Trafalgar D. Water Law

Trafalgar D. Water Law is a character from the One Piece anime and manga.

Law is epithet as the "Surgeon of Death", is a pirate from North Blue and the captain and doctor of the Heart Pirates. He is one of twelve pirates who are referred to as the "Worst Generation" (formerly known as the "Eleven Supernovas"). He became one of the Shichibukai during the timeskip, but his position was revoked for allying with the Straw Hat Pirates and bringing down Donquixote Doflamingo. Law, like many other pirates, dreams of finding the One Piece.

During the timeskip, his bounty increased from 200,000,000 to 440,000,000, before it was frozen. After he was expelled from the Shichibukai, Law's bounty was raised to 500,000,000.

In the Heroes Coalition fics, Law is a member of the Heroes Coalition and is the leader of the Deadly Hearts.

Appearance
Law is a slim man of a relatively tall height. He has faint shadows right under his yellow eyes (grey in the anime), and his mouth is usually seen in a smile. He wears a northern-style fur hat, which is white and has a spotted pattern along the bottom and the bill. He has short dark hair, a majority of which is obscured by his hat, save for his sideburns and small goatee. His hair color is depicted as black in both the anime and manga, though sometimes the manga depicts it as blue.

He has many tribal-style tattoos on his arms; on both of his hands are letters spelled as D E A T H tattooed in black on each of the back of his fingers. Originally in the manga, his left thumb was not tattooed, with the letter A missing. Later on, all of his fingers were tattooed complete with all five letters. He also has a black cross on the back of both of his hands. On his chest, he has a tribal-style heart tattoo with his Jolly Roger on it. He has simpler heart tattoo on his shoulders and his Jolly Roger tattooed on his back.

He is seen wearing a yellow hoodie, with black sleeves and black hood. The hoodie has his Jolly Roger printed on the front of the chest area in dark ink, and he keeps the sleeves rolled up. Law wears a northern-style fur hat that has a rim running all around it. It is white in color, and has a black dot pattern along the rim and lower areas of the hat. Law also sports a pair of jeans with odd dots on both the knee and ankle areas, similar to the ones on his hat, but darker in color. He sports a pair of dark, pointed shoes. He has a pair of small earrings on each ear.

In SBS Volume 64, Oda drew the Supernovas as children. Law is shown with his fur hat and his faint shadows right under his eyes, but wore the uniform for the medical academy he was attending: a blue lab coat with a red tie, dark blue shorts and green shoes; he was holding a scalpel on his right hand and a frog on his left hand, since he was already in training to become a surgeon, with his father being his teacher. After escaping Flevance, Law lost his tie and lab coat, and his shirt underneath became more raggedy, and his shorts have white spots on them. Because of his heritage, he inherited the Amber Lead Syndrome that accumulated throughout the generations of Flevance, which left his skin white and pallid until he obtained his cure.

In Oda's depiction of the Supernovas post-timeskip, he seems to have lost the fur rim of his hat, and replaced it with a thick bill, turning it into a rather spherical hat resembling a Wool Skipper. His goatee has become somewhat scruffier, and his right hand now also has the fingers tattooed. He now wears a yellow t-shirt similar in appearance to his old hoodie. He wears a black hoodie over the t-shirt, which features his Jolly Roger on the chest area in yellowish-orange ink. The sleeves of the hoodie are no longer rolled up, and it now has a fluffy fur collar.

During the Punk Hazard Arc, Law wears a long black coat with his crew's jolly roger along the hem and on the sleeve.

During the Dressrosa Arc, he wears an open black coat with a hood which features the word Corazon on the back. During his second confrontation with Doflamingo, Law's right arm was cut off. It is later reattached by Leo and healed by Mansherry.

During the Zou Arc, Law changed into a dark, short-sleeved shirt with a light-colored heart pattern on the lower left side. He also bears stitch marks on his right arm after it being reattached by Leo.

Personality
While still a young boy attending a doctor's academy in Flevance, Law was a very kind and devoted child, refusing to leave his family behind despite falsely promised evacuations at hand, and aspiring to become a great doctor like his father while happily going to festivals with his beloved family. Upon the destruction of his homeland, the annihilation of his classmates and family, and diagnosed with no more than thirty-eight months to live, Law suffered a mental breakdown and, according to Doflamingo, came to be known for being very cruel and cunning, having wanted to join Doflamingo's crew so he could destroy everything around him. Only after having been cured of his illness by Corazon did Law have a change of heart.

Law is an extremely laid-back man, who is nearly always seen calmly smiling when not put into a tense situation. After the time-skip, he doesn't smile as much anymore, but usually has a more cautious, observing expression on his face. He usually smiles instead when he is trying to provoke someone or is pleased that a plan went as it was intended. He seems to have little regard for fame, as he stated that he is not interested in his new bounty of 500,000,000. He did not seem as eager to reach the New World as the other Supernova crews, believing that One Piece will still be there regardless while the other crews fight amongst themselves, and that he needs to steal the throne properly.[16] He then began a mission to achieve Shichibukai status, to allow him much more freedom to do as he pleases in his journey through the New World on the way to One Piece.

He also has a more reckless attitude when faced against other pirates that the World Government has labelled as a higher threat. For example, he casually asked X Drake how many people he had slain in his very first appearance, and had no qualms about flipping off Eustass Kid, the most wanted Supernova on the archipelago, even smiling defiantly when doing so. Law has also performed the gesture to Donquixote Doflamingo to display his contempt for his former captain.

He hates being ordered around, as evidenced by his frown and following reply when Kid told him and Monkey D. Luffy to stay back as he would hold off the attacking Marines. He is, however, capable of knowing when he and his immediate crew are in a pinch, and is not above resorting to forging brief alliances with rivals for survival.

Despite having his life saved by Rosinante, Law remains incredibly hardened by his tragic past in his adulthood, as many people think Law to be a cold and cruel man, as Scratchmen Apoo stated that Law was infamous for his cruelty, and one of Smoker's men claimed he cut out the hearts of one hundred pirates and sent them to the government in order to gain the position of Shichibukai. In battle, Law is sarcastically merciful, using his powers to mutilate his enemies without fatally harming them, before toying around with their bodies in a mocking fashion. After bisecting Tashigi in a similar manner, his only response was disdain, ruthlessly disregarding Tashigi's pride and honor as a swordswoman. He even offered to strike her down if she really wanted to die that badly. His cruel side is also displayed when he suggested to leave the kids on Punk Hazard behind, as they were too much of a burden to deal with.

Law is very blunt when responding to people. Such occasions include when Ivankov asked if Law was a friend of Luffy, to which he replied no, and even offered to make an excuse so as to make Ivankov feel better about him saving Luffy. Soon after, a wounded Jinbe went to thank him, only for Law to reply that Jinbe would die if he did not sleep. Later when Jinbe asked what would happen to Luffy if he was allowed to run rampant while still wounded, Law replied that the outcome was simple: Luffy's wounds would open up and he would die. He also has no qualms explaining to other people on how he accomplished nullifying their attacks with his abilities, and before that, even stated to Tashigi that weaklings do not get the right to choose the manner in which they die, a statement that he took from Doflamingo.

Despite Law's terse and rather cruel demeanor towards others, Law still retains strong compassion and kindness, which he originally had as a boy, while regaining them due to Rosinante's influence, such as how he decided to help the Straw Hats find a cure for the children affected by Caesar's drugs, even though he originally did not want to have anything to do with them, and later voluntarily curing the children of their deadly poisoning and addiction for NHC10 in a similar fashion to how Rosinate saved him from dying of Amber Lead Syndrome. He also warned the Straw Hats to be careful of Caesar's ability, and told those who did not have the ability to engage Logias to stay away. Due to his compassion, Law would even help his future rivals, which is seen when he appeared at Marineford to save Luffy, in spite of the immense danger of encountering the Admirals such as Kizaru, whom pirates normally go to great lengths to avoid, though he chose to conceal his kindness with the claim that it would be too lame if Luffy were to die. Another aspect of his kindness is that he despised wickedness, as he was disgusted when he heard that Caesar subjected the kids on Punk Hazard to addictive drugs. Law's compassion is also shown in Zou. During his discussion with Luffy about their future battle against Kaido, he expressed strong concern for the Mink Tribe as he feared that their presence in Zou would cause the Beast Pirates to ruthlessly destroy the Mokomo Dukedom and its mink citizens, who were already brutally devastated by Jack. Many minks were even tearfully moved by Law's kindness. He is also honorable, as he refuses to take credit that is due to others, as seen when he replied to Jean Bart that his thanks is deserved by Luffy when the former slave offered his gratitude to the pirate captain. Another example would be that when his crew believed that he defeated Doflamingo, he corrected them by saying that Luffy was the one who took down Doflamingo on Dressrosa.

Like some of the D family that bear the initial D., Law has a strong belief in fate, believing it was fate that brought Rayleigh to Luffy, and that Luffy was fated to fight Doflamingo on Dressrosa.

Like Luffy and some other male Straw Hats, Law seems to be amused by "cool" things, as demonstrated when Kanjuro told them that his companion Raizo is a ninja. Upon meeting Raizo, Law joined in along with the other Straw Hat males in taking part of the fun of the ninja's display of tricks and abilities, even so much as to request a specific technique, though it appeared he tried to stay deadpan to hide his excitement.

Abilities
Overview

In his youth, after Law realized he was dying, he went to Doflamingo to join the future Shichibukai's crew, planning on causing as much devastation as possible to the world before dying. Doflamingo accepted Law, and while part of the Donquixote Pirates, he learnt swordsmanship from Diamante, marksmanship from Gladius and martial arts from Lao G, in Doflamingo's hope to find a cure for Law and raise him into being the third Corazon.

Law is shown to have a strong will as he, along with most of his crew, proved resistant to Rayleigh's burst of Haoshoku Haki that took out almost everyone in the Auction House. This feat caused Rayleigh to comment on him being a fearsome pirate. He was also able to withstand the clash of Haoshoku Haki between Luffy and Doflamingo.

Even Donquixote Doflamingo commented to his subordinates at Punk Hazard about Law's potential while comparing it to Luffy's, which Doflamingo witnessed himself during the war at Marinefordtwo years ago. Doflamingo saw talent in Law and intended to make him into his right hand man. He reserved the Heart seat for Law, showing that the latter is considered on the same level as the elite officers of the Donquixote Family. Vergo was only able to keep ahead of Law because he had the latter's heart at the time, a situation that immediately reversed after Smoker (reluctantly) helped Law to retrieve the organ.

He is also apparently quite fearless, as he allowed several Marines to get within close-range of him on Sabaody Archipelago, despite being a long-range fighter. During their stay at Sabaody Archipelago, the Kid Pirates and Heart Pirates were caught in a battle with a Pacifista. The end of the battle was unseen, but since they reappear during the Marineford Arc, it can be assumed that they either defeated the Pacifista or managed to elude it. Kizarumentioned that the Heart Pirates did a good job at running away.

Sometime during the timeskip, Law has become so powerful and infamous that even the ruthless Marines of G-5 were deeply afraid of him. He had gained a bounty that surpassed Luffy's at the time, and brought a hundred pirates' hearts to the World Government, earning him a position in the Shichibukai. Law was able to battle and eventually defeat Smoker, a Marine vice admiral and a Logiauser without getting himself seriously injured. He also defeated Vergo in one move while before, in the past, he was unable to even harm him. He is now strong enough to counter attacks from an Admiral and a fellow Shichibukai at the same time, as shown during his confrontation with Issho and Doflamingo.

Physical Abilities

In addition to his Devil Fruit, Law underwent an extremely rigorous combat training regimen under the Donquixote Pirates as a child, attaining incredible superhuman physical prowess. While still a twelve year old boy, he was already strong enough to throw Rosinante, a very tall and large man, by grabbing him by the leg. Additionally, he has the physical power to block Doflamingo's extremely powerful Overheat string which shook the Thousand Sunny with just his sword. He easily wielded Kikoku, a sword as tall as himself with great speed, and is able to slice enemies faster than they can react as well as keep up with Doflamingo.

He has also displayed exceptionally great endurance, as he had his heart directly crushed to the point where he lost consciousness, only to recover shortly afterwards. In addition, he was also capable of enduring a prolonged brutal beating from Vergo which resulted in him becoming severely bloody before defeating him in a single blow once Smoker had retrieved his heart. Even as a child dying from from the incurable Amber Lead Syndrome, Law was able to keep up with the very harsh training regimen of the Donquixote Pirates of which even adults could not keep up with. Even when his disease reached a fatal stage, he could survive two ruthless beatings from Vergo.

Even when he was defeated and injured by Donquixote Doflamingo and Admiral Fujitora, as well as pinned to the ground by Issho's Devil Fruit power, Law was able to quickly recover and escape.

During his second confrontation with Doflamingo, Law was able to fight him and, even though he was still wounded from their first encounter as well as having his right arm severed while being brutally assaulted further, he was able to continue fighting and deal Doflamingo a severe wound with his Gamma Knife move. Also, even though Law was incapacitated by Trebol, he was still able to use his Devil Fruit Power to control his severed arm as well as defeat the officer.

Law also has formidable skills in martial arts, having been trained in this aspect by Lao G. In the anime, Law was able to hold his own against Luffy, an extremely powerful fighter in a fist fight, when Breed forced Luffy to fight Law through the Peto Peto no Mi. With Busoshoku Haki, Law could block against Doflamingo's Goshikito with his arms crossed in a defensive stance. Even at age 13, Law could defeat both Penguin and Shachi, who were bullying Bepo, a mink who is a natural born fighter, impressing them to the point they swore loyalty to him.

Medical Expertise

Since childhood, Law was already well versed in medicine, having attended an academy for medical science, while his father, the best doctor of Flevance, personally taught him the more intricate procedures. Even after he joined the Donquixote Pirates, he still retained a profound understanding of medical science, as he was able to use the Ope Ope no Mi to remove all traces of the Amber Lead inside his dying body. This was noteworthy as he was able to find a cure for the poisoning that was said to be incurable and live past the age he was supposed to die at. His medical aptitude was what led Donquixote Rosinante to conclude that Law was most compatible with the fruit, which prompted him to secure the Ope Ope for Law after he received information from both his brother and Sengoku of the fruit's present whereabouts at the time.

He earned the nickname "Surgeon of Death" due to his immense surgical skills in addition to his formidable combat abilities. He was able to simultaneously operate on both Luffy and Jinbe right after both of them barely escaped a murderous Akainu who inflicted brutal life threatening injuries that left them on the brink of death and was successful in treating them. The mere fact that he was able to stabilize Jinbe's condition strongly hints that Law's medical expertise is not limited to human anatomy alone (though human and fishmen share the same blood, so it is possible that they have similar anatomies). He later volunteers to find a cure for the children's condition at Punk Hazard, showing that he is also very knowledgeable in pharmacology. The fact he was able to apply pharmacology knowledge into his Devil Fruit powers so as to remove most of Caesar's deadly NHC10 drug out of the children's bodies, though not completely, is a noteworthy feat and is something even Chopper was amazed by.

The spatial powers given to him by the Ope Ope no Mi allow Law to perform even the most complicated and difficult surgeries perfectly with great ease, as they allow him to cut a patient's body open and remove organs without damaging any tissues, leaving scars, or causing the patient to bleed a single drop of blood while removing any disease-causing impurities as well as poisonous substances and narcotic drugs from the patient's body. This was demonstrated, off screen, during the conclusion of the Punk Hazard arc, in which he had treated the children with a series of surgeries that involved cutting the childrens' bodies apart in a manner that initially made Chopper believe he had killed them.

As a boy, Law was able to remove all the poisonous amber lead inside his dying body thus curing himself of the Amber Lead Syndrome while proving his capability to use the Ope Ope no Mi for treating even incurable diseases. Law could also apply his medical knowledge of anatomy into his Devil Fruit powers for combat, such as precisely removing important and delicate organs of powerful enemies such as the heart which would render them vulnerable to lethal harm such as death, which was proven when Law extracted Monet's heart with his power and gave it to Caesar, who fatally stabbed Monet's heart while bypassing her defensive powers as a Logia user, effectively killing her, Law, as well as Sanji and Bege, was able to keep Caesar who is also a Logia user and a dangerous criminal under complete control due to having taken his heart hostage which was removed in a similar fashion, and the fact he used his anatomical knowledge to invent the Gamma Knife technique on his Devil Fruit which could fatally rupture and destroy the internal organs of even a Shichibukai like Doflamingo further proving the fearsome way Law could actually weaponize his medical knowledge.

Tactical Skills

Law is a very crafty and opportunistic leader and also a highly skilled strategist, being the only member of the Worst Generation to voluntarily rest in the Paradise half of the Grand Line for at least two months before entering the treacherous region of the New World, proving great caution and tactical preparedness. He obtained the title of Shichibukai in order to avoid detection of his actions and easily sail through the New World. While in Punk Hazard, Law secretly swapped numerous Seastone chains with ordinary chains as a future precaution that proved to be critical in allowing him to stealthily escape from Caesar's cage that is about to be exposed to the deadly Shinokuni gas.

As Vergo noted, Law concocted a multi-layered plan to cripple Doflamingo's Smile trade by destroying the SADproduction facilities on Punk Hazard as well as abducting Caesar, the only person who knows how to create the unique substances. Through this plan, Law managed to force Doflamingo, an extremely cunning and resourceful pirate in his own right into a utterly disadvantageous choice of quitting the Shichibukai and facing the Admirals or keeping his position and face Kaido's wrath. He was able to fool Doflamingo into believing he killed him by swapping places with a foot soldier when the latter shot him repeatedly and retaliated when the latter's guard was down. When badly weakened, Law resort to tactically defeat Trebol, tricking the latter into letting his guard down to finish him off with his Sterben technique.

Devil Fruit"Main Article: Ope Ope no Mi"Law is the user of a Devil Fruit called the Ope Ope no Mi, which allows him to create a spherical territory of light blue aura. In this territory, he is capable of separating and spatially displacing anything and everything inside (including himself), referred to as that he can "operate" on anything within the spherical "operating room". Easily among the most versatile Devil Fruits around, with his powers, Law is capable of causing mass havoc within the area he controls. He can also use it for teleportation purposes. He has also demonstrated being able to apply his ability for medical purposes, as seen when he cured the giant children from their addiction brought by Caesar's drugs.

Law appears to have mastered his power to such a great extent, that he can even cut through someone who completely imbued their body in Busoshoku Haki.

The weakness of the technique seems to be the concentration required to use it; Law must gesture with his hands to centralize the effects upon its victims, which can allow an opening for a fast enough opponent, such as Vergo. His abilities also depletes his strength the more he uses them. Also, given Law's strategic nature, he seems to have a strong tendency to preserve every bit of his stamina in preparation before facing off against powerful adversaries, like the likes of Doflamingo, as seen when he consistently refused to use his powers to aid the Straw Hat Pirates as they made their way towards Green Bit.[23] Other than that, he has the same standard weaknesses as all Devil Fruit users.

Swordsmanship

Law is extremely skillful in wielding his Nodachi Kikoku, a sword about as tall as he is. Even without using his Devil Fruit abilities, Law is capable of fighting even a Vice-Admiral such as Smoker, as he is able to clash against his jitte with little effort and even block extremely powerful long range attacks such as Doflamingo's Overheat. In contrast to the ranged slashes of traditional swordsman, Law’s sword slashes don’t travel but simply provide the cutting effect while his spatial manipulation within his ROOM provides the range. Through spatial slicing, he can dismember people without harming them and attach separated parts in any manner he sees fit.

His swordsmanship combined with his Devil Fruit powers enable him to mutilate numerous people at once faster than they can react, apparently defeating Kin'emon a very powerful swordmaster who is capable of cutting steel and use fire enhanced slashes in this manner. He also was able to quickly defeat Tashigi, a highly skilled swordswoman of the Marines, severing her sword in two, as well as taking down Scotch and his giant knife in one swift move. He also managed to mutilate Trebol, an enormous man and also one of the strongest members of the Donquixote Pirates.

His greatest swordsmanship feats shown so far have been defeating Vergo, one of the strongest members of the Donquixote Pirates, where the wake of his slash was capable of cutting apart Caesar's laboratory and the surrounding mountains, and cutting a meteor in half.

He also managed to wrap the rope created by Donquixote Doflamingo's attack around his sword.

Haki"Main Article: Haki"

Busoshoku Haki
Law has shown great proficiency in Busoshoku Haki, able to block Doflamingo's Goshikito which is powerful and sharp enough to slice Issho's meteorite and also took out a large portion of the palace without getting injured at all.

During his battle with Smoker, Law was shown capable of bypassing the vice-admiral's Logia defenses thanks to his own Haki powers.

Weapon "Main Article: Kikoku"Kikoku is a large version of the typical Japanese sword type known as a nodachi. It has an oblong-shaped hand-guard coated with short white fur, sheathed in a black scabbard decorated by white crosses from the opening to the bottom, and with a small piece of red rope tied near its opening. Law appears to be quite skilled with it, being able to slice up targets from a distance (although this effect is attributed to his Devil Fruit power). Due to its size, Law usually carries this sword over his shoulder (in contrast to the other sword-wielding characters in the series, who either carry theirs on their hips or over their backs); yet in other times, he delegates one of his crewmates (namely Bepo) to carry this sword for him. Law was able to deflect Doflamingo's strings with his sword, which is noteworthy, as Doflamingo managed to effortlessly cut everything else so far.

Trivia

 * Law's surname, Trafalgar, was taken with cape Trafalgar in the south-west of Spain. Its name is Arabic in origin, meaning "Western Cape". It was a famous naval battle between the British and the French/Spanish fleet during the Napoleonic Wars, dubbed the Battle of Trafalgar. London's landmark Trafalgar Square is named for the battle, as is a class of submarines in the British Royal Navy.
 * Law's full name, Water Law, was taken with fight with Wellington, may be a reference to Waterloo, the place in where, on June 18th 1815, was fought the final battle of the Napoleonic Wars which represented the ultimate defeat of Napoleon at the hands of the Seventh Coalition. The British commander at Waterloo, Arthur Wellesley, was the duke of Wellington.
 * When Brannew introduces the Shichibukai in the Chapter 700, Law is credited as "the mastermind behind the Rocky Port Incident (Rokkī Pōto Jiken)". No information about this event has been revealed so far.
 * Law's wanted poster shows Bepo appearing in the background with his head turned in the same position and stance as Usopp in Luffy's poster.
 * In the 6th Japanese Fan Poll, Law placed 4th, making him the most popular non-Straw Hat character.
 * In the 5th fan poll, he placed 2nd, making him the only character to place 2nd who is not Zoro, who has placed 2nd in every other poll.
 * At 26 years old, he is the youngest individual known to ever hold a position as one of the Shichibukai.
 * Law uses the "smiley" style of Jolly Roger, as first seen used by his former superior Donquixote Doflamingo. But unlike Doflamingo's smiley, his does not have a "cancel" sign across it. The smiley most likely refers to the final moments of Donquixote Rosinante, who died with a smile before he told Law to remember him smiling from that day onwards.
 * Law's character song, which was released as a bonus song on the One Piece Log Collection - Sabaody CD is called "Dr. Heart Stealer". This is likely a reference to the hearts of 100 pirates he obtained in order to become a member of the Shichibukai or his ability Mes which he used to remove people's hearts from their bodies.
 * Although he isn't named after him (Zoro is), Law's escape from the attack on Flevance almost mirrors the actions of real-life pirate Francois L'Olonnais, who was shipwrecked and attacked by Spaniards. L'Olonnais covered himself in the blood of his crew and hid amongst their dead bodies in order to survive. L'Olonnais was also known to be ruthlessly cruel, mutilating body parts and internal organs with his sword when torturing victims.