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imalemonthatrants · 3 years

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Alien Invasion Apocalypse AU LawZo

Detailed summary fic style, because I can't write full fics without wanting to die. This one is pretty fragmented with my ideas, so it'll be choppy. I just wanted to put out my dark!Law and Zoro fic. Alien!Law and Human!Zoro

Part one, cause I didn't realize I was going to write such a long fucking world building opening. Dark Lawzo should be found in part two. I will admit, it does seem pretty zolu in this though.

Earth was invaded by aliens when Zoro was 18 and chilling at Luffy's place, a promise to the younger boy's older brothers to take care of Luffy until they came back. Not that Zoro needed to make that type of promise, as he saw the excitable, straw hat wearing boy as his own younger brother, but sometimes, it's the words being said that make his resolve that much stronger.

And his resolve to take care of Luffy and make sure he stayed safe and alive in the midst of an alien fucking apocalypse had to be strong when it came to the crazy boy.

At first, Zoro convinced Luffy to wait at home, in the throes of their city where the aliens have yet to descend to, that's protected by policemen and army men and all that jazz. It worked well for about a week before Luffy declared that they should just go to Ace and Sabo instead. Two people that were in two very different locations.

It didn't help that civilian communication lines have gone completely down, leaving them in the dark of how the two brothers were doing. And Zoro, though he KNEW that staying in a well guarded and protected place was the best course of action, was also secretly worried for the two men. Anyways, Luffy had him watching his back, and there's no way Zoro would let Luffy die in any way, shape, or form without him dying first. And he doesn't plan on dying.

So they leave. Literally having to sneak out the city turned base with a food supply that Zoro clumsily gathered and in an old beat up car. Luffy, of course the shitty brat, goes through what Zoro had thought would be a week's worth of food within a day, they're fucking lost as all hell, because the GPS obviously doesn't work, what with satellites being taken over by aliens, and neither of them really knew which way to go, and aliens could be at the next fucking exits they take, ready to kill and murder them or capture and enslave them or whatever the fuck the aliens were doing with humans. Fuck if Zoro knew at that time.

How they got from that fucked situation to it being a year later, Zoro, 19, Luffy, a young 17, and somehow, the kid is a beacon of HOPE to humanity in a world on the brink of destruction against another species far superior in all ways to humans. Through that year of struggle, as they go from city to city, war zone to war zone, trying to find Ace and Sabo, who's fled their original location as it was one of the first places to be attacked, Zoro's stuck by his promise without a hint of hesitation.

He's taken plasma bullet after plasma bullet for the younger boy. Clashed plasma swords (that he's looted or snatched off of unsuspecting aliens) against plasma swords aimed at his precious best friend's neck. He's learned to keep one eye open in the nights, as both of them slept like the dead, and grew experienced in battle, in fights against creatures physically stronger and faster than him. He's broken bone after bone, bled out pint after pint of blood, but he never hesitated to follow Luffy into battle. Doesn't hesitate to go through with Luffy's definitely-not-a-plan-but-Luffy-says-it-is plans and fully supported the straw hat wearing boy through all his choices.

But even then, Zoro knew that Luffy was wearing down. Through their travels, they've met people after people, saved hundreds and lost handfuls, and all of them grew to rely on the never faltering smile that was etched onto Luffy's face. But Zoro knew Luffy, and despite the insanity and seemingly unstoppable force that the boy portrayed, Luffy was still that.

A young boy.

And the fact that they've yet to see or hear about his older brothers were beginning to weigh on the boy. It's there, lingering in Luffy's eyes, when he's staring up at the skies, away from prying eyes. Luffy, no matter how naive he acted or seemed, knew what he meant to their current growing army. He was their source of strength, their rock, the anchor to weigh them on rocky ocean waves, and him showing weakness would only incite fear and incertainty.

One night, long after a wild party thrown for another close victory in a skirmish against the aliens, Luffy had shuffled over to his side. ("Zoro, let's have a sleepover!" Luffy said with his usual odd laugh. It's not much a sleepover, considering they've been sleeping next to each other for the past year, but Zoro lets the younger boy call it that.) Even though there was plenty of room to camp out in the worn and battered building, Luffy had slid his bedroll next to Zoro's, connecting the two with the zippers and slipping in to curl next to him.

Surprisingly, Luffy doesn't chatter away like he always did until he fell asleep. The boy doesn't fall asleep, either. Zoro knew Luffy wasn't asleep because they've slept next to each more times within the past year than they had in the other remaining 10 years that he's known the kid. He's stayed awake from the pain of his injuries, listening to his very much alive and mostly unharmed best friend breath in and out, a snore often times breaking the rhythm, and occasionally, some sleep talk.

So it doesn't surprise him when he felt Luffy's fingers grip onto his tattered shirt, head bowed against his back.

"...Do you think Ace and Sabo are alive?" Luffy asked quietly, then and there, his voice so weak, so fearful, that Zoro could be told it was someone else other than Luffy, and he'd probably believe them.

But Zoro knew that this was Luffy. And if he were to be honest, he would tell the boy that he didn't know, that with how the world was currently there was a high chance that they weren't. But he doesn't. Instead, he told him,

"Of course."

Because who was Luffy to rely on if not for him, the boy's best friend and the one who's followed him throughout this entire journey through a time of chaos and danger.

Luffy chuckled into his shirt, grip relaxing, the tension leaving his body.

"If Zoro says so, then it has to be true." Luffy said sleepily, his voice so calm and serene that Zoro doesn't regret lying. "Zoro never lies to me."

Even with those words slipping out of the boy's lips as he went to sleep, Zoro does not regret. Instead, he simply believed in his own words, silently reminding himself of a promise to two men and pressing himself back against the younger boy as he fell into a light sleep.

It was weeks later, when their close victories were slowly becoming closer and closer to losses. Not quite losses, as at the end of the battles, it is they that come out on top, the aliens forced to retreat back instead of scouring the area for stragglers to kill or enslave. But the increasing number of casualties, the way the aliens were beginning to become stronger and more powerful than before, now with unique abilities that Zoro had believed only to have existed in fiction, and the way Luffy was beginning to exit battle more and more battered, as Zoro is unable to defend the boy's back as much due to the increasingly difficult opponents, told a different story.

Then it finally happened. The end of yet another close battle, Luffy, weak and wobbly, perhaps from lost of blood and blows to the head. A falling water tower loosened by the battle around them. Zoro doesn't hesitate, as always. Doesn't hesitate to rush over, forcing his battered and destroyed body over to knock the boy out of the way pounds of falling steel.

A broken corner of a steel plate jammed into his body, knocking him down to his back. He's clumsily trying to resist the weight of gravity and steel with his arms, trying to stop the mess from completely cutting him in two and he could feel muscles and tendons and ligaments snapping, bones succumbing to a weight that his battered body could not longer support. Vaguely, he could feel support pipes stabbing through him like a pin cushion in his stomach and his thighs and something crushing parts of his ankles, guaranteeing that he would not walk out of this alive.

There's water, too. Dripping onto his face, but Zoro wondered if it was sweat or blood, and knew for a fact that the warm liquid he felt pooling under him was his own blood.

When everything finally settled, when the fog of exhaustion clears a little to every single bit of his body screaming of pain, he made of Luffy's voice. Shrill, distressed. He could hear the boy banging at the steel that's piled on top of him, could feel parts shifting, making him wanting to scream as metal dug deeper into his body with every movement.

"ZORO." He could hear Luffy scream. The boy repeated it over and over, and Zoro gritted his teeth, because moments before this, he saw the telltale signs of reinforcements coming in. Enemy reinforcements.

"Luffy." Zoro forced out, his voice more steady than he had expected.

"Zoro, you're okay!" Luffy replied back. "You're okay. I'm going to get you out of this." And Zoro gritted his teeth at the relief in the boy's voice, glad that the other cannot see the state his body was in.

"No, Luf." Zoro said. "You have to go."

"...What?" Luffy said, small and frightened.

"Luffy, you have to get away." Zoro repeated.

"No!" He could hear the boy scream, anger and desperation in his voice. "No! I'm not leaving you here! I can get you out!" The metal moved some more and Zoro held back his scream, even as tears pricked at his eyes, blurring his vision more than it already was.

"Luffy." Zoro choked out. "There are more coming. I saw them."

"It's fine! I can beat them." Luffy shouted. "I can get you out of this!" The metal shuffled more violently, stars dancing in Zoro's vision.

"Luffy, no." He gasped out. "You can't stay. Everyone needs you, Luf. You need to get them out of here."

And this paused Luffy. Zoro knew it would, because he knew Luffy felt responsible for the lives standing behind him. A responsibility Zoro never wanted to use against the young boy. But he had to, to get Luffy to live.

"...I can't leave you here." He heard Luffy whisper. And Zoro squeezed his eyes shut, guilt hurting him far more than the physical injuries that he had.

"I can get out of here on my own." Zoro lied.

"You're lying." Luffy said, his voice shaking. Zoro forced out a laugh.

"When have I ever lied to you?" Zoro said. Luffy doesn't respond, and Zoro pushed once more.

"Just go on ahead, I'll be right behind you."

"...You promise?" Luffy asked, voice as small and weak as the night of their sleepover many nights ago.

"Yes." Zoro said, without hesitation. "I promise."

There was the sound of shuffling, but to Zoro's luck, no shifting of the metal.

"You promised, Zoro." Luffy said, his voice low. "So I better see you again." And then there's the sound of Luffy's footsteps as it grew quieter and quieter as the boy went further and further away.

No doubt, Luffy would try to come back with others, but Zoro is also damn sure that they'll stop Luffy from doing so, because they've probably seen the signs of reinforcements coming in as well.

And because Zoro promised Luffy, he truly did try to escape his steel cage. He forced the snapped muscles and crushed bones of his arms to uselessly push at the steel plate stuck jabbed into his body. Even as it caused the feeling of blood to pool more and more underneath him. Even as his vision goes black for brief moments from the pain. Because as long as he was still breathing, he had to try.

He doesn't know long he had left. Doesn't know how long it'll be for the alien reinforcement to arrive and cut out his possible escape, despite his inability to move anything. He does know when they arrive, though, because he could feel the strange pressure the stronger ones emitted, oddly enough, gathering around him. There's the faint murmur of alien language, that's mostly drowned out of the sound of his own gasping breaths, as he felt his body slowly give up despite his urging not to. And that's all he remembered as he felt the spike of the deadly pressure sending him into what he thought would be eternal darkness.

Zoro doesn't expect to wake up, later on, well and alive, chained naked onto a cold, steel table. Nor the inhuman golden eyes staring coldly at him as he awoke.

"For a human," the alien said, shocking Zoro as he never expected them to speak their language, "you're rather durable." The humanoid creature walked over to him, a needle filled with an unknown substance in their claws. "Perhaps my efforts in keeping you alive will reward me with a subject that won't die within minutes."

#lawzo #roronoa zoro #writing blurb #fanfic #but not really #i cant write full fanfics cause my brain dies in the detailing process

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supernovaken · 3 years

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Why I don’t like Vivi - One Piece Discussion | Supernova Ken

Where to begin with this one. I’ll start by saying I don't necessarily dislike Vivi, forgive the clickbait title. But I do find her character - very annoying.

As in, an unhealthy amount of frustration is directed at this very fictional character and there are a few reasons why, but it really all boils down to her representing a character trait that we see in many real life examples (as far as celebrity lives count as real life anyway). Vivi is hella entitled and I can't stand her.

Let me circle back to the things that make Vivi a great pseudo-Straw-Hat. Pseudo because her inherent character traits are also what make her quite unsuitable to sail with the rest of the crew.

What I Liked,

She knows how to take charge in important situations. One thing we need to remember about our fearless leader Monkey D. Luffy is in the beginning his role as Captain was definitely a position he had to mature into before the Usopp and Robin moments at Water 7 kick started his growth from charismatic ‘head of the line’ member of a ragtag bunch to a bonafide reliable chief on the dangerous high seas.

Many times with Luffy we’ve seen him fall short as someone able to be responsible for others, not his fault as he had an upbringing focused on strength and independence while all the loving characters around him like Ace, Sabo and Garp all had themselves a lot more put together than a young Luffy so he only ever had people to look up to rather than a crew to rely on him. In these gaps he’s always been ok with stronger characters taking over the leadership role de facto like Zoro’s directions against Oz in thriller Bark and Nami’s everyday orders on the ship.

Vivi displayed this trait almost adequately (emphasis on almost) when she conveyed the importance of a leader recognising the needs of their crew/followers and putting aside their own pride or personal viewpoints for the sake of those needs. In Drum Kingdom she scolds Luffy for acting impulsively against the townsfolk even though he knew Nami needed their help seeking emergency medical care.

Wonderful kingly trait there no doubt, but here’s my gripe with it. In displaying her kingly wisdom she undermines and belittles the Captain in what was meant to come across as a humbling moment for Luffy. Maybe i’m old fashioned or these many years since the Drum arc have warped the details a little for me but the citizens shot at their ship unprovoked, traumatised or not by the constant pirate assaults their actions just invite more danger to the village if these weren’t our protagonist they were shooting at while also putting the rest of the straw hats at risk, Vivi herself took a bullet in the process, not so noble when you consider if that were an island full of pirates or marines shooting at the crew, a quick curb stomping response would have been highly acceptable.

I’m not advocating beating up civilians so best not to get into the politics of how they should defend themselves, and Luffy was in the wrong for jumping the gun; Vivi however should not have chastised him by calling him a failure as a Captain, it’s natural for any Captain to defend their crew if attacked unduly - her judgement was unnecessary. The best way to show Luffy he’s in the wrong here isn’t to outdo him but to appeal to his emotional side, understanding and respecting the fears of the villagers while assertively acknowledging the needs of his crew.

A second thing i liked about Vivi was her relationship with Koza and how it shaped her morality and love for her people, But even with that she also showed how out of touch she was those same citizens of the Alabasta Kingdom, she wasn’t able to understand their day to day problems and the pain they felt in needing to rebel against the King in the first place. Koza was the perfect character for this as he represented the country's heart in spite of its monarchy. Although Crocodile and the Baroque Works were to blame for the life threatening drought in the regions, Vivi didn’t understand why it was so easy for him to sway the people's belief in the King or the turmoil involved in Kozas' decision to fight. Yes this was part of her character arc which Luffy helped her realise by literally knocking some sense into her, but the whole ordeal was telling of someone who thinks its easy to be a citizen as long as the King is kind and that entitled attitude really grinds my gears. Fortunately her naivety in terms of the strain on the Kingdom was addressed and growth shown when she decided to stay behind and help her country develop into something better for its people.

To sum up, Vivi does have some great qualities with her leadership skills standing above the average person and her strong moral compass that’s based on a foundation of love and empathy for the everyday man. But her naivety, arrogance, disrespectful entitled attitude on top of just being a pain in the ass throughout her arc was enough to have me rooting against her joining the crew as a permanent member. Not sure if i could deal with a longer exposure to a character who, for me, seemed very out of touch with the harsher realities of the world.

#one piece supernova #onepiece #vivi nefertari #monkey d luffy #roronoa zoro #trafalgar law #cat burglar nami #alabasta

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skygemspeaks · 4 years

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Some questions about Fishy Dad AU!!! Did Jinbei take the kids back to the island for them to start their journeys? Also, are Luffy's clothes different from cannon in a way to hide his sun? Because Nami at that point would learn to associate a sun shaped burn with Arlong, and i don't think she would join someone with that mark willingly without some history lesson on the Sun Pirates first...

dad jinbei au

oh that’s a good question, i never thought of that!

i think the starting point of their journeys is different for each of the brothers.

ace, i think, would want to start off at reverse mountain, because he wants to go see crocus before he starts his journey. this ace isn’t bitter towards roger, because he grew up sheltered from the world’s hate, and he had a massive family who didn’t care who his birth father was. to anyone on fishman island, he’s jinbei’s oldest brat, and that’s all that matters. jinbei has told him a bit about the roger pirates, but he didn’t know them well, and crocus is the only one whose position ace knows for sure, so he goes to talk to the old man and learn more about his parents (later, when the spade pirates reach sabaody and ace finds out that rayleigh was there the entire time, ace facepalms because he was so fucking close. ace didn’t have to cross half the world to reach crocus. but at the same time he doesn’t regret it, because he got to meet the old man, and he got to meet each of his crewmates, so it was worth it)

Sabo knows from before he even starts his journey that he wants to join the revolutionary army. because he grew up on fishman island, and he saw firsthand the terrible effects of the slave trade, and he wants to help build a world where his loved ones don’t have to fear the possibility of being kidnapped as slaves. so he sets out from fishman island and heads straight into the new world, searching for some way to get in contact with the revolutionaries so he can join them. jinbei has full confidence that he raised his boys to be strong enough to handle any seas, but he still frets over sabo heading straight into the new world without any crew to back him up

in this au, the asl trio’s meeting would have to happen earlier in order to match up with them meeting koala (she’s a year older than sabo and ace, so around the time she was saved was when luffy met ace for the first time), so maybe luffy was given to dadan as a baby, instead of being raised in windmill village. so he knew sabo and ace from the beginning, and they were picked up by jinbei at ages 4 and 7 respectively. so how did luffy meet shanks in this au? i think it would have happened when they were passing through fishman island on their way back to the new world after the red hair pirates left dawn island. jinbei’s probably away on a voyage, leaving his sons in the care of the royal family, or some other friend, and when shanks and his crew pass through, the boys find out he’d been to dawn island. they get excited because that’s where they’re from, and that’s what causes luffy to imprint on shanks. he wants to know how his foster mother dadan is doing (too bad shanks never met dadan, but he does know makino, the nice lady from the village who used to come visit the bandits sometimes and bring clothes and treats for the boys). luffy ends up getting kidnapped by a passing pirate crew, which shanks saves him from, in the process losing his arm, and that’s how luffy gets the straw hat.

luffy thinks that starting his journey from fishman island would be cheating, so he asks his dad to take him back to dawn island (jinbei grumbles and huffs about having to take him so far, but it’s all in good fun). not only is it a good starting point, luffy also wants to take the chance to see dadan before he sets off, so he can tell her that he and his brothers grew up safe and loved and happy. and he can tell her that even though he was only with her for a few years, she’ll always be his mom (dadan starts sobbing and throwing things at him, telling him to get out, she’s not emotional, not at all)

as for luffy’s sun tattoo? his canon clothes would cover most of it (since he wore his vest buttoned at the beginning of his journey) except for a few rays at the top, but personally? i feel like he would be too proud of his sun to ever cover it up. he’d probably wear his vest open specifically to show off his sun.

when nami first sees it, she immediately distrusts it because, like you said, she associates it with arlong. it does make her more cautious in her approach to luffy though, and she doesn’t try and turn him in to buggy because if there’s a possibility he works for arlong, it could get her in lots of trouble. she puts on her persona as an officer of the arlong pirates when she deals with him, thinking it’ll be the best way to get his trust, since with his strength he’ll be able to help her out of the situation she’s in really easily. and then she can travel with him back to cocoyashi without much danger. the more time she spends with him though, the more she gets perplexed because she sees how different he is from arlong’s crew. and he’s definitely too stupid to be putting on an act.

she finally gets her answer when zoro asks luffy after they leave orange town “what does that sun mean anyways?” and luffy explains to him about the meaning of it, and how this sun is his pride, because it connects him to his family

#dad jinbei au #one piece #portgas d ace #revolutionary sabo #monkey d luffy #jinbei #asl brothers #op nami #roronoa zoro #arlong #spy reports #long post

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epraim1992 · 4 years

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Edward Weevil

When Edward Weevil was revealed as the last Shichibukai I was really disappointed. But their was the mystery of his parentage and Miss Bakkin’s was a former member of the Rocks Pirates. I did a deep dive into him to try to uncover some clues. I believe I have found things that might make him more important and interesting than I originally thought. First of all his name, the characters in Weevil can translate to weave i.e, weaver (l and r are the same) hinting at a Devil Fruit power related to weaving. I’ve read theories of Weevil being a zombie or Frankenstein like monster do to his scars, it looks like his head and arm were reattached. But it might be because of a Devil Fruit.

I think Weevil was mentioned way earlier in the manga than we believe. Like Kinemon’s symbol I think there is a hidden message in Weevil’s jolly roger. So like Yasuie I altered it and discover that you can make a six out of the mustache and skull. I think Weevil was Mr. 6 from Baroque Works.

But why Baroque Works? I think Bakkin was his partner Miss Mother’s Day. She uses Miss in her epithet and she is supposedly his mother.

Now on to Weevil’s father, I don’t think he really is Whitebeard’s son but Shiki’s. They have the same lion mane hair which was the only thing visible and when they were first introduced. Weevil’s weak spot are his legs which I think connects to Shiki cutting off his own.

Shiki has appeared more recently and even made a cameo in Wano, when Kurozumi Higurashi took his form. Shiki’s epithet is the “Golden Lion” just out curiosity I searched “Golden Weaver” and it turns out it is an Asian bird which fits with Shiki’s flying them and Weevil being shaped like a weeble an egg shaped toy.

Now to the biggest thing. I didn’t come up with this myself but I do buy the theory he is the Shichibukai who killed Zephyr’s subordinates and took his arm. Like I mentioned I think his name hints to weaving based Devil Fruit powers and the person it was joined during the time skip.

While the movie is obviously not canon I think Z is. In the film Z creates the Neo Marines I think instead in the manga he creates SWORD. The Neo Marines’ jolly roger has a sword running through the skull. Also Z’s wish was to create a hero and his name is based on a hero he played as a kid. There is the fictional hero Sora from Sora, Warrior of the Sea which looks the costume Z wore as a child and Sora is based on real marines.

There exist two big holes in my theories. One the Unluckies gave the Marines the portraits of the Baroque agents. And two it hasn’t been hinted that Weevil defeated Z a former admiral which would be an enormous thing not to bring up. I believe that Weevil suffered an accident/injuries and fell into the ocean causing memory loss. Big Mom lost her memory when she fell in the sea of Wano and Oden’s injuries after his trial to travel with Whitebeard reminded me of Weevil. I think because of his Devil Fruit he retained that form so now he is unrecognizable. Big Mom reverted to childhood persona O-Lin I think Weevil did the same. After losing his memory I think Miss Bakkin took advantage of the situation and fooled him into thinking she was his mother.

As monstrous as Weevil is I think he is a ticking time bomb for when he gets his memories and original self back. We know Shanks went to the Gorosei to warn them about a pirate. It would make sense if he was warning them onr og yhr Shichibukai since they work for them. It was very reminiscent of the warning he gave to Whitebeard about Blackbeard an ex-subordinate.

The last time we saw Shanks he was attending a wedding at some ruined island. I think it’s the same island that the former Baroque members started the new Spiders Cafe. Shanks respected Whitebeard and gave him a proper funeral I think he would be interested in the pirate taking out Whitbeard’s former men. I think Shanks went to the Spiders Cafe and discovered Weevil’s true identity.

I have a feeling that Weevil will get his memory back the same way Sabo did through a newspaper. When he is first introduced Bakkin is shown buying a newspaper. Maybe something in the recent edition will jogged his memory it was full of shocking news.

At the beginning of the series Shyarly made a prophecy that the human with the straw hat Straw Hat Luffy would destroy Fishman Island. Because the person is in silhouette I don’t think it really was Luffy. I think it might be Weevil it does fit his M.O. I think he was in Baroque Works because he was secretly after Poseidon. So once he gets his memory back I think he will be going after all the Ancient Weapons and Robin as well.

#one piece #one piece theory #shiki #miss bakkin #edward weevil #weevil #baroque works #edward weevil theory #whitebeard one piece #white beard #Z

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psychedelic-ink · 4 years

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Feelings in the wind(by lunna-star-8)

I was bored.

I was bored out of my mind!

Despite my injuries, my body was itching to do something, anything that felt remotely productive but I had promised Law that I’d be careful so my options were very limited. Very.

I sighed and leaned my head on the tree I was sitting against, looking around, everyone seemed bored too as they lied around the small patch of grass that Hancock and her warriors had reserved for us. I could tell that most of them were itching to get onto forbidden grounds and just go check out the village, consequences be damned, but Law was sitting by the opening that lead deeper into the island and let’s just say that every time one of his men stepped too close, he’d… How do I put this kindly…? Dissuade them? Yeah… Dissuade them by glaring at them in a way that made them regret all their life choices that lead them to that look.

I chuckled to myself, taking my eyes off the pirates and looking at my hands. What could I work on…? My power, maybe? What could I change? I could improve control, I guess? Air wasn’t the easiest of elements, it demanded freedom and free reign over the skies, so if you tried to control it, it fought back.

An idea struck me “Thanks Sabo.” And I rush over to the grouchy captain that’s eyeing another of his pirates like a leopard ready to pounce “Law!” I call out and he raises me an eyebrow, I can tell that he’s bracing himself for whatever terrible idea I just had, but I don’t give him time to speak up “Do you have some spare sheets of paper?”

He eyes me for a minute and I try to give him my best lost kitty look “Why…?”

“C’mon! Please! Please!” I insist “If anything, I’ll ask Hancock to get you some more later, yeah? Please!”

He sighs, seemingly too tired for my antics – he probably had a bad night again “My office, my desk, bottom drawer on the right. Use whatever you want.”

I basically jump to my feet calling out a “Thank you!” as I dash to the submarine.

“What are you doing, Sabo?” I ask as I peek over his shoulder.

“Origami.” He replies smiling “An old man at the Terminal showed me how to do it a while back.”

I nod even though he can’t see me “It looks cool!” I watch his fingers folding the paper over and over and over again and before I know it “It’s a bird!”

He laughs “It’s a crane.” I get off his back and stand by the table. My brother hands me the bird and I remember how awesome I thought that was “Why don’t you try making it float?”

My enthusiasm fizzed out “Last time I tried anything like that, I hit Ace over the head with his own pipe. He was furious.”

Sabo laughed again “C’mon, it’s just us.” He gestured around, Ace had gone hunting for dinner and Luffy had ran straight after him much to our oldest brother’s annoyance. I was still in bed rest after my little stunt with the tiger and Sabo had stayed to look after me “Plus, it’s paper it’s not like you can do much damage with it, right?” I wasn’t convinced “Tell you what, if you can make it float around the room, I’ll teach you how to make one.”

I basically jumped in the air and my tiger ears with me “Really?!”

He nodded “I wouldn’t lie to my little sister, would I?”

I grabbed a small stack of papers and ran back outside, sitting beside Law and starting to fold the paper in my hands. I could tell my tail had slipped out, I felt it swinging but I didn’t care, I wasn’t sure if it was for the opportunity of actually having something to do or for the memory but it was a nice feeling. I didn’t even notice Law eyeing me suspiciously as I stacked up origami cranes on the side.

When I folded the last sheet of paper, I got up and took a deep breath feeling the air around me. I’m not a Logia, I can’t just make wind but I can control the air around me, shifting it in my grasp and bend it to my needs. I let the breath out and started to shape the air so it would lift the cranes up in the air, with little to no effort I raised my arms into the air and had them spiralling into the sky, once I got every single one of them off the floor I moved my arms down and with my right arm directed the cranes to fly over the bored crew. My control was wonky, some of them flew backwards or even upside down, I tried to adjust it by moving my fingers but it didn’t seem to do anything. Still, I kept it up, by the time I noticed, I had an audience – the crew had turned from their conversations to watch what I was doing and some of them applauded when I made the cranes flip around in the air in an attempt to control them.

Most of my tries to control the cranes were pointless, some of the even fell from my hold, the wind refused to listen to me more than it absolutely needed to, still, the Heart Pirates were loving it and it was nice to feel useful in some way again. I brought the remaining cranes back to me and got such a warm reaction out of the crew that I even bowed like a real performer, even Law grumbled out a “Nice trick” kind of comment, that seemed like a compliment…? I think? Shachi and Penguin were the most excited ones, by far! They ran over to me with stars in their eyes and speaking all over each other “She can’t understand you if you both say different things at the same time, idiots…” Law grumbled, still in the same position.

Penguin was the first I was able to understand “You can make things fly?!”

I nodded “Yeah…?”

“I thought you were a Zoan type.” Came Bepo’s kind voice from beside Law.

I turned to him and nodded “Mythical Zoan type, actually.” I explained “I ate the Neko-Neko no mi: Byako no Tora model. Byako is the mythical guardian tiger of the Eastern winds, so I get this extra trick.” I caught Law’s golden eyes on me, over that damn smirk he did, damn him, not even tired “What?”

He shrugged “Cat-Cat, huh?”

I narrowed my eyes at him “Tiger. Tiger! Do you miss that bit on purpose?”

“Whatever you say, scardy cat.” And his eyes were once again hidden under his hat.

“Has anyone ever told you that you have a very puncheable face?”

He tilted his head but he was still smirking “Not in those exact words, but I guess the answer is still a yes.”

“Mythical Zoan types are super rare, aren’t they?” Bepo spoke up again before I could say anything else to Law, I shrugged at him though.

“I have… No idea?” I replied “I mean, it’s not like I’ve seen anybody with powers like mine though…”

I heard Law sigh like I was a child that needed to have the same thing explained to them a thousand times over, I naturally glared at him waiting for his ‘wisdom’ “Whitebeard’s First Division Commander has a mythical type power.” He said “A phoenix if memory serves me.”

I remembered the blue flaming bird in the war “I swear, his head looks like a pineapple!” Ace had said with a big smile on his face “Marco’s a cool guy though. If you ever meet him, don’t you dare say I said that!” “Why? What are you gonna do, tough guy?” “I might grab a big fluffy spider and put it over your sheets while you’re sleeping.” “C’mon! That’s not fair!” “Hence, I’m being a great brother and warning you beforehand.” “Mean bastard…” “Ah! Language, shorty!” “Who do you think I learned it from?!”

“That’s not important!” I didn’t realize I had sunk into my own head until Shachi’s voice pulled me back to the present. Law’s clinical gaze was straight on me despite the fact that the others didn’t seem to have noticed. I looked back at Shachi that was still beyond excited like Penguin “If you can make stuff fly, you can make people fly too, right?!”

I nodded again “Yeah—”

“MAKE US FLY!” they asked with stars in their eyes before I had a chance to say anything else, making me laugh “Oh! Please, please, PLEASE!”

“Sure.” I smiled “One at a time though.” Didn’t want to a) over do it and b) accidentally drop one in the ocean.

They played rock-paper-scissors for it and Penguin would be the first one in the air. Asked me to wait before he ran to the sub and came back out with a… towel? He came back out with a towel tied around his neck that made it look like a cape – an image of Luffy smiling like a kid crossed my mind as Penguin stood there smiling from ear to ear “All set!”

I laughed but tried to focus, feeling the air currents around him I plucked his feet off the grass and the moment his weight was off the ground, I could feel the strain on my wounds but I kept it to myself and took him to the skies. To say that Penguin was delighted was a major understatement. He was holding out his arms, kicking the air, making superhero poses. Shachi was cheering from beside me, the rest of the crew seemed to be loving the scene, Bepo was cheering too jumping closer to us, I could even feel Law’s eyes on my back like my wounds could snap at any moment and he’d have to jump in. I could feel it too, the strain this was causing on my weakened body, I wanted to be stubborn, to keep at it but that would be more than stubborn, that would be selfish. Impossibly selfish. Penguin had, consciously or not, trusted me with his life and I could barely hear the cheers of the crew over the sound of my own blood pumping in my ears. I also didn’t want him thinking that he had made my wounds worse or something, he seemed like the kind of guy that would feel guilty even if it wasn’t actually his fault.

Without much fuss, I brought him back down, trying to not look as exhausted as I felt “Me next! Me next!” Shachi piped up to my left but before I even opened my mouth, I heard a familiar voice right behind me.

“No, that’s enough for today.” I glanced up to see Law towering over me.

He was right, I couldn’t take Shachi into the air like I did with Penguin and I was about to tell him this, but it really bugged me that he felt the need to speak for me. It ticked my already injured ego and I couldn’t stop myself, I stomp my right foot onto the ground as I move both my arms up, creating a gust of wind that takes Law up in the air. Is it making my arms feel like they might come undone? Yes, it is. Did it stop me from grinning mischievously at his surprised expression? Hell no. “Too grumpy to play superhero with us, Captain Panda?”

He frowned at me and held out his hand where I saw a spiral form and then extent around us in a blue veil “Room!”

“I wouldn’t that.” I interrupt him, keeping him in the air with both my hands, he raises me an eyebrow “If you shamble me away, I’m gonna lose focus and you’re gonna fall on your ass.”

He grinned with golden eyes piercing my grey ones “You think I’ll go easy on you because you’re injured?” I didn’t have the chance to reply as he unsheathed his sword and I noticed that his crew had cleared out of the circle. I found it strange before I felt an odd feeling on my waist and turned back to Law, he was sheeting his sword which I didn’t understand since he hadn’t done anything with it… Had he? He still had that grin on his face and I felt myself rise up to meet him but I could also still feel my feet on the floor?!

I looked down to realize that my legs were gone?! I opened my mouth but then I remembered him fighting in Sabaody and of him chopping up those marines without actually injuring them with the cuts. I looked back to find my legs where I had left them, I was still wearing my sandals and could see my toes, I wiggled them and saw them move, getting a chuckle to make its way up my throat “That’s a really cool trick.” I looked back at him that was at my eye level now, which was something I wouldn’t be able to do if we were on the floor, but it allowed me to fully see the look of surprise on his face.

A surprise he quickly recovered from, going back to his grumpy self “You’re pushing your limits there, thought you said you were gonna be careful.”

“I am being careful.” I technically was “I haven’t ripped my stitches, have I?”

His look hardened at me as he pointed at the center of my torso “If this one ‘rips’, you die.”

I let the reality set on me for a moment, now paying close attention to the heat right under my skin and how holding Law in the air made me feel like my skin would tear apart, but my eyes never left his, even as I smiled “Show me another one of those cool tricks and I’ll put you back on the floor.”

“With my power, I could just get myself down.”

I shrugged, intentionally wobbling his rather stable air support “Can you though?”

It was like a game, see who could push each other’s buttons more and both too proud to back away “You wanna see a cool trick, huh?” he switched his sword to his right hand and pulled his left back “Mes!” his palm hit the top of my chest so fast and so unexpectedly that I lost my breath “Shambles.” I don’t know what he shambled, I know that I lost all sense of where I even was for a moment, I felt myself fall, cold hands on my arms, my knees hitting the floor as I was suddenly looking at the grass as I struggled to get my breath back.

I didn’t realize I had even stopped hearing until sound came back around me “C’mon Captain, that was a bit mean.” Bepo’s voice was the first to break through “She is injured after all.”

“She asked me to show her something cool.” Law’s voice was as steady as always “I did as she asked.”

“I think that was payback for catching you off guard, captain.” I heard Penguin trying not to laugh but he soon stopped, Law must’ve glared at him again.

“It’s also not cool, captain.” Shachi’s voice sounded now “Most people consider that technique of yours really creepy, you know?”

“I’m telling you, she asked.” Law spoke up again and I found that breathing had started to feel easier now, so I sat up to realize that my legs were once again attached to my torso.

I scratched the back of my head as I got to my feet “What did you do?” I let my eyes focus again as the air started to settle in my lungs, Law turned slightly to face me and I noticed what he was holding “Is that a heart?!” he smirked and I looked at my chest, where his hand had hit and where now there was a square hole “Is that my heart?!”

I looked back at Law to find him grinning and there, right there in the light reflected in his golden eyes, I could see the satisfaction of being able to hold someone’s beating heart in your hands “Oh yeah.”

I looked at my heart as I touched the edges of my skin where that was supposed to be. I looked at him, his golden eyes making me feel like small prey, like I should run and never turn back, like I should shake in his presence and I consider myself lucky to still be standing. I mean, what other reaction should you have when someone just pulled your heart out of your chest like a damn Jenga piece? I could feel his cold hand supporting my beating heart, I could feel how his grip wasn’t any tighter than it needed to be – I tilted my head as my eyes remained on my heart – soft even? I was standing right in front of him before I knew it, only one question in my mind “Can I touch it?”

“Eh?” the crew tumbled in surprise and even Law’s usually stern expression could be perfectly read as confusion.

“I know it’s my heart, but I don’t know how this works.” I clarify “I don’t want to touch it and die!”

Law glanced from me to the heart, like it could fix his confusion but as the heart simply beat normally, the pirate captain looked back at me with seemingly even more questions “Sure.” As soon as I got permission, I poked it and collapsed on the floor as I had done it a bit too harshly “WHAT DID YOU THINK WOULD HAPPEN, MORON?! IT’S A HEART, YOU CAN’T JUST POKE IT!”

“You said I could touch it!” I argued from the grass.

“Touch, not poke!” he countered “And I figured you’d be more careful with your own heart!” I heard him sigh as the crew laughed exchanging various comments from how crazy I was to how this was nice change of pace for their captain. Whatever this was that they were talking about, I couldn’t say.

They made me forget what life was like at the moment, it was easy to push it out of my mind when I heard them laugh, the Heart Pirates were a good, fun crew to hang out with. They made me miss my own crew like crazy. Sabaody seemed like so very long ago…

My thoughts were interrupted by the cheers of the crew and I raised my head to see what they were cheering about, walking into our little corner of the island were a handful of Hancock’s warriors, all familiar faces – why did I have to be so damn close to the entrance? - As the men fawned over the warriors, Law came to sit beside me “What are they doing over here…?”

“Right, you and Ikkaku had lunch on the island yesterday.” He said “The same warriors brought us food yesterday at around the same time too.” I didn’t say anything as I eyed their movements, setting up little stands with food “Why do they make you nervous?”

I blinked a couple of times before looking between Law and the warriors and back at Law “What are you talking about? They don’t—”

He showed me my fast beating heart still in his hand “It picked up the pace when you saw them come in.” he explained “You might be able to control your facial expressions well enough but your heart rate is another story.”

I… Had totally forgot he was holding my heart “We met them when me and Luffy first landed on the island, they’re alright. The blonde one?” I signalled over with my chin “Her name’s Margaret, she was the one that hung out with us more.” I tilted my head in retrospective “And I use the ‘hung out’ term really loosely here. She saved Luffy, then was trying to hunt us, then Luffy kind of kidnapped her, then she tried to kill us, then she kind of helped us, then she tried to kill us again, then she tried to defend us, got turned into stone because of us, we saved her, she saved us… You know, the usual.” He raised me an eyebrow “Oh, trust me, that’s the short version.”

“Alright… But ‘usual’?”

I actually laughed as several moments like that crossed my mind at the same time “Oh, you have no idea.”

He looked back at the Kuja “I guess that might explain why she was the only one that came over to ask me about you two.”

“Yeah…” I said more in a sigh than in an actual word. Law turned back to me as I laid my head back on the grass “They all wanted to know and ask too… How are you? How’s Luffy? I’m sorry about…” I took a deep breath and let that hang in the air “I’m alright, thanks. It’s what I reply every time.”

“How many times did you mean it?” I looked at Law but he was looking away from me and my grey eyes move back to the blue of the sky.

“Not even once…” I reply honestly and there’s a minute of silence between us “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I think it’s nice that they care enough to ask but…” I didn’t know how to phrase that so I had to stop and think about it, Law didn’t interrupt me, he just waited for me to sort out the words in my brain “I wish they didn’t ask.” I finally say, feeling a tear slip from the side of my face that would be followed by more as I let my mind sort through everything “It still hurts to think about it all, it hurts to feel, it hurts to remember, it hurts to feel like I’m not doing anything, it just hurts. The day is to distract myself and I’m too tired to feel at night, at night it seems like a story that happened to someone else… I wish they’d stop asking.”

I’m about to rub my face with my hands when he puts his hat over my face “She’s coming. Don’t move.” Is all the explanation I get. It’s dark and my nose is overwhelmed by the fresh smell of mint that becomes all I can breathe in with the fluffy hat over my face, my cheeks felt warm as I inhale the smell once again and I blame it on the fluffiness of the hat on my face.

“Doctor?” Margaret’s voice makes me almost jump and I feel something cold softly caress my heart “Oh! Is that Luna?”

“She’s asleep.” Law quickly interjected with his usual calm voice “Fresh air is good for her but she got tired quickly due to the exertion on her body.”

“Oh… I see… But she’s doing better, right?”

“It’s too early to tell.”

“What about Luffy? How is he doing?” she kept asking.

“I still can’t say when he’ll wake up.”

“Alright…” she didn’t seem to have left yet “Thank you for looking after them.”

“I’ve told you not to thank me, it was a whim.” I smiled under the hat. A whim? Taking his crew into the middle of a war to pick up two ‘enemies’ as he put it himself? It’s called kindness, Trafalgar Law.

“Thank you anyway.” she insisted.

“MARGARET!” another of the Kujas called out to her.

“Going!” she called back “I better go. Do you want me to bring you a bowl of food?”

“Thanks, but no.” Law said “I’ll see if Luna wakes up before you leave, save us a bowl for before you go.”

“No problem.”

A couple of minutes passed before I felt the hat being taken off my face, instinctively I rubbed my eyes and cleared the tears away “Thanks.”

“No problem.” I turned my head to him and noticed that he still had his hand on my heart, I turned back towards the sky. We were once again in silence as I lied on the grass and he sat beside me. It was a comfortable silence between us as we heard his crew celebrating the presence of the Kuja warriors…

#lunna-star-8 #submit #one piece #one piece oc #monkey d luna #trafalgar d. water law #trafalgar law #submission

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danwhobrowses · 4 years

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Valentines 2020: A Celebration of My Ships

So it’s valentine’s day again, and...yeah it’s not too great when you’re single is it? Considering that I’ve already gone through a tub of ice cream...

But, it doesn’t mean I’m a cynic, quite the opposite. Most of my fandoms involves a ship in some shape or form, hell I shipped before I even knew what shipping was, so I’m gonna talk about some of them...the ones that still make me happy and didn’t crash and burn in heartbreaking and frankly insulting fashion (looking at you Homestuck ¬_¬), gotta mention that these are not all the ships I ship, they’re just some of the ones I’m quite consistently high on

New Entries So with new fandoms come new ships...as is the usual formula anyway, though my pattern of watching things is usually with some delay, I only watched Rurouni Kenshin and started My Hero Academia in 2019, I still hold off on Attack on Titan and My Hero Season 4 because if I get in, I get IN. So these fandoms may not be new, but they are new to me Steven Universe is very new to me, I’ve been aware of how good it is and their concepts like Fusion. I like it, particularly Lapis Lazuli I really relate to her, but ship wise the two I really like are the obvious ones; Steven x Connie and Ruby x Sapphire (Garnet)

Garnet is badass and chill at the same time, but when she unfuses we see the stuff that makes me smile, the pda between Ruby and Sapphire is adorable, the little pecks and whatnot softens me up like no man’s business. Steven and Connie also have the mushy dynamic with both of them deeply into each other but still being strong individuals. The love for each other is equally platonic as it is romantic as they gel together, both being strong willed in different ways. The laughter probably gets me the most with both of them, the genuine laughter is so sweet and so realistic it’s hard not to love. My Hero Academia seems to be our next wave of shonen anime and for good reason, it does high notes so well and the cast of characters are vibrant and exciting. I haven’t hit Season 4 yet since I’m waiting till it’s all done to binge so I may be a little behind on some stuff (sadly it’s hard to avoid spoilers, I know about Infinity and Unbreakable). While I do like Deku x Uraraka, Tetsutetsu x Kendo and Eraserjoke but the two that I find most enjoyable are Todomomo and Kamijirou

(artist nonoko135 btw, bit tough to find a single image with both ships) Fairly popular ships in their own right, Todomomo doesn’t get many hints but they are sweet, naive rich kids with their own confidence issues, it also feels like they look out for each other especially after the final exam they did together. With Kamijirou though it’s probably one I favour if I had to choose between the two, simply because it’s a dynamic I really like; she busts on him so hard to mask her enjoyment of his company and he takes it because he feels at ease around her, the best part is when Kaminari goes 0 volts, he makes her laugh and that’s kinda big for Jirou given how self-conscious and stoic she can be. Rurouni Kenshin was always on my list, I have often heard about the Swordsman with a blade that cuts no-one. The anime is a bit up and down, after Shishio it’s just filler, but as documented in my Redemption Arc post it is at its core a great story of redemption for the main character, and the driving force for Kenshin’s redemption is his love for Kaoru

While Sano and Megumi have a unique dynamic hinted to be romantic at times, nothing can really beat Kenshin and Kaoru, she literally became Kenshin’s conscience, a representation of his hope to be a good man away from the shadow of Battousai the Manslayer. It may be your traditional romance of the two wanting to be by each other’s side in danger but it works so well given the kind of danger Kenshin is often in. Kaoru still strives to protect herself and aid Kenshin in a way that doesn’t make her continuously wonder about being a burden and Kenshin does everything in his power to keep Kaoru from pain, physical and emotional, even if it meant leaving to keep her safe. The main part of what makes this lovely is the fact that not only did Kaoru’s influence make Kenshin value his own life once more but after continual torment in his past she still saw him as the person he wanted to be, and welcomed in a new home, a new family he was able to live a life he never imagined he could deserve. The Regulars Our Regulars are the ships I still consistently ship, they’re not very old but they’re still pretty great and they still stand the test of time. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has quite a few ships over its 6 (coming up 7) season lifespan, being the longest surviving MCU tv series and one of the most consistently great shows MCU offered - especially Season 4, some of the best TV was on Season 4. But while Philinda is close, Mack and Yoyo or even Piper and Davis (don’t, I don’t care if you believe she’s a lesbian with the hots for May these are my ships) there is one one ship in Shield you can all rally behind, Fitzsimmons

Even when canon it is a consistent emotional rollercoaster. One of those ships where the writers know you love it and decide to put you through as much pain and emotional torment as humanely possible. But you endure it, because these two smart kids are worth it. They have sweet moments, badass moments, emotional moments and even though they get brought apart time and time again, they still find each other, the universe cannot stop them - and it better end happily for them come next season. Overwatch was a phenomenon when it came out a few years ago, Blizzard may have caused it to have some heavily bad rep but I still look forward to its sequel coming out. Given its large roster and most of the characters’ sexuality and relationship status up in the air, it leaves a lot of room for shipping. I do still love Anahardt, Mercy76 kinda falling due to 76 being gay but I like Gency too, my rarepairs include McPharah and Symmzo but my favourite is actually Meihem.

Now I know, Mei’s only voice lines towards Junkrat are cold, they have differing views in terms of omnics and...due process of the law. But there’s a lot they do have in common; both are quite intelligent engineers having made their weapons by hand, both endured trauma and both love their puns. But even the stuff that make them different can compliment one another. You don’t have to like it, but I do, I enjoy the dynamic of Jamison being so head over heels that he embarrasses himself to try and get Mei’s attention, while Mei softens to the fact that his very nature is warped by his lawless upbringing and that deep down he is an exciting and in his own way sweet guy. Back to anime, because what else do I do with my day, getting into One Piece was always going to be a long effort, keeping tabs on the Manga does make it easier and I’ve been able to catch up quickly. Ships are shaky territory with One Piece because Oda does make a point of not having romance happen a lot, not to existing living characters at least. But I still have the ones I like; Shanks x Makino, Sabo x Koala, Franky x Robin, Sanji x Pudding, Rebecca x Koby, the list goes on, but my favourite has to be Zoro x Tashigi

May not be up there with the ‘big ships’ of One Piece but I do enjoy them the most. Individually the two are characters I have deep interest in; Zoro is well Roronoa Fucking Zoro, santoryu swordsman extraordinaire, master of nothing happening and will cut you 8 ways to Sunday, but Tashigi is a character I like because she also tries, unlike Zoro she isn’t blessed with 2 years training with Mihawk and she’s at constant arms with this self doubt that as a Woman she won’t be as strong (and probably whoever of influence to her made her believe such a thing), people may get on her back for never winning a fight but she fights strong people without a second thought. But back to the pairing, they have an interesting dynamic; two very similar people on different sides of the law, I don’t think Tashigi continues to chase him simply because he refused to cut her in their fight and I don’t think it’s just her former resemblance to Kuina that gets Zoro so riled up about her, I mean Zoro is usually so chill to side characters to the point where he’s ready to throw down but with Tashigi, it’s different, they bicker but he also came to her aid. I still continue to hope that Tashigi shows in Wano for more Zoro interaction, and to prove herself to fans and to Zoro that she is strong and capable. One of my favourite anime of all time is Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, a combination of laughter, tears and deep philosophical character journeys in a 20th century world with the alchemy fantasy element drawn from actual legit alchemical sources. It just hits all the right notes for me, and ships hit right too; I love most of the ships from EdWin, AlMay and LingFan, but like Fitzsimmons there is one ship that stands above even the main characters, Royai.

Mustang and Hawkeye right from the bat have that connection that needs no dancing around, they care for each other but they work together. Like the rest of the ships they banter, argue but always have each other’s backs, to the point that they go into an insane rage at even the threat of the other being hurt. I don’t think anyone can not ship these two, that’s how strong their chemistry is, even if they can’t officially label it as a relationship because of their jobs it’s that line in the sand that everyone knows it, because it’s impossible to ignore. The Old Guard So we get to the oldest ships in my catalogue, the fact that they could stand the test of time is for a long time what shaped me as a shipper. I still ship these to this day so I ship them pretty hardcore Comics is probably the hardest place to ship something, because different writers will try different pairings at the drop of a hat. Even consistent pairings like Spiderman and Mary Jane, Batman and Catwoman, Beat Boy and Raven, Superman and Lois and more can end up being split in favour of Cindy Moon (I do love Silk), Wonder Woman and others. But I can’t ignore the fact that I’ve always loved Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon

I may’ve liked Teen Titans, but I was never on Team Starfire, it’s fine if you are but to me I have always been in with Dick and Babs. Not only do they have excellent banter but they gel well on and off of crime fighting, no matter how many times DC break them apart (like seriously, how many times do you have to try Bruce and Barbara until you realise that it creeps people out?) they always find each other again someway down the line, they are one of DC’s best couples and while they may never get a definitive ending because of the nature of comics, I still love that there’s a relationship of two strong individuals who can stand as equals and continue to keep their charm and wit after years of being together. When I was young, decades ago as it pains me to type, Digimon was the prime competitor against Pokémon’s tidal wave. Its anime had an awesome opening, more characters with some deeper themes and a quicker pacing. While many could quickly connect to Tai or Matt for their leaderlike attitude or Joe and Izzy for their intelligence or Mimi and Sora for their determination, I gravitated towards TK, a child who had room to grow and the greatest of potential, so when the Dark Masters came in we saw one of my oldest ships take form, Takari

TK and Kari’s pairing was popular that it managed to carry on into Adventure 02 and we got plenty of lovely moments in TRI (though they shorthanded both by having Ophanimon quickly fused and Seraphimon - one of the strongest Digimon - digivolve as backup in a Sora episode). 02′s epilogue is of course a sore spot we can hope Kizuna retcons because these two have been through thick and thin and their bond is clear. Even as they reach their late teens and TK has become master of hats and joined Matt’s band, they still hang out, banter and tease but they still are comfortable to hold each other’s hand and be vulnerable with one another too. Digimon may’ve been a contender, but Pokémon was still the clear winner, even to this day it is one of the most popular franchises in the world. The anime may be an up and down slope (current series seems a tad boring, 10 episodes before Ash caught a Pokémon, plus I don’t like that Ash won in Alola and now thinks he doesn’t have to try) but you can never take away the nostalgia, or the ships. I’ve shipped many in Pokémon in various media; Mallow x Lillie and Jessie x James in the anime, Ruby x Sapphire in the Manga, Looker x Anabel in the games (with Emma being their adoptive daughter dammit Looker you could’ve taken her with) among others and from Pokémon comes the oldest ship I’ve ever shipped, Pokéshipping

Before I even knew what Shipping was I shipped this, Misty may also be mostly the reason for my attraction to redheads but that’s neither here nor there. People may not like it, may prefer some of the softer spoken female (or male) companions Ash has had or feel they’ve grown out of it, but not me. I loved Misty’s feistiness and determination but also the fact that she could reign Ash in (sometimes) to make him think things through, as much as Misty was a companion to Ash she was a rival, a teacher and a supporter of his goal, but she also had her own goals which she fought for as well. They may bicker but they have also had tender moments as well and even with Misty’s return in the excellent Sun and Moon episodes they had their chemistry is palpable. To me, Ash and Misty were kindred spirits and the feeling has never changed since. So with another year of Valentine’s Day going the way it usually does, I’d like a moment to thank these ships, and all my other ships I didn’t have the space to mention, for being something that brings out happiness and a soft joy deep within my being, and for all the fanartists and fanfic writers that bring that love to life Happy Valentine’s Day

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missmungoe · 5 years

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As delighted as I was to see my girl in the newest chapter, I felt compelled to write my own (happier) take on that panel of her grieving, so have some Makino during the time-skip and after (background Shanks x Makino; Sabo x Koala if you squint).

—

The dead don’t come back once they leave, but then one day he was there, sitting at her bar.

Shanks had been gone two months already, and for a while it had just been her again, cultivating her quiet life as usual; the peace that was allowed to grow and thrive, and in no small part because of her. That hadn’t changed, even as other things had. The outward differences to how her life had been before were small, but significant: the wedding band around her finger, and the baby in her belly. Seedlings from an old promise tended over ten long years, and like her peace, this was hers, too: this happiness she’d made.

But happiness wasn’t the absence of loneliness, and there were days where the quiet was too quiet, the peace too peaceful; days where she missed her husband so much she could barely get out of bed, her bar empty without her crew, and the loud, wonderful boys who’d once kept her company while she waited, and the silence from getting comfortable. There was only one left now, where there’d once been three. Or so she’d thought.

She’d sensed them coming in, the slight ripple of disturbance within her, but hadn’t thought much about it, nothing alarming in either of their presences, or the muted sounds of their voices; a deeper timbre warmed with laughter, and a higher lilt rising above it, pitched with what sounded like fond exasperation.

Grabbing the crate she’d gone in to get—from her newest shipment of liquor, and she wasn’t technically supposed to be lifting heavy things, but there was no one around to remind her—supported against the curve of her belly, Makino exited the storeroom to greet her new customers, only to find them already seated at her counter. There were two, as she’d thought, and both of them young. One was a pretty girl, in a pink blouse and a page-boy hat, her arms crossed on the counter. And the other—

The crate dropped from her hands, but before it could shatter on the floor, he’d caught it, having moved so fast she’d barely registered him getting out of his seat. But in the blink of an eye he was suddenly in front of her, a sheepish grin flashed from under a tumble of blond curls where he held the crate, as though it weighed nothing.

He straightened to his full height, and her eyes widened when she had to crane her neck to look at him, her mouth dropping open softly, even as nothing came out.

“Hey, Ma-chan,” Sabo said, even though the dead can’t speak, and he was dead but he was also speaking.

“Are you open?”

When she didn’t say anything, he glanced behind him, at the girl still seated at the counter, who shook her head at him. “I told you. You should have called ahead and warned her.” She made a sweeping gesture to Makino where she stood, her arms slack at her sides. “And look, she’s pregnant! That kind of shock can’t be good for the baby—Sabo-kun, are you listening?”

Sabo’s head had whipped back around, his eyes bulging, as though he’d only just now noticed her belly. “You’re—!”

Makino was still staring at him, speechless. The confident grin he’d been wearing had been wiped off, replaced by genuine surprise where he gawked at her belly.

“So much for a suave and heroic entrance,” the girl sighed over a laugh, sliding off her barstool before walking around the counter. She met Makino’s shell-shocked expression with an apologetic smile. “Sorry about this. He was so excited to surprise you, after how Dadan reacted.”

“Dadan?”

Her voice sounded hoarse, like she’d momentarily forgotten how to use it, but the mention allowed her head to clear a bit, giving her reeling mind a firm foothold; the confirmation that she wasn’t imagining him. That Dadan had seen him, too.

But looking at Sabo, taller and broader and inexplicably older, she didn’t understand how it was possible. The dead didn’t come back; they were the only ones she didn’t have it in her heart to keep waiting for.

And she was fiercely practical, and quick to adjust to change, but all at once, it all became a little too overwhelming, too many things for her to accept and not enough time to wrap her head around them, and a wave of dizziness hit her, causing her to reach for the counter to steady herself. A cramp low in her belly had her sucking a breath past her teeth, as her hand flew to the spot that hurt, her eyes clenching shut.

“Koala!” Sabo snapped, openly distressed, and still holding the liquor crate, as though he wasn’t sure what to do with it.

“Put down the crate, you dork,” Koala said, before Makino felt a small hand pressed against her lower back, and another curled around her elbow, supporting her. She had a surprisingly strong grip. “Take a deep breath.”

“Okay,” Sabo breathed.

“Not you. Makino-nee.”

“Oh, right.”

She shook her head at him, and despite the whole situation, and the persisting cramp, Makino blurted a wet laugh, and watched as Sabo’s expression brightened, easing away some of his distress at her state. He was still holding the liquor crate uselessly, although he put it down when Koala helped her out from behind the counter and into the nearest chair.

With one hand rubbing soothing circles over her belly, “I’m fine,” Makino assured them, when Sabo looked ready to spring into action at the first sign of discomfort. “You caught me by surprise is all.” She fixed him with a look, but where she’d meant to say something teasingly reprimanding, her voice sounded a little too thick when she told him, “It’s not every day someone comes back from the dead.”

His grin was predictably sheepish, but there was genuine regret in it even as he chirped, “I’ll try not to make a habit of it.”

Huffing a laugh, Makino smoothed her hands over her belly where it curved under her apron. The baby was kicking, the movements comforting, allowing her to catch her breath.

She caught Sabo looking at it, his smile wide and curious, before his gaze shifted to her hand where it was splayed atop the bump. He’d noticed her wedding ring; the delicate band where it circled her finger.

“Dadan didn’t mention that you’d gotten married,” he said.

Makino hummed, smiling as she laced her fingers together over her stomach. She felt the ring, the metal warmed by her hand. “Maybe she forgot. She drank so much sake at my wedding they had to load her naked and singing into a wheelbarrow to get her home.”

His grin dropping from his face, Sabo looked mildly horrified by this, before his features pulled into a constipated grimace, as though provided with a vivid but entirely unasked-for mental image.

Makino smiled up at him where she sat. “Payback,” she said, demurely. “For not giving me a warning.”

He shook his head at her, his expression this time somewhere between begrudging awe and mild alarm. “Payback? You sound like a pirate, Ma-chan.”

Her demure smile persisted, deepening the lines at the corners of her eyes, and she saw Koala’s brows quirking, understanding shaping her grin even as Sabo’s expression remained perplexed, before Makino asked him, mildly,

“What, didn’t you hear?”

—

She closed the bar for the day, to allow them time to catch up, although she still kept her doors open for whoever wanted to stop by and say hello. A self-employed tavern owner’s prerogative. And maybe a little bit a pirate’s.

Dadan arrived a bit later, her whole family in tow. Makino noticed Sabo had a hard time meeting her eyes, although even his horror at the wheelbarrow-story fled at the revelation of an entirely different piece of news.

“You married Red-Hair?”

Makino met his surprise with an enduring smile, her hands resting over the baby bump where she sat, at the centre of the people who’d gathered in her bar. It felt a little more like it should, the silence turned away at the door, along with all the other patrons who were just looking for a drink. It wasn’t welcome in her establishment today. “You just missed him. He would have loved to meet you.”

“Should have been here for the wedding, Sabo!” one of the bandits called out, laughing. “Never seen this place so lively. Red-Hair lives up to his reputation.”

“He wasn’t even the most debauched of the lot,” Dadan said, with a deliberate look at Makino, who delicately ignored it. She barked a laugh. “Mah, can only speak for myself, and I can’t even remember getting home.”

Sabo choked on his drink, coughing. Koala patted his back sympathetically. “There, there.” She shot Dadan a grin. “Probably just went down the wrong pipe.”

Dadan made a gruff sound; she’d developed a fondness for the girl Sabo had brought home with him. And shaking her head at the young man in question, still coughing up his drink. “Still can’t get used to you bein’ old enough to drink.”

Clearing his throat, Sabo shook his head, waving his hand. “Oh, I’ve been drinking for yea—”

Koala elbowed him so hard he nearly toppled off his barstool, and murmured out of the corner of her mouth, “Watch what you say, or she’ll kill the Big Boss.” Then, “Or worse: Makino-nee will give him a stern talking-to.”

Retaking his seat, Sabo laughed. “Is it wrong that I’d pay to see that?” At the sight of Makino’s brows quirking, he grinned innocently. “What?”

She shook her head. And she wasn’t sure she even wanted to know, but her curiosity had always been one of her biggest vices, and so before she could further question the wisdom of asking, “So what is it you do now?” Her gaze shifted between the two of them, wearing identical and far too innocent smiles. “Are you pirates?”

Sabo’s grin widened, as he shared a look with Koala. “Not exactly.”

Makino pursed her mouth. “And you’re not marines.”

“Oh, most definitely not.”

“Do I have to keep guessing?”

At that, he shot her a grin. It made her think of Shanks. “As the formerly sweet-natured barmaid who used to run this place, I might have told you,” he said, his eyes twinkling. “But as the wife of one of the Four Emperors, I think I’ll keep my cards close. You understand.”

“Sabo-kun,” Makino chided gently, smiling where she rested her hands atop her belly. She tilted her head, her eyes curving with her most innocent smile. “We’re all friends here.”

He looked at Koala, then at Dadan, before posing the question to the room, “Did anyone else feel a shiver run up their back? No? Just me, then.” Then to Makino with a grin, he asked her, “Were you always this scary?”

She made a musing sound, smoothing her fingers over the bump, but the baby was quiet in the loose cradle of her arms. Content, and safe, surrounded by bandits and more dangerous people still. And Makino, although she’d never been very dangerous. She was, after all, just a barmaid.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, and saw his grin widening; delighted, as though he’d come back and found her exactly like he remembered her being, and yet at the same time a completely different person. Makino didn’t correct him on either assessment.

Both were true, after all.

—

They stayed with her a whole week. Sabo helped out around the bar, and did the chores that took her longer now, with her growing belly; did the heavy lifting, and allowed Makino to stay off her feet as much as possible.

He’d been that way as a boy, she remembered—attentive to the needs of others, and quick to step in, unafraid of getting his hands dirty, and of learning menial chores, a hunger in him that she hadn’t understood at first, having only learned where he’d come from much later. But she’d taught him the things he’d wanted to know, how to mend his own socks; how to get grass stains out of his trousers, and how to cook. His brothers hadn’t been similarly inclined, at least not at that age. And he’d love to sit and watch her work, and to ask her about it, learning her routines while he polished her glasses to shining.

“I think he’s grown way too attached to that apron,” Koala mused, observing her partner strutting between the tables of Makino’s bar, his shirtsleeves rolled up to his elbows and his cravat loosened, and carrying a tray of drinks. The apron in question was far too small for him; a flimsy little thing of Makino’s with dainty embroideries along the edges.

The patrons gathered in her establishment didn’t even bat an eye, used to stranger sights, and Shanks, and only held out their glasses for Sabo to refill.

Makino made a humming sound, her smile small and privately intimate, softening the edges of the longing where it rested, always, just below her breastbone, and dropping her voice, remarked mildly, “I’ve watched the most powerful man on the sea prance around in nothing but that apron.”

Koala suffocated her startled laugh with the back of her hand, and when Sabo looked towards them curiously, managed to turn it into a fairly convincing wave.

They sat in silence for a while, connected by the sudden yet intimate confidence of women that doesn’t need much prompting to exist, the smell of jasmine rising from the steaming cups on the table between them. And a conversation of this nature usually called for brandy, but while she was pregnant, tea would have to suffice.

Koala made a musing sound then, sliding Makino a look. “Nothing but the apron, huh?”

“Hmm.”

“Honeymoon fun?”

She cleared her throat, smiling. “Not only.”

“Oh really?” Another pause, and then, so quietly Sabo didn’t have a chance of overhearing, “Private kink?”

Makino sipped her tea primly, her eyes turned to the ceiling. She said nothing.

Another beat of silence, before Koala asked with a grin, “Did he look good in it?”

“You’ve seen his picture in the paper,” Makino said, pursing her mouth demurely. “What do you think?”

Grinning, Koala was quiet for another beat, before she turned to Makino with an imploring look. “Please let me tell him. I want to watch him scramble to get out of it as fast as possible.”

Putting her cup down, Makino smoothed her hands over her belly, feeling the baby kicking. It was stronger now, the curve of her stomach more pronounced every week, and the firmer the little presence grew in her mind, the more she found herself reaching for an image to go with it, wondering whose nose it would get, and whose temperament. If it would be a clever little girl, to steal the sea from her father’s eyes, or a kind, gentle boy, who’d make her laugh like Shanks did.

Across the room, Sabo had stopped by a table, the empty tray propped on his hip now as he got into a heated discussion about the many merits of pale ale. Catching them watching him, he flashed them a grin. Another gentle boy, who’d come back to make her laugh.

“Let’s give him a few more minutes before we traumatise him further,” she told Koala, smiling where they sat together by the table, an unexpected friendship having taken root in her once-lonely garden, her best friend miles away still, but there was something to be said for the unique companionship found between women, even ones as different as they were.

“I don’t think he’s gotten over the story about the wheelbarrow yet.”

—

The week flew by, and more quickly than she’d wanted it to, but she was used to this; to being content with the time she was given, and to not ask for more than she had.

And anyway: the Revolutionary Army had duties beyond the personal desires of its individual members.

Makino hadn’t told them she’d long since figured out their affiliations, although suspected they already knew, from the looks Sabo kept giving her, which told her she wasn’t fooling anyone, playing the demure and innocent wife of a pirate, who pretended to know nothing of the machinations that governed the sea her husband sailed, their own organisation being no exception.

The pink sunset had swept the sky clear of clouds, and a brisk wind teased the hem of her skirt, nipping playfully at her cheeks, always as though inviting her to come along, to be carried off the docks if she let herself. But her heels were rooted firmly now as with every goodbye, her spine straight, the delicate line of her back hiding the steel in it.

They’d leave under the cover of night, on the unnamed ship that had pulled up to her quiet shores to take them away. There was no flag, and no jolly roger to identify their allegiance, but then Makino had come to expect nothing less of Dragon the Revolutionary, even here in this remote corner of East Blue.

A man was standing on deck, observing the village behind her. Tall and broad-shouldered, he wore his black hair pulled back from his high brow, revealing the tattoo covering one half of his face. Makino knew who he was.

His gaze shifted to her where she stood on the docks, and she saw his eyes fleeting down to her belly, rounding under the skirt of her dress, unmistakably pregnant. And she knew then, as his eyes lifted back to hers, a single, severe brow quirking, as though in quiet challenge, that he knew well who she was, too.

Then Dragon inclined his head to her, in what looked like a curious show of respect, before he turned towards the deckhouse, putting the village behind him.

The exchange had been entirely wordless, although glancing up at Sabo where he stood beside her, his brow furrowed a bit, Makino didn’t think he’d missed it.

Turning towards him, “Be careful,” Makino said. Koala had already gone aboard, but Sabo had lingered in his goodbyes.

His answering grin was cheerfully incriminating. “Accounting is a dangerous job.”

“Hmm, I thought you were in sales?”

“Did I say that? I meant to say that I was in publishing.”

“Well, be careful, either way.” She met his eyes, her own twinkling. “You never know how the critics might respond. To the things you publish, that is.”

Sabo chuckled, but when he met her eyes it was with a serious look, as he agreed, “Sound advice even for situations not related to publishing.”

His eyes dropped to her belly where she cradled it in her hands. There was genuine regret in his voice when he told her, “I’m sorry I can’t be there for the birth.”

Makino shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine.” But even as she said it, she wondered if he could tell that her confidence was feigned; that it had been nearly five months already, and that Shanks still hadn’t come back. That she was beginning to wonder if he would make it back before the birth. That—and this was a fear she barely dared confess to herself—she was afraid he wouldn’t come back at all, and that she’d be a widow before she was a mother.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?” Sabo asked her then, confirming her suspicions; that he could tell she was faking it. It wasn’t the first time he’d made the offer over the week they’d stayed with her. “Our headquarters are really nice, and you’d be protected—”

“Sabo,” Makino cut him off gently, smiling. His concern for her was endearing, and appreciated, but, “I’ll manage. I’ve always managed.” Then, only partly in jest, “And I don’t know how my husband would feel about it, coming back only to discover I’ve been spirited away by a well-meaning if slightly overbearing publishing company.”

It was meant to lighten the mood, although it didn’t quite succeed, as Sabo only held her gaze, no teasing in his voice now as he asked her, “Are you safe here, Makino?”

Her hands tightened over the bump; she hoped he couldn’t tell that they were trembling. And it wasn’t a new fear, the one she felt now; the one she didn’t feel on her own behalf so much as for the unborn child in her belly.

She was really showing now; there was no hiding it. And all it would take was a single rumour, and one willing ear to listen.

“I’m as safe as I can be,” she said. She did believe that, truly. “I have Garp, and Dadan is here, and her family.” She lifted her chin, and her confidence wasn’t feigned now when she told him, “And I am protected. He’s made sure of that.”

The mention of Shanks didn’t ease his concern; rather the opposite. “But if anyone finds out that you’re—”

He stopped before he could finish, and looked around them. And even alone on the docks, out here in the open, he seemed reluctant to say Shanks’ name out loud; as though a treacherous wave would hear, and carry it out to sea.

He started when she touched his coat, smoothing her hands over the lapels, as though to straighten them out. “I am,” she said, her voice firmed with a gentle but unapologetic pride. She didn’t shy away from her choices; the man she’d chosen to marry least of all. “And I will also kindly remind you that I was self-sufficient long before I married him. You’re not seriously telling me you don’t think I can handle being on my own?”

Sabo’s expression softened, suddenly chagrined, and she smiled, showing him there was no real offence taken.

A gloved hand reached out then, pressed to the bump, before he frowned, and not finding what he was looking for, Makino moved his fingers a bit, until he felt it, his expression alighting with a smile at the movement under his palm.

“You’ll come visit when it’s born,” she told him, and saw him look up. “Luffy, too.”

He nodded. “I will.” Then, firmly, “And you’ll stay safe. Don’t do anything reckless.”

She hummed a laugh. “Oh, I’ll try to restrain myself.”

Sabo smiled at her. “I hope your husband knows he’s a damn lucky guy.”

Her smile softened. For a spell, the ache of missing him felt a little easier to bear. “He knows. But you’re welcome to tell him if you see him.” There was a suggestion there, and she wondered if he caught it.

Sabo’s grin told her he had, even before he told her, “You can bet on it.”

Then she said, prim, “And if anyone with ill intentions come looking, I’ll show them where the door is.”

That got her a rough laugh, although it didn’t fully succeed in wiping away the worry from his expression. “Give ‘em hell, yeah?”

She nodded, before she stepped forward, folding her arms around him. She was so small the top of her head didn’t even reach his shoulder, and she couldn’t wrap her arms fully around his back, but Sabo returned the embrace fiercely, although he was mindful of her belly between them. Makino had a mind to tell him not to grow so much before they saw each other again.

“If I see you in the paper,” she told him instead, gentle but firm, “let it be good news.”

She didn’t say his name, but it hung between them; the one boy who wouldn’t come back to her no matter how long she waited.

Sabo nodded, and then for good measure, she said, “That’s not the barmaid speaking, by the way.”

She heard his chuckle, lost against her hair. “No? The Empress, then?”

Swallowing thickly, Makino nodded. “Just so you know you have no choice.”

He squeezed her once, before he pulled back, and ducking his head with a grin, he kissed her cheek.

“Don’t worry, Ma-chan,” he told her, and Makino didn’t know if it was a promise or just a statement of fact when he said, with so much confidence she couldn’t help but believe him—

“I’m really hard to kill.”

—

She closed the bar the day the paper arrived with the news; one of the many she’d been dreading, because waiting doesn’t always mean you’re waiting for something good.

Two was the number now, of the ones who’d left her and who’d never return. Makino wondered how high the number would be when all was said and done; if she’d soon be a widow, too, waiting for a ghost ship, and for her captain and crew to come home, to bring her to the endless shores of the afterlife.

Her son was playing, thankfully unaware of her grief, and the tears she wasn’t able to hold back, spilling down her cheeks, over her hands, staining the paper and blotting the ink. Makino listened to him babbling, and that bright, beautiful laugh as he pushed the ball around, seated on the floor where she’d pulled up a chair. Content in his own company, the way she’d always been as a child, growing up with her mother, who’d taught her the importance of self-reliance.

But she’d grown crookedly, wilful and independent, and she was different now, a mother in her own right, a pirate’s wife, a pirate herself, and no longer content to be alone, and to readily accept her fate as it was decided for her. She wanted things now, wanted to be happy, to be loved, to live without worrying, and to be given back the things she was due. Her husband; her crew; her boys.

Wiping her eyes, she turned the newspaper over, and rising from her seat, went to pour herself a drink; allowing herself that today, selfishly, stubbornly. Because even the most patient of gardeners know that nothing grows without a good dose of stubbornness, not peace or happiness, and hope was a weed she’d never been able to uproot from her heart, for all her practical upbringing.

The whiskey burned her throat, leaving her coughing, and putting the empty glass down on the counter, she drew a deep breath. Then, steeling her spine, she poured herself another. If she was in for a long wait, she’d need it.

The dead never came back once they left, but Makino hoped now that she’d be proven wrong, this time like the last one. Because death might be final, but she was stubborn, and she’d out-waited tougher challengers. Longing, and loneliness; doubt and fear. She’d invited them all in, had served them all without judgement, and without buckling under the weight of their demands; her constant patrons. But death—

I’m really hard to kill.

Death could kindly fuck right off.

#One Piece #Shanks x Makino #Makino #One Piece Makino #opfanfic #Red-Haired Shanks x Makino #Sabo the Revolutionary #Koala #One Piece fanfiction #fanfiction #mungoe writes #One Piece 956

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sweetscentences · 4 years

Text

Small Changes: Chapter 4

Can be read on AO3 here. I’m posting this update early because I wanted to get through the halfway point of this fic before life gets too hectic <3

Sengoku brought a stack of heavy medical books to his third meeting with Law. Two of them were impressively sized encyclopedias, while another was titled ‘Medical Oddities of the East and West Blues’, and the last was called ‘Traditional Remedies in Modern Times’. Law snatched them up immediately, ignoring Sengoku’s explanation that they were sitting unread in his study for months.

Rosinante was certain he just bought them. The last title was the only one he could see appealing to Sengoku, but he hardly had the free time to read a book that size.

The sentiment was sweet.

“You know he can’t be bought, right?” Rosinante asked, lighting a cigarette and his sleeve. Sengoku put the fire out with a few practiced slaps before it could spread.

“I’m not a fool,” Sengoku huffed. His sharp eyes were fixed on Law as he flipped through the books. “I don’t expect his affection. I’m only hoping for tolerance.”

Tolerance was a realistic goal, in Rosinante’s opinion.

“You’re halfway there already.”

Law had stopped looking at Sengoku like he wanted to rip him apart. Or at least he had when Sengoku was out of uniform. Any reminder of Sengoku’s position would snap him back to loathing.

He hated the Fleet Admiral. He could stomach Rosinante’s father.

It was a difficult balance for all of them, Rosinante knew. But they were trying. Rosinante for them, and them for Rosinante. It warmed Rosinante’s heart.

“Bringing Vergo down is going to be tricky,” Sengoku said.

Rosinante hummed. Took a deep drag from his cigarette. Pretended he didn’t notice Law stop reading to listen in. He was surprisingly subtle about it. Rosinante wasn’t sure if Sengoku noticed. It made him unreasonably proud.

“You’ll need my testimony, won’t you?” Rosinante asked. He already knew the answer. It was obvious from the way Sengoku flinched.

Rosinante nodded. He wouldn’t make Sengoku say it, not when he was so visibly stressed by the thought.

“He’ll try to drag the trial out as long as possible. Maybe implicate me too. Law will need to be under guard the whole time. I don’t want him brought into this.”

Law tensed- the slightest hitching of his shoulders. Rosinante ignored it and settled on meeting Sengoku’s steely eyes. He tapped the ash off the end of his cigarette into the floral ashtray Makino set out for him.

“I won’t let Vergo walk away from this.”

Rosinante would kill him if he did.

Sengoku nodded. “I know.”

He understood what Rosinante didn’t say, no matter how much he might deny it.

Rosinante always tucked away the crueler parts of himself. The parts that reminded him of Doflamingo. He wasn’t as bad as his brother, he knew. But he wasn’t soft either. Not by anyone but Doflamingo’s standards. Sengoku chose not to see it sometimes, the same way that Rosinante did.

But there were reasons Rosinante made a good spy. Reasons he made a good sniper. Reasons he made a good pirate.

Some awful part of him would always love his brother.

He never loved Vergo.

It would be easy to put a bullet between his eyes.

Too easy, if Law’s life was on the line.

Rosinante could picture it clearly. Could practically feel the smooth curve of a trigger beneath his finger. He tapped his cigarette against the edge of the ashtray again to distance himself from the thought, from the image.

“He’ll either get the firing squad or Impel Down,” Sengoku said, watching Rosinante carefully.

Impel Down was more likely. Rosinante’s lip curled. He took a long drag from his cigarette. Part of him wanted Vergo to bleed out. Another part of him wanted Vergo to rot slowly in the darkness.

He supposed both could be arranged. After all, he still had a few contacts in Impel Down- Marine and criminal alike. Life was cheap there. It wouldn’t be too hard to hire an assassin.

But that could wait.

“What do you think?” Rosinante asked Law. He didn’t startle like he’d been caught eavesdropping, and he didn’t pretend not to know what Rosinante was asking.

“Impel Down is meant to be hell, right?” Law’s eyes were fixed on Rosinante, bright and cold. Somehow more hateful than they were when he first met Rosinante.

The world shaped Law into something that could be cruel, just like it did Rosinante.

Just like it did Doflamingo.

Rosinante nodded. Law’s lips twitched up into a sharp, amused smile.

“He should rot,” he said simply, and turned his focus back to his book. It was opened to a diagram of a human heart. Law traced it with a careful finger. His shoulders lost some of their tension.

“We’ll push for Impel Down, then,” Rosinante told Sengoku. His cigarette had burnt down to almost nothing. He lit another.

Sengoku watched Rosinante and Law carefully. He agreed with a sigh, and took a sip of his tea.

“Would an Admiral be enough of a guard?” he asked.

He got a sense of Law over the past few days. He knew that his relation to Rosinante was the only reason Law would be in the same room as him. He understood that one Marine hovering over Law would be more palatable than twenty. But still…

“Depends on the Admiral.”

If Rosinante had any say in the matter, which he damn well did, Akainu wouldn’t get within a hundred feet of Law. He was an unapologetic and unrivaled bastard. His ideas of justice and righteousness would have Law out for blood in seconds.

(Sometimes, they did for Rosinante too. He just had a reason to hide it. If he were ten years younger, he might throw that aside and attack Akainu when he had the impulse anyway.)

“Aokiji owes me a favor,” Sengoku said. “But it’s a simple enough task that he might do it just to avoid the trial.”

“He hasn’t changed much since becoming an Admiral?” Rosinante hadn’t seen him in a few years, certainly not after his promotion.

Sengoku huffed an unfriendly laugh. “He has more authority to be lazy now.”

Rosinante grinned. “Aokiji could work.”

He was powerful. Easily strong enough to take on Doflamingo or his best. But he also wasn’t likely to bring up the Navy on his own. Unlikely to act like a Marine. Unlikely to be offended by Law’s hate.

Aokiji could work.

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Sengoku and Garp left at the end of the week, before dawn. Garp pulled Rosinante into a brief, crushing hug that forced all the air out of his lungs. After releasing Rosinante, Garp offered Law a handshake that was, predictably, refused. Then he started off into the woods to say goodbye to his grandsons.

Luffy was the only one he brought around Sengoku intentionally. Sabo made two delightfully chaotic appearances, one of which ended with Garp’s pants catching on fire. Ace, on the other hand, was hidden and carefully spoken around.

It was an impressive act of subtlety, from Garp. Sengoku might not have noticed what, exactly, was happening. Rosinante certainly did.

He had a few ideas. None of them were good.

There was something eerily familiar about the cut of Ace’s grin. Something about the shape of his face, the ridge of his nose. Something about the fact that, according to Law, Ace thought his father was a demon.

For all that they had been enemies, Garp and Gold Roger respected each other. Enough that Garp might grant any final wish Roger had. Enough that Garp might even lie to Sengoku, if it meant keeping that wish safe.

It was a messy situation, if that was the case.

“Garp really could handle that better,” Sengoku sighed, speaking Rosinante’s thoughts aloud and pinching the bridge of his nose.

Rosinante raised an eyebrow. Law glared up at Sengoku, but that wasn’t a noteworthy change in his expression.

Sengoku sighed again. “I’m not going to ask what it is. It’s better if I don’t know.”

“Plausible deniability,” Rosinante laughed.

Sengoku’s lips twitched up. His expression softened and he reached up to pull Rosinante into a hug. Rosinante fell into it, resting his head on Sengoku’s and holding him close.

“I’ll make arrangements immediately,” Sengoku promised, pulling back enough to meet Rosinante’s eyes. “We’ll do this right.”

“We have to,” Rosinante said, reaching down to ruffle Law’s hat. His nose wrinkled and his lips curled up, but he didn’t slap Rosinante’s hand away when it rested on his head. All bark and minimal bite.

“It was good to meet you,” Sengoku told Law. He didn’t try to hug him or offer him a hand. He knew better, by now.

Law looked torn between aggression and sincerity.

“You could be worse.”

It seemed he settled on both.

Sengoku smiled. He’d grown used to, and maybe even fond of Law surprisingly quickly. Law had a sharp-edged charm, and Sengoku had a soft spot for children who lost everything but kept on living. Rosinante knew he inherited that from him.

“We won’t be here much longer,” Rosinante told Sengoku.

Last night he pinned a map of each of the four Blues to a wall in his and Law’s room. The dart Law threw landed where neither of them wanted to go, but they were both too stubborn to throw it again.

“Where are you headed next?” Sengoku asked. He understood the twitchiness, the unease, that gripped Rosinante in the past days.

Sitting still too long meant death.

“North Blue. Swallow Island,” Rosinante said, choking down his fear. Law pulled Rosinante’s hand off his head and squeezed it. Some of the anxiety sitting heavy in Rosinante’s chest uncoiled. Eased.

Sengoku nodded. Rosinante pretended not to notice the tight, worried pull of his mouth.

“Hiding under his nose. I’ll run an investigation on the Marines stationed there.”

They both knew Rosinante would run his own, slightly less legal investigation. Neither of them mentioned it. He knew as well as Garp did there were things Sengoku shouldn’t be told.

“Be safe,” Sengoku said, his voice rough as he pulled Rosinante down to press a kiss to his forehead. His eyes settled on Law. “Both of you.”

“We’ll try,” Rosinante said, blinking away the stinging in his eyes.

It was the closest thing to a promise he could make.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rosinante and Law stayed in Foosha another week, until Law was well enough to travel and the need to move was eating Rosinante alive. The mayor and Makino came to see them off, along with Garp’s grandsons. Rosinante was glad for that. It meant he could pull Ace aside as Luffy held everyone else’s attention.

Everyone but Law, who kept half his focus on Rosinante, and half on Luffy’s story.

Ace looked at Rosinante suspiciously when he invited him over, but he sat next to Rosinante on the dock without complaint.

What Rosinante saw of his wild, self-loathing temper reminded him of Law. A younger, less homicidal Law, but the sentiment remained. He didn’t know what it was about caustic, hate-filled children that made his protective instinct flare up so much.

(He could figure it out easily, if he wanted to. But he really, really, didn’t.)

“My brother is a monster,” Rosinante told him, and Ace’s eyes snapped up to his. “Truly a monster. He killed our father when he was around your age. Shot him and cut off his head. Now he’s the reason Law and I are on the run.”

His father’s death was one of Rosinante’s earliest memories. One of his most vivid memories. The smell of the gunpowder. The smell of the blood. The sound of the body hitting the ground, still, lifeless-

Rosinante took a sharp breath.

“Our father was the kindest man I knew.”

Rosinante wished he was more like his father. As generous, as forgiving as he had been. As gentle as his romanticized memory made him out to be.

Death had a way of making men into saints.

“But Doffy still became what he is. I still… I still became what I am.”

Rosinante found violence disturbingly palatable. He accepted it as a part of life when he was far too young. The careful way Sengoku raised him didn’t change that.

Once, when Rosinante was still a recruit, a ship he was on was attacked by pirates. He and the three other trainees were forced into the battle. Forced to fight and kill for their lives. The other recruits spent the days after sick with grief and guilt. But the only thing that bothered Rosinante was the fact that the ship’s seasoned Marines kept asking if he was alright. He killed four men, and lost no sleep over it. Not even once in the decade since.

Ace’s brows pinched in a frown. “But you’re really nice,” he said.

Rosinante forced a grin. “Maybe I am. But I am not my father. No one is.”

Ace ducked his head. Rosinante gently ruffled his hair. It was the same rich black as Law’s but thinner, softer.

“Everyone deserves the life they’ve been given, and the freedom to make it what they want.” Rosinante waited until Ace met his eyes to go on. “You chose your brothers. I chose my father, chose my son. There’s more to a family, more to a person, than blood.”

Ace’s head dropped down again as he scrubbed at his eyes. Rosinante didn’t push him, only ruffled his hair again before walking back to Law.

“What did you say to make him cry?” Law asked, his voice sharp and teasing. Rosinante lightly cuffed the back of his head, and ignored his furious hiss.

“Thank you for everything,” Rosinante told the mayor and Makino, who watched the whole exchange wearing matching grins.

“A friend of Garp is a friend of ours,” the mayor said, holding out a hand for Rosinante to shake.

“You’re always welcome here,” Makino promised, stealing a quick hug from Rosinante before offering Law her hand.

It pulled his attention from where he was watching Sabo and Luffy dogpile onto Ace.

He took Makino’s hand and shook it carefully. Rosinante couldn’t bite down his grin if he tried.

After a few more goodbyes, he and Law boarded a ship set for the edge of East Blue. They perched at the rail as the ship drifted out of the harbor, waving to the group at the end of the dock.

“Say ‘hi’ to Gramps for us!” Luffy cried from his perch on Ace’s shoulders, his arm bending unnaturally as he waved. “Torao! Go fuck yourself!”

Rosinante choked. He turned to glare down at Law, only to be startled when a loud laugh burst out of him.

Law doubled over, winding an arm around his stomach. His eyes crinkled so tightly at the corners they almost shut. A smile Rosinante had never seen before stretched across his face.

The admonishment died on Rosinante’s tongue. Warmth bloomed in his chest.

A few Northern swears weren’t so bad, really. Not if it meant Law would smile like that.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The trip to Swallow Island was long, but bearable. When they crossed into North Blue, Law spent most of his time on the ship’s deck, breathing in the cold air with clear lungs. It was an incredible feeling- the cold in his mouth, his throat, his chest.

It was biting and so, so familiar. It had been years since Law was able to breathe so clearly. He got used to choking on every breath. Got used to the heavy, burning feeling in his chest that grew every day.

Breathing without it was difficult to adjust to. He kept waking up and thinking, for a horrible moment, that curing himself was a dream. Standing on the deck, feeling the sting of the frozen air, it helped Law remember that it was real. If he was still sick, he wouldn’t be able to imagine that feeling.

He didn’t need to explain it to Cora. He was good at understanding that kind of thing. Good at reading Law.

He took to joining him on the deck, sitting next to Law with his back against the rail.

The sun was long since set. Law’s dreams the night before were unusually awful. He knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep, so instead he leaned against the rail, his chin propped up by his hands.

Cora didn’t ask anything, didn’t try to drag Law to bed. Instead he settled next to him, warm by Law’s side, and tipped his head back on the rail to watch the stars.

They shone so brightly in the Northern sky.

The familiar feeling of silence brushed across Law. Before he could ask why, Cora spoke.

“Celestial Dragons come of age when they’re fifteen years old,” he said, his voice a quiet rumble.

Cora coming from a family of nobles was still something Law struggled to wrap his head around. He wasn’t a coward like Flevance’s royal family was. He didn’t see himself as a god, like Doflamingo did. He was only a man. A good man, maybe, but a man nonetheless.

A human being, like Law. Fallible, flawed, and wonderful.

Cold wind rushed across the ship. It filled Law’s nose, his mouth, with the smell and taste of salt water. He breathed deeply, trying to hold onto it, and shuffled closer to Cora.

“There’s a special celebration. They call it a ‘saint ceremony’. I went to my cousin’s.”

Cora had a strange look on his face, something between wistful and pained. Law turned and sat down, pressing himself against Cora’s side and letting him wrap an arm around him. Cora was a tactile person. It was no secret that he craved touch. That he wanted to hold and be held. Law would offer him that comfort, when he could. It was the least he could do.

He would never admit that it was a comfort to him too.

“At the ceremony, a star is dedicated to you.”

Cora pointed up, and Law followed the long line of his arm to a very familiar pair of stars. The star on the right was bold and bright. The left had the same brilliant glow, but was difficult to see when looked at dead on. One had to look to the left of it, to catch it in the corner of their eye to truly see it.

“My mother said that the star on the right would be for my brother, and the star on the left would be for me.”

It suited them. Cora was just as bright, as brilliant, as Doflamingo. But he was difficult to pin down. To understand. To see.

But Law knew the trick to seeing that star. He was learning the tricks to see Cora too.

“We called them the bells, on Flevance,” Law said, resting his head against Cora. “The left one always pointed South East. I’d follow it home from the hospital with my father.”

It was a fond, fading memory. The long hours looking over his father’s shoulder, watching him work. The way his father would wind his own scarf around Law’s neck before they stepped outside. The two of them walking home through a world of white- snow and buildings blending together, glittering as brightly as the night sky. The warmth of his father’s hand around his, his other hand pointing up to the left bell, laughing and telling him to look, Law, look.

Was his laugh warm, or was it sharp like Law’s?

“I can’t remember his voice,” Law whispered, and Cora pulled him closer.

His father’s voice, the finer details of his face, they were fading. His mother and Lami’s too. The sounds of their laughs. The little songs Lami sang to herself as she went about her day. The way his parents slow-danced together in the living room, after long nights spent apart. The way they dragged Law and Lami into joining, once they were caught out of bed. The old prayers his mother whispered as she combed through Law and Lami’s hair. How Lami’s hand felt when it curled around Law’s.

All of it gone. All of it stolen. All of it burnt away.

Last night Law dreamt of them- their faces blank and white, their voices gravelly and garbled. Their hands reaching for Law. Grabbing him, tugging at his clothes. Dragging him forward as a fire started at their feet and grew to swallow them. Grew to swallow Law with them.

Law shuddered. He pressed his face against Cora’s chest and tried to breathe, tried to calm the frantic pounding of his heart.

The smell of death crept into his nose. Crept into his throat.

Death and fire, cloying and thick.

The smell of sickness. The smell of burning flesh.

Law choked on it.

He thought he heard a voice, but it was drowned out by the pounding of his heart and the ringing in his ears. His throat was closing up. A hand rubbed slow circles onto Law’s back. Something against him rose and fell slowly. Law forced himself to match his gasping breath to the feeling, digging his nails so sharply into his palms they drew blood.

The pain was real. The smell wasn’t.

The only real smells were cold air and stale cigarette smoke.

Law’s heart slowed. He breathed.

He was in Cora’s lap, pulled up to lean against Cora’s chest. Some part of Law wanted to rip himself away from Cora, to snarl that he wasn’t a child, that he didn’t need to be coddled, and go hole himself up in some corner of the ship where Cora wouldn’t see him break down. But Cora was warm, and safe, and humming a low, smooth melody. Law’s head was foggy with fear and exhaustion.

Cora was safe, carefully taking Law’s hands and cleaning the blood from them with a cloth he pulled from his pocket.

“Think they’ll need stitches, doc?” Cora asked, his fingers gentle as they brushed the cuts.

Law huffed, the sound more amused than annoyed. “Don’t be stupid.”

Cora didn’t say anything about the way Law’s voice wavered. Instead he grinned down at Law, bright and silly. Law tucked his head back against Cora’s chest so he wouldn’t see him smile back.

When Cora let go of Law’s hands, he wound them into Cora’s shirt. He didn’t protest, didn’t warn Law against getting blood on his clothes. Didn’t say anything about the way Law’s hands were shaking.

“It’s a good star for you,” Law said, and Cora’s chest rumbled with his hum.

“When do people come of age on Flevance?”

Law grounded himself with the sound of Cora’s voice. Deep and calm. Alive and steady.

“Sixteen,” Law told him. “If you weren’t studying medicine you’d pick an apprenticeship. If you were, you’d graduate from the medical school and choose a mentor.”

Law’s parents fought, teasingly, over which one of them would get Law. They had both known he’d pick his father, if only because surgery caught his interest more than anything else.

“You started young then, if you’d be done school at sixteen.”

Law nodded, let his eyes fall closed. Let himself relax into the warmth of Cora’s hold.

“Eight years old.”

Two years before his world fell apart.

Law ignored that thought. He focused on the sound of Cora’s heartbeat. A heavy lullaby.

“We should do something special for your sixteenth birthday, then,” Cora said.

Law liked that idea. Liked the thought of Cora still being there in two years.

“Do I get a star?” Law asked, his teasing tone swallowed by a yawn.

Cora laughed. “If you want one.”

His heartbeat was a steady sound. Proof that he was alive. Proof that Law saved him. Proof that they both got to live.

Law remembered something then. The blood in Lami’s hands didn’t circulate properly. They were always cold when she held Law’s.

He drifted off without realizing it.

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They settled onto Swallow Island quickly; Rosinante buying a small cottage at the edge of the port town with the money Sengoku gave him. Within two weeks the cottage started to feel like a home. Never more so than when Rosinante and Law sat in front of the fireplace, watching the evening snowfall and carefully figuring out Law’s Devil Fruit.

It had a strange, unnerving quality to it, but Law was a quick learner. The notebook he was working in was filling up faster than Rosinante expected.

Rosinante spent the days investigating the island’s Marines. There was only one small base on the island, settled at the heart of the port town. Rosinante hadn’t found anything dangerous yet- only three men with gambling problems and one woman who bought her wife flowers every day. Both habits swallowed an impressive amount of money.

Law spent the days doing god knew what. Rosinante was fairly sure he was exploring the island. He didn’t stop Law, only made sure he still had the knife Rosinante gave him.

When Rosinante was seventeen, he found a small collection of parenting books in the back of Sengoku’s study. He flipped through some of them, hoping to find something to tease Sengoku about, only to see careful notes scribbled in the margins of each one. It was too endearing for Rosinante to mock, and he put the books back. Luckily, no one was there to see him shed a few tears over it. He remembered one of the books mentioned allowing your child to have the freedom they needed. He had the feeling Law needed more freedom than most.

Rosinante realized he should have asked what, exactly, Law was getting up to when he brought a polar bear cub home.

Rosinante was sitting in the front room, drinking tea while reading letters and reports from Sengoku, when Law damn near kicked the front door open. The bear was draped half over his small shoulders, shuffling on its hind feet.

It took Rosinante a moment to recover from the strange sight. It took him a moment longer to realize that the high-pitched voice apologizing over and over in Grand was the bear and not Law adopting a weird accent.

Rosinante took another sip of his tea. Not a bear cub, then, but a mink.

The mink was covered in various scrapes and bruises, red staining its white fur. Law’s knuckles were bloodied.

Law didn’t acknowledge Rosinante, dragging the mink over to the couch and pushing it down. Then Law disappeared under the couch, reappearing a moment later with a first aid kit. It was one of four scattered around the small cottage. There was so little that Law called his own in the last few years, so Rosinante might have been spoiling him a bit to make up for it. Medical supplies seemed to be Law’s favorite thing to collect. Medical supplies and strange coins. Law was a little magpie when it came to hoarding coins. It was downright cute, even if Law threatened to cut off the tips of Rosinante’s fingers the last time he poked at his collection.

It wasn’t like he was going to follow through on the threat. Even if he did, he would reattach Rosinante’s fingertips before too long. It was a neat trick Law learned with his Devil Fruit. Rosinante hoped he wouldn’t take it any further, but knowing Law he absolutely would.

Law cleaned and neatly wrapped his bloody knuckles with a practiced ease. The mink shot Rosinante worried looks as Law set about treating its wounds.

Rosinante took another sip of his tea, carefully closing the folder he was flipping through.

Sengoku would send someone to bring Rosinante to the trial soon. Would send Aokiji to protect Law. But Rosinante could think more about that another time.

“Law,” he called. “Did you beat up this poor mink?”

The mink made an anxious noise, attention snapping back and forth from Rosinante to Law as Law tied off a bandage on its arm.

“I didn’t beat him up,” Law hummed, grabbing one of the mink’s paws to pluck something out of it with a pair of tweezers.

The emphasis wasn’t lost on Rosinante. He raised an eyebrow.

The mink whined, pained and sharp, as Law succeeded in pulling out what he was looking for. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he cried, ducking his head down and covering it with his free paw.

Protecting himself. Hiding.

“Don’t apologize,” Law snapped. “It would’ve hurt more if I was slow,” he said, bandaging the paw in his hand and ignoring, or not noticing, how the mink flinched away from him.

“Law, I think you’re scaring him,” Rosinante told him. Law tied off the last bandage and sighed. The second he released the paw, it joined the other in covering the mink’s head.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” Law said. His voice didn’t sound particularly soothing, but it was enough to have the mink uncurling some. “I’m the one who’s sorry, Bepo.”

The mink’s arms dropped from his head. He stared at Law, silent and wide eyed, for so long that Law started scratching at his arm in discomfort.

“You did say your name was Bepo, right?” Law asked, his cheeks darkening.

“You remembered?”

Law looked offended. “Of course I did,” he hissed. This time, Bepo didn’t flinch away from the sharp tone.

Instead he started blubbering, dragging Law into what was probably an extremely fluffy hug. He rubbed his face against Law’s shoulder as Law squawked, flailed, and tried futilely to escape the hug. After a while he gave up, wrapping one arm around Bepo’s shoulders and awkwardly patting his head with his free hand.

Rosinante wished he had a camera with him. This was probably the cutest thing he had ever seen.

Law’s eyes turned to Rosinante, to the grin on his face. His expression sharpened into something venomous. His teeth bared. Rosinante took a sip of his tea to hide his smile, trying not to laugh. Law was scratching Bepo’s ears, seemingly without realizing it.

After a few minutes, Bepo calmed down enough for Law to slip from his hold. He sat on the couch next to him, and Rosinante joined them, setting his mug on the table.

“Not that you’re in trouble, but would you mind explaining what happened here?” Rosinante asked, carefully taking Law’s hands to check his bandages.

They were perfectly wrapped, as Law’s always were, but Rosinante still liked to make sure of it.

Rosinante worried about Law more than he would ever say, would ever show. Law had no patience for coddling, he would think Rosinante considered him weak. Rosinante knew damn well how strong Law was. That was half the reason he worried as much as he did. Checking Law’s bandages was one of the few ways he indulged that worry. One of the few things Law allowed as well.

“I was coming back from Wolf’s when I found Bepo getting beaten up. I brought him back here because I didn’t have anything to help on hand,” Law said, taking back his hands when Rosinante let them go.

Rosinante had a few questions.

No, he had many. So many he wasn’t sure where to start.

He settled on asking, “who’s Wolf?”

That seemed to be the most important thing to know.

“Some weird old man who lives up the mountain,” Law shrugged. “He’s been letting me see his experiments.”

Rosinante had more questions. He wound his fingers together and rested his hands in front of his mouth. He took a grounding breath.

“Law,” he started. “Do you understand why that’s a concerning sentence?”

Law looked up at him, confusion and irritation warring on his face. Rosinante bit his lip.

“Not weird like that,” Law hissed, before shrugging. “Besides, he’s old. It’s not like I can’t handle myself.”

“I am not encouraging you to commit murder.”

Part of Rosinante couldn’t believe he just said that. Another part of him was surprised he never said that before. Bepo made a worried noise. Law’s glare sharpened.

“I never said anything about killing him,” he huffed.

Rosinante didn’t think he had any right to be so offended. Even if he mellowed out considerably, murder was still a perfectly valid concern when it came to Law. Rosinante loved him, but that love didn’t mean he was delusional.

“Will you take me with you the next time you go to see Wolf? I’d like to meet him,” Rosinante said. Law’s sharp expression softened with understanding.

“Sure,” he said, quickly killing any sentiment in the moment by stealing Rosinante’s tea. The mug looked like a bowl cradled in Law’s hands. It was endearing enough for Rosinante to forgive the theft.

He also forgave it because it meant Law might have an appetite that day. His eating habits were unpredictable at best. Some days he was ravenous. Other days he could barely stomach simple broths. Rosinante would take any chance to get something in Law’s stomach, even if that meant giving up a cup of his favorite tea. He could always make another.

“Back to Bepo, then,” Rosinante hummed, offering the mink his most reassuring smile. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Bepo nodded frantically, wringing his paws. “You too, mister, um-”

“Cora,” Law said, looking up from the tea. “I call him Cora.”

“Mister Cora, then,” Bepo smiled. At least, Rosinante thought he smiled. His teeth were worryingly sharp.

“You don’t need to be so formal,” Rosinante promised. “You can just call me Cora, or Rosinante. Any friend of Law’s is a friend of mine.”

Bepo looked a bit overwhelmed, his black eyes wide and shining. He didn’t seem to know what to do with kindness. It was as heartbreaking as it was surprising. Rosinante wouldn’t have expected Law to have the patience or gentleness for a personality like Bepo’s.

Not that Law was behaving gently by anyone’s standards but his own.

“You’re a mink, right?” Rosinante asked. “How did you get here? We’re a long way from the New World.”

Bepo curled in on himself again. “I fell off Zunesha’s leg,” he mumbled. He sounded near tears. His sniffed loudly, his black button nose twitching. “I got lost. It’s mean here. Everyone wants to hurt me.”

Rosinante’s mouth went dry. Law glared up at him before, shockingly, leaning against Bepo’s side.

“Why didn’t you fight back?” Law asked, his voice uncharacteristically soft. “You’ve got claws. And teeth. It’s not like they were strong.”

He had to be talking about whatever fight he pulled Bepo from. Rosinante hoped whoever was involved hadn’t been killed. Or maimed. Really, Rosinante just hoped they were able to walk away in the end.

Bepo drew his legs up to his chest, tucking his head against them. “Zepo said humans break easily. That I have to be careful if I meet them.”

Law knocked back the rest of Rosinante’s tea, dropping the mug on the table and glaring at Bepo. It seemed his patience had run out.

“You don’t have to be careful if someone’s hurting you,” he snarled. “Do you want to die?”

Bepo uncurled enough to stare at Law. “No,” he whined. “I don’t.”

“Then don’t let yourself be killed. Fight. Back.” Law’s teeth were bared, his chest heaving, his hands curled into fists. “You can’t expect anybody to save you. If you want to live, then fight for it.”

Rosinante set a hand on Law’s back. He didn’t shrug it off. He uncurled his shaking hands, breathing slowly and carefully. Bepo stared at him, slack jawed, his black eyes shining.

“Are you alright?” Rosinante asked. After a moment, Law nodded. “You like this bear, don’t you?”

He waited for Law to nod again before turning to Bepo. There weren’t many people Law liked. If he’d gotten attached to Bepo this quickly…

“You’re welcome to stay with us, if you have nowhere else to go,” Rosinante offered, meeting Bepo’s wide eyes. “No one will hurt you here.”

A moment later, Rosinante had a lapful of sobbing polar bear mink. Law shot him a smug look, which was quickly wiped off his face when Rosinante grabbed him and hauled him into the hug. He protested, loudly, but he didn’t try to pull away.

After all, Bepo was incredibly fluffy.

#mine #cw: panic attack #its brief and nothing too graphic but i still want to tag for it #chapter is about 6k #small changes fic #donquixote corazon #donquixote rocinante #donquixote rosinante #trafalgar law #sengoku the buddha #bepo #!!!! i can finally add that tag #my writing #one piece #one piece fic #two chapters left!!

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marcoacesabo · 5 years

Text

That’s Plagiarism!

It started off innocently enough. Small little stories appearing in the newspaper every few months or so. Sabo would marvel at how similar they were to his own stories sitting in his journal but they weren’t exactly word by word.

It was the idea mostly, and he did really enjoy the story, though it kinda sounded like it was written by a child sometimes. Heaven knows how they got past the editor’s desk but they had interesting plots and were worth finishing.

Then one day a new little dabble appears that had him standing up with a shout of rage as soon as he finished the first paragraph.

“That bastard!” Crumbling the newspaper he starts to pace, angrily mumbling under his breath more curses upon the author's life.

Koala looks up from where she was going over some reports from their spies. “What is it, Sabo?”

“This!” He throws the papers on her desk continuing to pace. Without them in his hand, he had no choice but grab onto his coat and wrinkle it about. Another thing that thief is to blame for. Now he has to iron. “Can you believe it!?”

“Ugh...A love story?” Koala doesn’t sound as offended on his behalf as she should be. He whirls around, slamming both his hands on her desk and a craze look in his eye. She jerks back surprise but not threaten.

“My love story!”

“What?”

Sabo angerly jerks his wrist in the general direction of the crumbled papers as his brain shifts and rolls uncomfortably but he ignores it in favor of being self-righteously vengeful. “That’s my story! I wrote it!”

“You did? When?”

“I..” There is a sharp pain now in his skull when he tries to think of the answer. He doesn’t know. He can’t remember. Closing his eyes, he reaches up to put pressure on where it hurts as it starts to get too much.

Attempting to ease the pain he groans. Koala’s chair searches against the floor before her dainty hands are on his pounding head.

“Sabo are you okay? Sabo?”

He shakes his head because it’s getting hard to think but he knows that story. He wrote it! He knows he did...it was an about a Nobel boy falling for the Sea’s child...running away togther...it was based off someone...who? Who did Sabo write that for?

“Sabo? Can you hear me? You need to calm down. Breath with me. Sabo?”

Shaking his head, the pounding got heavier and he stumbles to keep himself upright when his knees start to shake. It’s only then that he’s aware of his irregular breathing and the cotton stuffed into this mouth.

“Sabo, honey, listen to me. Stay grounded. I know what your experiencing is scary but it’s not dangerous. You’re going to be okay. Breath with me” Koala tells him but she sounds so far away even though she is standing right next to him. Her warm hand in his palm leads him to his discarded chair.

She helps to lower him down, and yet he can’t get his breathing under control. It’s too much. It’s all too much!

“My story...mine...mine...” He can barely breathe but somehow the words get past his lips as he shapes and colors start to blend together around him. Sabo doesn’t know what’s happening but the pain is starting to increase.

Koala shushes him, her warm hand rubbing circles into his back. “It’s okay. Just focus on staying grounded. count with me okay? one...two...three...four..”

It takes a while but eventually he is able to count along with her and his breath comes under control once more. It’s when he is able to get control of his limbs that he realizes he just had an anxiety attack.

“Are you feeling better now?” Koala asks still holding his hands but looking into his eyes without a trace of pity. The only thing swimming in her gaze is worry and he is more than ever grateful for her friendship.

“Yeah...yeah, I think so.”

“What happened?”

“I..ugh...I don’t know” He admits running a shaky hand through his long hair, “I think...I think it had something to do with my past.”

“Did you remember anything?” She is gentle in her tone. Sabo shakes his head then pauses as he something does emerge.

“I remember writing..in a tree house I think? Little stories.” He takes a big breath “I was really proud of them but I didn’t want...someone to find them. I don’t remember who.”

He falls silent and it’s not until Koala squeezes his fingers that he snaps out of his thoughts. He’s not sure where all this is coming from but suddenly he has the biggest urge to protect those childish writings he did.

“I want to hunt down the author,” Sabo says, jaw clenches tight as the feeling violation sits into his chest. “And I’m going to punch them in the face for plagiarising my work. I’m going to break their nose.”

It takes him weeks to get a lead. Dragon wasn’t all that happy about Sabo asking for days off to deal with a personal matter but when he had nearly three other anxiety attacks it was decided by the medical staff of the Revolutionary Army that he needed this time.

With his leader’s blessing, he packed a small boat and head off, to the nearest newspaper office. Someone had to know where the stories were coming from and he was determined to find the trail left behind.

The first place was a bust- though he did get some juicy information that made Dragon very happy once he reported it back- he was able to get an idea of where to go next.

Traveling to the New World was a slight inconvenience. Yet he was able to corner the editor who was in charge of the paper publishing his work. He didn’t even have to threaten him.

Instead, all Sabo had to do was walk in with his best-kicked puppy look asking about the one stealing his work. Stating the pain of having it all stolen after the hours of working on it as a kid.

As a fellow writer, the editor had eaten his story up. It may have helped that Sabo knew the next chapter storyline before they had a chance to publish it. Sadly the man himself did not know who the person was, only knowing it was coming from an island near the southwest part of the new world.

He gave him the Island name and the address. With that he bid the man goodbye, stealing the list of revolutionary army members that an anonymous tipper drop off on his way out.

Hey, he’s a spy first and for more, who wouldn’t expect him to go through all the letters and documents the night before he spoke to the editor? He calls Dragon about the leak in their network as he sails burning the paper to a crisp.

“What did you say the island’s name was?” Dragon gruff voice makes the snail look even more disturbing with the bloodthirsty smile the man wears. Sometimes Sabo wants to tell his boss to not smile but knows better of it.

“Mist Meadow, sir”

“Hn” Over the years Sabo has gotten good at translating Dragon’s grunts. This one meant not expecting that, but it would make sense when one stops to think about it.

“Sir?”

“That island is under an emperor's territory.”

“Who?”

“Whitebeard”

Well, things just got a little more complicating. “I’m still going. I need to.”

“Why?”

“Plagiarism!”

There is a slight pause. Sabo watches the den den mushi’s face for any hints of what he is thinking but it gives nothing away like Dragon does. Then a quick “Be careful. You mean a lot to me”

Warmth fills his chest. Sabo knows some people think Dragon is cold and standoffish but the man never fails to let his subordinates know how important they are. Whether it’s from congratulating them on a job well done or simply telling affection starved people like Sabo that they matter, the comments came freely from him. “Of course Sir.”

One last disturbing smile- the poor man just has that kind of face, not his fault really- before the line disconnects.

Sabo leans back in his boat, mind whirling. “Whitebeard huh? I’ll need to be careful when I arrive. But at least the man himself won’t be there.”

Whitebeard was in fact there.

Sabo curses his luck as he hunches his shoulders trying his best to not stand out in the cheering crowd. The Whitebeard parade down the street waving at the island people like they are on a celebrity runway. They anchored about ten minutes ago and the excitement still hasn’t died down.

He kinda wants to leave but it would make him stand out for breaking from the crowd.

Suddenly the ladies and a good portion of the men start to lose their mind with screams, shocking Sabo enough that he actually almost lets them trample him. Luckily he is able to dodge them at the last second, though it’s like being a rock in the middle of a river as they all rush forward to the metal fence hand outstretched for a waving man.

Sabo scoffs as the guy tilts his orange cowboy hat at a lady down front and she actually swoons enough that she almost falls. What is this? Some kind of-

His back snaps into a solid rod when another man walks up to cowboy hat, holding a very familiar book. Sabo forgets his place, pushing through the crowd of adoring fans, eyes on the two men who are flipping through his childhood journal.

There is too much noise to be able to hear them but he can read lips decently enough. The taller one is saying something along the lines of sending the next chapter to the press and Cowboy is flashing a smile so deadly that three people pass out.

Sabo is not impressed at all. He makes it the fence and screams with all his strength, toping the other voices when he adds a bit of haki. “Hey, asshole that’s called plagiarism!”

The two men whip around to look at them and Sabo almost dies. Okay wow. He can see why Cowboy has so many fans. Danm those freckles? Deadly. those ads. Deadlier.

Cowboy blinks at him, turning to look at his companion and- oh that’s not just not fair. He’s hot too. What? Did Whitebeard make it a requirement to be unfairly attractive when it came to recruiting?

Sabo punts his mind out of the gutter to focus on the fact his writing was stolen. He points an accusing a finger at Cowboy allowing words to fall out of his mouth without much thought. Somehow it’s like the words are a habit “You know you aren’t supposed to read that! The Forest Curse on you! Curse!”

Cowboy pales and steps back making everyone snap to attention finally taking notice of the disturbance of the parade. The pounding headache returns when he gets an answer he wasn’t really expecting. “The Forest Curse isn’t a joke! I’m not Luffy!”

“You’re going to die alone!” He shouts back for a reason he can’t explain and then-

Then Cowboy is throwing himself forward with a shout. Kissing his cheeks and squeezing him just a tad bit too tight in a hug “Sabo! If I knew that you are petty enough to come back from the dead over your work I would have it publish sooner!”

#marcoacesabo #That’s Plagiarism! Au #Sabo was that petty as a kid Ace don't even question #Establish MarcoAce #He publish it in Sabo's memory #Ace found Sabo's notebook and took it with him #His memories were trying to trigger due to his rage

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g-on-ef · 5 years

Note

What about an angst fic where Marco and Ace are stuck in a cave in, Ace is injured but Marco isnt cause of his powers, and as they try to find a way out Ace gets worse and worse and Marco gets more desperate?

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A/N: I Love this idea !!!! Had a lot of fun with writing this ^^

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It was supposed to be a simple recon mission, nothing bigor fancy just the two of them scanning the area for any potential threats andreport back Pops and let him know if the area was safe or not.

What neither of them expect was for an earthquake and trapthem in an underground cave.

Marco and Ace were searching the entire area and weresurprised to see how peaceful the town was, Ace being the paranoid little shitthat he was wanted to make sure there wasn’t any danger anywhere so he decidedto go check the caves, Marco of course agreed, which was surprising to Marcosince Ace was claustrophobic, Ace of course reassured him that as long as therewas light in the gave then he will be okay.

Marco foolishly agreed and followed Ace into the caves,they moved less the three miles before an earthquake Marco rushed to Ace’s aidbut was too late as the rocks fell on top of both of them knocking the down tothe ground.

After a few short moments Marco was able to stand on hisfeet, shaking off the dizzy feeling that was currently leaving his body, helooked around the dark room, lighting his arm he searched for Ace, a part ofhis mind was panicking, praying to anyone who would listen that his lover wasokay.

Another part of him tried to remain calm, panicking rightnow would be the worse mistake he could make, Ace was probably injured andscared outta of his mind and he needed Marco to be cool and collected, if he senseMarco freaking out for even a moment it would sent Ace to have a panic attackand Marco did not need to see his lover in such a worry state.

Looking around he spotted Ace lying face first on theground.

“Ace!” the blond rushed over to his lover, kneeling downhe checked to see if there were any fatal wounds on Ace.

He saw Ace’s shoulder was dislocated while both his legsappeared fine until Marco reached his ankles and saw one was sprain and theother was broken, Marco removed his shirt and began to rip it into pieces, hequickly tied each piece on Ace’s broken body.

Carefully turning him on his back Marco checked to makesure that the rest of Ace’s body was okay, aside from a few scrapes on hischeek and a nasty wound on his head, no doubt that his lover was going to havea concussion.

Taking a deep breath Marco gently wiped away the bloodand clean his wounds as best as he could. He thanked his lucky stars that his devilfruit could heal his wounds but he damn everything for not being able to do thesame to those he loved and cared for.

He watched as Ace’s face scrunched up in pain before heopened his eyes, Marco sigh a breath of relief, midnight orbs stared at hisface and for a split second Marco felt like he was getting lost in those bottomlesspits of darkness.

Most people fear the darkness but for Marco, whenever hestared into Ace’s midnight orbs he always felt like he wouldn’t mind gettinglost in them, exploring every secret; finding precious memories that he helddear to his heart, learning everything and anything about this fallen angel whodecided to grace Marco with his presence.

A small cough interrupted Marco of his muses and heremembered where they were. Remembering Ace’s claustrophobia, he quickly lithis arm on fire to allow some form of light to form the room.

“Ma-Marco?”

“Hey pretty boy,”

“Wha-what happened?” Ace tried to ignored the pain in hisbody, the last thing he wanted was for Marco to worry about him, sure he hadsome minor injuries at least in his opinion they were minor, that were noticeablebut there was some internal damage that couldn’t be seen and Ace did not wantMarco to start panicking about the pain that was going on inside his body.

Not to mention that they were stuck in a cave, he wasgrateful for Marco’s flames lighting the room, if it weren’t for that fact Acewas sure he would start freaking out and with his injuries he was certain thathaving a panic attack would not be the best thing to do.

“There was an earthquake and sadly, we got trappedinside,”

“Oh,” Ace began to cough a little, trying to mask thepain that he was feeling. Why did it hurt to breath? And why did he feel thisweird feeling on his chest?

The funny thing about Ace, he always thought that he wasable to hide things from Marco.

Sadly, Marco was able to read him like an open book, heknew when his lover was hurt, when he was trying to hide things. Right now, heknew his Handsome boy was in pain, knew that he was trying to be strong for Marcoso that he would not worry about him.

Marco gently lifted Ace so that he was sitting up, Acebit his tongue so that his cries of pain would stay silent.

“Are you alright Handsome?”

“Yeah, just need a moment to catch my breath,”

Marco nodded his head, letting his lover rest on hischest while Ace snuggled a little closer to him.

“I always feel so safe in your arms, you know that?”

Marco smiled at that before he leaned down and kissed Ace’sforehead.

“Why do you always do that?”

“Do what love?”

“Kiss my forehead?”

Marco laughed a little before he leaned down and kissedhis cheeks.

“Because I fell in with your mind before I fell in lovewith the rest of you, your beautiful mind had caught my attention but your gorgeousheart stole mine,”

Ace couldn’t help but blush at Marco’s words.

“You always have such a way with words, you know that?”

“Only with you Handsome,”

The two laughed, unfortunately it was cut short from Ace’scough.

“Ace?”

“I’m fine,”

“No your not, listen I’m gonna leave you for a second,”he could see the panic in his before he tighten his hold on him.

“It’ll only be for one-minute okay? I am going to try andsee if I could find a way out okay?”

“O-okay, umm… can you make sure that your entire body isburning so I can see some light?”

“Of course,” he kissed his forehead before he gently liedhim down, he then lit his entire body on fire before he rushed to see if hecould find an exist.

Ace watched as Marco left, what neither one realized washow deep in the cave they were, seeing him going farther and farther away wasbeginning to freak Ace out a little, he slowly lift his arm and tried to createsome fire, sadly with his arms in bad shape and his body screaming in agony hewas unable to create even in a tiny flame.

Ace tried to control his breathing tried to relax his mind,but he couldn’t, he felt like a cage animal, trapped inside a cage with noescape. He could feel a lump forming on his throat, palms becoming sweaty, theneed to crack his knuckles-a habit hedeveloped as a child whenever he was scared-was becoming greater with eachpassing second.

He could feel his heartbeat accelerating, trying tocontrol his breathing he took a deep breath and slowly released it, it hurt hischest but if it help calm his racing heart he would gladly welcome any pain.

“Marco will be back, he is only gone for a moment and hewill be back,”

“Or maybe he forgot about me and left me here fordead,”

“No, he wouldn’t do that, he would never do somethinglike that,”

“But he’s been gone longer than a minute,”

“No, he hasn’t it’s only been thirty seconds,”

“Tick, tock,tick, tock,”

Ace tried to control his mind and not let any of histhoughts control his mind.

Closed his eyes and tried to think of happy thoughtswhich was of his two brothers Luffy and Sabo. He reminces on times when theywere kids, when they found out Sabo was alive and survived the explosion.

How happy the three were to be reunited, Luffy and Law’swedding…yes the captain of the Heart Pirates and the captain of the Straw Hatswere getting married soon…Sabo and Khola’s child…the walls falling down on himtrapping him in a never ending darkness that he will never escape.

Ace’s eyes shot open, and it was dark…was it possible fora room to be this dark? Was it just his imagination that the cave was getting darkerand darker with each passing second? He could have sworn he felt something crawlinghis arm.

“Calm down Ace, it’s just your imagination there isnothing on your arm…”

A weird shriek was heard from the distance…

“Just your imagination,” Ace told himself before takingcalming breaths something Dadan told him to do if he ever felt scared.

He could have sworn he heard a noise, the same noise heheard a moment ago were getting closer to him, was that Marco? No, it wasn’t,if it was, he would have seen some type of light coming his way…was it someanimal that was coming to eat his body? No, no animal that lives in a cavewould want to eat a human right? Right?

The walls felt like they closing in on him…he felt theneed to breath was getting harder and harder to do, he felt some strangepressure on his chest and he needed to set it free in some way…he heard somenoise…getting closer and closer…where was Marco? It’s been a minute, right? Whywasn’t he here? Was the noise getting louder? Closer? What was making thatawful noise? And was it going to hurt him?

Marco where are you…

“ACE!”

Ace looked at Marco who looked scared and worried.

“Ma…Marco…”

“Ace…”

Before he could ask anything, he felt Ace going limp inhis arms.

Marco wanted to set himself on fire, punch himself,something to cause himself half the pain that Ace was in.

He was only gone for literally thirty seconds before heheard Ace screaming his head off, he ran towards him and saw in fear as Ace wasclawing at his arms drawing blood from them and crying out for help.

Marco was calling himself every horrible name he couldthink of; how could he think Ace would be fine? He was hurt, scared, and Marcofoolishly left him in the dark by himself.

“Why did I leave you alone?” he whispered to himself as he stroke Ace’s head.

They needed to get out ofhere, if Ace were to wake up again in this dark area he would have anotherpanic attack and this time Marco was certain that this one would be worse thanthe last…he needed to find a way out…needed to get them out as soon as possible…carryingAce on his back Marco lit his body on fire and ran towards the entrance of thecave…he sent a silent prayer that Pops and the rest of the crew could find themand prayed that he could get both him and Ace out of the cave before Ace wokeup…

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HELP !!! So I really really really really wanna write some Lawlu and AceMarco fics/prompts problem is I have no idea what to write !!! If anyone has any ideas they wanna share send them to my inbox I would appreciate it thank you ^^

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#answers asked #rayanyamor #writing prompt #prompts filled #marcoace #marace #marco the phoenix #portgas d. ace #one piece #angst #my writing #whitebeard pirates #whitebeardpirates

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hollowistheworld · 5 years

Text

Never Say Never Say Never

Read on AO3 Support Me on Ko-Fi

Sabo misses one New Year's party and apparently he misses all the important family updates.

A lot of people wanted to know how Sabo felt about this dating thing, so here’s a quick one-shot of him finding out.

“Koala,” Sabo protested in a tone that was definitely not a whine, “I have to go. Do you know how much of a douche it’ll make me if I’m late to my own brother’s birthday dinner?”

Koala added another laptop charger to the bundle already in his arms. “No one in your family has ever been on time for anything. You’ll live.”

Sabo scowled at her, though it didn’t matter because she’d already gone back to rummaging around in the cabinets. “I thought deep cleans were supposed to be done in the spring.”

“It’s the new year, Sabo. I’ve put up with all of this garbage for too long. You said you’d help me clear it out, and now you’re going to.”

Sabo frowned down at the steadily growing pile of wires and cords and boxes and who knew what else that kept appearing from their apparently bottomless cabinets. “I didn’t think you meant on the first. It’s a holiday, you know.” He was not pouting.

“Only for white collar workers.” Koala reemerged and added several more cords to Sabo’s arms. “There. Finally. What, were they breeding in there?”

“They must have been. I don’t think we have a phone that goes with that one,” Sabo said, nodding vaguely to one of the charger cords.

Koala waved him off. “Go see which of those don’t work and then you can go.”

“I don’t remember you getting promoted over me, Koala.”

She raised an eyebrow and held eye contact with him for an impressively long time. Sabo could withstand one of her stares better than anyone else she knew. Sometimes he could even outlast her.

Not today though, apparently. “Alright, alright,” he said, surrendering. “What are you doing?”

She gestured at the main computer. “Clearing all the useless files off of this thing. So be glad I gave you the easy job, okay?”

Sabo stuck his tongue out at her and went to find an outlet to start testing the cords in.

It wasn’t too bad, once he started working at it. Half the cords could be tossed out without being tried; they were frayed or cracked or had tooth marks (from what, Sabo couldn’t even guess). A few were a pain, sending him on a wild goose chase for something to plug them into, but he was still done in under forty-five minutes, leaving him with plenty of time to meet Luffy and Ace at Sanji’s restaurant, as long as he got a decent cab driver. He'd mostly said he might be late in the hopes of convincing Koala to let him skip out on helping her clean.

“I’m leaving, Koala!” he shouted back into the store, front door already half open, not intending to give her a chance to find something else for him to do.

“I expect you to come in early tomorrow to help me finish!” she yelled back, and Sabo shut the door in a hurry, already planning to insist he’d been gone before she’d said it.

He loved his job, and he loved Koala, but he wasn’t going to spend one second more cleaning than he absolutely had to. That wasn’t why he’d joined up.

Knowing Koala would likely blow a gasket if she was bothered by someone who didn’t know how to read a CLOSED sign, Sabo locked the door behind him and made sure the sign announcing the store as DRAGON ELECTRONICS was turned off before turning to find a cab.

He’d probably have been more willing to help Koala clean if they’d been cleaning stuff up in the important parts of the store. Down in the basement - which was actually a much nicer workspace than the store above - shredding documents they no longer needed and couldn’t risk anyone finding, organizing files that had been left scattered across desks for far too long, or checking that the computers were still up to date and secure.

Sabo didn’t know how the electronics store itself, which was just a cover for an entirely different sort of business, could possibly have generated so much clutter in just a year. It rarely even got more than two customers in a day, though those customers had an uncanny ability to walk in at the worst possible times. Listening to people complain about their computers catching viruses from visiting sites they had no business visiting was a drag at the best of times; it was worse when they had ten minutes to get out of the building before their chance to get corrupt-rich-bastard-of-the-month taken down vanished.

Sabo shook his head to clear it. He had to be careful about thinking about work while outside of work, or he ran the risk of saying something he shouldn’t in front of Ace and Luffy - and once Luffy knew a secret it was only a matter of time before the word spread. He could be persuaded to keep his mouth shut if one could impress the seriousness of the secret on him, but Sabo would prefer to just avoid the problem altogether.

Ace, meanwhile, would probably burst a blood vessel if he ever found out that Sabo’s ‘boring IT desk job’ was a cover for what could generously be called a vigilante gig. His big brother instincts tended to only kick on in extreme situations, but Sabo was willing to bet committing felonies would be enough to set them off. And Ace would notice if Sabo let something slip that he hadn’t meant to, unlike Luffy, who could be easily distracted.

Sabo was just grateful that Garp rarely came up to visit for anything besides Christmas, maybe Thanksgiving, and a summer camping trip. He’d kick Sabo’s ass through half the city if he knew what Sabo really did for a paycheck.

So Sabo carefully but quickly, with the efficiency that came from years of practice, boxed up all of his thoughts about work that went beyond ‘Koala’s making me help her clean the store and it’s a nightmare’. By the time the cab stopped at the curve Sabo was fully back into the persona of ‘the best behaved brother’, a position he had worked hard to maintain. He would also argue he deserved it even with his job - he may have been breaking the most laws of the three of them, but he had better intentions than either of his ‘chaos storm’ brothers, as Dadan had used to call them. And everyone always said that he was the most polite.

Sabo entered the restaurant and made his way to the usual table, where Ace and Luffy were already sitting, Luffy staring towards the kitchen with laser focus.

“Look at you two, being on time for once,” Sabo teased with a grin.

Ace was frowning at Luffy rather than joining him in staring at the kitchen in anticipation, which struck Sabo as odd. All three of them tended to hyper-focus on food, and it was generally a bad sign when something could distract them from it.

“Marco gave us a ride,” Ace told him, still eyeing Luffy, tone distracted. “He had to come out this way anyway, to talk to Doma about one of the dogs.”

“So he dragged your asses out of the house kicking and screaming, I take it?”

Ace finally looked at him, grinning a little. “Luffy went kicking and screaming. I can be easily bribed.”

Sabo knew it. Marco didn’t seem to have a lot of interest in getting Ace to do much of anything most of the time, but when he was interested Ace rarely lasted more than a few minutes against him. Sabo figured that was probably a good thing - if Ace was allowed to run out the full gambit of his stubbornness his partner would probably murder him in cold blood. And he’d deserve it.

Sabo slid into the booth next to Ace, sidling up closer to his brother than he usually did. Being close to any of the three brothers during a meal was dangerous - every one of them had bitten at least one person who had gotten too close to their food over the course of their lives. Most often, it had been each other. Luffy was lucky to not have scars in the shape of Ace’s teeth marks.

But food hadn’t arrived yet, so Sabo was safe for a little while longer. And Luffy was thoroughly distracted by the prospect of dinner incoming, so he was unlikely to eavesdrop.

Not that Luffy was much good at eavesdropping anyway. Eavesdropping required at least a little bit of subtlety, and Luffy and subtle didn’t have so much as a passing acquaintanceship.

“What’s going on?” Sabo asked in a low voice, just loud enough for Ace to hear over all the background noise of the restaurant.

“Huh?”

Sabo rolled his eyes. “You’re looking at Luffy like he’s grown an extra head. What’d he do?” Sabo would have thought they were immune to Luffy’s oddities by now. Sabo had over a decade’s worth of exposure, and Ace had twice that. What could Luffy pull out of his hat that wasn’t some variation on something they’d seen a hundred times before?

Ace shook his head. “You are not going to believe this.”

There wasn’t much Sabo wasn’t ready and willing to believe in. “Try me.”

Ace shook his head harder. His expression was complicated - Ace’s expressions often were - but Sabo had had years and years to learn how to read them. There was fondness, exasperation, a little bit of annoyance, and a lot of disbelief. “Luffy’s dating someone.” He kept his voice low, so that Luffy - now chatting to one of the waiters who had made the mistake of passing too close to their table while collecting empty glasses - wouldn’t hear him, but the words seemed to burst out of him all the same.

Sabo raised an eyebrow. “Dating someone?” he repeated. That didn’t seem likely at all. Luffy had never once expressed an interest in dating. He was scornful of soulmate bonds, and beyond that he’d always seemed vaguely skeptical of the idea of romance or crushes. He’d certainly never showed any interest in trying it out for himself.

Ace nodded. “You remember that doctor with the gang tattoos?”

Sabo considered once more telling Ace that he was in no position to be judging other people’s tattoos, but decided it wasn’t really the time. “Yeah, the one whose dog we watched at Christmas, right?”

“That’s him.”

“What about him?” Sabo glanced at Luffy - if Sanji didn’t hurry up with dinner he was going to break into the kitchen - and back at Ace. “Luffy’s not…?”

“Yeah. Announced it last night. This morning. Whatever. At the party.”

Ace and Luffy had spent last night - New Year’s eve - at Whitebeard’s place, at one of their impressive parties. Sabo hadn’t gone, desperate to catch up on his sleep after a string of bad luck had nearly landed Hack in prison. And then he'd been nice and come in to help Koala with the cleanup from all that, and she'd tricked him into helping her clean up the literal mess of the storefront. See if he every volunteered to help her with something again.

“How long has that been going on?”

Ace shrugged one shoulder. “Not that long. At Christmas I - Luffy, where do you think you’re going?”

Luffy had sprung up from the table. “I’m gonna go find Sanji.”

There was no time to protest. Luffy could really move when he wanted to, even if he wasn’t actually running. He was halfway across the restaurant before Sabo or Ace had finished hearing what he’d said.

Ace waved him off. “He’s lucky he’s got a friend who’s a cook. Anyone else would have banned him ages ago.”

Sabo laughed. “Pretty sure he is banned from every restaurant between here and our place.”

“Probably. Anyway, as I was saying - I ran into the guy at Chopper’s birthday party. Law was getting fucking smashed at the bar, having a crisis about soulmates.” He looked at Sabo expectantly.

Sabo looked back, confused, for a few long seconds, and then his eyes widened. “Luffy’s that guy’s soulmate?” It shouldn’t have surprised him so badly, really. Just because Luffy didn’t have a soulmate didn’t mean anything about someone else having him for one. But it was still strange to even imagine.

It wasn’t personal towards Trafalgar Law. Sabo would have felt equally shocked no matter who Ace had said it was. With the possible exception of Zoro. Sabo could have believed Zoro had Luffy for a soulmate, he thought. But the idea of anyone else made his brain buck a little.

“Yeah. Not even two weeks after Trafalgar gets done telling me about how he can’t ever see himself dating his soulmate he’s sitting on our fucking couch holding Luffy’s hand, with Luffy’s damn name written on his arm.”

Sabo paused a second, distracted from the point. “It’s Luffy’s name? That’s his soulmate mark?”

“Yeah. So?”

“Nothing, it’s just…” Sabo laughed a little. “God, that’s so cliche.”

Ace smirked, and it broadened until he was laughing too. “Christ , I know, right? Poor guy. He said it didn’t start as Luffy’s name, but can you imagine going through life with something that boring for your soulmate mark and then that comes hurtling into your life?” When he said ‘that’ he gestured towards the kitchen, where Luffy was no doubt making a nuisance of himself.

The two of them laughed, trying to be quiet at first, then realizing Luffy wasn’t there to overhear and demand to know what was so funny, and they grew louder and louder until they were doubled over the table, clutching their sides and getting funny, judgmental looks from the other restaurant patrons.

Sabo recovered first, wheezing and hiccuping back to sanity in fits and bursts. “Okay, okay,” he managed, struggling not to start laughing all over again at the sight of Ace still giggling to himself. “Does Luffy at least seem happy with him?”

Ace shrugged. “Dude, it’s Luffy. He seems happy with everyone.”

That was a fair point. “Happy dating him. Like, Law’s not being… I don’t know, weird about it? He’s not trying any shit about how Luffy has to do whatever he wants because he’s his soulmate?” It was hard to imagine Luffy allowing somebody to be a dick to him for any reason, soulmate mark included, but Sabo was his older brother. He was supposed to worry about things like that.

“Not that I saw.” Ace took a drink of water and reached for the table’s pitcher to refill his glass. “I don’t even know if Luffy knows they're soulmates.”

“Should we tell him?”

Ace shrugged again, but with a more serious look on his face this time. This was one of the things he’d been thinking about while he’d been staring at Luffy. “I don’t know. You’re better at this relationship crap. What do you think?”

“How am I the one who’s good at relationships? Apparently, I’m the only single one.”

Ace made a broad, vague gesture with one arm. “Not just dating. You’re better with people. It’s why you’re in retail.”

Sabo was nowhere near good enough with people to really be in retail, but he didn’t say so to Ace. “This just started last night?” he asked instead.

“Yeah, far as I know. And like I said, Trafalgar was having his life crisis at Christmas time, so it couldn’t have been much longer than that anyway.”

Sabo glanced back towards the kitchen. Luffy had reappeared, walking backwards, as though he had to guide Sanji to their table. “Let’s give him a couple of days. If he doesn’t tell Luffy about it, we’ll know he’s a bastard, and we’ll send his ass back to kingdom come.”

“And if he does tell Luffy?”

“Then we’ll play it by ear. Come on, this is Luffy we’re talking about. If Law pisses him off we’ll be able to hear him complaining about it from space.”

Luffy reached the table, Sanji and dinner in tow, and Sabo slid a safe distance away from his brother. It wasn’t surprising that Ace was so concerned. In addition to his - their whole family’s - complicated tangle of emotions regarding soulmate bonds, Ace just didn’t trust other people very easily, particularly not where his brothers were concerned. He was always worrying about the sort of people Luffy was hanging out with, if they were trustworthy, if they might take advantage of Luffy’s friendly, trusting nature.

Sabo worried about that sometimes, but mostly he tended to worry about what he considered to be more realistic concerns - like Luffy falling off a building while parkouring around town and splitting his head open on the concrete. Maybe dating a doctor would be for the best.

“So, Luffy,” Sabo said as the three of them began digging into their dinners. “I hear you have a boyfriend?”

Despite having his mouth full, Luffy grinned.

#one piece #monkey d. luffy #sabo #Portgas D. Ace #my writing #opfanfic

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