Idk how I feel about this one. Meh.


Rosinante leaned against the counter in his kitchen. Its cool edge bit through his shirt and chilled his lower back as he turned a whiskey glass over in his scarred fingers, letting it catch the light and bring his attention to the dust specks that settled on the rim of the glass.

He locked his jaw. Only a few more hours and he would be entering a courtroom to give his testimony.

He should have felt better about it. After the disaster that was getting drugged last night, he should have been more than excited to put his brother away. He should have been over the moon to tell the court about all of the horrible things Doffy had done.

But he wasn't.

He just felt scared.

Not surprisingly, his hands shook. Nothing helped either. Not cigarettes. Not bourbon.

Nothing.

Not even knowing that he had two guards outside his apartment did anything to quell his anxiety.

It hadn't really hit him until a few hours ago—how close to death he'd been. He had walked into a bar that his brother had contacts in, had been drugged by one of them in an attempt to end his life, and had only managed to pull through because he'd been able to get in contact with Sengoku when his regained consciousness.

He really was a walking disaster, wasn't he?

Rosinante put the glass down and decided against having another bourbon. He left the kitchen and stumbled into his bedroom, all but falling into his bed and staring up at his ceiling fan.

He rubbed his sternum with his thumb. He still couldn't believe that his pain from that morning hadn't been real. The pain was so visceral, so tangible.

It didn't make any sense.

It was still raining. The sound triggered Rosinante's hands to tremble even more and he sighed and rubbed them across his face.

He would give anything to make it stop.

"Doffy, please!" Rosinante cried. His violently shaking hands gripped onto his father's sleeves as he sobbed into his shirt, begging for his brother to stop.

"This is all your fault," came Doffy's voice. Rosinante could just barely hear it over the sound of the rain against the shack. "You ruined everything!"

His father's hands squeezed his shoulders. There was something warm in his hands, something that made Rosinante's chest feel full as his heart simultaneously began to crack under the pressure of the situation.

"Doflamingo. Rosinante."

Rosinante cried harder into his father's shirt.

"I'm sorry you had to have a father like me."

Then, as quick as a blink, a bang went off.

Rosinante's ears rang as his father's body went limp and collapsed to the side. His blond bangs fell across his eyes but he could still see the splatter of crimson on the floor, in his father's fair hair, and across Doffy's face.

Rosinante took in a breath and let the scream rip free from his body.

But not even his screams could drown out the sound of the rain.

"Fucking hell," Rosinante cursed.

He sat up in bed and rested his elbows against his legs and shook his head.

The rain was not even particularly loud. Sure, he could hear it against his window, but it was a quiet rain. Gentle even. It was nothing like the loud, thundering, relentless rain from his childhood memories.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and took deep breaths.

He was going to be fine. Only a few more hours and then he would be able to put everything behind him.

That phantom pain materialized in his chest again. Just above his sternum and around his heart. He rested his hand flat against his chest and felt the beating of his heart beneath his fingertips.

Just one more night… One more night and then he'd finally be free.


14 years ago

"What do you know about this Ope-Ope fruit?" Rosinante asked over the phone.

He could hear Sengoku's hesitation an instant and that was enough for Rosinante. He pursed his lips and cracked the window of his car, lighting up a cigarette and waiting for an answer.

"…How do you know about that?" Sengoku asked.

Rosinante sucked on his cigarette and relaxed as the bitter smoke filled his mouth.

"Doffy was talking to Trebol about it," Rosinante said. He tried to be careful about how he chose his words. "I hear it has healing properties. Something about an enzyme that can eat away at toxic buildup?"

Sengoku sighed and Rosinante listened to the sounds of his adoptive father leaving one room and entering a quieter one.

"That's right. One of our units up North discovered its existence. According to the medical staff, there's an enzyme in it that can cure just about any disease. One of the intelligence departments has tasked our unit with retrieving it. The scientists want to grow one in a lab to recreate the enzyme," Sengoku explained.

Rosinante breathed out smoke and nodded, though he knew Sengoku couldn't see it. His eyes flickered to his rearview mirror for a brief moment before they returned to the front of the car where one of Doffy's targets could be seen at a coffee shop.

"Hm," was his only response.

"Why are you asking? Is your brother going to try and steal it?"

There it was. The question Rosinante had been expecting and still had no idea how to answer.

"He's interested in it," Rosinante said carefully.

"That's not good. Whenever Doflamingo is interested in something all hell breaks loose."

Rosinante smirked in spite of himself because he knew damn well that Sengoku wasn't wrong.

"Yeah," he said.

Doffy's target sipped his drink and Rosinante instinctively clenched his right hand into a fist.

"Does he know where the fruit is?" Sengoku asked.

"Not exactly, but he knows its general location."

"I see…"

There was something in Sengoku's voice that made Rosinante suspicious. Something that was deliberate and almost conniving. Something that Rosinante knew he needed to bite on but couldn't because—

"How are you doing? I haven't heard from you in a while," Sengoku said.

How was he doing? Were there words that existed to even answer that question?

Rosinante took a harsh drag of his cigarette and held the smoke in his lungs for as long as he could.

"I'm fine," was all he said.

That same hesitation from before came back, only more evident if that was possible.

"We got word a few weeks ago that one of your brother's rivals turned up dead in a sewer."

Rosinante took another drag of his cigarette and continued to watch the man in the coffee shop.

"Yeah."

"If Doflamingo is having you do anything that you aren't comfortable with, just say the word and—"

"What would it take for someone to get their hands on this Ope-Ope fruit?"

"Why are you asking, Rosi?"

Rosinante recoiled at the nickname and he instantly hated himself for it. Sengoku had been calling him that since he was just a boy and said it with nothing but unconditional love. But ever since Rosinante had joined the Donquixote Family and ever since Doffy started using the nickname to have some sort of hold over him? He started to hate it.

"I don't want Doffy to get his hands on it," Rosinante lied straight through his teeth.

Sengoku didn't know about Law and Rosinante planned on keeping it that way for as long as he could. Sengoku didn't need to know about the boy from Flevance with the Amber Lead Syndrome. He didn't need to know about the kid's connections to the Family.

He didn't need to know about any of it.

"I understand," Sengoku said. "Let me touch base with Tsuru and we'll go from there, all right? If Doflamingo is interested in this fruit, then I see an opportunity for us to apprehend him and bring him in."

Rosinante rubbed his jaw, narrowing his eyes when his target looked right in his direction.

"Sounds like a plan. I'll call you again in a few days," he said.

"Be careful," was all Sengoku said before he hung the phone up.

Rosinante was about to get out of the car and approach the target when his other phone went off, the phone that was used exclusively for Family business.

He cursed under his breath and pressed the phone to his ear without checking to see who was calling him.

"Yeah?"

"I need you to get back to the clubhouse."

Doffy. Of course.

Rosinante seethed through his teeth and took a final puff of his cigarette and chucked it out of the window.

"Why? I'm in the middle of a hit."

"Because I said so."

Rosinante hesitated. Doffy didn't sound good. He was lacking his usual flamboyance and grandeur. And he seemed to be lacking it an awful lot these days.

"Okay."

Not that Rosinante was disappointed because he wasn't. He was fine with not having to kill another person because Doffy told him to. His conscience was already split in two because of the last few hits. He didn't want to add another one to the list. But at the same time, it wasn't like Doffy to pull him off a hit. It wasn't like his brother to pull him off any job.

And the implication made Rosinante's skin crawl.

He got back to the clubhouse an hour later and the sun was just starting to set. For the first time in weeks, there was a clear sky, not a single rain cloud to be found.

With any luck, Rosinante would actually get some sleep.

He headed into the clubhouse and kicked the door shut behind him. He could hear voices from the card room and let his legs carry him through the narrow hall and into the largest room of the clubhouse.

Everyone was there.

Everyone from little Dellinger all the way up to Doffy himself.

And they were all in somewhat of a circle, some sitting, some standing, all looking at whatever the fuck was in the middle of the room.

Rosinante looked for Law first, pulse quickening at the possibility of Law being the subject of everyone's scrutiny, but let out a quick sigh of relief when he saw the kid standing near Doffy, situated between Baby 5 and Buffalo.

He elbowed his way passed Jora and that was when his eyes settled on what everyone was staring at.

Or rather who everyone was staring at.

It was a man in a forest green suit, red tie, and black sunglasses. He was kneeling on the floor and blood ran down his temple and dripped off his chin, staining the already filthy floor.

Rosinante recognized him in an instant.

Zotto. A classmate he graduated from The Academy with.

"What's going on here?" Rosinante asked.

"Do you know this man, Corazón?" Doffy asked.

Rosinante was careful not to bat an eye or show any surprise or discomfort. And to really get his point across, he started smoking a cigarette and shrugged.

"No? Should I?"

Doffy did not respond right away and Rosinante didn't like that one bit.

All it took was more than a passing glance to see how unhinged Doffy looked. His hair was disheveled, his usually pristine clothes were wrinkled, and his fingers were twitching slightly at his sides.

"He's with the FBI," Diamante said. He grinned at Rosinante and reclined back into the sofa. "Caught him following Pica today."

Why the actual fuck was Zotto following anybody from the Family? Rosinante thought that he was the only person who was allowed to be near the Family for the foreseeable future. Why the fuck would Sengoku—the person in charge of the investigation—send another officer to possibly blow his cover?

"Is this seriously why you wanted me to come back?" Rosinante asked Doffy, purposely ignoring the way Diamante stared at him.

Doffy didn't respond right away. Rosinante wasn't sure who he was staring at, either Zotto or himself, but he couldn't be sure. Either way, he still didn't like where this was going.

"I want you to kill him, Corazón," Doffy drawled after the silence stretched on for what felt like an eternity.

Rosinante's cool exterior faltered and god fucking damnit because Doffy noticed.

"Why?"

Doffy turned directly to him, sunglasses glinting in the light.

"Because I said so."

Rosinante was vaguely aware of the smoldering cigarette ash that fell to the floor but he couldn't find it in him to care.

There was no way he could—

"Unless that's a problem, Corazón," Doffy added with a curl to his lip.

Not good. Not good at all.

Doffy's trust was all of five seconds away from snapping and there was no way in fucking hell that Rosinante would be able to survive the fallout if it happened anytime soon. No matter what, he couldn't let that happen. Not before he got the cure for Law.

Speaking of.

Law wasn't looking at him. Instead, he was looking at Zotto with nothing short of venomous hate. It radiated off of him in a way Rosinante had only ever seen with his own brother and it broke his fucking heart.

"I'm not killing an FBI agent, Doffy. They'll come for us if I do," he said after a little too much time had passed.

Doffy tilted his head to the side, the corners of his lips twisting down.

"You'll kill targets for me. You'll kill drug lords and gun runners and other criminals, but not an FBI agent."

Fuck.

He was screwed. He was so fucking screwed.

Doffy was going to cut his tongue out and feed it to him if he figured it out.

"Didn't you just hear me? I'm not going to kill an FBI agent because they'll come for us. If one of their agents turn up dead, they're going to be a hell of a lot more aggressive in apprehending us. It's a stupid risk to take," Rosinante tried. He tried to sound disinterested, tried to sound like he didn't really care what happened either way.

But Doffy didn't buy it.

"He knows where the clubhouse is. He knows who is in the Family. He's figured too much out so he needs to go," Doffy said in a low voice.

Rosinante locked his jaw. His hands started to tremble and he tried to distract himself from that by fiddling with his cigarette.

He then craned his neck over his shoulder to look at Zotto.

His sunglasses were cracked so Rosinante couldn't see his eyes. But maybe that was a blessing in disguise. If Rosinante could have seen his eyes, then maybe he would have given himself away.

They were never particularly close, him and Zotto, but there was something to be said for being a classmate that he graduated from The Academy with. There was a brotherhood and camaraderie between them that couldn't be replicated.

"I'm not killing him. We can do something else to him. Use him as a message or—"

"Fine," Doffy said.

It wasn't the response itself that made Rosinante turn back around so fast that he almost gave himself whiplash. It was the abruptness in his brother's voice that prompted the reaction.

When he looked back at Doffy, he was producing a revolver from his breast pocket and pressing it into Law's hands.

Rosinante's entire body stiffened.

"Law, kill the FBI agent and show Corazón how you're supposed to follow orders."

Law's eyes flashed up to Rosinante's in a heartbeat.

The kid hated all authoritative figures. Hell, he probably even hated Doffy. But after what happened to his family and Flevance, Law particularly despised authoritative government figures and FBI agents were no exception.

And yet he still looked a little shaken. Those dark eyes that were rimmed with gold widened and his lips parted in surprise.

"Are you out of your fucking mind?" Rosinante snarled, not even able to register the gasps that came from the rest of the Family at his rude outburst. "He's a child."

"A child who is part of the Donquixote Family," Doffy responded. He looked straight at Rosinante and kept his expression unreadable.

Rosinante snorted in disgust and looked back at Law.

"You don't have to do this, Law. Just drop the gun and—"

"Kill the FBI agent, Law. Or else."

Law broke the gaze he shared with Rosinante and swallowed loud enough for the entire room to hear it. His hands had a slight quiver in them as he adjusted his grip on the gun. He then squared his shoulders back and held his chin high enough for everyone to see the white blotches on his skin that covered his neck and chin, and steadied his eyes at Zotto.

"Making a child do your dirty work, Doflamingo? You're pathetic," Zotto sneered.

Rosinante could have throttled the guy right then and there. His chances of survival were already slim enough, and pissing off Doffy was only going to make things worse.

Doffy finally smirked, a quick glance into his usual persona and he nodded at Law.

"Go ahead," he said.

A new determination glinted in Law's eyes and he carefully raised the gun.

No. No, Doffy did not get to do this. He did not get to wield Law's pain and suffering as a weapon. He did not get to use the kid for leverage.

He did not get to put blood on the hands of a child.

Rosinante made a snap decision in that moment and reached Law in one stride, plucking the gun out of his sickly hands.

"Corazón, what are you—"

Rosinante said a silent prayer to a god he didn't believe in and in one breath, pivoted on his heel, pointed the gun right at Zotto's forehead, and squeezed the trigger.

The bang made his ears ring and the warm splatter of crimson sprayed across his face.

Zotto's body crumpled to the floor with a thud.

Sengoku would never, ever forgive him.

"Corazón!"

For the first time, Rosinante wasn't able to register Law's voice. For the first time, he wasn't able to look at the kid.

He didn't regret his decision. Not for a second. Rosinante was already a killer at this point and he was fine with completing the task if it spared Law from another tragedy for at least one more day.

But between the sight of an old comrade on the floor, the feeling his blood on his face, and the heavy gaze he shared with Doffy, Law's voice fell on deaf ears.

"Happy now?" Rosinante whispered, all too aware of the warm blood dripping down his face.

Doffy didn't smirk at him. Didn't laugh. Didn't do anything but stare back.

"Ecstatic."


Sorry for the shorter chapter! The next three make up for it(:

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