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Published:
2016-04-17
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1/1
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Being Lawlu

Summary:

Their first fusion was a mistake. The second was a mercy. The third a disaster. Fourth time’s the charm?

Inspired by the art of the amazing http://smileorillfeedyoubread.tumblr.com/

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

 The first time it happened was on complete accident. The fight with the Marines outside the auction house had gotten a bit dicey and Straw Hat had grabbed Law when the surgeon hadn’t seen a knife flying towards his head.

 Law supposed later it could have looked slightly dance-like, Straw Hat yanking him over a high speed before ducking with him in something a bit like a dip to avoid tossing him into an opponent’s sword, but at the moment he was in shock when suddenly they weren’t two people but one.

 Law had only fused once before in his life, on the way to Minion Island, Cora-san trying to buy him some more time and just wanting him to know he was loved on the off chance this didn’t work. Whether because of his age or their bond or…anything, really, the fusion had been perfect, barely taller than Cora-san already and human-seeming in every way.

 This one was not. They were somewhere just shy of eight feet in height. They had four eyes. They had four arms. He could vaguely hear their voice, currently with a strong note of Straw Hat, whining about how their hats had fused too and no, he wanted his hat back.

 Law’s brain quickly spiraled off course into a litany of oh fuck oh fuck because could Straw Hat see his plans? His past? Wait, could he see Straw Hat’s? Wait he couldn’t really get much of a read from the other at all. Goddamnit Straw Hat wasn’t even thinking was he, the asshole…

 Law was jerked back into the fight as Straw Hat started yelling at him—or was he yelling at himself?—that he didn’t know how to use his powers and damn it Traffy help!

 Help? He didn’t even know which arms he controlled—oh, the ones with the tattoos, obviously…how had Straw Hat just fallen into this so easily, exactly? He was already going like everything was fine, honestly.

 Wait… Traffy?!?

 The fusion thankfully split and Kid apparently found their flailing amusing enough to temporarily use his giant metal construct to shield them.

 “The fuck was that?” Kid laughed. “Did you just…was that an accident? How do you do that on accident you freaks?”

 “Says the weirdo with the freaky metal stuff!” Straw Hat yelled as he punched a Marine.

 “Don’t come near me, I ain’t fusing with a lunatic like you!” Kid yelled.

 “Fuck off, like either of us would want to fuse with you,” Law complained, back to juggling Marine heads.

 Luffy put it out of his mind. He’d accidentally fused with some of his crew before, after all.

.o.o.o.

 Marinford was a disaster.

 Luffy felt like shit. He was still trying to process…

 He’d gotten Ace free and they’d fused and then Ace had gotten mad and they’d gotten into it with Akainu and…

 And Ace had just shoved him out of the fusion to protect him and now Ace was dead and he was still here.

 Alone. Without Ace or his crew.

 He didn’t know what to do about that.

 “Hey.”

 He looked up. Law was there. Law, whose ship he was still on, who he owed his life to, and whose breakfast he’d apparently stolen while asleep that morning.

 “Hey,” Luffy said, really hoping he wasn’t crying right now. Law was a fellow captain after all.

 “Want to?” Law asked, offering his hand.

 Luffy stared at it, then at Law, and nodded.

.o.o.o.

 Law didn’t know why he offered but…Straw Hat just seemed so upset and Law knew what that was like and…he’d offered Straw Hat his hand.

 He didn’t know why he even thought it would work, Straw Hat was obviously in a state of extreme emotional distress and…

 Straw Hat…Luffy took it almost at once and let Law pull him to his feet.

 Unlike last time, when if anyone had been “leading” it was Luffy, Law controlled the dance, keeping it simple until they flowed into one person and-

 Luffy was all howling, gnawing pain and it was so familiar and Law…Law let him have just a little of his own back, no details or anything just…

 “You get it…I get it,” he said, sinking to the ground with is arms wrapped tightly around himself.

 “Yeah…” he breathed.

 He didn’t do anything but sit there and breathe, pain and sadness and determination all swirling in a mix beneath his surface.

 He’d lost and he’d lost, they’d lost and so they-he-they’d become had lost and it hurt, it hurt, but there was understanding, someone else got it someone else understood and someone else was them now too and it helped.

 After a little while he chuckled. “Shiheheh. You know, four arms is awesome. I mean, fusing with Vivi was cool but we had two arms that tried to turn into four at the elbow and that got kinda weird even though it looked really cool with her weapons-”

 He was cut off by his own laughter before the fusion broke, Law still laughing as they both fell back against the walls of the hallway.

 “You’ve got a creepy laugh. It’s cool!” Luffy snickered.

 Law just shook his head, “Just don’t go running around nearly ripping out your stitches again. I worked hard on those, you know.”

 “Hey, Traffy?” Luffy asked. “Thanks.”

 “Stop mentioning it. As soon as you leave this ship, we’re rivals.”

 “Shishishi, maybe I should never leave then,” Luffy teased.

 “…I’ll undo the surgery myself.”

 “Okay, I get it, I get it!” Luffy said, holding out his hands in surrender. “But…for that…thanks. Why, though? I mean, I get you wanted to but…”

 “That’s the reason. I wanted to,” Law said.

 “Oh, okay,” Luffy said, shrugging.

 Law smiled. At last Straw Hat’s simplicity worked in his favor…

.o.o.o.

 Law had waited for it to come up on Punk Hazard. Well, Luffy had mentioned it very briely when explaining to his crew why he trusted Law—‘he saved my life and I fused with him’ being the only explanations—but he hadn’t asked about it otherwise.

 Law remembered it though. It was a niggling, nagging thing in the back of his head because…he’d never fused after Cora-san and then he just accidentally fused with a lunatic whose smile reminded him of Cora-san and…and that way led to madness, because Luffy was a lunatic.

 But then Caear fused with his experiment and they’d been facing it down and Luffy had asked him to fuse with him to fight it.  

 Law supposed it made sense, given Caesar’s own fused state. They gave it a go but something was off from the start, Law too distracted by trying to come up with a plan of what they’ll do and Luffy rushing too much to pay attention and the dance is a mess but they fuse anyway.

 Law temporarily ceded control to Luffy so he could analyze the situation better, see if he could come up with something…

 And Luffy was already moving, the idiot, “Wait, I need to plan!”

 “Plan what, just do your thing!” Luffy argued.

 “Planning is my thing!” Law yelled. “Just…fight defensively for a few minutes, let me figure out how to use my powers.”

 “Ugh, fine. Spoilsport,” Luffy complained and finally Law had a few moments as Luffy used his rubber—and a convenient Shambles here and there from Law—to dodge.

 All right, Smiley seemed to have made Caesar even more toxic, but removing toxins from his body was second nature to Law. Caesar was also acting more aggressively—wait, wait, wait!

 “What are you doing?” he demanded of Luffy as they started attacking Caesar way too directly and way too soon.

 “You said we could handle toxins so I’m punching him,” Luffy explained brightly.

 “That was one detail, I wasn’t done!” Law growled. This wasn’t working.

 “No!” Luffy said as Law went to just break the fusion. “Please, don’t, I’ll listen, okay?”

  Law almost slipped out in shock at Luffy’s panic. “We’re clearly not synced, this is only going to get worse for us.”

 “We can try. Just don’t shove me out, okay?” Luffy asked.

 Law suddenly got a crystal-clear memory through the link. It was another fusion, for a moment…and then a shove and Luffy was behind Ace, who took the hit.

 Ace had forced him out of the fusion to protect him.

 “Okay. We’ll try. But if it doesn’t work, mutual split,” Law negotiated. “I won’t shove you out, but we just…both step away.”

 “Okay,” Luffy agreed.

 It was a struggle and Law did NOT want to do it again. They beat Smiley out of Caesar and split up to handle their own business, Law going for Vergo and Luffy pursuing Caesar.

.o.o.o.

 He was bleeding out on Dresrosa and Luffy wanted to fuse because Law was going to die.

 “Trust me,” Luffy says, taking his hand and okay, ow he did not need to be on his feet you rubber asshole-

 They fused and Law panicked because they were bleeding out and-

 “You have the energy now, right?”

 The golden set of eyes narrowed for a moment before widening. He quickly used a Room and fixed the damage now reflected on their fusion. But it still felt off, like on Punk Hazard; they couldn’t risk being like that, not now…

 “We can do this but please, trust me. Okay?” Luffy asked. “You have to give me your all.”

 Law hesitated. Most of it was fear, how panicked he’d been at how reckless Luffy really was, of not being in total control…of it feeling like it had with Cora-san and that not being enough to win…

 But they had to win. For Cora-san’s memory, if nothing else.

 “I’ll give you everything, then…if you do the same,” he agreed and let go and-

 The rush of feelings was intense. Law drowned in Luffy’s love and determination and light while Luffy drank in his pain and resolve and memories and-

 He was both and neither and he remembered and saw for the first time and understood and-

 Lawlu still had Luffy’s Observation Haki and easily ducked a razor sharp array of strings while sorting it out but… “Wow.”

 He spun to Dofamingo, beaming, “Holy shit, I hate your guts!”

 He hated him for what he’d done to Rebecca. He hated him for what he’d done to Cora-san. He hated him for what he’d done to Law.

 His energy was nice and high now, too! He could act on that hate, act on his will to punch this asshole in the face until his sunglasses broke and his nose caved in-

 He had rubber, Room, and Kikoku, and what would work best was-

 The Birdcage was a problem, he had to end this quickly even though some of him wanted to drag it out and make it hurt-

 Doflamingo had his gun but the bullets were lead, they’d probably bounce off-

 Doflamingo was still somewhat off balance from the fusion, so there was chance of a hit-

 Lawlu took some of his observations, none finished in being planned out but more than enough to run with and whipped Kikoku forward on one stretched arm while a new, larger Room was generated with another. “Gum-Gum Slingshot Blade!”

 Doflamingo had a hard time voiding the wild projectile, and ended up getting cut across the shoulder for it.

 “Shiheheh!” Lawlu laughed. “…That’s how I laugh? Damn it, Law infected my laughing, it’s kind of creepy sounding…oh well.”

 Doflamingo took advantage of the distraction to take time to stitch up his wound, “So this is your new ploy? Fusion?”

 “You’re just jealous!” Lawlu mocked, going for a new slice.

 Ooh, a memory. One of Law’s. Cora-san telling him something. “Hey, hey Mingo? Mingo! Guess what?”

 “You’re going to ‘kick my ass’?” Doflamingo asked.

 “Nah, that’s obvious!” Lawlu said, getting in a good electrified Red Hawk—should it be called Blue Hawk or something or Shock Hawk that would be so cool, so very cool!—and slamming Doflamingo into one of the walls. “Did you know Law and Cora-san fused once?”

 The memory sharpened. Cora-san trying to get Law to fuse with him, but being self-depreciating, blaming a potential failure on himself since he’d tried with his brother once and it had been a disaster, almost impossible to move or anything, an abomination of a fusion-

 “And it was perfect!” Lawlu mocked “Not like when you tried! Guess it wasn’t all his fault after all!”

 -because Rocinante had been trying to hide things from his brother, so he couldn’t give it his all, and Doflamingo would never give it his all either, never really give someone anything unconditional in any way. But Rocinante hadn’t wanted Law to know somethings—he’d  been a Marine, a spy, his past, his own pain—and he’d still managed to give enough, love enough for a broken, scared little boy to trust him perfectly to fuse.

 Doflamingo snarled and Lawlu stumbled at bit at the Conqueror’s Haki he hadn’t been ready for before countering with his own.

 Oh…that’s what it felt like to use that. Law was impressed, very nice. He liked it. Lawlu liked it, it was great!

 In fact, he was great! He had Law’s brains and Luffy’s energy and it was amazing! He was probably one of the strongest fusions ever too!

.o.o.o.

 “What’s wrong?” Lawlu asked himself. He was slowing down and his Rooms weren’t working as well.

 Law grabbed control and suddenly he felt exhausted, “I think I’m out…”

 Oh shit Law was still too tired, to injured-

 Lawlu nodded and let the fusion break.

 “You going to be okay?” Luffy asked, kneeling next to Law.

 “I’ll be fine if you kick his ass,” Law said, smirking.

 Luffy nodded, “He won’t know what hit him!”

.o.o.o.

 “It’s nice fusing with you,” Luffy commented as he and Law stretched out on the street. “You’re really smart and it’s cool being part of that.”

 “I like…you energy,” Law mumbled. “It’s…happy.”

 Luffy smiled as Rebecca and Violet directed some people to help them get to shelter. “Traffy…let’s keep fusing. It’s good.”

 Law grinned back, “I agree.”

.o.o.o.

 They turned into Lawlu once more on the way to Zou, to show off for the Barto Club, Bartolomeo deciding Law wasn’t entirely worth annoying if he could fuse with “the great Luffy-senpai!” Then once again on Zou to show Law’s crew….and once more just because.

 Then, after an insane amount of wedding crashing, assassins, and fighting beasts, Luffy just had to come up with the best idea ever to appeal to Law’s mad scientist side.

 “Okay so, like, Kaido’s all unkillable and stuff. No throwing him off cliffs, no stabbing, no beheading, you know…but that’s the outside. Let’s use Lawlu and go inside,” Luffy said.

 So Kaido was defeated and killed by an overly giddy fusion teleporting inside his chest cavity and wreaking havoc on his organs very, very directly while gushing over the medical facts his doctor half was providing to his future-king half along the way.

 “Darn it, Luffy has to get stronger. I am not fighting Shanks, even if that was awesome,” Lawlu said as he picked what looked like a bit of an artery out of his hair.

 “Shanks is merely incredibly skilled, not cheating with ancient giant magic to prevent external injury,” Law said, grabbing control for a moment. “Luffy can have him.”

 “Good,” Luffy said. “You can still watch, though!”

 Lawlu shrugged as they both folded back into the shared personality, “Oh well. Huh, wonder how long it’ll take the others to get here…kind of teleported miles away…”

 He glanced down at Kaido from where he was sitting on the corpse’s collarbone. “Don’t suppose I have to bury you? You’re really fucking big, you know…”

 He swung his legs slightly, relaxing as he waited for the others to come. “…I like this. Being me. It’s nice.”

 He remembered Luffy asking Shanks about pirates fusing as a kid.

 Shanks had said there was a secret to it and Lawlu knew the secret now. Luffy had known for a while but Law knew it too now so Lawlu got it and it made him feel all fuzzy warm.

 The best fusions needed love.

.o.o.o.

 “Hey, I’ve got a question,” Sanji said. “Why is your fusion still the way it is when you two are so obviously synched up these days?”

 “Yeah, he’s got a point. Even he and Zoro have a slightly more perfect fusion,” Nami said.

 Law rolled his eyes, “Our fusion is perfect, thanks.”

 “What?” Bepo asked, sitting up in shock and then hurriedly adding a sorry as his Captain’s napping position was upset.

 “Guys, perfect fusions look totally human, remember?” Chopper asked. “Like when Luffy fused with…um…”

 “Ace?” Luffy asked, frowning for a moment. “But we didn’t need four arms when we were fused like Traffy and I do.”

 “What?” Zoro asked.

 “We need four arms as a fusion,” Law said. “Unlike Zosan, whose extra set are superfluous and only get used in handsprings, if then. We need two arms to punch, one to make Rooms, and one for Kikoku.”

 “And having four eyes is just cool,” Luffy added. “So we keep ‘em cause we want to.”

 “You’re honestly telling us you could pull off a perfect-looking fusion by now and just don’t want to?” Penguin asked, stunned.

 Law huffed as if this was simply the most ridiculous thing in the world, “Come on, Luffy-ya. If we don’t prove it they’ll never be quiet.”

 “…I get meat for this,” Luffy complained, getting up anyway.

 The dance was as short as ever, Luffy stealing the lead early on by tripping Law. They fused and the crew gaped.

 Lawlu put his only two hands on his hips, his mismatched gold and gray, but a single pair all the same, eyes glaring, “See! This is so boring! And it’s impractical too, I can’t make a Room, use Kikoku, and hit people at the same time, it’s ridiculous!”

 The fusion split apart, Law and Luffy grinning smugly at their crews.

 Law’s smug smirk deepened and he pulled Luffy into a quick spin and dip, refusing into the normal Lawlu.

 Lawlu stretched yawning, “That’s better. Okay, Room. Going to get some food and then take a nap. Later!”

 “Oh no you don’t!” Sanji snapped even as Lawlu vanished with a cackling “shiheheh!” in his quest to get what he wanted and mess with his crews along the way.

Notes:

Seriously go see http://smileorillfeedyoubread.tumblr.com/ and see their fusion art it is amazing! So, Lawlu fusion fic with my personal brand of comedy!

I see Luffy as the kind of guy who finds perfect, human-like fusions utterly boring. He's adding another person, giving him more limbs and/or eyes damnit! Lawlu agrees with him, due to being half him.