The following contains spoilers for One Piece Chapter 1063, “My Only Family,” by Eiichiro Oda, Stephen Paul and Vanessa Satone, available in English from Viz Media
One Piece meta has an odd way of tying back into the main story. Additional material, like side-stories and how certain characters looked as children, can be snuck into the story with some fans never knowing where it came from. Now, the canon genderswap of Trafalgar Law has made it into the main story.
As of Chapter 1063, “My Only Family,” Trafalgar Law has officially been shown off as a woman. Before, this was only presented as a concept and nobody could have anticipated it would make it into the main story, yet Eiichiro Oda found a way to sneak in this wild what-if scenario. To emphasize what a big deal this is, here’s a look at how the Surgeon of Death’s makeover came to be and where it’s shown up in the past.
When Was Trafalgar Law Turned Into a Woman?
The genderswap happened as the Heart Pirates were being chased by the Blackbeard Pirates. Doc Q had used his Sick-Sick Fruit to infect Law and others in his crew with the feminization disease. As the name implies, it turned any man infected by it into a female. Law only stayed a woman for a couple of pages before breaking through the disease with Haki, but that the change happened at all can’t simply be overlooked.
This genderswapped version of Law has appeared in other One Piece media. In an SBS for Volume 72, Oda drew Law and other members of the Worst Generation as the opposite sex. This was back in 2013 when Luffy and crew were still in Dressrosa.
The Feminization Disease Made Law’s Genderswap Possible
A similar Rule 63 version of Law appeared as a collectible figure distributed by MegaHouse in 2016. She was the first of their Portrait Of Pirates I.R.O (Informal Request ONE PIECE) line. The I.R.O line was specifically focused on gender-swapping popular One Piece characters, namely Law and Luffy. Where Oda only provided a headshot of female Law, MegaHouse was generous enough to show the Surgeon of Death in all of her curvaceous glory — she also got her nails done.
As interesting as these designs were, they were pure speculation. Law was as likely to become a woman as he was to meet Emporio Ivankov, which is to say: not very. For the longest time, there was no reason to believe that Law would ever actually become a woman.
With the “help” of the feminization disease, this what-if scenario was finally brought to light. Even if it was just for a moment, seeing Law swap genders in the series proper came as a surprise to longtime fans of the franchise. It took nine years to pull off, but Oda finally found a way to make Law into the beautiful woman he was always meant to be.
