The 2 currently known members Drake and Koby
Maybe he knew he had an ally within Wano which is why he chose Kaido. So let’s talk about Drake. During the one and only time we seen Drake and Law interact before the time skip, Law asked “how many people have you killed” This either implies that drake has a number so high that he has been on some murderous rampage. Or that he has a number so low that it is unusual for a pirate. It’s probably the latter and this could be a foreshadow to Law knowing that drake is an undercover Marine.
Oda had over 10 new characters in such a short arc. He had to chose wisely what he wanted to show in that limited amount of space. He felt it important enough to show Law and Drake interact.
Both are from the North Blue and they were both on Minion Island on the same fateful day. Their destinies have crossed once before so it wouldn’t be a surprise if Law as a Pirate in his early days had run ins with Drake as a Marine. Cut to present day and Law somehow escaped prison with help of a mysterious ally. Most of us think it’s Drake, and there are alot of times where I would be hesitant to go with the most obvious choice. But Kumorasaki is Hiyori and Kyoshiro is Denjiro and most of us could see that coming from a mile away so I don’t think Oda is trying too hard to make things a mystery in this arc.
Ever since then Law has been acting kinda suspicious. Oda has just been drawing him very shady.
This was a red herring that could lead some to believe Law is the traitor. None the less he is drawn looking shady here. Even after it is revealed that Kanjuro is the traitor Oda still decides to draw Law in way that shows him looking suspicious.
Again being very distant from the crowd. I could understand if he is uncomfortable around the samurai(they might be weary of him too), but he is with his crew too. In #4 Oda’s not even showing his eyes. He’s more often that not even keeping his distance from even his childhood friends.
If Law decides to side with SWORD, then you will know why has been weird in hindsight. Or maybe he has always been working with SWORD. They could have helped Law become a Shichibukai. There are currently two known SWORD members. As I said earlier, Law and Drake may have history from their time in the North Blue. However Law just so happens to have past ties to the one other known member, Koby. Oda mentioned the mysterious Rocky Port Incident once in chapter 700 with very little information. And then decided to mention it again 203 chapters later given no new information besides the fact that Koby was the hero of that incident.
Mentioned in one panel only in 700. We can assume the moment mentioned in ch 659 in which he captured 100 pirate hearts was the same incident, but it wasn’t mentioned by name. It’s not confirmed but I’d say it’s a safe bet. Mentioned in one panel only again in 903. So across 203 chapters this incident only gets mentioned in 2 panels.
It’s almost as if the only reason the incident exists for the purpose of the grand story is to mention it in order to set up a connection between Law and Koby. From that Incident Law was able to become a Warlord and Koby may have even been promoted from that incident or at least got a good rep as “The Hero”. Neither Drake nor Koby strike me as the leader of SWORD. Sure Drake is a Captain of SWORD, but in the context of the Marines that’s far from a top ranking position (Captain is among the 4th highest, and Fleet Admiral is alone at the top.) Maybe he did recruit Law, but could there be a founder or high ranking member that could also be responsible for Law’s inclusion in SWORD besides Drake.
