Fallen Dragons
Title: Fallen Dragons
Rating: T
Fandom: One Piece
Summary: Rather than being adopted by Sengoku, Rocinante is taken in by a kind pirate crew. As he grows up, his hatred for his older brother remains. Years later, the two encounter each other. Will their relationship mend or remain broken? [Rewrite of Rocinante the Pirate]
"A Devil Fruit?" Rocinante blinked. "How could you tell? Isn't it just a rotten apple?"
"All Devil Fruits have swirls on them and taste awful!" Sicarius told him. "Now you won't be able to swim! You'll just sink like a hammer!"
"B-But I need to be able to swim!" Rocinante exclaimed. "The deck is always slippery and I always end up falling overboard!"
"The deck was completely dry and you're just clumsy," Sicarius sighed. "At least we're used to you falling overboard and can save you. Come on, let's go inform the others,"
It took only a few minutes to reach the docks. The others had all returned from town. Dante noticed the remains of the now grey apple in Rocinante's hand. "What Devil Fruit did you eat?"
"I don't know," Rocinante shrugged.
"Since Rocinante-san has a habit of falling overboard and has now eaten a Devil Fruit, he must now always wear a life vest," Zane said.
"Anyway, let's put away all of the things we bought," Sky suggested as she boarded the Dragon's Roar. "Some of the foods I bought need to be refrigerated,"
Everyone followed Sky onto the ship. Rocinante tripped and fell off the boarding plank. On instinct his hand shot out in an attempt to reach something to grip on. A bright red ribbon shot out from his palms and tied around the railing of the Dragon's Roar, stopping Rocinante from reaching the sea.
"That is the Ribbon-Ribbon Fruit," Zane identified. "It allows the user to create ribbons that may be used as restraints or for attacks,"
Rocinante's eyes were focused on the ribbon. It was very thin, almost like thread. The color was the same shade as blood. Rocinante remembered how Doflamingo had cut off their father's head: he had used his String-String Fruit. The strings had dug into Homing's flesh and had sliced through the bone. It hadn't been a clean cut and took multiple attempts to finally decapitate the corpse.
"Roci, you alright?" Fang called.
Rocinante didn't want to see the ribbon. It resembled too much like Doflamingo's strings. He closed his eyes and tried to make the ribbon disappeared. It worked and the ribbon separated from his palm and disintegrated, leaving Rocinante to fall into the sea.
"Roci!" Sicarius was about to dive into the ocean when Fang beat him to it.
Underwater, Fang was a faster swimmer than the average human. He reached the twelve year old before he had sunk too deep and brought him to the surface. Rocinante coughed up water and took deep breaths of air. "Thanks Fang…"
"You seemed frozen for a moment," Sicarius said as Fang dragged Rocinante to the deck.
"I-I don't want this Devil Fruit!" Rocinante told them. "I want to get rid of it!"
"The only way to get rid of your Devil Fruit is to die," Dante informed.
"There's got to be another way!" Rocinante begged. "I don't want it! Take it away from me!"
"Roci, why are you acting like this?" Dante asked. "What's wrong?"
"This Devil Fruit is too much like his!" Rocinante shouted. "I don't want it!"
Dante sighed. "You can't get rid of your Ribbon-Ribbon Fruit no matter how hard you try, but you can nullify it with seastone. Zane, can you fashion seastone handcuffs into a bracelet for Roci to wear?"
"Yes," Zane nodded. "I shall go work on it right away,"
"Roci, it's going to be alright," Sky knelt down beside Rocinante who had curled into a fetal position.
"The Ribbon-Ribbon Fruit is too much like Doflamingo's fruit!" Rocinante said, tears streaming down. "He used his strings to cut off Father's head!"
'So that's why he hates his Devil Fruit and claimed to not have a brother,' Dante realized. 'His brother was the one to decapitate Homing-san,'
XXX
A year passed. Every now and then, they would offer to teach Rocinante how to control his Devil Fruit, but Rocinante was quick to refuse every time. He wanted nothing to do with his Devil Fruit, even if it meant wearing a seastone bracelet the entire time. He would act as if everything was normal and nothing had changed. Whenever he fell overboard and had to be rescued, he would try not to panic but everyone could tell that he wasn't calm. Not being able to swim was a reminder that he had eaten the Ribbon-Ribbon Fruit.
"I'm fed up with all of this already!" Sicarius blurted out during dinner. "Rocinante, it's been an entire ****ing year already! Just use the damn Devil Fruit! Stop wasting it!"
"I can't!" Rocinante shouted.
"You can!" Sicarius snapped. "I've known people that would've used the Ribbon-Ribbon Fruit to make their life easier! I've known people that might've lived if they had that Devil Fruit power at the time!"
"You don't understand!" Rocinante yelled back. "Every time I see the ribbons, they remind me of my bro—of Doflamingo cutting off my Father's head with his strings! I can't use it!"
"You can," Sicarius repeated. "You're just too afraid to use it,"
"Sicarius, that's enough," Sky said.
"No, you need to stop babying him!" Sicarius told her. "Rocinante, why are you afraid of your power?"
"I-I'm not afraid! It's just…" Rocinante grew silent.
"You mentioned that this Doflamingo person cut off your father's head with strings?" Zane interrupted. "Are you afraid that you might become like Doflamingo and hurt people?"
Rocinante nodded. "He wasn't always like that. He had hated Father but never tried to kill him. It was only after he ate the Devil Fruit that he actually did act,"
"You're not Doflamingo, Rocinante," Dante spoke up. "You're you, your own person. You have your own personality and your own experiences. You have your own likes and your own dislikes. Your Devil Fruits are different. His is strings and yours is ribbons," He put a hand to Rocinante's head as he casually continued to eat his pasta. "The Ribbon-Ribbon Fruit is your own Devil Fruit, your own power,"
Sorry to those that wanted him to have the Calm-Calm Fruit. I wanted to have Rocinante to struggle to accept his Devil Fruit due to the Ribbon-Ribbon Fruit's resemblance to the String-String Fruit. The ribbons' size can change. The larger the ribbon, the more energy it takes to create it.
The creator of the Ribbon-Ribbon Fruit is CF8WRK4U.
The next chapter should be the end of Arc I.
