#doflamingo and viola | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

usernameforaboredcat · 10 months ago

Text

Can’t Hate One, But Not The Other

(Pudding & Viola)

Before I start, I wanna say that this is just MY personal opinion. I just see such different and drastic opinions that don’t make sense to me honestly. PERSONALLY, I love both Viola and Pudding, but who cares am I right? If you do have a split opinion that’s fine, I’ll just look at you with a little side eye, but also don’t hate me I’m sensitive.

Part One: The False Lover Turned Admirer

Imagine this, just for a minute for me, alright?

Yet another One Piece arc starts, we follow our Straw Hat chef Sanji. It starts with Sanji meeting a lady, a pretty lady. Sanji being his usual self throws himself at the lady, treating her nicely, spoiling her, being his usual over the top flirty self and even a little pervery pervery I mean it’s Sanji here we’re talking about. Sanji and the lady grow closer, spend time together, even get a little flirty and romantic together.

Only to find out the betrayal, the pretty lady is the enemy, helping the big bad villain of the arc to kill the Straw Hats and Sanji himself. But as the arc goes on, Sanji brushes it off, as if having a hunch that something is wrong, that the lady doesn’t entirely have a say in the current situation, but still goes out of his was to treat the lady nicely and with respect, just as Zeff had taught him.

During his continued persistence to treat the lady with respect, the lady starts to like him, fall for him in return even. The lady grows a respect for Sanji, and in return end up helping him and the Straw Hats in their plans, to save and help them.

Now…

What lady did you think of?

Same plot, different font.

Part Two: Sanji VS Toxic Relationships

To start the only difference between the women other then their aesthetics, ages, and arcs, they have their own personal reasons for what they did and why they did it.

Let’s start with Viola.

As we all know, Viola, who was under the allies of Violet, was sent by Doflamingo to personally deal with Sanji as he is seemingly well know to have a weakness for women.

Doflamingo is Violas toxic relationship.

As an easy start, Doflamingo invaded, over threw and manipulated her country just over night, using his Devil Fruit to make her father seem like the villain and Doflamingo himself as some righteous savior. Her father labeled as a criminal by the country, her older sister murdered, her niece nowhere to be found, and her brother-in-law long forgotten by her, she had no choice but to obey him if she valued her life, which was only the beginning. Not a lot of details are shared about their relationship, but it is canon that Doflamingo had raped Viola, and in return she could do nothing but let it slide since realistically there was nothing she could do. In theory that type of relationship continued for the next ten years. Hell, during her introduction scene when Sanji first saw Viola dancing, she wasn dancing a dance called “The Flamingo”, a very obvious reference to her connections to Doflamingo if you knew the dance, which also makes it safe to assume that they still had a sexually abusive relationship even up until that point.

Like any abusive relationship, sexual or not, it’s hard to escape, especially with one with Doflamingo himself. He’s a powerful man, physical wise, social wise, and Devil Fruit wise. It’s safe to assume that Viola would have the mindset and know the the sexual abuse and rape wouldn’t be the worst she could get out of him, especially since Doflamingo could easily sell her off. Fun fact for anyone who didn’t notice, the human auction house in the Sabaody Archipelago Arc is owned by the Donquixote Pirates, their Jolly Roger being seen on the walls multiple times. And considering the types of people who could buy her, princess or not, it would at least be a better option to stay in her home country, especially since she had Rebecca to keep an eye out for. Rebecca (to her knowledge) was the only family she had left, the last thing she had to her beloved older sister, probably scared out of her mind of what Doflamingo could do to Rebecca.

Now, let’s talk about Pudding.

Two arcs later, during the Zou Arc and Whole Cake Island Arc, Charlotte Pudding was assigned to be Sanjis wife so that the Big Mom Pirates and Germa 66 would have a close alliance, only for Pudding and her family to kill the Germa family.

Big Mom aka Charlotte Linlin is Puddings toxic relationship.

“The first person a child trusts is their parents” is what studies have said and shown, some of us understanding that personally. Besides her many a siblings, Big Mom is all that Pudding would have for a family, most likely being her only parent as well. Now some may ask “well what about her father?”. Well…only one father is ever shown, Lola and Chiffons father Pound, and as shown with them when the twins where born Linlin refused to let Pound meet his own daughters and essentially banished him, so it’s safe to say that the same probably happened to Puddings own father. As any child, she’d only want to love her mother, especially considering the environment that Pudding grew up in, a candy cotton filled dream, and even seeing how her older siblings would act and how they’d talk about Linlin.

To put it simply, Big Mom is a narcissist, showing many signs of being one, especially with how she acts towards her own children. She’d love bomb her children, show them that she cares and say that she loves them, only to ridicule them, Linlin herself saying that Puddings third eye “ruined her pretty face”. Which honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if she was the same with some of her other children, like Katakuri for example. (Yes I know Kuri grew to hate his looks cause of what bullies did to Brúlée, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Linlin also made a few off comments herself). Pudding still obviously loves her mother, wanting to make her happy and help her achieve her dreams. She’s her mother after all.

Part Three: The Tear In The Fandom

This is just a personal section from me, from my own observations from my time within the fandom. I’d see people say “oh I don’t like her because she manipulated Sanji” which 1. Both of them did and 2. As I explained neither of them really had a choice in the matter. Viola couldn’t cause she was too scared to defy Doflamingo, and Pudding couldn’t cause she just wanted to make her mother happy.

We can agree that Sanji can sometimes suck, his perverted nature being a real pain in the ass and making it hard to defend him, and I can say that as a Sanji fan girl. But he still has that likability, the ability to show these poor ladies respect and offer to give them the love they deserve.

Viola was 19 when Doflamingo took over her kingdom, him being 31. And for those ten years of her early adult life that sexually abusive relationship was all she knew, sexualising herself to manipulate Sanji in the first place. When Sanji did come along, he showed her the love and respect she deserved, and she quickly learned that.

Pudding on the other hand is only 16, still a child legally. She’d probably had never known what actual love and respect was like, never receiving either from the person she cared for the most, her mother. Which is why I called Linlin a narcissist, degrading her child only to love bomb her, make Pudding feel special so that she’d stay close to her, for her third eye that can read the poneglyphs in the future.

Part Four: Conclusion.

In conclusion of my stupid and probably pointless rant cause hey, I write fan fiction not essays, I find it hard to hate one but love the other, considering how very very similar their circumstances are.

I love them both, yes I have a personal favourite out of the two but will I say who? No of course not, I don’t want to cause some of y’all scare me.

At the end of the day both of these beautiful ladies are victims of abuse and deserve all the love in the world instead of hate cause really it brings down the vibe.

I hope y’all enjoyed.

And hey, if you wanna read some fanfics give me account a look at.

Bye y’all!!

#one piece #one piece Sanji #Sanji Vinsmoke #black leg sanji #one piece pudding #charlotte pudding #one piece viola #one piece Violet #whole cake island #dressrosa #big mom #charlotte linlin #Doflamingo #donquixote doflamingo #doflamingo one piece

36 notes · View notes

nehswritesstuffs · 2 months ago

Text

The Fall and Rise of House Corrodia - Part 1

IIIIIIIIIIt's time for Nehs to write something completely self-indulgent that appeals to probably no one else!!! I’ve seen some takes on the Corazón!Law concept over the years, mostly in some delightfully chilling fanart, so two years ago I thought I’d give it a shot myself. Then, because it’s me, this happened, adding to what has now become a shipping agenda.

4618 words to start; this is just one of the potential ideas I have for these two floating around in my brain; warnings I shall be up-front about include Doffy the Bad Touch Uncle, attempts at grooming, graphic sex/violence, and Law, Viola, and (eventually) Rebecca being very sad nuggets (I shall not give specific warnings otherwise, so tread carefully if you are one who requires them); I’ve been trying to be a good noodle about getting as much written as possible/finishing new multichapter stories before posting so get ready because we have at least 46k of this down the pipe and more than that to come; planning on updating every other Monday until about late summer (eight to ten chapters), after which I shall likely take a break; NOTE: this will not be going up on FFN due to lots of things, but it will be on AO3--any chapters I do not post here will at least have updates linking to the AO3 chapter

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Viola knew that it had been a night that was going to change everything forever—she wasn’t a child anymore. Her father and his soldiers—all good men—had gone rampaging throughout the kingdom just a week before and she was now breaking bread with the villains who caused it as though she belonged with them. She sat towards the middle of the table, quietly eating her soup as she tried to not be sick.

Her father was safe, she had to remind herself. Her services to the enemy was a small price to pay to keep the coup from becoming irreversible. With her father safe, her niece out of reach, and her nation kept from crumbling into chaos, there was time yet to plan revenge. She kept her head down as the dining hall’s door creaked open and caught Doflamingo’s attention.

“Ah, there he is,” Doflamingo preened. “Everyone, look alive: the Corazón has returned.”

Most of the people at the table welcomed the young man who came into the room. Viola eyed him cautiously—he was just a little bit younger than her if she figured correctly, with the remnants of baby fat still on his face and his stature tall and lean with shaggy black hair. A coat of black feathers to match Doflamingo’s pink sat around his shoulders, moodily gaudy only until one saw the makeup on his face: his eyes were rimmed heavily in kohl black as his clothes, with an equally-dark shade painting his lips, sharply trailing away from his mouth to mimic a scar on either cheek. He sat down next to Doflamingo and a bowl of soup was placed in front of him.

“Took you long enough to catch up, brat,” Trebol huffed. “Where were you?”

“Securing the soldiers outside the city without dicing them into chunks,” Corazón replied. He glanced down the table and his eyes latched onto Viola. “Who are you?”

“She,” Doflamingo said, “is the other key to this entire operation. Violet, this is our Corazón.”

“I hope to be of great use to the Family,” she lied elegantly. She hated that the very training she had been given as a princess was now being used to please usurpers. Corazón went to his soup and ate, barely giving her any heed. He did not even take off his gloves to eat, which was curious considering he seemed to otherwise know table manners… unlike the others they sat with.

“What kind of things is she gonna do?” Buffalo asked as he chomped on his food, bits flying everywhere. Pica smacked the back of his head, almost causing him to choke.

“I know local customs, and am a familiar face for those who might have a more difficult time adjusting to the new regime,” Viola explained. She remained poised despite the spittle-infused bread flinging itself everywhere and causing her to lose her appetite. How was he a year older than her and yet still so grossly ill-mannered? “Dressrosan has a certain lilt to it that one cannot learn in the classroom—you need someone with an ear for it.”

“Do you think you can teach us?” Baby 5 wondered.

“You can barely handle Northern languages; don’t waste her time or yours,” Corazón said, not even glancing away from his soup. Baby 5 pouted, which caused him to throw her an icy glare that made her shiver and hide behind Monet.

“Fufufu, direct as always,” Doflamingo chuckled. He took a sip of wine and drank in the sight of the Family he had worked so hard to cultivate. “Don’t be too harsh on her now—we’re home, where we belong, and you can’t start setting fire to bridges before they’re even built.”

“I do what I want.” Corazón pushed his chair away and stood. “I take it there is a room for me?”

“On the way to mine; I’ll show you,” Gladius offered. He also stood, having eaten more of his food at the very least, and joined Corazón, the pair leaving.

“Don’t let Corazón get to you, dear,” Giolla said, nearly supportive in tone. “He’s been with us since he was a little brat and he still can’t shake some habits.”

“The little shit’s a real Grump,” Lao G added. “He needs to Get his life in order.”

“Now, now…” Doflamingo chided gently, tone nearly wicked. “He just has a lot on his plate, and in a new country at that. Let him adjust a bit before resulting in name-calling.”

“He still betrayed us,” Lao G stated. Betrayal…? Out of the Corazón…?

“Led astray by an actor in bad-faith,” Doflamingo insisted gently. “We have him again and he has done very little to insinuate that he will turn his back on his duties.” He turned towards Viola, his Haki bearing down upon her shoulders. “Corazón is an excellent example of how I am a loving and forgiving Master. He saw the error of his ways and is one of us, for always.”

“For always,” the others at the table echoed. Viola wanted to make herself smaller and disappear, yet that was unfortunately not to be.

“Don’t worry, Violet, my dear,” Doflamingo hummed. “You shall become accustomed to our ways as quickly as we shall become accustomed to Dressrosa’s. Before anyone realizes, it will be like we always were here, and you’ll see how Divine my rule shall be.”

She tried to not be obvious as she sucked in a breath, her emotions ready to crack under the past week’s undue pressure. The overthrow of Donquixote Doflamingo and his sycophant cronies couldn’t come soon enough.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Adjusting to life as Violet of the Donquixote Pirates was more difficult than Viola had anticipated. She saw how disappointed some citizens were with her over the following months, their distaste for her actions clear. They never knew the pleading and groveling that she had done, all to throw an old man into the Coliseum pits to fight for the chance to be sentenced to life under a false name instead of an execution. Her free time was spent trying to find her niece, who seemed to vanish into thin air, if there was any time to put aside, that was. Doflamingo kept her so incredibly busy helping to fully and completely transition power to him and his flunkies that some evenings it was all she could do to aim for her bed as she collapsed in tears. She felt so powerless and wretched that some days it made her physically sick, giving her a brief reprieve from the false king’s leering eyes and wandering hands.

At least, she figured, she did not hate all of the pirates that had invaded her home. Most of them were lost causes, though a few seemed kind enough, if thoroughly misguided. Baby 5 was always looking for approval from someone and was quick to endear herself to the former princess. Dellinger was… cute… she supposed… if he was not breaking his toys or biting others. He really should have been over that at his age. Gladius even was occasionally tolerable, able to share a quiet meal or working space better than most others. She took her victories where she could, as the other members of the Family around her age she either didn’t trust—Monet—or was repulsed by—Buffalo—not to mention the older members…

Well… there was still the Corazón.

The best way to describe him, she decided, was as a mystery. He was an extremely quiet and sullen individual, who often kept to himself, even when he was in a room with others. There were times he would be gone for weeks on-end, only to return and act as though he had never left. He kept odd correspondences and even odder hours, leading her to wonder precisely what it was he did for the Family.

“Best not to think about it,” Giolla told her one day as the older woman was fitting her for a new dress. “Corazón is the one whose actions keep the Organization going, beating like a real heart in a way. Let the boy blow off steam. He hated leaving the North.” She then quickly changed the topic to that of the upcoming conference that they were preparing for, sort of a regional prelude to the following year’s Levely.

…and yet he still stayed on her mind.

There was something about Corazón that seemed… off… that was different from the way the other Donquixote Pirates were. Viola knew little of Northern accents, and yet his stuck out as odder than the rest. He was hesitant to interact and revealed things only through actions and body language; the droop of his shoulders, the length and depth of his stare, the intense silence. The weights he carried were not the same as the ones the others did, to the point where she eventually began to wonder if most of the Donquixote Pirates had any burdens at all.

Yes, something was different with Corazón compared to the rest of the Elite Officers—with the rest of the Officers in general—and although her family had instilled in her the idea that while different was not inherently wrong, she knew something deep down inside her that this different was…

…and the thing that was wrong…? It wasn’t Corazón’s fault. Viola couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she had an inkling that if she scratched the surface of his makeup that she’d find a boy just as broken and fragile as she was… someone who just wanted to be a little more Human than what their boss allowed his puppets to be…

The only problem was that finding that boy would involve too much attachment that she didn’t have the time or patience for as she quietly tried to figure out her new boss’s weaknesses, readying for when she would strike sure and true so that her father could emerge from the coliseum pits and reclaim his throne. She needed to be strong for her father, for the niece she was still missing, for the sister she wasn’t even allowed the chance to bury.

Viola had no room to worry about others, because Violet had too much on her plate.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

There was a Toy in her room.

How in the hell was there a Toy in her room so late at night?

“Who are you?!” she demanded. She tried to keep her voice down, though was still tempted to shout for backup. “How in the hell are you breaking the law?! How can you break the law?!”

“I am not a normal Toy, princeseta,” the Toy replied. He was a large tin soldier, with one leg on a turn-key skate and a pop-cork rifle resting on his shoulder. The amount of respect and politeness that emanated from him was preternaturally calming—he was definitely a friend despite everything.

“Then who are you?” she asked, sinking down onto the sofa. He seemed to consider it, pensive.

“You may refer to me as Thunder Soldier,” he said. “I am the First Toy, and therefore do not abide by the rules the other Toys must follow. Consider me the intermediary above all others.”

“…and you… you trust me…? Despite who I work for?”

“Princeseta, I know you better than you realize—there is no way you would turn your back on Dressrosa and her people in exchange for simply remaining in the palace,” Thunder Soldier said. His words cut deep despite the fact they were meant to be assuring. “Is it safe to theorize that you are here because of another sort of deal?”

“My father has been thrown into the coliseum pits; my cooperation in transferring power and working for Doflamingo has made it so he remained alive and able-bodied.”

“You remain a good woman, as I suspected,” the Toy nodded. There was something about his voice that was soothing to her ears… comforting… as though she needed to hear those words from this Toy and in that voice. “Do you mean to take the pretenders down from the inside?”

“Yes.”

“Good—then you must know that I am in close contact with the Tontattas, and they will soon know that you have not turned on Dressrosa, nor them.” Her lips parted in shock—how did he know of the Tonta Tribe?! “This is not something that can be managed quickly, I’m afraid. The speed with which Doflamingo was able to destroy any resistance to his reign has had a grave toll on our support networks. We need to rebuild much from scratch.”

“I am patient,” she claimed. Thunder Soldier put a cold hand on one of hers in condolence.

“As am I, but I am also furious,” he replied. “They took everything from me… and for what? Some delusional Northern pirate’s fancy? I refuse to lay down and die… not like this…”

“Then we are not alone,” she said. She took Thunder Soldier’s hand in both of hers and looked him in the eyes. “They have their sights on me, so don’t expect much to start, but I swear that one day, my father will sit on the throne again, and we will put him there.”

If the Toy could grin, he was doing so from ear to ear.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

So she waited, and watched, and played her part…

…because in the end, what else could she truly do?

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

It was about a year into The Donquixote Pirates’ occupation of Dressrosa when everything shifted.

Viola was enjoying a rare quiet evening in as she sat in the garden under the stars. Doflamingo and most of the Family was away on a Warlord mission, leaving only a select few officers in the palace, and of them Viola was the lone one making use of the garden. Señor Pink was off clubbing, while she had long ago made sure that Dellinger and Sugar were put to bed. Now it was just her and a book as she relaxed next to a lamp while a warm breeze off the sun-baked city kept the evening chill from invading her terrace hideaway.

Sighing heavily, Viola held her place in the book and let her head fall to the back of the lounge chair as she closed her eyes. Her mind was too active to truly enjoy herself—it was another week gone and another week without any sign of Rebecca. She was beginning to think the worst, which made her heart feel heavy.

“Shit feeling, isn’t it?”

Viola’s eyes snapped open as she jumped in surprise and saw Corazón’s lithe frame leaning on the railing, seemingly too casual for someone who had just appeared there out of nowhere. His face seemed all too pale for having been in Dressrosa a year, still too sharply contrasted by his black clothes and the equally-dark cosmetics on his lips and around his eyes, and it made him look almost like a ghost.

“What do you know about how I feel?” she frowned, trying to seem indifferent. What was he doing back in Dressrosa so quickly? She needed to investigate this ship of his and the crew that manned it—it was too good at slipping in and out of the underground port without anyone else’s knowledge. He shrugged at her words, not put off by them.

“I know what my Observation Haki tells me, and it tells me that you’re in mourning. It’s a shit feeling, because it’s a familiar feeling.”

“…and who do you mourn?”

He paused at that, considering his words carefully. “Same as you: a family and an entire nation.”

“I’m serious.”

“As am I.” Corazón stared at Viola as she sat there, not moving from her spot. “You’re a curious person, Miss Violet.”

“Curious? I’ve never been called curious before.”

“I mean it as a compliment.” He sat down on the edge of the lounge chair next to her, resting his elbows on his knees as he leaned forward. “You’re an extremely practical person; puts the passionate Dressrosan lover stereotype to shame.”

“A stereotype started by jilted boyfriends and perpetuated by jealous husbands, no doubt,” she shrugged. “It’s true that Dressrosan women are true to their emotions, but tyrants we are not.”

“Still, not everyone would have joined the Donquixote Pirates for as logical a reason as yours.” She glared at him, drawing a scoff that almost—nearly—resembled a laugh. “Do you really think those idiots all joined up with Doflamingo because they thought him logical and reasonable? He’s a fucking psychopath and they follow him based on some twisted form of love that they share between them. He is essentially leading a cult.”

She paused, unsure how to continue. “Should you be telling me this?”

“He knows how I feel about him; my expressing this would be nothing new,” Corazón frowned. “The main question is: how do you feel about him?”

“I’m not in love with nor enamored by the man who destroyed my country if that’s what you mean.”

“Didn’t think you were.”

Silence settled between them, allowing the pair to reflect on one another’s words. Viola stared at Corazón, the flickering lamplight casting shadows across his sallow face. The wick burned out completely and they were plunged into true night; his amber eyes seemed to nearly glow in the moonlight, bringing an ethereal quality to them.

“He means to seduce you, you know,” he stated, voice low as it broke the silence. She scoffed at that.

“He’s wanted to since you people stole my father’s country,” she replied icily. “I’ve felt his stare this entire time, those lingering touches; I knew he’d want me in his bed sooner or later.”

“He’s been talking about it—he’s said roundabout things in the Executive meetings that make me believe he will make a move soon. He doesn’t care how messy bringing you into a relationship would be, only that he wants the last Dressrosan princess to be unable to live without him. The others are… about… as kind about you as you’d imagine.”

“Ugh… just what I need,” she grimaced. She did not mind the concept of being with someone so much older than herself if the attraction blossomed naturally, but for Doflamingo to be the one making eyes… that she was not imagining the gazes she was receiving from the other Executives… it made her ill. Corazón then stood, silently holding out his hand as he seemingly towered above her. “What…?”

“Would you like an ally?” he asked. She stared at him. “I’ve thought about it and… he will not touch you if he thinks we are involved.”

“…but we’re not…”

“…and he doesn’t need to know that.” Silence settled over them yet again, with just the quiet night air attempting to comfort them. “We are more alike than you realize: he stole everything from me when all I had was hope, and is trying to manipulate me for his grand designs. I refuse to let him win so easily.”

“…you say these things, yet you’re the Corazón…”

“Only because being Corazón keeps me alive… for now…”

Something heavy settled on Viola’s chest as she stared at the young man before her, at his hand, and allowed her mind to calculate the risks involved. She could not use her Devil Fruit in so open of an area in case of spies, though there was a feeling deep in her that wanted her to trust him. Could she trust him? One wrong move and everything she had worked towards for the past year would be for naught. Waste an entire year’s worth of slow information gathering and trust building… or…?

“…and if you refuse his designs as you claim, then what do you wish instead?”

“I only have one goal for now, and it has come before all else since I was thirteen. His plans involve the continued double-life as a Shichibukai and a King—as an underworld boss and a member of the noble elite—being completely untouchable, and I don’t entirely care for it.” She put her hand in his and he helped her stand, pulling her close to whisper in her ear as they were now nearly the same height. “We can plan his undoing instead.”

“A bold move,” she agreed, holding him gently by the shoulders. If anyone was watching from afar, then the lie was being set. “I’ll come to your room at midnight to talk more. We can share the bed—Doflamingo will be back in the morning and will likely see us leave for breakfast together…”

“I shall see you at midnight.” He took one of her hands in his and—after a moment of hesitation—kissed her knuckles. “Until then.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Viola quickly made her way through the dark palace corridors, her thin nightgown flowing as she snuck about. There was something immeasurably cruel about Law having been given her sister’s old room, though it did make the trip easier to make in the dead of night at any rate. She slipped in silently and immediately crinkled her nose.

“Oh, gross, what’s that smell…?” she wondered. Corazón was sitting in a chair looking more casual than she’d ever seen him with an ankle resting on his knee as he read. He had already cleaned the cosmetics from his face and changed into his pajama bottoms.

“If Doflamingo ‘catches us together’, then he’s going to expect to encounter certain details, smell being one of them,” he replied idly, not looking up from the page of his book. Viola noticed how different he looked without his makeup and clothes, with faint light patches dotting his skin on his face and body, while fresh-looking blackwork tattoos were decorating his hands, arms, and torso, all easily hidden during their normal encounters. “I took care of it; don’t worry.”

“Took care of what…?” She watched as he mimed a pumping action with his hand, making a small popping noise as he opened his fist—oh, that. “Gross. I don’t even want to know what you did for that.”

“Violet, I am civilized and have pornography for that sort of thing,” he huffed. “I washed and tidied up, but the cloth I cleaned with is by the basin for the smell to linger, so don’t touch it.”

“Won’t dream of it.” Viola glanced around and noticed the change in décor that was very different from Scarlett’s taste: anatomy models and comic posters were everywhere, more bookshelves had been added, and old ratted photos sat in protective frames. The only thing that was the same was the mess of books that was strewn about, except instead of novels and memoirs it was medical journals and comic anthologies. “What… did you do to my sister’s things?”

“Storage—I can let you have them, if you want,” he said. Corazón snapped his book shut and stared at her. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

She hesitated, then nodded. “You’re my best bet. If I’m to convincingly pretend I cannot go without someone with a chair in the Hall of Suites, then I’d rather it be you. If anything, it’s at least more believable.” He stood and opened a Room, then dropped it—checking for interlopers. She hadn’t thought that there were many secret passages in this section of the palace, yet there was always room for surprises. “I checked where everyone was before I left my room; Sugar and Dellinger are in their rooms and Pink hasn’t come back yet.”

He nodded, acknowledging her Devil Fruit ability. “No one in port?”

“Lao G, but he’s been overseeing the loading of some shipments for the past few hours; I doubt he’ll be in the palace any time soon.”

“Good.” He thought for a moment before continuing. “Alright then; what are your terms?”

She raised her eyebrow at that. “What do you mean?”

“There have to be ground rules, right? How we can behave, what we can and cannot do, that sort of thing. I’m not going to fake a relationship blind and I’m not doing anything you are uncomfortable with. It needs to look natural if we’re going to make this work.”

“How do you normally treat women you’re with?” He didn’t answer, giving her pause for concern as they sat down on the sofa together. “The men…?”

“I’ve never been with anyone,” he admitted, blush darkening his face. “I don’t know how and even if I did, I don’t know what you’re willing to do because real life is different from stories. This is a front… but still…”

Appreciating his candor, she nodded slowly. “When we’re with the Family, sit next to me, lean in and whisper into my ear, let our shoulders and knees touch,” she said. “When Doflamingo is watching, rest your hand on my leg or put your arm along the back of my chair. It will make you look possessive.” She demonstrated by sliding in close to him, putting his arm around her as he tried to not shy away.

“…but I’m…” Corazón’s face darkened further in a panic, which made Viola giggle.

“I know you’re not, but that’s what he needs to think. In response, I’ll hold your arm while we walk together and lean against you and all the things a young woman in love is supposed to do.”

“…and how…” He swallowed. “How long do you think it’ll take before we can start planning our counter-coup?”

“I’d give it a few months, six at the most,” she replied. “If we play things right, then I can ‘move in’ and then we shall have ample time to discuss plans. I don’t expect to be able to talk more than personal schedules and trust-building with the others for a few years yet.”

“Right.” He swallowed again, doing his best to not make eye contact out of sheer nerves. “Did… erm… you want to use your Devil Fruit ability on me…? To make sure I’m not lying about this?”

“…no.” She gently placed her hand atop one of his and he inhaled sharply at the touch, doing his best to not jerk away. His panic was almost adorable; there was definitely going to be adjusting for him, as he clearly was not anticipating such close contact. “If we are to make this a sound partnership, then we are to trust each other. No tricks.”

“Partnership; no tricks,” he echoed. Corazón then stood and made his way over to his large bed where he took a deep breath. “Let’s get this over with.”

Now resigned to follow through on her choices, Viola agreed and slid herself under the blanket to join him once the lights were out. Though her back was to him, she felt him shift the mattress as he tapped her shoulder.

“I used to hold La—erm—Baby 5. I used to hold her after she had a nightmare when we were little and she crawled into my bed. Are you okay with that?”

“Yeah,” she whispered. He rested a hand on her waist and left a small gap between their bodies.

“That good…?”

“Yeah. This’ll be convincing, as though I slept with the Corazón…”

“Law,” he insisted. “Call me Law when we’re alone. None of them have used that name in years.”

“…then you must call me Viola.”

“Viola,” he said to the night, sounding it out on his tongue. “I think I can do that.”

“…alright then…” She allowed the silence to settle before letting out a small hum. “…Law…?”

“Yeah…?”

“What made you join the Family if you hate Doflamingo so much?”

He paused, clearly mulling it over, shifting on the mattress before a single word drifted over Viola’s neck—hot, thick, and heavy:

“Revenge.”

#Trafalgar Law #Riku Viola #Violet One Piece #Viola One Piece #LawViolet #Law x Violet #LawViola #Law x Viola #One Piece #One Piece fan fiction #Donquixote Doflamingo #Donquixote Pirates #Thunder Soldier #I HAVE BEEN WORKING ON THIS FOR TWO YEARS #TWO. YEARS.#I CANNOT STRESS THAT ENOUGH #plus there's a chance that Law here is going to be a very different one than you're used to. that is part of the experience #that's bc he learned a bit more from Doffy than is comfortable and that has consequences #Trafalgar D. Water Law

10 notes · View notes