Trafalgar Law is one of the members of the Worst Generation who made his debut during the Sabaody Archipelago arc of One Piece. Barely anyone thought Law will become as important to the story as he is today but as the years go by, his significance to the story only increases. Hailing from the North Blue, Trafalgar Law is the Captain of the Heart Pirates and before the timeskip in One Piece, he had acquired a bounty of 200 million, which is rather impressive.
Law had already earned the moniker of "The Surgeon of Death," which directly references his skill and his Devil Fruit ability. At the same time, he also has a reputation of being extremely cruel which might actually have been exaggerated. Aside from all the fame that he's achieved over the years, one of the most striking things about Trafalgar Law is his many tattoos. Seen right away during the Sabaody Archipelago arc, Law's tattoos were further explored with time, and surprisingly, every single one of them carries great significance.
Trafalgar Law's Main Tattoos
The most apparent tattoo that Trafalgar Law bears are the ones on his fingers and they spell "DEATH," with a letter on each of the fingers. On his right hand, the tattoo starts from the thumb and ends on his pinkie. On his left, it starts from the pinkie and ends on his thumb. While this tattoo might be confusing to some, it is clearly a reference to the epithet that he's received at some point in his life. As mentioned earlier, Law is known as the "Surgeon of Death" and is feared across the world because of that. At some point in time, he likely decided to get that tattooed across his fingers on both of his hands.
Law's second most significant tattoo is one that fans got to see during the Dressrosa arc where a lot of his past was finally revealed to the fans. In typical Oda fashion, almost all of his new tattoos were connected to his past in one way or the other, starting from the one on his chest. Law bears a heart-shaped tattoo on his chest with a smiling face in the middle of it, almost exactly like the one that his Jolly Roger bears. The heart has great significance in Trafalgar Law's life and connects directly to his benefactor, Donquixote Rosinante, also known as Corazon, which translates to "Heart" in Spanish.
When Law escaped from Flevance with the Amber Lead disease, he had witnessed a massacre and wanted to burn the whole world down. At this point, Law was already quite nihilistic bit more importantly, he was another Doflamingo in the making and surely under him, Law would've turned out exactly like that. With only about 3 years left to live, Law wanted to destroy as much as he could, despite being just 10 years old. It was then that Corazon, Doflamingo's brother, took it upon himself to stop Law from becoming a monster and help him out because he realized Law needed it more than anyone.
By risking his own loyalty to the Navy and, at the same time, arousing the suspicion of his brother, Corazon betrayed both for Law's sake. Eventually, he saved his life by feeding him the Ope Ope no Mi, a heart-shaped Devil Fruit, and ensured that he escaped Doflamingo's grasp. On that day on Swallow Island, Corazon died smiling and this became significant for Law. The tattoo that Law carries on his chest is a heart, which references Corazon, and the sacrifice he made for him. The smiling face at the center of it is a reference to the smile that Corazon had moments before he died while saving Law.
On his shoulders, Law carries two heart-shaped tattoos and, once again, both are quite clearly a reference to his benefactor, Corazon. On his back, Law bears his Jolly Roger, which isn't all that uncommon in the series. Portgas D. Ace carried Whitebeard's Jolly Roger on his back and Whitebeard himself did the same. Similarly, Law has the Jolly Roger of the Heart Pirates on his back with a smiling face to honor Corazon who wanted Law to remember him smiling for the rest of his life. At the same time, the tattoo also mocks Doflamingo, who has a very similar Jolly Roger, only with the smile crossed out. Doflamingo also saved the Heart seat for Law on his crew and Law still claims the Heart for himself, mocking him even more in the process.
Law's Unexplained Tattoos
Other than the ones explained above, Law carried a few more tattoos the meaning of which remains obscured at the moment. On the top of his hands, Law has a tattoo that resembles a black cross. This could simply be a reference to him being a pirate or more, it could be something deeper that fans don't know just yet. Furthermore, on his forearms, Law also carries yet another tattoo that resembles his Jolly Roger without the smiling face enclosed in what seems to be a gear. Perhaps, this may be a reference to the iconic line at the end of Punk Hazard where he declares that he has broken the gears and that there's no turning back. It could also be something much deeper than that.
Unfortunately, the meaning of these tattoos isn't known just yet. Hopefully, in the future, Eiichiro Oda answers the lingering questions about the unexplained tattoos that Law carries.
