I want your honest opinion on this chapter. I feel like I'm getting nowhere, as if it isn't as good as Dream was...

One Piece and its characters belong to Eiichiro Oda. Dominica belongs to me.

Doflamingo had never liked his cousins, nor his uncles… or aunties or even his grandparents for that matter. He would very much like to see them all fall into a big black hole beneath the mansion and be buried alive. If he could make that fantasy into a reality he would be a very happy teenager.

Alas, that fantasy would probably never come to fruition. No one would dare stand up to a Celestial Dragon, unfortunately, and while the guards in the palace would not dare talk back against him because of the damnable blood he carried or rat him out, they would never follow that order either, should he issue it. Well, as long as he was still just a child they would never do it. Maybe he could employ some assassins when he became of age? The wait would only last four more years if he followed through on that plan.

Why did a fourteen year old boy think such thoughts, you may wonder? The reason was very simple. He was born into the esteemed and honored family of the Celestial Dragons. If that did not answer your question, then there were more reasons for it, of course.

First off, the other family members were all pure blooded, while Doflamingo and Dominica were half-breeds. Doflamingo would rather be a half-breed for the rest of his life than ever be like those disgusting people who thought the world revolved around them.

Because it didn't.

Second, because they were half-breeds, and therefore worth just as much as low-class people, in other words the rest of the world's population, they were constantly looked down upon. While they were not mistreated as bad as the servants, they were treated as dirt, which said a lot about how the servants were treated in the mansion. Often would they be picked on too, made fun off because of their ludicrous hair color, since no other Celestial Dragon was blonde, called stupid and told that they were just allowed to stay in the mansions because they were lucky enough to have a world noble as a father. Yet they still would never amount to anything.

The twins did not exactly consider themselves lucky to share blood with that wretch. They considered themselves lucky because neither of them shared any resemblance to that man at all. They had inherited everything from their beautiful and loving mother, hair and eye color, skin color and the like. There were times when they had wondered how she could have been so loving, so good, so perfect when the people she had been forced to stay with were so foul, so full of themselves and in Doflamingo's eyes, utterly ridiculous. It must have been hard. She must have been strong.

He wasn't that strong, but at times like these he really wished he was.

"Father! Father!" One of his cousins, a girl a few years older than the twins, barged into the dining room. The boy had begun to wonder where she had been. Both she and Dominica had never come to dinner, though if he knew his sister right, which he did, she was probably hidden away in the great library somewhere, studying medicine like their mother had. Taking a closer look at his cousin, his stomach dropped at the sight of the red swelling on her cheek. He was no fool, he could put two and two together. Both her and Dominica had been away during most of the dinner, and that infernal woman's favorite pastime when they visited was tormenting the younger girl.

'Dominica, what have you done?'

"What is it?" His uncle shot to his feet, his loud and deep voice booming as he narrowed his eyes at the sight. Apparently he too had noticed the bruise.

"That wretch, Dominica! She hit me! Punish her!"

'Shut up…' The thought flitted through the boy's mind, but he was too mortified to speak out. Their father would definitively hurt Dominica; there was no doubt about that. Doflamingo could imagine how bad it would be afterwards and the image froze him in his seat. They couldn't hurt her! Not his Dominica, not his little sister! Not again!

"Brother!" His uncle turned to his father, eyes raging, though when the blonde boy turned to look at his father he could see nothing more than fury, brutal and which would soon be unleashed on a fourteen year old girl. By the man who should be holding her hand and love her.

'Shut up.'

"I will deal with this. Where is she now?"

"In the library, reading stupid books about stupid medicines!"

'Shut up!' Studying medicine was not stupid. They were the stupid ones, who did not fully appreciate the necessity of the knowledge his little sister sought out.

"She's still insisting on doing such foolish things?" Their father roared and stood up so quickly the chair fell over, landing with a deafening thud. The man pulled himself to his full height and stalked around the table, apologizing to a poor distraught niece and giving her a comforting hug. For a moment Doflamingo wished it was him and Dominica who were hugged, who were comforted and told everything would be alright. For a tiny moment he wanted to have a father, to be cared for again.

It left a bitter aftertaste in his mouth and he hated it.

"I'll have to educate her on her position in the household again." Those words left the mouth of the man who should be encouraging his daughter to explore and learn more, yet all he did was turning her into a mindless puppet. A puppet for the old man to control, to be cast away when he no longer needed her.

A day which was coming too soon for Doflamingo's taste.

"Shut up!" Doflamingo had finally found his voice, his legs were listening to him again and he shot up from his seat, the chair falling back just as quickly as his father's had, landing with just as deafening a thud as the older man's had. It left an eerie silence in the room as everyone stared at him, mouths agape in disbelief.

"Don't you touch her!" Dominica did not deserve to be treated this way and neither would he allow it. He was the big brother, he was supposed to protect her and if that meant he would have to take the punishment in her stead then so be it. Dominica was not some servant or slave to be backhanded whenever their father was in the mood for it. She was his little sister, and it was about time the man in front of them recognized them for who they truly were, even if they hated the fact just as much as he did.

"She's your daughter!" And the words felt wrong and bitter and treacherous. It was like he had betrayed a part of himself when he said it, because it had been an acknowledgement. He acknowledged this brute as their father.

"Watch your tongue, boy, or else I'll have to educate you as well." The noble was calm, and that was terrifying in itself, for usually he would scream degrading adjectives at his son by now. It gave Doflamingo pause before he narrowed his teal eyes at the man and curled his lips back.

"Why don't you go beat up some slave instead of your own flesh and blood, coward!" Those words felt right, and the teenager felt oddly proud and satisfied with having been able to say it to the face of his father instead of snarling it at every painting of the man he saw. Even if Doflamingo towered over the noble if he stood up at his full height, the man was still stronger, still older and still in control of the slaves and guards. The rage which had been slowly building up in his father had now transformed the color on his face from red to almost dark purple, but this time the teenager stood his ground as well, glaring and snarling right back. He had let this go on for too long already; he knew Dominica wouldn't be able to take much more. She had stopped crying a long time ago and most of the time she would suddenly fall so deep into thought she could sit for hours staring into empty space, giving no response to any who tried to snap her out of it. That was not healthy and the worst part of it all was:

She stopped smiling.

To a big brother, having such an atrocity happen was unforgivable, and he would have his revenge, even if it was the last thing he would ever get.

Then the guards were upon him. He did not know when his father had summoned them, but their tight grip on him was very real. Even if he was physically stronger than most boys his age, trained guards were still way out of his league, though that did not stop him from trying. He struggled and cursed, threatening the men holding him, but while they did seem rather reluctant they did not dare go against the head of the household.

'Cowards, the lot of them.' His father stalked up to him, staring down at the boy who had been forced to his knees before raising his hand and slapping him viciously.

"Don't you talk back to me, cur. Neither of you are the same as me."

"And I thank our mother with all my heart for that!" Doflamingo spit at the man's feet. He was driving himself further and further into a corner. It would hurt, and he dreaded the moment when the education would begin, but as long as Dominica got away, then it would be alright. He could endure, no, he would endure.

"You-"

"Father!" Both the boy and man turned swiftly towards the exit, staring at a quiet and calm Dominica watching them. Her eyes, dull teal with only a slight hint of fire left in them, moved from her brother to her father. She swallowed her anxiousness, though only her brother noticed and knelt to the floor, bowing low.

"I'm very sorry for my actions. Nothing I say can right what wrong I did and I am ready to face the consequences. Please let my brother off with a warning." He hated the sight of her bowing to these people as she was now, apologizing for something not worth apologizing for. He hated seeing her so obedient, like a worthless dog. He hated it, he wanted them to change roles. He wanted to drive a dagger into the man's throat, and scream at him in his final moments that he was nothing but a useless bag of flesh and bones and that no one would miss him, no one would mourn his passing, that he was now nothing more than a common man with the grim reaper at his heels. But he couldn't, because he had no weapon on him and he was held down. And what would he do after the deed was done? His uncle and cousins would have the both of them killed off after that.

Their father spared him not another glance. Instead he marched towards Dominica and reached out towards her.

"Don't touch her!" Doflamingo shouted, and he hated himself for how helpless and afraid he sounded. The noble grabbed Dominica's neat braid, fingers fisting into the long locks as he viciously tugged her up before dragging her out of the room. Her hands flew to the base of her braid and held on, desperately trying to ease the pain and pressure, but it was to no avail.

"Dominica!" He cried out as she was pulled over the doorstep. He could vaguely see his cousin smirking from the corner of his eyes but he did not give a damn. He kept calling his sister's name, and the whimper which left her lips did not go unnoticed by anyone in the room. He never noticed that he had started struggling again, but he realized quickly that he was slowly moving towards the door, the guards not strong enough to hold him back.

He could do it. He could reach her, he could save her. He had to!

Then the doors swung shut and he was left in the dining room with their guests and the guards still holding him.

"Dominica!"