Law went to save Luffy at Marineford, not because he's such a nice guy, but because
he knew Luffy was a D. He was actually incredible disappointed when Luffy beat Doflamingo. And
his name, Trafalgar D. Water Law holds the key to the shockingly important role Law still
has to play in the story. If just like me, you've also always struggled to fully understand
Law's thoughts and objectives and why the hell he still sticks around, even after taking
down his sworn enemy, today I will unravel everything you want to know about his character
for you.
The thing that intrigued me the most about Trafalgar D. Water Law, when he was introduced
early on in the story, was how hard is was to read his thoughts and actions. On Sabaody,
we meet him as this pretty messed up guy in hippy clothes, that has fun tormenting his
enemies, always with a smirk on his face, which I found immediately intriguing. After
the war, and especially after the time skip however, I was surprised to see that he seemingly
had completely lost this chaotic side of him and now felt a lot more serious, always thinking
things through and worrying about things that might go wrong. Finally, after dethroning
Doflamingo, it was really heartwarming for me to him grow closer and closer with the
straw hats, slowly dropping his serious and tense manner and fully subscribing to Luffy's
way of handling things. [We're gonna beat your ass. What he said, chapter 758, not sure
what episode]
Now, what appears to be an inconsistency with his character, turned out to be one of the
best character arcs we have gotten in the story. Law's backstory and his personal history
with Doflamingo and Corazon is one of my all-time favorite flashbacks, that I actually dedicated
a whole video to. It's structured just like the backstories of all the straw hats, death,
tragedy and something that Luffy has to free them from. In the case of Law, that thing
is his obsession with Doflamingo. After being saved and loved by Corazon, who tells him
about the will of D., Law believes that he must inherit his saviors will to take down
Doflamingo and for the threat he poses to the world. I think something that is quite
easy to overlook, is that Law believes that Corazon saved him because he revealed his
middle name to him. Thus he tries to pay this kindness back by dedicating his whole life
to revenge.
This obsession is further fueled, because Law blames himself for the death of his loved
ones. He believes himself to be a failure, which might sound weird to western fans, who
I think generally see Law as a pretty damn accomplished character. However, what living
in Japan has taught me, is that the strong theme of brothers in Dressrosa, is not by
accident. We have this for Luffy and Sabo, who reunite over their shared goal to retrieve
Ace's devil fruit. But for Law it is particularly important. See, here in Japan, the relationship
between older and younger sibling is somewhat sacred. You should respect your older brother,
but it is always his duty to protect his younger siblings. Which is for instance why Ace's
death was extremely meaningful. Law however, despite training to be a doctor, is unable
to save his little sister, and we get this heartbreaking scene where he has the same
reaction as Luffy when she dies. Similarly he can't protect the other orphans. And I
would even go so far as to say that he blames himself for Corazon's death as well. See,
it never occurred to Law, nor to any Japanese reader, that Doflamingo would do the unthinkable
and kill his younger sibling. And law as an older brother, once again had to loose a younger
sibling he loved. I hope that helps you realize, why Dressrosa was even more impactful to eastern
fans than it already was. And why Law is even more popular among fans there.
Now of course Law, as a helpless and traumatized boy is not to blame for any of these, but
it didn't change the fact that he always felt guilty about it. In laws mind, taking down
Doflamingo and fulfilling Corazon's mission, is the only way to remedy himself from this
guilt. So up until Sabaody, just like Luffy and the other supernova, he is mostly focusing
on getting stronger and so the Law we meet at the auction house is simply enjoying how
much closer he has gotten to Dofi in terms of strength.
After the war however, things change. Law finally realizes that the new era is there
and with it, his chance to make a move. He saves Luffy, the person who he saw punching
a celestial dragon and becoming the center of attention at marineford, because he sees
someone else, who is capable of fulfilling Corazon's hopes for the D clan. So after he
spends 2 years planning his move on Doflamingo, he doesn't hesitate to team up with Luffy
once they cross paths on Punk Hazard, completely by accident. Law very quickly realizes though,
that without Luffy, his plan would already have failed right here on Punk Hazard and
more and more is taken in by Luffy's ability to master any situation, no matter how impossible
it may seem.
After being taken out by Doffi and having to leave the fight he was waiting for his
entire life to Luffy, he even says that in case Luffy should die, he wanted to die next
to him. At this point, Law fully trusts and respects our captain. And yet, when Luffy
finally defeats Dofi after what feels like 12.473 episodes, when all citizens of Dressrosa
are swept away by tears of joy and receive, this is the reaction of Law. At first, I thought
that Law simply has to process what has happened, but this is the only reaction we get from
him. Even though his big goal has been achieved, he still doesn't feel free and fulfilled.
The weight is still there. And I think this is why so many people are confused about Law's
character arc.
The TRUE resolution to his past, where he can finally embrace Luffy's deed and come
back into the light, is a much smaller moment during the epilogue of Dressrosa.
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Then moment I'm talking about is this small interaction he has with Sengoku, the former
fleet admiral, who had been Corazon's supervisor within the Marines. Law tells him, that even
after they took out Doflamingo, he doesn't know whether he became the type of D. Corazon
wanted him to be. What both Sengoku and I realized in this moment, is the fact that
Law has always assumed that he had been saved for being a D. An enemy of the gods, with
high expectations in him to fulfill his role. The beautify of this scene is how Sengoku
breaks Law's world view with one sentence and frees him form his past. He tells him
that Corazon never truly new anything about the D, and that he surely didn't save Law
because of it. And so it is these two panels here, that actually mark the conclusion of
Law's arc and the end of his suffering. Oda's subtle genius.
Okay, so Law's arc is over right? He has done what he set out to do and even found peace
by embracing the unconditional love Corazon had for him. So, why exactly is Law still
there? What is his purpose in the story and what goal does he have now? Two common theories
I see popping up a lot, are that A Law will betray Luffy and go for the One Piece itself,
B that Law is actually a member of the secret Marine Organization sword or C that Law will
sacrifice himself to perform the immortality surgery on Luffy. Here are my thoughts on
these and why I don't think it's gonna be either of the 3.
Law could betray Luffy, based on the idea that pirate alliances always end in betrayal,
but given the fact that Law was not only freed from his burden by Luffy, but also was prepared
to die with him The point of Law's arc was to show how kind he actually is at heart.
So if Oda doesn't pull another Kanjuro, I'm gonna say with a lot of certainty that that
won't happen.
The sword thing on the other hand could be true, especially given that Corazon was a
Marine spy. Drake for example has infiltrated Kaido's crew and if Aokiji is also a member
of the group, he has infiltrated Blackbeard. Law mostly has just been traveling with his
own crew and you could argue that he technically infiltrated the straw hats. However, to be
honest I don't quite see the point of it. Law is already a fully fleshed out and interesting
character. Plus he's a devoted D. Who are the enemies of the celestial dragons. But
it's possible.
While I think that Law might very well die at some point and use his ability on SOMEONE,
I don't think it will be on Luffy. Luffy's goal is to find the One Piece WITH his friends.
Otherwise it's not worth it. In some way or form, becoming pirate king is only a tool
for Luffy to fulfill a bigger dream, that doesn't include just him. So if Law sacrificed
himself for him, even without Luffy's permission, it would taint his journey. Luffy didn't want
to hear what Rayleigh knew and he detests people who use others as tools, like how Big
Mom used her daughter for political alliances. So I can imagine a scene where Law tries to
sacrifice himself, but Luffy stopping him, similarly to how he stoped Sanji and Robin
form sacrificing themselves for him. Remember that on thriller bark, Zoro, Sanji and Robin
KNEW that Luffy must never know about Zoro almost dying form his sacrifice.
So Ohara, you might say now, what will Law do then?
I personally think, that law now has a new goal and will loyalty fight side by side with
Luffy till the very end. This goal is to find the true meaning behind the D. Clan and the
will of D. He has been obsessed with it his entire life and now finally with Luffy, has
found someone that actually acts in exactly the way Corazon explained it to him. He was
there, both when Luffy punched Charlos AND when Luffy punched Doflamingo. I think Law
is interested in reaching Laugh Tale, not to become pirate king, but to learn the true
history, something we see him discussing with Robin.
When you think about it, Law has the most unsuitable crew to actually contend with most
other supernova. He even send them away before carrying out his masterplan against Dofi.
His men seem to be more a crew of doctors than of fighters, and I think that's what
their role is gonna be for the rest of the story. In other words, now that Law doesn't
feel obligated to be a good D anymore, he freely chose the goal to become one, by following
the man he now believes can become pirate king.
And now we get into the spicy stuff, because interestingly enough, Oda might have already
told us what Law's role will be based on his naming scheme. Law unties a lot of references
to British sea faring. As Oda stated himself, Law was inspired by the real-life 18th century
pirate Edward Low, who was known for his cruelty, like cutting of his enemies body parts. He
had a deprived childhood surviving by stealing and brought up by a family of criminals. Sound
familiar? Oda took this real life pirate and gave it a twist. Law is rumored to be cruel,
but its actually not. Plus he cuts up people, but only using his devil fruit ability.
There are more British influences though. The white city in the north blue where Law
was born is most likely inspired by the white city in London in northern Europe, which is
famous for hosting the Japanese-British Exhibition. Law literally sails on a yellow submarine,
a homage to the famous song by the Beatles.
Law's name itself though has the most clues. In Japanese, trafalgar is actually spelled
torafaruga, with luffy calling law Tora, which literally means tiger, keeping law in line
with the animal theme of the warlords.
Now the other two major clues in his name are trafalgar as well as water. In Japanese,
the combination of the taboo name Water (ワーテル) and his given name Law (ロー) forms the
word Waterloo (ワーテルロー). Now, the battle of trafalgar and the battle of
Waterloo are two of the most famous battles in history, fought in the same war that led
to the downfall of emperor Napoleon.
During the battle of trafalgar on the coast of Spain, the British were led to victory
by the strategy of naval hero Horario Nelson, who not only had lost an arm, but also was
shot during the battle. The battle of Waterloo became famous as the downfall of Napoleon.
In this sense, the battle of Trafalgar and Nelsons wounds would represent Dressrosa,
which is inspired by Spain. Waterloo then would represent Wano and the end of the emperor,
in this case Kaido, which was enabled by the previous battle. Of course Law is one of the
central figures fighting in Wano right now and it will be interesting to see what will
happen to him after that battle is won.
There has always been a theme of death surrounding his character. The sergeant of death, his
devil fruit ability, the death number 4 in Japanese with his 4 names and his bounty of
440 million. So law might very well die, but I would personally prefer it to see him become
the happy and free person that Corazon originally wanted him to become.
You can watch his analysis by clicking right here. Thanks for watching.