Can I Steal Your Heart? - A LawLu fanfic

(Zoro) Chapter 62 - Aftermath

A/N: No, that's not a mistake in the title. Really from Zoro's view. Mostly because I missed writing from his view - who else do I get to use to gush about Sanji, lol? But also... mild angst alert. Both in the chapter and the next.

It should've been a fairly easy fight. A mid-size crew of second-rate pirates who had clearly been hoping that the new Emperor would be an easier mark than his predecessors. If not for their single devil-fruit user, the fight would've lasted less than a minute.

But most of their crew hadn't been prepared to face their own worst nightmares today, much less have them beamed directly into their unsuspecting minds.

Zoro — with all the hours he spent in meditation, fighting his own mind — was used to it, and could and did pull himself out of it within mere seconds of being hit. Once he could see straight again, he released a burst of his Conqueror's haki that shook off the lingering effects of the beam and took out all of the crew on the attacking ship, including the little shit who'd beamed them so rapidly. He raised his eyebrow at that. How did they make it this far into the Grand Line if they can't even withstand a little Conqueror's haki? One more ship-cutting slice ended the fight, since he was disinclined to spare the crew of the enemy ship. Not this time. Drowning at sea would be the price they'd pay for those nightmares.

His eyes scanned the two ships that he now had to consider part of his crew, looking for a familiar blond head. His Conqueror's haki seemed to be helping everyone else who'd been hit — nearly three-fourths of the crew, because that damn bastard had been fast with those beams — shake off the effects of the nightmare-beam too, which sent a wave of relief coursing through him. They were shaky, everyone helping the others pull the last bit out of their nightmares, but they'd all live.

Finally his eyes latched onto familiar golden-blond hair above a black suit, next to the only two figures who were still trapped in nightmares: their captains. The only two whose haki was stronger than, and therefore resistant to, his own. Luffy had fallen to his knees, eyes staring blankly up at the cloudy sky, while Law laid on his back, hands clenching aimlessly. He leapt over to his husband's side just as Sanji began shouting.

"Luffy! C'mon! You gotta snap out of it! It's over!" Sanji finally noticed Zoro's approach. "He won't wake back up, and I can feel him spiraling deeper. It's like he doesn't hear me at all!"

"Not... again...." Luffy muttered, but Zoro could tell that it was closer to sleep-talking than waking up. Even more worrisome was the white flames beginning to lick around the edges of his hair and body.

Zoro took a deep breath. "Sorry about this, Luf." He hauled his hand back and hit Luffy across the face, but the punch just bounced off, the recoil nearly knocking Zoro over. "Fuck."

"If we don't pull him out of it soon -"

"I know, I see it," Zoro interrupted. No matter how tough the crew, the Tang, and the Sunny were, they could not afford to have Luffy go Gear 5 without Luffy in conscious control. Zoro wasn't even sure the entire world would be able to handle that. But if Luffy wasn't responding to Zoro and Sanji's presence, then the only other person he might respond to... was Law. "Let's see if we can get Torao out of it, first, maybe Luffy can respond to him."

"Allow me?" Bepo spoke from behind him. "If it's worst nightmares we're talking about, I think I can pull Law out of his."

Zoro gestured to the taller captain, giving permission.

Bepo knelt and pulled Law's limp form up into a hug, whispering something in his ear as he slowly released Conqueror's haki of his own, building it until it was strong enough so that Sanji grabbed Zoro's arm to steady himself, but not so strong as Zoro's own maximum. Slowly, Law's twitching stopped.