To a7152966: I'm evil, okay?
To Ohgosh: Well thanks!
To yukino76: True, but that's one of the things that makes Rosinante, well, Rosinante. XDXD
To Demon-night24: OWO thanks!
To everyone else: Thank you for the reviews!
Sorry this is so late... I got sidetracked with my Undertale AU.
Luffy used his rubber body to lessen the impact of his rocketing for Law and Rosinante. He watched as the white, thin string-like this expand over the entire island.
He didn't like it. It made him feel trapped, caged, like when he was with the Celestial Dragons on Mariejois.
He gulped. They were trapped. Well, he wasn't sure about that, but that seemed to be the most likely scenario.
He coughed out some blood. Man, that Vergo guy really packed a punch.
"Urg... Thanks... Luffy..." Rosinante groaned, as he pushed himself onto his feet. He grabbed both boys and made his way to an abandoned building.
"Lu...Luffy? Cora-san?... Where is Vergo?" The sick Law mumbled, before catching sight of the Birdcage through a broken window, "What's that?"
"No idea... Must be one of Doffy's abilities..." Rosinante sighed, "I've never seen it before, but there's one thing I know... we have no where to run..."
"What!?" Law tried to get up, but coughed. Luffy made way to his side to cuddle him, "Cora-san is right... I saw the strings stretch throughout the entire island..."
"How is it?" Luffy asked. Rosinante had went out scouting, leaving Luffy and Law together in the abandoned house.
"Doffy is using Parasite string in this cage... this really is hell..." Rosinante sighed, before ruffling Luffy's hair, "I think I can let you and Law get away..."
"EH? But what about you?" Luffy tugged on Rosinante's sleeve.
"I have no chance to survive now... but will you guys remember me after I die? I'll die with a smile.. because if you think of me someday, I'd rather you guys remember me smiling."
Rosinante snapped his fingers, activating his powers, before picking up both boys and dumped them in an empty treasure box.
Luffy cringed at the smile on Rosinante's face.
"Time to go. Wake up Law."
Groaning, Law opened his eyes, before being met with smile on Rosinante's face.
"Where are they?" Doflamingo hissed, flicking the lock of his gun and aimed at his brother. Rosinante did the same, and there the two siblings stood, face to face, guns aimed at their sibling.
They both knew that only one of them would get out alive, and it was clear who the last one standing would be.
"You don't have the guts to shoot me, Corazon." Doflamingo laughed, "Now, just tell me where the two boys are. After all, we don't want the marines to come arrest them for participating in your little shenanigans."
Rosinante pressed the trigger. The bullet didn't even come close to hitting Doflamingo, but it did graze a few feathers on his brother's coat. Seriously, how was that coat still so clean after all the fighting and smoke? Even if Doflamingo didn't directly participate in the fighting, surely the feathers would be soaked after walking around in the snow.
Pissed off at his brother's antics, Doflamingo kicked Rosinante harshly in the chest. Damn did he have to hit exactly where Vergo has struck him?! Rosinante was sent harshly tumbling into a heap of boxes.
Law let out a yelp when the taller man crashed into the boxes they were in, and Luffy hastily placed a hand over the older boy's mouth, even though Doflamingo couldn't hear them anyway - Rosinante's powers were still in effect.
"With his White Lead Disease, he was doomed to die in three years. But now, he has gotten over it. He's not the same Law who lost track of himself and visited a crazy pirate that day. Luffy is also not the same, fearful child as he was when we picked him up on that deserted island. There is nothing either of them can gain from you since you are like a child of destruction. Leave them alone!" Rosinante hissed, standing up once again to face his brother.
"They are free!"
Tears leaked out from Law's eyes at that statement. But he knew he would never be free, neither he nor Luffy. Luffy still carried the brand of those god forsaken Celestial Dragons, and Law knew that until he got rid of that mark, he will never taste freedom. People would treat him as a lesser being just because of that mark. Even if he could help, which Law couldn't, hell he didn't even know how to use his fruit, knowing Luffy, he would want to remove the mark on his own.
Luffy growled. How dare Mingo treat Cora-san so badly!? They were brothers, were they not? He couldn't imagine himself, or Ace, or even Sabo, killing each other in cold blood. Beating up, yeah, that's fine, they were just training. But killing?! That's a big no.
They had gotten lucky. Buffalo and Baby 5 had spotted a child near the harbour, and Doflamingo had taken his Birdcage down to investigate it.
Luffy and Law waited, silently, for the footsteps of the abnormally large man trudging through the snow to died down, before letting out a sigh of relief.
They heard it. Luffy and Law looked at each other in shock. They... made a sound. Luffy carefully pried open the chest they were placed in, and rushed towards the fallen Rosinante. Law followed suit, except he was a bit slower and had some trouble getting out of the box in his weakened state.
Rosinante was still, but he was still breathing, even as he was riddled with bullet holes. But Law knew that it was only a matter of time before the man bled out. But there was only so much he could do before Doflamingo came back to finish the job.
Law glanced at the younger boy, before widening his eyes. The aura that was emanating from the younger boy was downright terrifying. If he didn't know better he would have thought Luffy wanted to kill Doflamingo or something.
He didn't know better.
"Law..." Luffy mumbled, slinging over the pack of supplied Rosinante had packed for them, "Take care of Cora-san. I'll get Mingo."
"But- " Law wanted to protest, but the look in Luffy's eyes practically screamed at him to listen.
"Mingo wants your fruit. Cora-san gave you the fruit so you can live." Luffy hissed, glaring at the sky. "If I fight Mingo, I can buy you enough time to save him."
Tears welled up in Law's eyes. Luffy... Luffy was willing to sacrifice himself so he could live?
"Go!" Luffy pushed the older boy towards Rosinante, before slinging himself in the direction where the strings had erupted into the air.
Law wanted to cry once more.
He tried to use his powers, tried to save Rosinante, tried to do just something, but nothing happened.
Cora-san was coughing up blood.
"Law... run... " Rosinante gasped, as blood stained the already pink snow red.
"Hell no!" Law growled, "Luffy is sacrificing himself for the both of us to live, you clumsy idiot!" He slammed him fist into the ground, and all of a sudden, a small, glowing blue sphere appeared, before weakly flickering out.
Law glanced at the sphere in shock. Did he... just use his powers.
He tried to remember that feeling, that feeling of determination, of not wanting to let Luffy's sacrifice go to waste.
The blue sphere sprang up again.
Huh. Maybe D. stood for determination?
Rosinante saw Law's eyes flare up with newfound emotions, and grinned.
"You're good, brat, but not good enough." Doflamingo laughed, jumping backwards as Luffy's fist impacted the snow where he once stood.
Luffy just growled, as his arm went back to its original shape from the the elasticity. He was panting, obviously at a huge disadvantage compared to Mingo. The snow came up to Luffy's waist, it didn't even reach Doflamingo's knees. Luffy was already exhausted from trying to fight Vergo before, and Doflamingo didn't even have a scratch on him.
"Give up!" Doflamingo grinned, trying to tangle Luffy up in his strings again. He didn't want to kill the boy by accident after all. He wanted to toy with him, before breaking him, slowly. After all, he had to teach him a lesson for siding with his traitorous brother instead of him.
"Young Master! There was a young boy spotted near the coast!" Baby 5, and Buffalo, came flying by.
Doflamingo smiled. Looks like they found the other runaway. Luffy tried to use this distraction to attack Doflamingo, but the Shichibukai was done playing around. He punched Luffy with Busoshoku Haki, knocking the rubber boy out, before taking his Birdcage down.
"Also, Young Master, we found this." Baby 5 had jumped off Buffalo, handing a bounty poster to Doflamingo.
"Celestial Slayer? That's some reputation you earned there, brat." Doflamingo grinned. Change of plans. This boy was going to grant him his freedom from that damned Tsuru.
Law panted. He was finally able to remove those damned bullets from Cora-san's body, and had done his best to try to wrap up his wounds. His only problem was that the pirate was too heavy for him to move, let alone drag into a boat.
Groaning, Rosinante sat up, rubbing his wounds.
"Lie down you bastard! Unless you wanna bleed out again!" Law growled, trying to push the older man down without hurting him. But something else caught their attention.
The Birdcage was disappearing.
"Law... you need to get out of here! Now!" Cora-san said. Grabbing the younger boy, he threw him in the direction where the boat he has planned for the escape was.
Now let's hope he didn't accidentally throw Law into the water. Law couldn't swim now.
The former Donquixote smiled, and let his body hit the snowy ground. In another timeline, when they hadn't met Luffy, maybe he would have died. He owned Luffy his life.
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