Can I Steal Your Heart? - A LawLu fanfic

(Luffy) Chapter 20 - Searching

"Be safe, Mugiwara-ya. Try not to get into too much trouble," Law said shortly after breakfast. The Tang was ready to depart, save for the last few mooring lines, and the two crews were saying their goodbyes.

"You sure you won't stay one more day? This has been so much fun!" Luffy asked from where he was wrapped around Bepo's head.

"We've got things to do, Mugiwara-ya."

Luffy finally climbed down from the complaining bear. "When will we see you again?

There was a tiny quirk to Law's lips as he answered simply, "Soon, I'm sure. We'll keep in touch."

"You better!" Luffy responded, finally hugging the taller man. There it was again, that mix of cinnamon and steel and musk and disinfectant. A weird mix, but Luffy liked it. "And you guys be safe out there, too."

"Of course," Law said with that tiny almost-smile still in place. But it dropped just a little as he pulled away from the rubber-man and addressed his crew. "Heart Pirates! We'll be unmooring in five minutes! If you're not back on the Tang, you better hope Luffy-ya makes room for you on his ship, because you will be left behind."

Five minutes later, no Heart Pirates were left on the Sunny, and the Tang was beginning to sink below the waves. Luffy watched until even the shadow was out of sight, an unfamiliar ache in his chest.

Life continued as normal for a while. Zoro and Sanji even made up after a few more days, and were flirting more than ever. But Luffy found that he was again just going through the motions. He'd fish with Usopp, run and play with Chopper, swing around the ship, and eat heartily, just like usual, but Law was often at the back of his mind, and that ache in his chest never went completely away. To the point that he'd had Chopper check him once, to be sure nothing was wrong.

Nothing was, of course. Rarely was something ever wrong with him.

And yet, that ache continued.

It was a couple days after Zoro and Sanji had made up that Luffy found himself waking up only a few hours after he'd gone to bed. He wasn't hungry, not this time. He couldn't even pretend to be. The ache was too strong to eat or sleep. He needed to understand it, needed to make it go away. He sat in his usual spot on the Sunny's figurehead at first, trying to think. After a while, though, the sea spray made him too chilly, and he moved to the top of the crow's nest as the first rays of warming sunlight peeked over the horizon.

The sea had provided no answers by the time breakfast was called, and Luffy still wasn't really hungry. Well, that wasn't fully true anymore. It was just that the hunger didn't outweigh the need to understand, not yet. Unsurprisingly, a few minutes later Zoro came looking for him.

"Yo, Captain. Don't you know it's breakfast time?"

Luffy nodded, hearing the worry in his first mate's voice. "Yeah, I know. Not hungry, I guess."

"Not hungry? You? Do I need to call Chopper?" One of Zoro's eyebrows had shot nearly to his hairline, and part of Luffy wanted to laugh at the surprise and disbelief on his first mate's face as Zoro sat down beside him.

"'m not sick, either. Prob'ly." He didn't bother to add that Chopper had already checked him over.

Zoro sighed. "Alright, spill. What's on your mind?"

Well, Zoro had experience with love and rejection. Maybe he could help make sense of it. "When someone you like says they don't like you back, it hurts, right? Emotionally?"

"Yeah, usually." Zoro answered, already visibly uncomfortable with the conversation.

That didn't stop Luffy from plunging on with his thoughts, though. "So if I'm the one who hurt Torao, why am I also hurting?" He knew Torao should be the one hurting. That much made sense.