The atmosphere in the room at first appeared quite normal considering everyone there had come from various locations in the world yet all of them were united after they had all taken a part in defeating their common enemy. An unlikely friendship had formed between all the allies and they all acted at least cordial enough with each other to avoid having any major arguments break on board.
Bellamy though was someone who wasn't sharing the mood and as he stared at the area where Trafalgar Law would be sat, he couldn't help but reminisce about the past.
"Who is Doflamingo saving the heart seat for?" he had asked Diamante what seemed like a long, long time ago despite how fresh the memory felt.
"It's for the third Corazon of course."
That much was already obvious enough to Bellamy. Everyone in the family whether they were a lowly grunt or part of Doflamingo's inner circle knew about the treasured title of Corazon, the person who was essentially Doflamingo's right hand man and many had ambitions to be that one special person. Bellamy was one of those people.
"And who would that person be?" He had pressed on, eager to find any pointers that might indicate him as a potential suitor.
Diamante had fiddled idly with his taco shaped hat. "It's a man who Doffy met a long time ago, a boy from North Blue who had shown great promise and who he was willing to raise to be his right hand man."
"Could that be me?"
His hopes had been crushed when all Diamante had done was laugh and say "You? Don't make me laugh Bellamy, this boy had way more talent then you even when he was 10 and you certainly can't beat him when Doflamingo has been grooming him since then."
"Then where is this man then?" Bellamy had exclaimed, standing from where he'd been sat cross-legged before. "If Doflamingo covets this person so much then where is he?"
He didn't even have a physical description or a name but already he was feeling a burning jealousy about this man that the Doflamingo favoured so much, this man that he'd never met but somehow had a larger claim over the heart seat than he did.
Diamante had just waved him off though like he was a fool, dismissing him with only a vague answer, "He's out on his travels now. Doffy is waiting patiently for the day he comes to claim his seat."
Bellamy remembers later as well when he'd come to report to Doflamingo and found him glancing down at a wanted poster of the man who he had come to envy so much.
"Bellamy, this man is the one who will be my third Corazon."
And it was then when he realised that this must be who Diamante had been referring to. He can still remember looking at the picture of Trafalgar Law, scrutinising all the little features in the photo from the furry hat to the yellow eyes and committing the name to memory, making sure he'd never forget the name of his 'rival'.
"What is he to you Doflamingo? What use is he?"
"He can unlock everything I've ever wanted and yet he is also like a little brother."
It was only a sentence albeit a cryptic one yet everything in it just made Bellamy feel more and more worthless.
He had looked up slightly and been shocked to see the soft expression on Doflamingo's face. There had been a forlorn yet affectionate look in his eyes and he didn't think he was imagining it when he saw the tips of his fingers brush the photo gently before turning it over and getting back to business.
Ever since then, he'd been constantly thinking about this Trafalgar Law person and the more he thought of him, the more bitter he felt about him and the more his jealousy grew.
It had just been so irritating how asking any of the people in the Donquioxte family about Law had only brought praise and compliment to this absent man while he only got scorn and deprecating words. Even Baby 5 and Buffalo who were normal enough with Bellamy spoke positively about him, fawning over him and seemingly revering him as the leader of their so called childhood trio.
Why?
Why did everyone love him so much? Why did they all like him more than Bellamy who would always be loyal to them? As far as he knew, he had been gone for a decade at least so why him?
Just thinking about Law made him churn inside with conflicting emotions. His insecurities were always there, reminding him that he would be nothing compared to him and just to stop himself from falling into a hole of utter despair, he override it with anger and hatred though it was never enough to get rid of the envy.
When he had agreed to assassinate Luffy, he knew that Doflamingo had been pulling his strings by dangling the executive position in front of him like a lure on a fishing line but he didn't care. For one, it meant that he could beat Law in the race to the heart seat and it would also mess Law up for one of his allies to be killed.
And yet none of that happened. By the time Doflamingo had been defeated, his whole world had been turned upside down and he'd lost the chance to mean something to Doflamingo. The respect he had had for him had been trampled into the rubble and sunflowers of Dressrosa when he found out Doflamingo had intended to get rid of him and while he was glad that in the end Doflamingo had got none of the things he desired, he was still having difficulty erasing his bitter feelings towards Law.
He was so confused as to how someone who Doflamingo had favoured turned out to be someone trying to usurp him and kill him. He'd asked a few people about what happened around the island and the little he heard about Law only showed aggressive hatred so it was lost on him as to why he had been a contender.
Now he was sat here on this ship to Zou, staring, almost glaring at Law and he realised that was because there was no one to block his view. Somehow he had been so lost in his confused thoughts that he hadn't noticed everyone leave the room with only him and Law left. From the looks of it, it seemed like Law knew that Bellamy had been staring at him.
"We're alone now Bellamy-ya, would you care to indulge me on the reason why I've been the focus of your glare for almost literally the whole party." Law uncrossed his legs and leant forward, gaze looking him up and down in an unnerving way.
"Why?" He could barely choke it out and it came out whispered. "Why you?"
"I'm afraid you're going to have to expand on that." Law said, eyebrow slightly raised.
"Why did Doflamingo like you so much?" Now that he was getting started he couldn't help as the volume of his voice rose the more emotional he got. "Why was he always waiting for you to come and be his right hand when he had me who was way more loyal than you ever were? Why did you reject him? Do you know how much it hurt to know there was an empty position right by his side but it'd never be open for me, that I'd never be anything more than a pawn to him?"
Bellamy was pissed enough now to literally walk over to where Law was sat and shout at him "Do you know how privileged you were you asshole!? It's because of you that I could never fulfil my dream of sitting in that seat as his right hand man and now I never will because of you and your goddamn alliance."
Bellamy was panting now from finally getting to express at least some of his emotions and now all he could do was-
"I don't think you know what you're talking about Bellamy-ya. If you knew what had happened to the people who've held that position you so covet, you wouldn't be so eager to attain that position." Law sighed, "If the circumstances had been different, I would have been just as dead as the other two Corazons are."
Bellamy was momentarily stunned by his harsh words before he countered, "Why would you be? He-"
"-Wanted me to die for him."
"T-that's nonsense!" he stuttered.
"Do I need to quote the exact words he said when the second Corazon asked what he was going to do when he found out I'd eaten the Ope-Ope no mi?" the glance that Law shot him then was cold like the snow on winter islands. "I think I'll have to teach him the importance of dying for me."
"What are you talking about Trafalgar? It doesn't make sense." His mind was struggling to comprehend what he was talking about and out of all the ways he thought this conversation could turn out, this one was unexpected so he had no idea how to respond. For all these years he'd been thinking that Law had been destined to be the right hand man but this, this was so unexpected.
"Do you know what the ultimate power of the Ope-Ope no mi is?"
"No? I'm not-"
"Granting immortality." There was a sort of deranged, creepy smile on Law's face now and Bellamy was regretting ever confronting him. " The reason the heart seat has been empty all these years Bellamy-ya is because he's been waiting for me to come to him and grant him immortality."
"He shot me several times on Dressrosa with lead bullets first and when that wasn't enough to bring up bad memories, he set up the birdcage fully aware that that could trigger my PTSD."
Law's arm reached up and dragged Bellamy down so he was looking straight into Law's yellow eyes. "Every word, every action was in an attempt to break me and when that wasn't enough to sway me into doing his bidding, he cut my arm off. Still I refused to do it so he just shot me even more times, literally trying to kill me."
Law had seemed like a reasonable enough person unlike his reputation but talking about Doflamingo seemed to have set something off and now Law was the one rambling with anger not him.
"It doesn't matter whether I agreed to die for him or not, I still would have been dead just like the second Corazon, his own brother, if Straw hat-ya hadn't been there."
"I was a fucked up person even before meeting Doflamingo but he only made it worse. There's only one way he could ever apologise and that is if I killed him but now I can't and I've missed my chance to get him back for everything he's done to me and his brother."
Law released his grip on Bellamy and shouldered his sword as he rose from his seat before turning to leave. "Be glad you were never destined for that seat Bellamy-ya. It's cursed and you would have only ended up either dead like the other two are or extremely fucked up in a hundred different ways."
As soon as the door shut, Bellamy's legs began to feel weak and he slid down to the floor, struggling to comprehend everything that Law told him (and everything he didn't.) There were so many gaps in the story, so many things Law had not told him but everything he had been told him just made him all the more confused.
Nothing made sense anymore.
