Previous Law comments acknowledgement (spoiler tag to skip over as needed):
So yes, I remember that Law has directly stated he wants to aim to be Pirate King and is also a fellow D Clan member. My counter to this is the pattern of Law's true intentions being different from what he initially says. Law is super introverted (look at how small his crew and circle of friends are vs. Luffy and his mass of underlings). Because of this, it is not a lie in what he says, but he has an alternative motive for what he says, does, etc. So this is why I think there is complete overlap between Law saying he wants to take down Kaidou (real motivation being just screwing over Doffy with intent to die in the process) with the current situation of Law saying he wants to be Pirate King to his crew.
Law is clearly driven by rational decision making. He knows that networking and a means of Poneglyph translation is necessary to become Pirate King. His small crew is proof of the unwillingness to truly aim to be Pirate King. Even if he takes the easy way out of stealing the coordinates of the Road Poneglyphs, he doesn't have the crew to fight contenders off. A legit contender not only has to be Yonkou level, but needs mass underlings to keep the network of information safe and continuous.
We have no idea what the true motivation is now, but it will be something important. It almost has to deal with his ties to Corazon and his multiple names. Moreover, if it wasn't a facade, why would his crew be so surprised/shocked? Beppo has been with him from almost the start, so this is directly implied to be something new.
All the breadcrumbs indicate that Law has a hidden goal with the Pirate King goal being a fake front (some truth behind it but his heart is literally not in it).
I won't go too in depth on it, but Oda is back on his game and as a result future breadcrumbs are being scattered in them midst of the recent excitement. The biggest one for me is the end of chapter 976 and Law's expression.
Luffy and the rest of the allies are ecstatic, Kid is shocked, and Law looks pissed. Their comments reflect this as well. This is huge because of the implications. If Law wanted to see Luffy succeed in becoming Pirate King, Law would be happy like the rest of the allies. Even if he was neutral and only sees Luffy as a rival for Pirate King (Kid and their race to take down Kaidou/become Pirate King), there wouldn't be the disgust and grimace (Law's mouth). This implies that Jinbei is a direct hindrance to Law's true dream/goal (can't skip over the above spoiler if you don't think Law has an ulterior motive behind his empty words of saying he wants to aim for One Piece/Pirate King).
There is multiple pieces of evidence that Law wants to stick with Luffy for now. Despite saying he wants to leave, he still goes above and beyond (cutting away at his lifespan using huge Rooms often, contributing to plans, trying to keep the chaos of the Mugiwara crew in check, etc.). Law undoubtedly recognizes that Luffy is someone that wants to bring about change. The D aspect of Law is drawn to this and wants to see Luffy succeed in this, but only to a certain extent. Law also has to acknowledge Luffy's strength. He was distraught when Doffy recovered from his ultimate technique (Gamma Knife). Law knows he ranks under Luffy in terms of destructive power.
All of these breadcrumbs imply the current trend of Law sticking around and being a great ally for now. I fully expect the alliance to end on friendly terms too (Law is not needed for the wars against Shanks or Blackbeard). However, Law's true intentions means that towards the end of the series, he will likely be acting in direct conflict with Luffy.
Personally, the Corazon ties implies Law would want to see the downfall of the Government that led to the death of his "treasure". I'm SUPER curious if any legit info gets released with the upcoming side story on Law (next serialization of the Ace novel). When the history of Law's other names gets revealed, it should give insight on what direction Law's true dream is.
Since it is confirmation of something potentially 4-5 years from now, this is the biggest breadcrumb Oda dropped in the past couple months.
I posted the Kinemon cliffhanger because it was unusual for Oda to repeat cliffhangers in back to back chapters. Having a facial expression out of place makes it easier to pick up on Law, but I guess both have completely different context with Kinemon's case getting fully confirmed in the first pages of chapter 976.