Darling Typhoon [One Piece Law x Luffy]

3. Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils

STRABISMUS, ALSO KNOWN COLLOQUIALLY AS 'crossed-eyes', was an eye-condition whereby one eye turned in a different direction to the other, and both eyes were focused on different points. This condition, which was usually inherited or an abnormality in the neuromuscular control of the eye's movements, was not something Law particularly suffered from. However, he might as well have, as his eyes stared, nearly cross-eyed, half out of focus, half out of mentally checking out, as the passenger before him fumbled with his luggage.

Thunk!...
...

Thunk!

.

.

Da-thunk!

The sound echoed through the cabin.

A flash of red—, thin, toned legs—a faded yellow straw hat—all of that blocked Law's right peripheral field of view, as the young man before him struggled to shove his overweight and overstuffed carry-on into the small overhead bin. It was like watching a toddler force a square block into a circular hole, except they were repeatedly bashing the block with the abnormal strength of a grown adult, shaking the entire plane as they did so. A flight attendant watched on in horror from the end of the row, and was about to squeeze through the tight space of people in the aisle to save the boy from his own incompetence, before Law let out a long sigh.

He refocused his eyes to clearly witness the foolishness before him as he got up. Straw Hat, who was attempting to shove his horizontally turned carry-on into the narrow space, suddenly paused and craned his head up to greet Law.

"Ah, you're the guy from earlier!" He chuckled, then glanced worriedly at the line of people behind him who were waiting to board the plane. "Sorry old man, but I'll talk to you later; I gotta get this bag into—" he cut off abruptly as a large shadow loomed over his face.

From behind him, Law reached over his head, swiftly heaved the suitcase up, re-oriented it so it was vertical, and it slid into the small space like a glove. He didn't even glance back at the young man as he sat back down, and Straw Hat, who seemed momentarily dazed, returned to his (limited) wits and quickly sat down in the aisle seat across from Law.

Seat numbers 8C and 9D were so perfectly arranged, that all that separated Law from eternal damnation was the steady flow of passengers as they soullessly boarded the plane. You could be flying to the most exciting place on earth, but the boarding process would easily suck away any anticipation you held for your destination. Perhaps if it had been a 2-3 hour flight, but these people would very much be seeing the sun set before they reached their destination.

As varying colors of handbags and backpacks passed by, interspersed by the openly curious looks Straw hat kept giving him, Law very much felt like this mirrored the scene in The Shining, except there was an overhead light flashing as Straw Hat Nicholson's grin appeared and disappeared through the splintered door. In this case, the flashing of people passing by was an apt visual metaphor, and less so was the openly wide grin Luffy cast him, as finally, the last person walked by. Immediately, the man leaned forward and zealously said, "Thanks!"

Law's profile ignored him. It didn't even twitch.

Instead, Law opened the small hand luggage he had carried with him, and took out a book—this month's edition of The Lancet, and he quietly turned to the page he last recalled reading. It was an exposé on the thin line between individual and collective ethics. It mainly gave examples unrelated to day-to-day activities in a hospital, and instead referred to triaging in disaster zones, at war, and most importantly, during infectious disease outbreaks. Law felt that these examples were too rare, and made the reader feel as if this article didn't apply to them, but he still found the core idea provoking.