Cocky, badass, ruthless, mysterious… these are some of the adjectives that first come to mind when talking about Trafalgar Law. Even though this character first appeared in the world of One Piece in Episode 392, he’s only been extremely relevant to the main plot in the latest sagas. With his past still unknown, his character remains a mystery for lots of fans who don’t know wether they should trust him or not.

That’s why we’ve decide to make a character analysis (probably the first of a big saga of character analysis) to try to sort out who he is, what he wants and what Oda’s got planned for him.

WARNING: This article includes SPOILERS for the anime. We’re not gonna be discussing the manga here.

Law, alongside Kid and Luffy in Sabaody

Before the timeskip, the only thing we knew about Law was that he was one of the 11 Supernovas, also known as “The Worst Generation”. He’s the captain of the Heart Pirates (we’re still figuring out what that “heart”/”corazón” means). He’s also a doctor, known as “the Surgeon of Death”. Because of that, and for some reason “unknown”, he saved Luffy’s life after the war in Marineford.

We don’t know much about his past (except that it’s somehow related to Doflamingo) or about his motives. For now, the only thing we know is that he is (or was) interested in forging an alliance with the Straw Hats to take down Kaido, one of the Yonkous. Oh, and he’s also a Shichibukai now.

When describing Law, we could say that he’s the exact opposite of Luffy. Law is a laid-back person. He’s not as energetic and hyperactive as Luffy is. He is often seen calm no matter what the situation is. That’s not to say that he’s careless. Law is always analysing the situation coldly and thinking about his next step. He’s very ambitious and he works very hard to achieve his goals. Once he’s thought of something, he won’t stop until he gets it. He’s also very organised in his ways, always making plans and getting mad whenever Luffy someone doesn’t follow them.

This wouldn’t be possible if it wasn’t for the confidence he has in himself. He’s cocky, sometimes even arrogant. He knows how strong he is and he believes in his tactics. He doesn’t like taking orders from anyone, as he enjoys being captain. Little is known about his relationship with his nakamas but we know that they’re waiting for him in Zo and we can also deduce that they’re not as close as the Straw Hats are, who act more like a family.

Law is also cold-hearted and ruthless. The first time he met X Drake, he asked him how many people had he slain. Not to say that, just to become Shichibukai, he delivered the hearts of 100 pirates to the World Government. He also enjoyed cutting and humiliating Tashigi in Punk Hazard.

“Weaklings can’t pick their way of death”

Despite of all that, Law still has some compassion and honour. He helped the Straw Hats find a cure for the kids who were drugged in Punk Hazard and he admitted that he was not to be thanked for freeing the slaves in Sabaody, since that had been Luffy.

What is his goal?

As Sanji deduced, Law is willing to sacrifice himself to distract Doflamingo so that the Straw Hats can destroy the Smile factory causing Kaido’s revenge to fall on Doflamingo. In other words, Law’s plan wasn’t to defeat Kaido but Doflamingo. He also mentioned that his alliance with the Straw Hats was over. Law seems to be willing to die just to avenge “that person” (we already know who he’s trying to avenge in the manga). From my perspective, this sounds very familiar to the classic formula of someone’s life being centered towards revenge until Luffy comes around and frees them from their fate. This has happened with Robin, Nami or Brook, for example. Does this mean I think Law will be the new nakama? Hell no. As we’ve already stated, Law likes being captain and doesn’t like taking orders from anyone. He’s got his own crew who is waiting for him. But do I think that Luffy’s gonna defeat Doflamingo to avenge Law? Hmm… we’ll see. Law seems like too good of a character to step down to let the main character do everything, but I can see an scenario in which Luffy and Law fight together. This would end up in them being friends and remaining allies in the future.

Can we trust him?

We can’t say anything for sure (you never know with Oda and his plot twists) but Law hasn’t given us any reason not to trust him yet. He seems like a man committed to his words and he certainly seems to respect Luffy. We can say that he’s a guy who plays fair and who would never stab you in the back. And, let’s be honest, because of how different they are, Luffy and Law offer the audience some very interesting and comical situations and it’d be a shame that Oda didn’t take advantage of that.

There’s still a lot that we don’t know about Law and I’m sure our opinion will change once we learn all about his past during the Dressorosa arc. For now, Law remains a mystery and a big pain in the ass when it comes to writing him in fanfics. At least I hope this article made his character a bit more understandable!