Updated: 1/29/17

Updated: 5/8/17


Chapter 8: Cora-san

I was walking through the snow as it fell. I had been following the faint trail of footprints before the fresh snow had caused them to vanish. I entered a building that I had come across to find it occupied by two people. One was a man, and the other was a boy. I was surprised to find a gun in my face when I entered. I looked past the gun. My eyes fell to the boy in the man's arms.

"Oh Law, you're just not cut out for being a pirate quite yet. And it doesn't help that you're sick. You were there the last time I saw Law. What's your name?" The man held Law protectively away from me. "Relax, I would die for Law. In fact, I have died for him." He lowered his gun. I walked closer.

"My name is Rosinante. But you can call me Cora-san" I frowned at Law's bruises. I ran my hand over one of them. Law's face scrunched up in pain. I let out a sigh. This was just something that I could not bring myself to do even if there was a large sum of beri involved. I could never take someone precious away from Law.

"You found a reason to live again, Law. I could never take that away from you." I looked out the window in the room we were in. I clenched my fists at my sides until my nails dug into my skin causing my palms to bleed. I watched as strings came down from the sky. "Looks just like a bird cage." Cora-san hummed in agreement.

"Make sure Law escapes safely." I looked at Cora-san. "He's going to miss me terribly." My look turned to shock. I nodded in understanding. Cora-san had already decided on his fate no matter my decision to spare his life at the moment.

"Don't worry. I'll protect Law and take him away when the time comes." I let out a sigh. "You know that you don't have to die." Cora-san shook his head.

"I can't ask you to fix my problems. You're just a kid, and I'm sure you've got problems of your own." I looked Cora-san in the eye. I turned away and started walking back towards the door I had entered through. I stopped for a brief moment.

"Cora-san." I looked back over my shoulder. "Thank you. Law has changed because of you, and that is the best thing for this world because there can only be one person like me in the world at any given time." Cora-san regarded me seriously for a moment.

"Angel of Death, but you're just a child." I smiled a wicked smile before I faced forward and started walking once more.

"Just a child with bloodstained hands." I walked out the door and left the two alone inside the building.

I left the building to find a spot to occupy outside away from the place where the pirates were. I was sitting and watching the snow fall when I heard the gun shots. A snow flake fell on me and melted. I frowned in realization of Cora-sans's fate. Moments later I heard the cries from someone as they got closer. I watched my breath billowing out as I sighed. I waited for Law to get close enough to me before I called out to him.

"Law," the boy looked up at me when I called his name. He had calmed some when he saw me, but the tears kept flowing. I hopped down off the snow-covered rock I had been sitting on. He tried to hold in his tears. "Law, it's ok to cry." He let his tears fall freely. "Here climb up on my back. I'll give you a lift." I knelt down.

"Jay, why do people keep disappearing from my life?" I looked back as Law wrapped his arms around my neck, and I hooked my arms behind his knees. I lifted him up with ease.

"People die Law. That's a simple fact of life, and sometimes they die all too soon. I may come and go, but I will never completely disappear." I brushed my head against his head that rested on my shoulder.

"Aren't you cold?" I was focused on what was in front of us as I walked forward and answered his question.

"No!" He was suddenly silent. I looked at him to see he was asleep. I let out a sigh. I walked up to a little boat and put Law in it. I pushed the boat away from the shore and climbed in. We were far out to sea when Law woke up. He looked around.


"Why didn't you try to save Cora-san?" I looked up at the woman that had asked the question.

"Because I still hadn't learned how to properly heal others at that point. I could have tried, but he would have died the most painful of deaths imaginable. I couldn't do that to Cora-san. He didn't deserve to die the way that he did, but he definitely didn't deserve to die that way either." The woman stared at me for a moment before she nodded in understanding. "Even if I had learned how to heal by then, I still would have been unable to save him. There is a limit to every ability including my ability to heal others. His injuries were too severe for me to speed up his own healing abilities. He would have had to of consumed a large amount of food after, and there was no food around for him to eat. I also cannot take damage onto myself if that damage would be fatal to me. I have a limited amount of blood. I had even less when I was just a child." She looked at the ground.