Chapter Text
I had known that ShyBite would not end well for me from the very moment I once again sought the aid of Mugiwara-ya.
But what can I say? I have a crew I swore to protect. They had all been trapped on that small, jagged speck of rock, sequestered from the rest of the world. We always had the wretched habit of playing the explorer—driven by a thirst to investigate every stray stone drifting upon the blue expanse.
And so we went, like fools, cutting through the waves to land on that barren isle for no better reason than its absence from the charts.
There was a reason it wasn't on the maps.
The World Government’s subterranean research prison. ShyBite: the terror of every man who has ever set foot in a government-affiliated cage. To be transferred there was to embrace a death both agonizing and brutal, ending like a rat in a glass flask for the mere pleasure of "inquiry."
A miscalculation, truly. As was the attempt to liberate the prisoners. I am no Luffy; I don't harbor the delusions of a liberating hero. But after the struggle against Big Mom, my spirits were high. I felt power coursing through my veins. Liberty—the intoxicating strength to do as we please—had blinded us completely.
Yet, when I fought Big Mom, Eustass-ya was there. Mugiwara-ya was there. Even Kaido had been there to soften the old hag up.
At ShyBite, however, there was only one man: the former Admiral Ponce, a man of pressure.
He was old, but no less lethal for it. I cannot blame my crew for that defeat. Facing Ponce was like trying to brace a falling skyscraper with a paper cup. He would have leveled me like a leaf in the gale, with or without hostages.
Broken and gutted, I barely managed to escape that island alone. I dragged myself to the coast, to the sea—that beautiful blue shroud that has always offered me sanctuary. I couldn't pilot the Polar Tang on my own. I didn't want to. I collapsed upon a rock under the summer sun and stared out at the water. Blue and cool. I keep forgetting we are no longer in the North.
It was then that a miraculous vision took hold of me. A ship was treading the waves, tranquil, floating in the distance as if oblivious to my agony. The Thousand Sunny was truly a sight to behold.
The lives of my men were more important than whatever fresh hell that hatted disaster could drag us into. After all, I reasoned, Mugiwara-ya always manages to find a way out of the very troubles he creates.
This was no time for the stings of humiliation. A captain does what must be done. I hauled myself up and transported my broken body to the deck of my only ally in this world—or at least, the only one who wouldn't stab me in the back.
I crashed against the timber planks. Blood seeped from my wounds, staining the deck. I looked up at the figurehead, expecting to see that same mindless grin. I had to squint; the straw hat was glowing, white-hot under the sun.
"Mugiwara-ya!" I barked. "Save my crew’s collective asses and I’ll get you some
extra meat."
Luffy stood up, a wide grin splitting his face. That was all it took to plunge the Captain of the Straw Hats into whatever madness I could devise. All it took was showing up and begging for a little help. For the freedom of my people.
The plan was simple: hurl Luffy and his crew at Ponce like a bowling ball while I busied myself with the rescue.
And so I marched, with a firm stride and without a moment’s hesitation, straight into one of Ponce’s traps to pave the way for Luffy. There, my legs buckled once more under the weight of twenty-three atmospheres of lethal pressure. I fell, defeated and half-dead, yet again.
While Ponce focused on crushing the life out of me, and his men scrambled to contain the pirate invasion on the shore, Luffy leapt from his hiding place into the fray without a second thought. His eyes were ablaze. He was there, like a demon, slamming that man against the mountainside as if he were nothing. Freedom seemed to sweat from his pores, radiant in the morning sun, and Ponce was already coming apart. Fighting the Captain of the Straw Hats was like trying to catch the wind with a flag.
How the hell do we have the same bounty?
I was grateful to rely on that man and his heart, one last time. From the dirt, I rolled over to witness the struggle. The thundering of the drums, the impact of blows and charges, vibrated through the rock and into the very marrow of my heart. It hurt.
I wanted to keep my eyes on the fight, to wait for the perfect moment to deliver the killing blow, but my eyelids were heavy. The blood in my veins was turning cold. I could hardly draw breath. I could no longer wait for Luffy to win before moving safely.
Perhaps this would be my final chance to save them all. My last great move.
"Room."
The sensation was weightless, like drifting through the clouds, like forsaking the earth. I could feel the stone around me, the floating beads of moisture, the dust. The weight of the air. I felt the world spinning. And I grew, and I grew. Metal, brick. Beating hearts scattered across the island. Ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty. I reached through walls and bars, through steel and machinery and experiments. I felt the sea churning, the salt in the breeze. I felt my way toward the planks of the Sunny, the cold iron of the Polar Tang.
"Shambles."
The oxygen shrouding both vessels traded places with those twenty-nine hearts. In an instant, bodies crashed against the timber of the ship and the steel of the submarine. Everyone was safe, purged from the island. Each soul accounted for on their respective decks.
"Mugiwara-ya!" I screamed with every shred of strength I had left. "Clear the
Sunny, now!"
Luffy seized Ponce, and with a booming laugh, slammed him against the Sunny to give the ship a final shove, sent the man sprawling into the sea, and stretched his limbs wide. In the blink of an eye, he had vaulted across the small expanse of ShyBite.
I heard the thunderous roar of the impact, then the Coup de Burst. They would reach the next island without incident; beyond this radius of influence, Ponce could no longer ensnare them. All that remained was for Bepo to submerge the Polar Tang, and the mission would be complete.
I stopped applying pressure to my most grievous wound. I no longer had the strength to hold it. It didn’t matter anyway. Luffy would see his people to safety, and later, someone would see to it that he got the meat I had promised. I owed him nothing more.
Fortune had finally seen fit to smile upon me. Of all the deaths I might have petitioned for, to die shielding my men was merit enough.
I am Trafalgar D. Water Law. I am strong enough.
With that gentle thought, I smiled.
Those smiles echoed in my mind like the beating of drums. It was less than a dream, yet more than reality. I saw familiar faces, heard sounds and isolated words drifting through the mist. I felt the weight of hooves upon my chest. I felt the cold, the damp. Someone was pressing hard against my sternum.
I tasted salt and blood. My muscles were leaden. I opened my eyes and beheld the sky—blue, perfect. The midday sun.
I waited for the worried voices of Penguin or Shachi, perhaps even Bepo. But I heard only the rhythm of the sea and the howling wind.
A Tanuki. The Tanuki. He was perched on my chest, trying to listen for a heartbeat, though his antlers kept getting in the way. He was heavy. I could barely draw breath. I lifted a hand and shoved at his small back, trying to push him off.
"You’re awake," the Tanuki said. "Do you know what happened? Do you know who you are?"
"What are you... talking about?" I managed to stammer. "Trafalgar Law. We fought... Ponce, a Marine. It’s December, and..."
That was when I truly woke up. I had no earthly idea what Chopper was doing aboard the Polar Tang. I bolted upright, panicked, nearly sending the doctor sprawling to the floor.
"Wait, where the hell—?"
Nine pairs of hands pinned me to the deck.
"Easy, easy, Tra-guy," a woman’s voice said. "You’re on your ship."
I struggled against the hands and looked around. I knew the deck of my vessel. This was the Polar Tang. But there was nothing there but the concerned faces of the Straw Hats. Nico Robin, the Tanuki doctor, the cook with the eyebrows, the three-sword fellow. Long-nose, the greedy woman, the skeleton—even the cyborg.
"What are you doing here?" I demanded. "What happened to the Sunny? I thought it
had flown to SadBaite. And Ponce...?"
"Wait, listen," the redhead said. "Luffy defeated Ponce. The Sunny reached SadBaite safely and is waiting for us all there. But there was a problem, and… the crews..."
"You swapped them backwards, you dumbass-ya," Three-Swords grunted.
"What?" I shrieked. "What do you mean, backwards?"
"It could have happened to anyone," Robin said smoothly. "To have managed itwhile you were at death's door was quite impressive."
"What happened to my crew? Mugiwara...?" I writhed like a worm, trying to look in every direction at once. "Is everyone alright?"
"All alive and mending," Robin smiled. "Last we heard from them over the wire, it sounded like they were having a party."
"The polar bear is actually here, though," the spiral-browed cook chimed in. "He’s the only one who knows how to work the Tang, so it’s a lucky thing he ended up with us."
"But we lost Jinbe in the trade," Nami lamented.
I let my head fall back against the wood. My hands were already over my face as I tried to process it. A stupid, clumsy error. At least they were all alive. At least my men would be well-protected by Mugiwara-ya. At least the voyage to SadBaite shouldn't be long.
"Is there anything to eat?" I asked, resigned.
"There will be," Sanji said, "if you help me find the damn kitchen."