Chapter Text
You came to me in search of healing
that was your first mistake
You came to me in search of healing
But these hands bring only death
I’m no doctor
I’m no healer
I bring only death
“Are you sure about this Law? I mean, it’s kinda permanent…” Bepo asked distracting Law from the chorus he’d been humming along with. Shachi’s shitty computer speakers didn’t do the song justice but none of them cared. They were all too proud of how well received ‘Hands of Death’ had been. A year of writing and rewriting. A year of tweaking to get all the pieces to work together just right.
And the crowd had loved it.
Law scoffed at Bepo’s concern, shrugging it off as best he could without shifting his hand from the table. “Of course I am. You heard what they’re calling me, I’m just giving the audience what they want.”
“Yeah Bepo, now stop distracting him. This will only look sick if he doesn’t move.” Shachi pointed out as he traced the last letter onto Law’s knuckle.
“I don’t know, Surgeon of Derth could catch on you know?” Penguin teased as Bepo apologised.
Law didn’t deign that with a response, merely rolling his eyes as Shachi started up his tattoo gun. He didn’t flinch at the first bite of the needle into his skin, merely watching as the letters took shape. He wasn’t worried about Shachi messing up, the tattoos on his back and chest were proof that his friend knew what he was doing.
He understood Bepo’s concerns though. Tattoos were one thing but walking around with ‘DEATH’ tattooed across his knuckles was probably pushing what was socially acceptable. But it didn’t matter. Their first show had been successful. They were going to make it.
Polar Tang was going to take the world by storm.
.o.)O(.o.
10 years later
“Let me guess,” Law said as he collapsed into the offered chair with a frustrated sigh. “Someone complained about my tattoos again.”
There were only ever two reasons why Law found himself called into the HR office and he hadn’t done anything praise worthy over the last week. He had had several appointments with patients who hadn’t done a good job of hiding their disapproval however.
Tashigi nodded, offering an apologetic smile. “Sorry Law, but you know the rules about complaints.”
Law sighed, tapping the offending tattooed fingers on Tashigi’s desk. “Yeah I know, let’s get it over with.”
He immediately started drifting off when Tashigi started her well-rehearsed routine. Grandline General had expectations to uphold. All complaints had to be investigated. Law wasn’t actually in trouble or anything but if he could try to keep his tattoos covered it would be appreciated.
“Covering them will make it more likely for me to mess up. Constant glove wearing will likely cause complacency and increase the risk of transferring infectious agents between patients. And using foundation to hide them would be even worse since any make-up will turn into a cesspool of bacteria.” He said, barely thinking about the words as Tashigi nodded and wrote them down in her notes. Law was pretty sure that she could just copy her notes from the last complaint but Tashigi was a stickler for the rules. So even if the paperwork was identical in all but dates she would insist on having a face to face chat about what had occurred.
Nothing ever came from it at least beyond mind-numbingly boring meetings. The code of conduct he’d signed had had no mention of tattoos and he was one of the top surgeons at Grandline General. He was certainly the only one confident enough to take on the complex cases that the hospital loved boasting about.
“Alright, that should be it.” Tashigi said as she pressed save and printed the official documentation of their meeting. “You know the drill.” That Law did, he grabbed a pen and signed at the bottom of the paper under the agreement to do what he could to keep his tattoos covered so long as it didn’t impact patient outcomes. “Thanks Law, I would say that I hope not to see you again for this but…”
Law chuckled, brushing his fingertips over his tattoos. “We both know that won’t happen. I’ll see you next time Tashigi.”
.o.)O(.o.
“Let me guess, they finally fired you.” Penguin asked as Law made his way over to their usual table in the break room.
“You wish.” Law scoffed.
“Tattoos again?” Bepo asked, pushing a cup of coffee and a sandwich in front of the man as he sat. He frowned when Law immediately grabbed the coffee and ignored the food. “And you better eat that.”
“I’ll be fine, I just need some caffeine.” Law said, avoiding Bepo’s eyes. He knew he was giving him that disappointed look that never failed to make even Law give him his way. “And what else would it be?”
“Your less than stellar bedside manner?”
“You made a nurse think you were going to murder them again?”
“I hate you both.” Law grumbled. “And that was one time!”
Penguin just grinned. “That you know of. There’s a betting pool going on about when you’ll snap and kill someone.”
“What are the odds of that person being you?”
“One of the highest since I’m one of maybe five nurses that aren’t scared of your resting bitch face.” Penguin pointed out with a laugh. “So how was your weekly reprimand?”
“Same as last week, and the week before. I keep trying to tell Smoker that I need an assistant to deal with the face to face consults but no luck. Apparently it would be unfair to the other surgeons if I get out of consulting and they don’t.” Law said, draining his coffee. “And for daring to ask he decided to give me extra consult hours since apparently he loves getting complaints about me. And speaking of, I have a post op check I need to get to. Thanks for the coffee Bepo.”
“Law.” Law turned to look at Bepo and cursed under his breath. For all his size the man was essentially a big teddy bear. He couldn’t do threatening to save his life but he was well practised at disappointment which he used to his full advantage as he pushed the ignored sandwich at his friend. “We all know you didn’t have breakfast or lunch and you can’t run on coffee alone. Eat the sandwich.”
Law really hated his friends sometimes.
.o.)O(.o.
By the time Bepo finally let him go he was running late to his post op check and had barely had a chance to look through the history. The case was unfamiliar to him, an eye enucleation performed by one of his colleagues who had the day off. He skimmed the notes, looking for anything out of the ordinary. It seemed to be pretty routine, patient injured eye, eye was removed, problem solved. He hoped it was at least. If it was complex he’d be running behind schedule before he knew it.
And if Smoker didn’t kick his ass for putting in overtime again his friends would.
“Zoro Roronoa?” It was one of those times where Law immediately regretted not taking the time to read the history completely. He didn’t know what he was expecting but the wall of muscle with neon green hair that looked up was not it. He couldn’t look more out of place if he tried. He kept his surprise off his face as he gestured towards the consult room. “We’re in room three today.”
Zoro grunted in acknowledgement, standing to follow only to head straight for room five with a confidence that had Law questioning what room number he had actually said. No he had definitely said room three. And had even pointed at it for good measure. Had he misheard? Had Clione removed his good eye instead of the damaged one?
“Wrong way Zoro, he said room three which is this way!”
If Zoro stood out amongst the crowd then the man that grabbed his arm did so for entirely different reasons. He was not anywhere near as tall, barely reaching Zoro’s shoulder and lean rather than bulky. His hair was a natural black instead of outrageously dyed; yet somehow when side by side with his muscular friend he still managed to draw all the attention.
Law wasn’t given a chance to think about it further as his patient’s friend dragged him to the correct consult room with more energy than anyone had a right to have. He took a deep breath to clear his head as he followed the pair into the room and closed the door behind him. “I’m Dr Trafalgar. Any issues since you were last here?” He asked, jumping straight to the point as he started removing the dressing from Zoro’s removed eye.
“Nah.”
A man of few words. Law could appreciate it. The surgical site was looking good, no redness or signs of infection and while the initial wound would likely scar he doubted that Clione’s work would leave much of an obvious mark beyond the missing eye. “Looks like it’s healing well. Should be completely healed within a week or two at this rate. Any issues with the medications you were prescribed?”
Zoro wasn’t given the opportunity to respond.
“Woah are those tattoos?” Before Law could react the man’s friend had grabbed his wrist to look at his knuckles more closely.
Damn it. I’ll never live it down if I get called up twice in a week…
He pulled his hand free with a sigh, shoving it into his pocket. “Any complaints can be made at the front desk.”
“Complaints? Over what? Not getting to see more of your ink? Wait! Is there more?! Can I see? Please Dr Tar- Tra- Torao!”
Law was a man of few words but it was rare for him to be rendered completely speechless. “Wait… What?”
“Can I see your tattoos Dr Torao?”
“...That’s not my name. It’s Trafalgar.”
The man just cocked his head before grinning broadly at him. “That’s what I said. Torao.”
“...Trafalgar. Tra-Fal-Gar.”
“Torao.” He said it with such confidence that it made Law groan, burying his face in his hands out of sheer confusion and frustration. It was a mistake as his wrist was immediately grabbed so that the man could resume examining the ink on his hand. He yanked his hand back when the man started trying to roll up his sleeves in search of more tattoos.
“What the actual hell? Are you insane?”
“I just wanted to see your tattoos…” The man pouted. Actually pouted. Law’s mind was breaking. This man was actually going to break him and he didn’t even know his name.
“Who are you even?” He asked, trying to regain his composure as Zoro snickered.
“Sorry! I’m Luffy, Zoro’s friend. He missed his first appointment cause he got lost so Sanji said he needed a babysitter.”
“Not my fault the hospital moved...”
Law really should have read the history better.
“Well Luffy-ya, I really need to finish checking Zoro-ya’s surgical site so I’d appreciate it if you could keep your hands to yourself.” Luffy looked ready to complain at the request so Law sighed. “Look, if I can finish with Zoro-ya in time maybe I’ll let you see my arm tattoos okay?”
Was it unorthodox? Yes.
Would Tashigi complain if she knew? Definitely.
Did it get Luffy to actually shut up and stop trying to undress him? Well it shut him up for a minute which was better than nothing.
“So how did you injure your eye anyway?” Law asked if only to drown out Luffy’s babbling.
“Got too into a drum solo.”
Of all the answers Law hadn’t expected that one. “You ruptured your eye… drumming.”
“Too be fair it was a really good solo. It was a pity the stupid stick snapped and ruined it.” Luffy added in.
Law looked between the two. Suddenly the neon green hair and Luffy’s ability to attract attention effortlessly was making more sense. “You’re in a band.” He stated more than asked.
“Yep! Thousand Sunny! We’re gonna take the world by storm some day!”
“Sorry, haven’t heard of you before.” Law said after a moment.
Neither of them seemed to be hurt by him saying as much. Luffy merely grinned broadly and grabbed a piece of paper from Law’s desk and scribbled down an address. “We’re playing here in a week, come check it out! Just tell Jinbei your name, he’ll get you in no charge.”
Law had a million things he wanted to say. How stupid it would be to play a gig so soon after their drummer had had surgery was at the top of his list. Instead all he did was nod.
“Sure. I’ll check it out.”