Preciously: 'So, the two worst people possible are out on Mount Colubo, by themselves, getting into all sorts of trouble, and have been for who knows how long,' Zoro said, summarising what everyone was already thinking.
The four them looked at each other, and then took off at a run into the jungle themselves in the direction in which Zoro had pointed.
Family part 3
Rocinante rolled away from the very angry, very large, tiger with the giggling brat clutched to his chest, wondering how on earth he had gotten himself into this mess.
Actually, there wasn't much to wonder about. The giggling brat had dragged from the bandit hut where he was cooking lunch, and when he had tried to resist, he had tripped and caused the two of them to go tumbling down the side of a steep ravine. When they finally landed, it was unfortunately in the middle of a group of large bears that had taken offence at the interruption and chased them for a good twenty minutes through the forest until the bears had suddenly given up turned around, very abruptly. Rocinante should have taken that as a warning, but was a little too lost and confused to do so and had instead taken to dragging the rubber kid in a direction he was hoping lead to home.
Whether or not it would have lead them there remained to be seen, he tripped once again only this time he rolled into a cave, and crashed at speed into what was the largest tiger he had ever seen, the same tiger he was now rolling to avoid.
So, everything thing was the kid, Luffy's, fault, but he couldn't worry about that now because it was a kid and they had bigger things to be concerned about.
Like the boulder he now had his back to that was preventing any sort of retreat at the Tiger Lord lifted its giant claw to finish off it's enemy.
This was it, they were going to die.
His heart started to beat at several times faster than it ever had before as he felt Luffy struggle against his chest. The world around him simultaneously blurred and sharpened as he became hyper aware of everything around them, he could even hear what he assumed to be Luffy's brothers racing towards them to save them, but he knew they would be too late.
Something in his chest constricted and expanded, the same feeling he had just before using his devil fruit for the first time. Instinct guided him like it had the first time as, almost unthinkingly, he created a sound barrier around the beast heart.
And the tiger fell down dead as Luffy burst out laughing. The group of four children, including his own son, finally entered the clearing and closed their eyes in defeat as they failed to comprehend the sight of the dead animal and a laughing Luffy, with a shell shocked Rocinante mixed up with it.
'See? They're strong! Now they have to become our family!' no one had the energy to try and argue with the trouble making ball of sunshine.
REMEMBERINGREMEMBERINGREMEMBERING
As they were (would be, had been, whatever) pirates, they celebrated the addition of their new family, their Nakama, in true pirating style. The bon-fire was something to be impressed by (both Ace and Sabo refused to respond to the comments about the two of them being pyromaniacs) and they had somehow managed to find enough food (and prepare it properly) to feed them all at their improvised banquet. Laughter, singing and shouting rang around the clearing, the same clearing the three brothers had stayed in during those days after they had finally been reunited. People were dancing and running around, and it was truly a chaotic mess worthy of the original Straw Hat pirates after some of the bandits had decided to join them, Dadan pretending that she wasn't keeping a close eye on those she refused to admit as being her sons to ensure they didn't wonder off and get into trouble.
Rocinante watched the chaos with fond amusement, especially has he had been ordered by Law to "sit there and don't move" on account him having already caused enough trouble for one day. Law himself was over seeing his two patience with an almost vengeful ferocity, leaving the two teenagers to lie back in fear as Law glared at them as they ate. Rocinante wondered if they were regretting talking the others into letting them attend the party and were wishing they were back inside the bandit hut.
Ace and Sabo had tried to do something similar to Luffy as Law had done to him, keep the child in the same place for more than five minutes, but it had failed rather miserably if the energetic, human shaped, rubber ball rocketing around the clearing was anything to go by. Said rubber ball occasionally stopped to sing something loudly and off tune, before setting off again with a laugh. Ace and Sabo didn't seem to have given up, however, as they continuously dashed past mere seconds afterwards.
Zoro was calmly trying to build up his alcohol tolerance, much to Rocinante's disapproval, while leaning against Bepo on account of him being "comfortable" and "needing to join in more" while trying to drag said Polar bear cub into a discussion about … something Rocinante was probably glad he couldn't hear the details of.
The party continued until well into the night. Luffy eventually settled down against Bepo with Zoro and fell asleep, almost everyone else having already done so in various locations and positions around the remains of the fire. Eventually, just Law, Sabo, and himself remained awake, the other two coming over to sit next to him, bringing more sake with them though this time Rocinante didn't have the heart to tell them off, especially when they passed most of it over to him.
'Is this really okay? To consider Law and I your family, Sabo, on nothing more than the word of a child?' Rocinante asked, the question hadn't left his mind after Luffy's declaration in the middle of the wood even through all the preparations. 'You know nothing about us, you don't know our history, our enemies or even our last names, we could be deceiving you and trying to win you trust just for something like this.'
Rocinante had expected anything from laughter to admitted concern, not the response that he got.
'Rocinante Doflamingo, exiled Celestial Dragon and brother to the pirate Doflamingo that is currently wreaking havoc in west blue. Former Marine agent, specialising in espionage and intelligence gathering, currently on the run after steeling Marine property in order to save the life of Trafalgar Water D. Law, despite it putting you on questionable terms with the man you see as a father figure, the Marine Sengoku also referred to as the Golden Buddha, did I leave anything out?'
Law burst out laughing at the look on his face, Sabo just smirked. 'Law told you, didn't he, he and Zoro aren't the only ones with knowledge of the future, mine, and Ace's, just happen to be a little more … complete than theirs.
'Besides, we would be celebrating anyway, even if Luffy didn't announce you as family. Garp dropped you off, you have proven yourself to be rather friendly, and we always celebrate our family's achievements. Or did you forget the incident that provoked that statement in the first place?'
Of course he hadn't forgotten. While the others had been setting up the bon fire he had been "asked" to practice with his new still and find out the limits of what he had just done.
He had awoken his devil fruit.
The calm-calm fruit allowed the user to create an area where sound couldn't enter or leave, practice allowed manipulation to the point of allowing sound to go one way and not he other and gave better control over the area that one wanted isolated. This worked because the area was isolated by a barrier that prevented the vibrations responsible form sound from moving and stopped them all together.
Like all fruits, Awakening allowed for the transfer of the ability the greater affect the physical aspects of the world. Some examples where fruits that allowed for control over an element to convert buildings or the ground itself into that element.
And of all people, it had been Luffy who made him realised what he had done and what he was now capable of.
His barriers stopped vibrations, or "movement", by directing that at an object instead of his barrier, he could cease its moment. During the fight with the tiger, he had directed it at its heart, thereby stopping the "movement" of its heart and killing it instantly.
Frighteningly enough, his barriers could now vibrate themselves, rather than just stopping them, and he had found that out when he made a tree tear itself apart and reduced it into splinters and the vibrating wood couldn't maintain its shape.
His fruit that was only useful as a good night's sleep had just evolved into a truly terrifying weapon, and as bandits and aspiring pirates, he could understand why that might be something they would want to celebrate.
But all of that was beside the point.
'You just listed off the fact that I was a spy for the Marines, and yet you still don't seem concerned about the fact that your brother considers us family, you also stated that I was forma Celestial Dragon, someone that could be considered you enemy given you life with bandits and that even traveling I heard what happened to this area when one of them was about to visit. You also pointed out that I more or less already betrayed by brother, my family, once before. How on earth can you be so willing to trust me?'
'Baka,' Law said beside him, 'You can't help who you are related to. Family is something you choose, not something you are born to. You make your family, and a family you make is not one cast away as easily as one based on shared parents or blood.
'Besides, I have a "feeling" that these kids aren't ones that can judge based on where you come from, right, Sabo?' Law's smile was practically predatory.
And Sabo just laughed. 'Right. That fire you mentioned, Cora-San? It was set by my father, and when he found a corps in the ashes that could have been me, he ordered it disposed off so that it couldn't bring any scandals towards his name.' Sabo laughed at the look on his face. 'That's right, I'm the son of a Nobel, ran away to a trash heap because I decided it stank less than that horrendous inner city at five years old. I also have, and will again, killed to protect the family I have now. Though don't tell Luffy I told you, he might think I am "threatening future friends" again, which I am not, you are my friend, or family, so there is no need to threaten you, right?'
Rocinante just sat there with his mouth hanging open, before deciding that he needed Alcohol to deal with this conversation and reached for the bottle of sake that they two boys had brought over. He completely ignored their own cups, young or not he was starting to understand that the term "child" did not apply to them.
'By the way, Law, we still need to talk to you about what we are doing when we all turn seventeen, since you seem to have chosen to live with us and join our rather confusing circumstances,' Sabo said.
'I don't think I decided so much as didn't argue or fight it when your brother decided to drag me alongside him.' Law said with a rather ruthful twist to his usual sadistic smile. 'But as you brought it up, I assume you four had something in place already?'
'Before you guys turned up? Definitely. Ace and I remember more than you, so we had things to plan for. The four of us are collecting money for our Pirate fund, when me and Ace turn Seventeen we get a third each and set sail to deal with a few … irritations that need putting down … and then come back here and collect Luffy and Zoro before he sets sail and swear ourselves as his crew. I think Zoro was also intending to leave at around seventeen to get practice in as a mercenary or bounty hunter? Well, that will probably depend on how Luffy is going.'
'So, all of you are swearing yourselves to Luffy as your captain when the time comes?'
'Can you see him staying out of trouble with the small crew he is bound to stick to? Also, I think the rest of his crew might need someone to save them from him, somehow I don't think Zoro will be enough.'
Law laughed, agreeing with the last sentiment, and also thinking that if his sister had survived and wanted to be a Pirate Queen he would be making sure that he was the doctor on that ship.
The thought had him taking a very large gulp of the drink in his hand, ignoring the look on Rocinante's face, it may have been getting close to five years and her death still cut him deep.
'Don't you need your two bothers to be having conversations about me joining?' it was a reasonable question.
'My brothers know better than to try and argue with me about finances. Luffy makes other decisions, and Ace actually has enough discipline to keep us training the way we should, but money matters and organisations are best left in my hands.' Sabo said, thinking be was pointing out the obvious as Rocinante silently agreed from where he was making his way though the bottle of Sake. 'Of course, a lot of what we do depends of what you want. Family doesn't mean we have to be on the same crew, doesn't even mean you have to be a Pirate. Luffy believes in freedom, he won't take it away from you if you really don't want to join, though if he does get mildly aggressive about it then you will probably end up joining whether you want to or not simply due to circumstances.
'And if any of your plans involve taking Bepo somewhere, I strongly recommend keeping a close eye on him because Luffy has a way of convincing people that he wants to join him, often during very bizarre situations.'
Law leaned against Rocinante, who had drunk a little more than he was willing to admit, and seriously thought about what Sabo was asking. What did he want? Once upon a time it was to see the world burn, then it had simply been to stay next to Cora-san, and the last two years had been to full of chaos and disorder to really think about it. Now that someone was asking out right …
Rocinante was listening very carefully for the answer, wanting to support his son in anything he chose, so long as it was actually him that chose it.
'I … think I just want to be a doctor,' Law eventually said with no small amount of surprise in his voice. 'I don't care if it is on a pirate ship or a small town in the middle of nowhere, I want to make my parents proud and prevent people having to go through what I did when no one would treat me just because of lies the world government spread. I have a "feeling" that if Cora-san had died two years ago when he was shot getting my fruit, my answer might have been different, but … right now I just … I'll probably leave and learn as much as I can when I turn seventeen and then spend the rest of my life making sure I can heal this "family" that seems to have claimed me so that I don't loose them,' the "again" was left unsaid.
That hadn't been what Sabo was expecting, given what he knew about everyone else he had ever met that shared that initial with Law, he was expecting something a little more likely to lead to destruction.
Sabo looked Law in the eye and said with such a straight face he couldn't be anything other than serious. 'You have got to be the sanest D I have ever met, and I actually have people to compare it to.'
Law just laughed, light and carefree while Rocinante spluttered as he choked on his drink at the casual mention of a letter that had given him so much trouble at one stage of his life or another.
'Sabo, that's not saying much.'
And suddenly Sabo was laughing as well, 'No, it's really not.'
At long last, they had all found a family in which they could belong.
Last chapter before the epilogue, hopefully, I have felt that way before, but this story does not seem to want to end
Law had a family, it was a good one, he doesn't anymore, hence why he can identify with the last statement despite not having quite the same family issues as the others.