the elevator car hisses open behind him. “Straw Hat. Do you mean Shakky?”
“Ah, that’s it!” Luffy crows triumphantly. “Say, have you ever been to the amusement park? We could get cotton candy while we’re looking for this Shaky person.”
“No. And no,” Torao snaps. He grabs Luffy by the collar. “Now come on. Before you allude to knowing any more legendary figures. Or I lose you to a piece of meat on a stick.”
“Sorry man,” Usopp’s voice crackles over the earpieces they’d all put in earlier before splitting up. “We tried to warn you.”
They make it to the ground level without further incident, though Torao does keep dragging Luffy back from investigating all the interesting sights and smells Sabaody has to offer. Luffy doesn’t think he goes places to just enjoy himself much. He’s all business, business, business.
He does seem to know where they’re going, though.
When he asks, Torao just shrugs. “I’m surprised you don’t. Everyone who has any dealing in Sabaody knows Shakky by reputation. She’s not willing to work with just anyone, but her intelligence is generally regarded as unimpeachable.”
“She has peaches?” Peaches sounded great to Luffy.
“What?” Torao sounds baffled. Maybe he doesn’t like peaches. “No, I—just follow me.”
Torao leads them all over, and before long Luffy has lost track of just how many corners they’ve turned and side streets they’ve ducked down. It’s much quieter at this end of the port, though. Far from the open market stalls and flashing signs of the shops near the docking stations, where they’ve found themselves seems far more buttoned up. Not snobby, just…cautious. Like no one trusts anyone else.
Eventually, Torao stops in front of the base of one of the tree pillars, and points to the unassuming door in the side of it. “Here we are.”
A simple sign that flashes ‘The Rip-Off Bar’ in cracked neon sits near the entrance, but it doesn’t remind Luffy of any other bar he’s seen. Bars were supposed to be loud, happy places. This place feels too quiet. Too still.
“Hopefully she’s willing to help us,” Torao says as they approach the door. “I have a few other ideas we can try if she doesn’t, but hopefully it doesn’t come to that.”
The inside of the bar is dim and cool in stark contrast to Sabaody’s warm and almost oppressive humidity. Everything is made of dark polished wood, an almost old-fashioned touch that Luffy quite likes. Behind the bar, a row of colorful bottles sparkles invitingly.
It’s also eerily quiet and empty.
“That’s an interesting hat you’re wearing, little boy,” a smooth voice says softly. “Why don’t you come over here and tell me all about it.”
The voice in question belongs to a tall slim woman, who exits from a door behind the bar holding a bottle of shiny amber liquor. With a couple quick steps, she moves to the head of the bar and pours the alcohol into two already waiting glasses on the countertop.
“Is that for us?” Something clicks in Luffy’s head. “You knew we were coming?”
She chuckles. “I would be a poor host if I did not serve refreshments, no?” When Luffy wrinkles his nose at her failure to answer his question, she laughs again. “Calm down. I don’t bite. Not customers, anyway. And not when one of them comes in wearing that hat. You can tell tall, dark and anxious back there to stop vibrating out of his skin.”
Luffy looks back at Torao, whose shoulders are doing a pretty good impression of a coat rack. “She says—”
“I heard her, Straw Hat.” His shoulders, somehow, seem to get even more tense. “Forgive me if I remain cautious.” He looks directly at the woman. “Shakky, I presume?”
“But—"
“No, no, let him worry,” the woman—Shakky, he guesses—says, lighting an extra-long smoke stick with a quick snap of her fingers. “Boys like you need someone to think about these things. Every captain needs a worrier or two.” She smiles. “Because you are a captain, aren’t you? You have the feel of it. And Shanks wouldn’t have given that hat to a follower.”
“You know Shanks?” Luffy asks excitedly, running over and jumping up on a bar stool. It swings beneath him, creaking slightly from the force.
“Since he was knee-high to a fuel cell,” the woman confirms. “Ah, the stories I could tell you about that rascal. Not that he’s much better now that he’s gone and started calling himself an Emperor.” She looks past Luffy to where Torao is still standing in the doorway. “But you’re not here for my stories about the galaxy’s most wanted redhead, are you? What can I do for you, Monkey D. Luffy and Trafalgar Law?”
Torao approaches slowly. “You know our names?” He sounds less surprised than he does wary. “I hadn’t realized either of us had done anything to get on your radar.”
“I make a point of knowing who all the up-and-comers are who keep themselves apart from the empire,” she says. “There’s less of you than you think. Most kids these days see the money and stable jobs the empire promises, and don’t care to see the ugliness underneath. Rejecting that sort of stability usually means you have a story.” She smiles, lifting one of the glasses in a toast before sliding it down the bar to Torao. “Besides, everyone in the business knows this one’s family. His grandfather and I go way back, though the old man would never admit it.”
“I’m sorry,” Luffy says honestly. “Gramps is a lot.”
“He certainly is.”
“This is why Franky warned me about your family being insane, isn’t it?” Torao mutters.
“You’re the one standing here with him,” Shakky points out. “I assume you’ve got your own quirks. We all do.”
“Accurate,” Torao admits. “But irrelevant to what we’re here for.”
“Relax, I’m not here asking you to spill your life story,” she reassures him, sliding one of the glasses down the bar towards him. “Goodness knows we all have our skeletons. Some of us literally,” she continues, nodding in Luffy’s direction. She wonders what she means by that. “So, tell me: what has brought you into my parlor today?”
“We need to find Whitebeard!” Luffy announces brightly, stretching his arm down the bar to grab the other glass. He takes a big gulp and then winces. Did people drink this on purpose?
Shakky doesn’t seem bothered or surprised by either his stretching or his reaction to the drink. “And what could two boys like you possibly want with old Eddy?” she asks, rolling her smoke stick between her fingers. “Looking to join up? You’re both certainly the sort he’d find interesting, but something tells me that isn’t it.”
Luffy shakes his head firmly. “No, I’m the captain.” He pauses. “So is Torao,” he clarifies. “We’re both captains.”
“You sound very…familiar with Whitebeard,” Torao says carefully. “There’s not many who’d been willing to claim a relationship with an Emperor, let alone two.”
“Oh, Eddy and I go way back,” Shakky says. “I even remember when he had hair, if you can believe it. I’ve done other things with my life than simply tend bar, after all. This is what you might call a retirement gig.” She grabs another glass neatly from somewhere under the bar and pours herself her own glass of the awful drink. “So, you can imagine I might be a little suspicious of two young bucks looking for him when their intention isn’t to join his fleet.” She takes a sip. “He can take care of himself, of course, but friends do look out for each other.”
“Oh, we’re looking for my brother!” Luffy clarifies. “He sails with him and we need him to introduce us to a fishman so we can go to their home world. We found these really old rocks with writing on them, and—”
He’s interrupted by Torao pushing his face into the bar until his entire head is flat against it.
“Has anyone,” Torao hisses, “ever told you that you have a big mouth?”
Luffy tries to answer that yes, people have told him that loads of times and that he doesn’t see what all the fuss is about, but it’s really hard to talk when your mouth is crushed under your nose.
Shakky just laughs. “It’s like I’m watching history repeat itself,” she chuckles. “Relax, boys. No one’s going to snitch on you. At least, no one in this room. Can’t speak for what your mouth might lead you to if you say something like that elsewhere.” She purses her lips. “A brother, you say? I thought Dragon only had one of you. You’re saying there are more?”
“Nah, we’re sworn brothers!” Luffy explains. “There are three of us, but we all have different parents. Never really mattered to us anyway.”
Torao sighs and closes his eyes. “The degree to which I was not prepared for this conversation is truly impressive.” He looks at Luffy. “What do you mean, Dragon is your father?”
“Don’t beat yourself up about it, sweetie,” Shakky says, patting his arm gently. “Monkeys are just like that.”
She turns to Luffy. “Who’s your brother, sweetie? Eddy’s got a big fleet, with lots of ships. There are lots of places your brother could be, especially depending on what division he serves in.”
Torao releases his head from the bartop. “Portgas D. Ace!”
“Oh, the little firestarter? That makes things easy. You didn’t tell me your brother was a commander. He’ll be on the Moby Dick, then. Eddy’s flagship. The commanders tend to stick pretty close to home these days unless out on active assignment, and as far as I know they’re not up to anything right now.”
She pulls out a star map from underneath the counter. “You boys know how to read one of these?”
“I do,” Torao says, stepping forward. Luffy breathes a sigh of relief. Star maps had always made his head hurt; too many letters and numbers overlaying all these dots meant to be planets or asteroids or space stations. It was too much to keep track of. Nami could figure out exactly where they were and where they needed to go as easy as breathing. It was better to listen to her.
The star map, when laid out on the counter, is massive. Luffy’s never seen one this big in the flesh before. Usually, ones this size were restricted to holo displays to save space. Even the maps that Nami drew were all small; she only put them together when she was registering new places to her master map of the galaxy.
“Are you familiar with the Oread Belt?” she asks Torao, and Torao nods, leaning over the counter and pointing a finger at a long line of tightly clustered dots about halfway from the center of the map. “Correct. That will make explaining things easier.”
“Why does it look like that?” Luffy asks, bending his neck to look at the map. “Like a big…donut.”
“Shakky chuckles. “Not a student of astronomy, I see. This is just the shape of the galaxy, honey. We move through space the way we do because of how it works.”
“Here.” She points to the center. “Everything moves around this point: a supermassive black hole. You’ll hear people call it all sorts of things, in all sorts of languages, but the long and the short of it is the force of the thing keeps the whole place spinning.”
She gestures to the inside of the donut. “Our galaxy is what is called a double-barred spiral galaxy. That means there’s an inner portion and an outer portion. This is where we are: the Grand Line. Also called the Galactic Core and other such things. This is the heart of the empire, and all the most important planets and locations tend to be located here.” She points to several locations within the inner ring. “Alabasta. Dressrosa. Pelagos. Here’s Sabaody, where we are. And, of course, the Red Line and Mariejois itself.” Her finger rests on a big, long jagged belt of land marked with a star.
“Outside of that is the outer ring, and that’s made up of what we call the four cardinal sectors, because they’re named for their place on the map in a more traditional sense. You sound to me as if you’re from the East, am I correct?” She taps a corner of the map to draw Luffy’s eyes to it. “That means you’re from somewhere out here.”
Luffy scans the outer edge of the map until a familiar name catches his eye. “Oh! It’s Dawn! It looks so little.” He pokes the dot, thinking about how Dadan and Makino and Woop Slap and everyone were represented by such a tiny dot. He looks up at Torao. “Where’s your home?”
“Not important right now,” Torao says shortly, before turning back to Shakky. “The Oread Belt is in Disputed Space, correct?”
“Yes.” Shakky draws a circle with her finger around a large chunk of the inner ring. “It’s one of the less well-known places in Disputed Space, but that’s largely chalked up to Eddy being so protective of it. Tottoland is by far the most well-known, but Dispute Space also includes places like the Wano Nebula, as well as the giants’ homeland, Elbaf. Pretty much any ship you encounter out there is either going to be flying the flag of an Emperor, unless you run into the imperials making another run at removing them.” She looks up from the map. “And you’ll certainly want to avoid any of those.”
“Well, presumably they’d see any non-affiliated ship and assume we were either benefiting from contact with the Emperors or looking to make an alliance with them,” Torao says. “At that point we’d become just another target, and we know the empire doesn’t care about getting their facts straight before shooting, either.”
“Well, yes,” Shakky admits. “But I meant more because of what you’re carrying.”
Torao freezes. “And what would that be?” he asks slowly.
“They don’t advertise it, but the empire has a whole web of contractors, informants, and their own scouts looking for materials they deem ‘subversive,’” Shakky explains, rolling her map up with a snap. “I keep my ear to the ground regarding what they’re looking for. Sometimes that information gives insight into the empire’s movements. It certainly sheds light on what they don’t want the public to know, and that can be worth more than any amount of beri to the right people.”
She leans forward onto the bartop. “For instance: a couple of days ago an imperial salvage crew hauled in a wreck that had a chunk missing, claiming that pirates had ambushed a peaceful cargo shipment carrying important supplies and blown out its side. And they gave a very detailed description of a certain ship that was seen nearby, as well as offering a not-insubstantial reward for any information on it.”
“Well, that’s a lie,” Luffy huffs. “The other guy shot his gun at the window, not me.”
“That’s not the point, though,” Torao says, groaning. “The point is that the empire found their ship and they know what was taken from it. They’re not going to tell people what they were really transporting, but if they can get any word of mouth about our location, they can chase us down that much easier.” He curses. “My crew wiped the video recordings on that ship before we left. Did we miss something?”
“The empire keeps the best tech for themselves,” Shakky says. “Odds are they have a way of retrieving lost footage from the exterior cameras. I’m assuming those weren’t damaged.”
“No, we thought wiping the files would be sufficient. If they had backup storage somewhere we weren’t expecting…damn.” He turns to Luffy. “It sounds like the Tang’s stealth capabilities kept us off their radar, but your ship is sitting in the docks right now for anyone to see. It’s only a matter of time before someone hoping to cash in that reward calls in its location.”
“Sounds like a trip to the Oread Belt might be just the sort of thing you need to lie low for a while,” Shakky says. “Do give Eddy my regards, boys. He can’t come visit me here, and I’m past my spacefaring days for the most part. Though if he could see fit to sneak another shipment of that good whiskey our way sometime in the nearish future, both my husband and my wallet would appreciate it.”
“We’ll pass on the message,” Torao says, before making his way towards the door.
“Are we leaving already?” Luffy asks, spinning idly on his stool. “We just got here.”
“You heard her,” Torao says, hitching his big sword further up his shoulder. “If we stay too long, someone might recognize your ship and then we’ll be drowning in imperials. If we want to get out of Sabaody relatively unscathed, we need to leave as soon as we’re ready to go. Preferably now.”
“Think of it this way, little Monkey” Shakky says. “Given our proximity to the imperial marine headquarters, the person they send to chase you down might be your own grandfather. And I’d think your crew would appreciate not having to deal with being pursued by Garp the Fist.”
“Oh.” Luffy jumps to his feet. “We should maybe get going, then. Thanks for the information and the bad drink, lady.”
“I thought you might say that.”
“I’m going to need you to diagram your family tree for me when we have a moment,” Torao mutters as they exit the bar. “If only to stop getting jump scared by who you know.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As they walk away from Shakky’s bar, Law parses through all the information they’d managed to get. A good amount, to be sure, far more than he was expecting when he heard who Luffy’s vaunted ‘contact’ was, but he’s not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, and he’s even less inclined to let their newfound windfall go unexamined.
The Oread Belt. A stretch of impossibly-asteroid dense space smack in the middle of Disputed Space. It was well-known for being a hotbed of activity for Whitebeard’s fleet, but only because the man’s own abilities made it feasible. When you could produce shockwaves of such magnitude, moving chunks of rock around to create barriers and fortify your defenses was likely child’s play.
Law wasn’t terribly worried about that. The Tang was designed to be able to move freely on any axis, and if necessary, Law could move some of the smaller obstacles himself to ensure they had a path. He’d prefer to not have to, as doing so would exhaust him quickly and meeting with an Emperor at anything less than peak fitness was tantamount to suicide, but it was an option. Contingencies were never a bad idea.
He would have to ask Franky if the Sunny had capabilities of its own that would circumvent that problem. He wouldn’t be surprised; half the technology on the Straw Hats’ ship was bespoke and highly optimized. Ikkaku had given it her grudging approval just this week, and that was as rare as finding morals in a government official.
Of course, Luffy’s presence and his relationship to Ace, as well as the fact that neither of their ships carried imperial charters would speak well in their favor. And even if Whitebeard did not allow them into the heart of his operation, perhaps a meeting with Luffy’s brother could be arranged in a neutral location. After all, they just needed an introduction to someone who could get them access to Pelagos. They didn’t need to throw a whole party while they were there.
The Straw Hats, Law suspects, might disagree.
He’s glad both crews had agreed that investing in a larger than normal amount of supplies was the correct course of action, even if the Straw Hats’ navigator had loudly bemoaned the upfront cost. The Oread Belt wasn’t a terribly long trip from Sabaody all told, but with those extra supplies they could afford to go wherever they needed to next without requiring another stop at a port. Given that Shakky had almost outright stated the empire was on their trail, that was a valuable option to have.
The comm in his ear starts emitting a staccato tone, indicating he was getting a call from the Heart’s private channel instead of the communal one they’d set up to coordinate with the Straw Hats while in Sabaody. Law glances at the sky; it was later than he thought.
“Are you calling to tell me refueling has been completed and all the supplies we need have been laid in?” he asks pointedly without preamble.
“No,” Shachi’s voice replies morosely in his ear. Law can feel his heart sink. Of course, there had to be another complication. “I mean, yes, technically that is true. Jean Bart and Hakugan finished the refueling and purchased extra fuel cells, and the teams in charge of food, medical supplies, repair material, ammunition and sundries have all returned. Paid premium for the rush job, in most cases, but Uni’s always been a beast at bartering, so—”
“Then what is the issue, Shachi?”
A deep breath. “Ikkaku found something when she was doing systems checks, Cap. Something that looks an awful lot like a bug.”
Law stops short in the middle of the path, ignoring the frustrated curse of the person behind him who almost walks straight into his back. “You’re certain?” he asks.
“Hard not to be,” Shachi responds. “Looks to be the really high-end sort, too, based on some of the stuff we’ve worked with in the past. Whoever placed it has money. Or someone backing them who does.”
That was especially concerning, if true. Money meant resources. Money meant the ability to circumvent all the safeguards Law had put in place.
It also almost implicitly meant, on some level, the empire.
“Do we know how long it’s been there?” he asks, keeping his voice steady. He cannot allow himself to panic yet. Not without knowing all the facts. If he has all the facts, he can make a plan to deal with this. He’s done it before, he can do it again.
“Not long,” Shachi confirms. “Ikkaku swears up and down it wasn’t there when she ran her last check right before we entered Sabaody’s atmosphere. And you know she doesn’t play around when it comes to maintenance.”
Law did know. Ikkaku loved the Polar Tang, from every bolt in the hull to all the cylinders in her extremely unique drive. In fact, the only time Law had ever seen her miss doing her rounds was when she’d developed a fever so high they’d needed to force-cool her body to keep her temperature down. And even then, they’d practically had to tie her to her bed to stop her from trying to do her job anyway.
“That means it was placed there after we landed,” he concludes, and the huff from the other end of the line tells him Shachi agrees.
“Torao?” Straw Hat had paused the steady stream of off-key humming that seemed to be his default state when walking somewhere to look back at where Law was standing. “Is everything okay?”
“What are the orders, Cap?” Shachi asks. “This isn’t something we can ignore.”
Law’s brain whirls with the enormity of what it was trying to process. They were being tracked by an unknown variable, and they were presumably somewhere nearby. The likelihood that this was related to the empire and the tablets was high. Even if that were not the case, assuming there was no connection was a gamble he wasn’t willing to make. “If he hasn’t already, have Clione deactivate the bug and isolate it. We’ll want to disassemble it to see if we can learn anything, but for now we have other priorities.”
He steps to the side of the path, ducking around a corner into an empty alley, Luffy following confused behind him. He didn’t care about that right now. He had a lot of things to say very quickly.
“Run the biometric scanner on the Tang to make sure there’s no one who isn’t registered as crew onboard. If there is, isolate their location but do not engage until I get there. Anyone who can sneak onboard a ship in broad daylight without being detected is not to be underestimated.”
He takes a deep breath. “If not…I want the entire crew on the ship and launched and out of Sabaody as quickly as possible.”
“Without you?” Shachi screeches. “We’re not leaving without you, that’s nuts!”
“I can hop a ride with the Straw Hats,” Law states firmly. Luffy gives him a thumbs up. Law is almost positive he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. “But we don’t yet know if the Tang is further compromised, and I do not want to risk it. Get off world, go into stealth mode, run every diagnostic tool and security feature we have, scour the entire ship, and confirm there is nothing else and no one else tracking us. We need to break the trail hard and fast.”
“Well sure, we can do that, but—"
“Shachi,” Law interrupts. “We got confirmation that the empire is on our tail. The longer you delay, the higher the chance of a force showing up that we cannot deal with. Especially if they notice they’ve been made. You know this.”
“But—” Shachi protests again but stops. He makes a frustrated noise, and Law knows from experience he’s given in. “Am I to assume the normal contingency is in place in case of prolonged separation?” The overly formal words speak more to Shachi’s dislike of the satisfaction than his tone does.
“Yes,” Law confirms. Hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that, but one of the benefits of having a mink on their crew was that they had an exceptionally hard to locate bolthole in case of emergencies. “Tell Bepo our heading is the Oread Belt. Do not speak that name out loud anywhere until you are sure the Tang and everyone on it is clean. I’ll not get us all killed by dragging imperials down on Whitebeard’s location.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“They’re tracking us and we were invisible during the period of time we picked up the ‘package,’ remember?” Law says. He looks straight at Luffy. “The Straw Hats weren’t.”
He watches realization dawn on Luffy’s face in real time as Shachi curses one more time in his ear before the line goes dead.
He switches back to the communal channel. “Straw Hats, sound off. Where are you all right now?”
“We don’t answer to you, doctor-boy,” comes Zoro’s irritated voice.
“Zoro, where are you?” Luffy repeats the question, and the worry in his voice must carry over because Zoro’s snark suddenly becomes all business.
“Uh, I think we’re all near the ship? Curly and Chopper finished loading the supplies about five minutes ago, Robin’s still watching those rocks like a hawk, Franky and Usopp went down to the engine to do inspection as soon as they got back from the market, and Nami’s busy convincing port authority we don’t need to pay a docking fee, like usual.”
“Do you have biometric scanners on your ship?” Law asks.
“Uh—”
“Sure do!” Franky’s voice chimes in over the call. “Chopper asked me to put them in because it was the only surefire way to find out if some people were ignoring their injuries. Why?”
“Run every protocol you have immediately,” Law snaps. “There’s someone tailing us and they’ve already paid a visit to the Tang.”
The voices of the rest of the Straw Hats chime in all at once, a cacophony of questions and panic.
“Guys!” Luffy shouts, and Law has to admit he’s impressed by how quickly it quiets everyone down. “It’s okay! We’ll be back soon and then we can leave. If we just leave it’ll be fine.”
“One thing at a time. No panic,” Sanji agrees. “I’ll join the mosshead outside. Keep an eye on things.”
“I don’t need your help, you—”
Law switches the comm channel off and looks over at Luffy. “We should make our way back as quickly as possible,” he says. “Without running. That’d draw too much attention.” He peers back out of the alley. “Should we risk a bubble cab? Or would that just get caught in traffic…?”
“Don’t worry about it!” Luffy says next to him. “I have a great idea.”
“Oh?” Law turns around just fast enough to see the manic grin on Luffy’s face as he wraps a stretchy arm several times around Law’s waist, and peers upwards towards where the pillars split into branches.
“What are you—oh no. You can’t be serious.”
Rather than answer him directly, Luffy launches his other arm into the air, wrapping around the first branch he can reach, and yanks them both into the air.
“The Sunny and your ship are docked in this direction, right?” he laughs as they sail through the air. “We’ll get there in no time this way.”
Law chooses not to dignify that with an answer. He’s not sure Luffy would hear him at the speed they were going anyway. And while it’s certainly not a discreet mode of transport, it is fast enough that the benefits likely outweigh the downsides, despite the sheer ignominy of it.
Hopefully.
Luffy takes a couple wrong turns, prompting a great deal of whiplash as he changes directions at the drop of a hat—seemingly unaware that Law did not have a body that was made of rubber and therefore was subject to all the laws of physics—but relatively soon they land heavily on the docking platform near the Sunny with a thud.
“I’m impressed,” Zoro’s voice says begrudgingly from nearby as Law dusts himself off. “Usually the first time someone experiences that they lose their lunch.”
Law bites back a retort in favor of expediency, raising his head to look down the line of docked ships for the Tang.
“They left a couple minutes ago,” Sanji says from the Sunny’s hatch. “One of your guys ran down here to let us know they were leaving per your orders. They should be exiting the inner atmosphere right about now.”
Law breathes a sigh of relief. If they’d left already, that meant there had been no one suspicious on board. That was one less thing to worry about for the moment. Once the Sunny had left Sabaody’s atmosphere and they were sure no one was pursuing them, they could link back up with the Tang. They wouldn’t have gone far enough to be outside communication range.
Of course, before that, they needed to make sure they were safe.
“What about your ship?” Law asks. “Is it clear?”
“No strangers on board the Sunny, bro,” Franky’s voice says cheerfully over the comms. “Well, except for you in a few minutes. Guessing we’re giving you a lift to our next destination?”
“Usopp ran up to observation to keep an eye on things too, so we should have all bases covered,” Sanji finishes, taking a long pull of his smoke stick. “Now how about you actually tell us what the big panic is about? All we got is there might be someone tailing us and you’re worried. Did you at least figure out where we’re supposed to be going next?”
“Yeah!” Luffy answers. “It’s—” he pauses. “It’s a belt?”
“What?”
“The Oread Belt,” Law supplies. Luffy gives him a thumbs up. “And while I realize your crew tends to be far more relaxed about these sorts of things, I think we should probably get out of here promptly. I don’t feel like getting in a fight with some marines today if I don’t have to.”
“Not Robin,” Zoro mutters. “You’ve got Robin spooked, that’s for sure. And Usopp, but, well—that’s normal.”
“That’s because she’s smart, and can presumably read between the lines,” Law snarks back. “Or are you not going to tell me you’d enjoy crossing blades with any marine who shows up with a sword?”
“Well—"
“Hey guys? Not to interrupt this wonderful conversation, but is there any reason for there to be someone in a fully kitted out exosuit walking down the pier using cloaking tech?” Usopp’s voice has that edge of slight panic that Law has begun to associate with him, except this time it sounds like the panic is warranted.
“How do you know they’re cloaking?” Law asks immediately. Stealth technology of any kind was rare; devices that allowed it on a small scale even more so. It usually required a certain amount of surface area to refract light the right way. Doing that for a single person as opposed to an entire ship required precision that most people couldn’t afford.
“Oh, the Sunny’s exterior cameras have all sorts of fun features,” Franky says proudly. “I thought, why not? It might be useful someday. And I was right!”
“Can you describe him?” Law asks. He might not be able to see this person with his bare eyes, but his devil fruit’s scanning ability should be able to pick him up if he knew what he was looking for. He was loathe to use it is so public a place but getting them all out of here safely and without a tail took higher priority.
“Uh,” Usopp continues. “Really tall. Like, noticeably more than the other people around him. Looks pretty strong, but not overly bulky. The exosuit is black or dark blue or something like that, and I’m no expert but it looks pricey. Most of his face is covered by some sort of half-mask, but…he might be blond? Light-haired, anyway. This filter doesn’t do colors very well.”
“Any identifying marks?” That was enough of a description for Law to go off of, but if they could infer anything important ahead of time, it gave them an advantage in knowing what to expect. Especially if there was a marine division listed on the uniform. That could tell them a whole lot about who specifically was pursuing them.
“Not really,” Usopp says. “He’s otherwise pretty nondescr—oh wait. There’s a symbol over his heart. Huh. That’s weird.”
“Weird how?”
“Well, it’s just that…it looks an awful lot like the symbol you have on your ship, Torao. Not exactly, but…same smiley face sort of thing, you know? Except this one seems to be crossed out.”
Law’s blood turns to ice in his veins so fast he can feel the temperature drop in real time.
“I have never seen a man turn green so fast, and I’ve seen what happens when Luffy cooks,” Sanji remarks, jogging down the Sunny’s steps to stand at Law’s shoulder. “Do you know who this is?”
Doflamingo, the panicked part of Law’s brain supplies immediately, but he shakes it off. He cannot submit to fear right now. That’s exactly what Doflamingo would want.
Besides, it sounds very likely this isn’t Doflamingo himself. No mention of sunglasses or feathers, and he’d never approach Law in this kind of way. No, he’d want to make a spectacle of the entire situation. Perhaps he would have tried holding the Straw Hats hostage, only to mock Law or Luffy into making a wrong move. It would be more his style.
Another member of the Family, then? Diamante had blond hair. But no, he was just as flamboyant as Doflamingo was. He wouldn’t know stealth if it hit him over the head. Pica had lightish hair, but the build was wrong. Dellinger? He’d just been a baby when Law left, could he have gotten tall enough? Probably not, and he had enough noticeable Pelagian traits that he assumes Usopp would have remarked on those.
Shit, was this a new person? Had he missed a new person?
“Have you considered maybe getting out of there?” Usopp’s voice has risen an entire octave. “He’s barely like thirty feet from you at this point!”
That was close enough to be on the gangplank connecting them to the dock. If Law hadn’t been heartily convinced he was here for them now, that would have sealed the deal.
He scans the area in front of them for movement, and he can see Zoro, Snaji and Luffy turn to do the same out of the corner of his eye. Good. More eyes means a better chance of success, and maybe four people so obviously looking for him might give their potential assailant pause. Or at least just enough for Law to catch him before he can act.
There. It’s faint, but if he squints Law can see a flickering outline causing the background scenery to warp in places that indicate something is there. Now, if he can just use his devil fruit ability discreetly, he can isolate them and prevent them from going on the offensive. Maybe even give them a chance to interrogate him.
Law moves his fingers carefully, preparing to catch the intruder in a Room, when Luffy jumps forward, gesturing violently at thin air.
“We know you’re there!” Luffy shouts. “If you want to fight us, do it where we can see you. Sneaking isn’t fair.”
The shimmering outline pauses, like it’s assessing Luffy’s words. For a moment, everything feels like a wire about to snap; Zoro’s hands resting on his swords, Sanji’s posture and Luffy’s challenge. Law half expects the silent advance to continue. After all, what reason does an imperial soldier have to listen to the demands of a pirate?
But then the figure shifts, reaching for something long and thin on its back, and the cloak dissolves, revealing the figure standing before them and the sheer impossibility it represents.
Law feels like he’s about to be sick.
“Holy shit,” Law can hear Usopp whisper. He can barely make out the words, his head is buzzing with too many other feelings and thoughts. “Franky! That’s a ship-grounder in his hands!”
Law barely registers the long gun, even as a part of his brain tries to catalogue the danger. A ship-grounder could short out the Sunny’s systems, requiring a complete system overhaul to get it able to fly again. It meant they’d be trapped, sitting ducks at the end of this pier.
But that didn’t matter, because the rest of the brain was seeing the man’s posture, his height, his eyes and screaming ‘Cora Cora Cora’ and Law didn’t have the strength to tell it to shut up, even as he lifts the gun and aims it directly at the Sunny.
A shot of electricity snakes between them to strike right at the hands holding the gun, causing it to spin out of his grip and skid back along the pavement for several feet.
“Move your asses!” Nami’s voice yells. “That won’t stop him for long!”
“Torao, we need to go!” Luffy screams behind him. Law ignores him. He can’t leave right now. He has to solve this…this impossibility, this miracle, this…horror? He needs the time to figure out what he’s looking at, figure out what problem he needs to solve here, because this is either the cruelest joke Doflamingo could have pulled, or—”
Or or or…
He steps forward almost unconsciously. He needs facts. He needs certainty. If he can get that, he can decide what to do next.
And he’s terrified about what the answer will be.
“Torao!”
The movement does exactly what he’d hoped it would and draws C—the stranger’s eyes directly to Law.
...and they’re flat. Empty. Not a shred of recognition in their depths, and completely devoid of anything resembling awareness at all. Like they don’t belong to a person, let alone the one he remembers.
It’s the last thing he sees before Luffy’s arm wraps several times around his waist, something hits him over the head, and everything grows dark.