~
There were cheers all around, laughter and food and drinks, and friends. Why wouldn't everyone be there when Luffy called for them, for a feast for achieving one of his dreams, why wouldn't anybody be there when Luffy called for them, as the Pirate King.
At Raftel, they had found the meaning of D. and Robin had immediately sent a message to the Heart Pirates, specifically to the Hearts captain, she had also sent coordinates and navigation routes with the help of Nami, but she didn't know if the other pirate group ever went to Raftel on their own, to find out the truth for themselves. The Strawhats had vacated Raftel soon after Luffy's achievement was all over the news, the rubber captain had found the island too boring to stay for more than a few days, so they had set sail, for the small island near Sphinx, to hold the biggest banquet the world had ever seen, to hold that banquet with Ace.
The party went on for days, literally everyone was there. From Luffy's first friend outside of Foosha, Coby, to Johnny and Yosaku, to Smoker and some other reluctant marines, to the Revolutionary Army, to Boa Hancock and her pirate group, to Shakky and Rayleigh, to Hachi and Pappagu and Camie, to Shiroahoshi and her brothers, to Bege and Chiffon and Lola to Aladin and Katakuri and Branch, to Luffy's Grand Fleet, to Shanks. Everyone was there.
Everyone but the Heart Pirates.
Everyone but Law.
For the first few days, Luffy felt the absence terribly, then everyone diverted his mind off the missing person, but when the party started dying down and everybody needed to go back to their jobs and kingdoms, it was then that Luffy started staying up through the night, looking at the horizon, hoping he would see the submarine Franky and Vegapunk had designed for Law and had made faces when Law painted it yellow.
But a whole month went by and there was no sighting.
The Pirate King was eventually dragged away from the cliff he had made his vigil post because he still had things to do and asses to kick. That took more time than Luffy liked to acknowledge, more time than Luffy liked without seeing Law or hearing from him or hearing of him. Luffy was already bad at lying and it was only getting worse to hide his worries as more time went by. Luffy hadn't seen any divorce notification in the newspaper so he knew he was safe in that regard but he still worried. Luffy hadn't seen any death notifications either and he was relieved in that regard too. But Luffy's heart ached for his lover, longed for him. Luffy missed his Torao so much.
Being the Pirate King, Luffy had more access to information and he had asked Robin to use those means to find out about Law but even with such an asset, there was no information for a whole year.
~
"Again?" Shachi groaned and snatched the newspaper from Law's hands. "You're very stupid you know."
"I will put you on bedpan duty, be careful." Law warned and took the newspaper back, resuming his reading on another article about the Pirate King. He smiled, wistful and bittersweet, but not regretful.
"Law seriously, just seek him out." Penguin pushed, rolling his eyes.
"Go check on your patients." Law said and turned the chair away from his friends, signaling the end of that conversation.
"Stupid." Shachi pouted.
"Idiot." Penguin agreed.
"He had bigger dreams, I didn't want to hold him down." Law said in a small voice, revealing his thoughts after a whole year.
"You know he will punch you if he hears that, right?" Shachi questioned, angry, but Law didn't answer anymore and the two took it as their cue to leave the surgeon alone.
