#Law's where he is kind of for similar reasons as Jinbei. This boy is too young to be a dad but dealing with Luffy gave him a few grey hairs | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hyperbolicreverie · 2 years

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A bit of a meta for the birthday boy, because it’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while:

I think, when talking about Law’s characterization, especially in regards to arguments that he’s secretly (or not-so secretly, your mileage may vary) a big softie, one interaction that I don’t see getting talked about too often is the fact that, when the fight with Doflamingo is all said and done, he goes back and saves Bellamy.

Now, Law does seem to have a habit of just…saving people, sometimes counter to what seems like conventional logic at the time—him showing up at Marineford to yoink Luffy and Jinbei out of there is kind of a perfect example of that. And if you want to be as objective about those situations as possible, you could say that every other time he rescues someone, it’s purely a strategic choice. (Once we get to Wano and the rooftop fight the narrative seems to give him a little more explicit emotional investment in his reasoning, so you can make an argument either way, I think).

But…Bellamy.

Bellamy, who Law has every reason to be pretty damn pissed at, given his role in distracting Luffy from getting back to the rooftop fight with Doflamingo (even if it was largely his sassy, shit-talking mouth and the fraught emotions being thrown around that made that fight escalate so fast). Even if he was feeling unusually charitable, there’s no angle where saving Bellamy is beneficial to him. Heck, even Bellamy is confused as to why Law saved him. He claims it’s because Luffy called him a friend, but when pressed, he gets defensive really fast.

But here’s the thing. Luffy would never have expected Law to go out of his way to pull Bellamy out of the rubble. Luffy clearly didn’t want their fight to end the way it did, but he’s always owned his own decisions, and Bellamy had made it clear that there was only one way he was going to stop fighting. And eventually, Luffy had to respect that. Nor was he--to our knowledge, anyway—awake at any point after the fight with Doflamingo to ask anyone to make sure Bellamy was okay.

And yet, we have Law—Law, who has multiple gunshot wounds to his torso, recently had his arm reattached after experiencing traumatic dismemberment, who is so exhausted he had to cut into his lifespan just to keep going, and who is experiencing one of the most emotional periods of his already incredibly fucked up life—going out of his way to grab Bellamy. And I do mean, ‘out of his way:’ Bellamy was left underneath the palace, and by the time the fight ended, Law is who knows how far away in the middle of the city. He had to make an effort to get all the way back to the palace, grab Bellamy, and bring him to Kyros’ cabin. (And then arguably take care of everyone’s wounds on account of probably being the only person in that cabin with medical knowledge and hey, why do so many people think he has no stamina? Because he seems more like the damn Energizer Bunny to me).

You could make the argument that Bellamy needed to be left alive for something later on down the line—and it’s One Piece, so that is an entirely reasonable train of thought—but based on the cover stories we know that Bellamy has retired from piracy to become a dyer. There aren’t a lot of avenues I can see where he becomes a critical piece in the story again. Show up? Sure, we love cameos. But to be necessary? I’m not sure.

We, as the audience, get to see Bellamy go through the full process of his disillusionment with Doflamingo during the events of Dressrosa. And I don’t think it’s a stretch at all to argue that that is something Law knows very well. Once upon a time, he hung his hat on Doflamingo to try and get where he wanted, and that turned out very badly, and here is this man going through what probably looks like a very similar process. Their circumstances are very different, but there's a solid throughline there. And maybe that really had nothing to do with it at all, and Law really is just a softhearted person with a prickly outer shell, but it's an interesting parallel to think about.

So yeah. Law’s motivations, as they have been for most of his general existence outside of Dressrosa, are a mystery here. And I think this is what makes him such a fascinating character, because more than most characters in the series, you can’t really take his words for what they are. You have to watch what he actually does. And what we see him doing is griping and moaning about all sorts of things, and then doing them anyway. Every single time he’s asked to help someone, he complains—but at no point does he actually not help. We see it with Bellamy, and we see it with his intentions to get the Scabbards to safety even before Luffy asks, and even with the kids on Punk Hazard, who he did in fact help when all was said and done—and from the sound of it, made it as easy a process as possible, given some of them say the process was kind of fun. (But Law and his intimate knowledge of how terrifying doctors and medicine can be for little kids is a conversation for another time).

Is he the nicest guy? No, definitely not. He's kind of an asshole, and abrasive, ruthless and calculating, and regardless of how well-founded or not his actual reputation is, he definitely still plays it up a little bit. (But then, everyone gets to be at least a bit of an asshole in One Piece, and I love that for the characters. I don't want paragons of heroics, I want people).

But he's also the guy who goes out of his way to save people. And even if he doesn't seem to know how to admit to any sort of altruism, or view it as a particular good trait in and of itself, and even if he's garbage at accepting honest thanks for his help, it keeps happening.

Is it still impossible to predict what he's going to be doing in the future, now that he's not constantly around anymore? Yeah. But a lot of people wouldn't be around right now if it weren't for him, and I don't think they'll be forgetting that anytime soon.

(Even if Law might wish they would).

#rev's ruminations #op meta #one piece #trafalgar law

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