People have been questioning Law’s motivations for a long time, this all started when Law appeared to save Luffy at Marineford. His motivations for doing this seemed suspicious. Things seemed to become more clear when we saw him again in Punk Hazard and he proposed an alliance with Luffy. Law apparently saved him in order to form an alliance later on.
Law had been working on this plan for some time, he had even gone to the lengths of obtaining Warlords status to enable himself to get on the inside with Ceaser.
We now know that Law had an ulterior motive in this plan and it was not the downfall of any of the Yonko but his revenge on Doflamingo for the death of Corazon. We learned later that despite any ambition he might have had to take down a Yonkou, he fully expected to die in his attempts to take down Doflamingo and had accepted this was the most likely outcome.
However, Law’s fate was changed at this moment, when Luffy prevented Doflamingo from killing him. Through this, they were able to defeat Doflamingo and suddenly the plan to take down a Yonko seemed more realistic. They began to set their sights on Wano.
Now Wano is in full motion and the battle against not one but two Yonko has begun. Soon the conditions of the original alliances will be fulfilled. So what will Law do next?
Since his ambition for revenge on Doflamingo was fulfilled, Law has established a new motive. He wants to learn the truth of the Will of D. This is actually something he discussed with Robin at some point, even admitting to her that he was a member of the D. clan The dialogue between them here is quite intriguing. Law trusts Robin, Luffy doesn’t care & they share a motivation to learn about the D. clan.
This gives us a clear motivation for Law to follow after Wano but what role will he take to pursue it? That brings us to the first possibility, the popular theory that Law is a member of the secret marine organization, Sword. This idea originally stems from this interaction between Law and Drake at Saboady, Law seems to be familiar with Drake.
We later learned that Law and Drake were actually connected by past events. They were both on Minion Island on the day Corazon gave the Op Op no Mi to Law and Doflamingo killed him. The man who had possessed the fruit was Drake’s father. Daz Barrels.
Drake escaped the island just before Law did. Interestingly, the lie Corazon tells to Doflamingo actually most likely explains what then happened to Drake. This suspicion was furthered when Drake seemed to free Law from imprisonment in Wano.
Law also has a connection to Coby, the Rocky Port Incident. This is how Law obtained his Warlord status to infiltrate Punk Hazard. Coby was the one who protected the citizens in this incident. Some would say, that’s a cover for them to meet.
There is more to the theory of Law being with Sword but let’s not focus too much on that, there are other possibilities. For now, Law being with Sword seems one of the stronger options for his path forward.
The next and seemingly most straightforward option is that Law simply remains an ally to Luffy, some would argue he’d even join the crew Personally, I think this is a boring option and if Law were to become a subordinate to Luffy, it would diminish his role in my opinion.
If Law doesn’t remain an ally, then what will his allegiances be, if any? Will he be friend or foe. Now we have to address, the possibility of betrayal. Law’s loyalty has been called into question before as well. After Drake had helped him escape and turns the tables on Hawkins, Hawkins questioned Law’s intentions, Law only said that it’s none of Drake’s concern.
But why would Law betray Luffy? He literally owes him his life and the fulfillment of his lifelong ambition. There would have to be a strong motivation. If this were to happen, it would most likely be because Luffy’s actions clash with Law’s motivation to learn the truth.
The strongest motivation for Law to betray Luffy is to obtain the Road Poneglyphs and this is the most likely way in which Law would do so. He was there on Zou when they learned about the Road Poneglyphs. It’s possible that he may already have stolen rubbings of the two that the Straw Hats got from Zou and Whole Cake Island.
Law was also searching for the Road Poneglyph in Onigashima, he comments that the one he found is not one of them. t’s possible then that when it comes down to it, Law may have cause to turn on Luffy to ensure he is able to fulfill his goal. This could happen when they find the last one. This could happen at Loadstar Island.
However, there are other possibilities that don’t necessarily involve Law betraying Luffy. There is also the implication made by Doflamingo, that Law has the potential to control Mariejois’ national treasure and there is some potentially major significance to his personality swap.
