Chapter 12
"R-Rouge is fighting Kuzan and Doflamingo!" Ivankov wailed over the den den mushi.
Dragon cursed. "That moron!"
He had called Ivankov the moment they had left the swallow cave the Polar Tang had been hiding in. They couldn't sink beneath the waves until they had more room, so right now all they could do was sail away as quickly as they could. Wind Granma would reunite with them later, but for now they just had to get out of here.
"Ace, you're looking kinda wavy on your feet!" Sabo said, clutching Ace's arm who was clearly struggling to stay awake.
"Everything is spinning..." Ace mumbled.
Law gestured for both him and Sabo to take a seat.
"I've set the location up for Bepo," Law said as he approached.
Dragon eyed the settings and grimaced. "Are you sure you want to go there?"
"Nobody would think to look for me there." Law hung his head.
"L-Law," Bepo called out nervously. "The blonde guy is chasing after the Polar Tang. He keeps tripping though."
Law approached the cameras and winced. The kid looked like he was in agony seeing a blonde haired man in a Marine uniform rushing after them by land, yelling what looked like Law's name over and over again. Dragon frowned heavily.
"You know him?"
"Cora-san, his real name is Rosinante, he was spying on Doflamingo to stop his brother from doing anything too destructive, but left to cure me," Law said weakly. "Doflamingo tried to execute him after the Donquixote Family tracked us down again, but I managed to save his life."
"A spy for the Marines?" Dragon clarified.
"Yes." Law grimaced. "And no matter how much I love him I won't let him take me to them. I can't. Not after what they did to my family."
His eyes watered, but Law wiped the tears away with a grunt. "Bepo, are we deep enough yet?"
"Y-Yes!"
"Then take us under."
.::.
Rosinante shook his head. "No, Law come back! Please!"
The submarine was sinking fast beneath the waves, taking Law away with them. No, he needed to get to Law! He needed to get to his kid and get him out of here away from Doflamingo before it was too late. He couldn't let Doflamingo take Law back!
"Rosi, look out!" Kuzan yelled.
He barely ducked beneath Doflamingo's string. Hibiscus Rouge- which how in the world?- was forcing Kuzan back with strong swings of her sword. Kuzan leapt past her, and Rouge aimed to cut him down from behind, but thankfully Kuzan blocked it. It was Rosinante who was in trouble now. Doflamingo stood before him, his fingers twitching, strings stretched between them.
"You've caused me quite a lot of trouble, Rosinante."
Rosinante gritted his teeth. "You're still chasing after Law? Leave him alone!"
"The boy belongs by my side. You were the one to turn him against me," Doflamingo growled. "We both know how important witches are, and a witch of his potential will one day be a force to be feared!"
"Law doesn't need people to fear him! He wants to heal them!" Rosinante protested.
Doflamingo sneered. "You really think you love him? That he's your son?"
"Of course!"
"Then why did you drag him across the seas and force him to suffer all those pathetic doctors? You allowed him to be treated as a monster!"
"I burned those hospitals down for that!" Rosinante spat.
"You probably sped up his diseases progression putting him through all that!" Doflamingo snapped.
Rosinante flinched. "That's not-"
"Fufufufufu, you blew up all those hospitals just like how his parents' hospital was blown up. I wonder what exactly he thought of that."
.::.
"Blowing up hospitals huh?" Rouge raised a brow. "Interesting..."
Kuzan grimaced. "It was usually just a room or two in each of them."
Rouge's fingers twitched. "Because the doctors refused to help Law?" She gritted her teeth. "They're lucky it wasn't me there then. I would have butchered every single one of them."
Kuzan winced. "As terrifying as ever, Hibiscus."
Rouge chuckled. "If you Marines are trying to erase my history as a pirate you might want to stop calling me that." Rouge lunged at him, forcing him back with a slice of her sword. "Because it really pisses me off knowing you fuckers are messing with me in the afterlife!"
It made her blood boil. She worked hard to become the lone terror of the seas and these assholes were trying to hide that like pathetic little shits! Bastards, all of them!
"Speaking of your afterlife," Kuzan grumbled, eyeing the ship. "Your kid must be with Law."
Rouge's smile dropped from her face and it didn't come back even as Kuzan flinched from her. The idiot wanted to act smart? Obviously he had forgotten just who Rouge was exactly and why people did not fuck with her.
"Choose your next words carefully if you value your life," she warned.
Kuzan stiffened up, then eyed her curiously. "They are young."
"What makes you say that?" Rouge asked coldly.
"You're going see through already," Kuzan pointed out.
Rouge glanced down and hummed. Yeah, he was right. Dammit.
"Do you think that would really save you?" Rouge asked, eyeing Kuzan. "It will only delay things. You might not remember, but I'm a nasty bitch when I'm pissed off, and one word on my kid and I'll gut you like a fish."
"I'm only here for Law currently," Kuzan admitted. "If you just step out the way and let me freeze that submarine I'll take the kid and leave yours be."
Rouge growled and took her stance, building up her haki into her sword. "Law is one of mine now too. Mine."
"Damn you and your possessive trait!" Kuzan cursed, throwing up a wave of ice as Rouge lunged.
She brought down her sword with one hard swing and the world shook around her.
.::.
Sabo caught Ace when he slumped over, fast asleep again, and winced as everything trembled in the submarine. Bepo yelped, but he managed to keep control of the ship as the submarine was shoved deeper beneath the ocean's depths while the rest of them braced themselves. The others were still knocked out, and Sabo was beginning to wonder if they were the lucky ones.
"What is Rouge doing?" Sabo cursed.
"Being a reckless fool!" Dragon yelled. "Kuma throw her or the Marines somewhere else before she kills someone!"
"We can't get near them! She's just completely destroyed that part of the island with that attack. There's no sign of that cute little house those kids were living in anymore!" Ivankov cried. "She just threw Donquixote away along with his ship and brother too!"
Dragon cursed. "I hate when she gets like this, dammit!"
"Ace just passed out. She should have already disappeared, right?" Sabo said.
"Is Ace dying?!" Luffy cried.
"No!" Law scowled. "Rouge-ya has used up too much of his energy, sure, but she's not killing him, just exhausting him. That's the problem with physical ghosts, they use up far more of a witch's magical energy, Rouge-ya especially considering how strong she is."
Ace would be fine, but Rouge would be getting her ass kicked the moment Dragon got a hold of her. The dumbass was always acting so recklessly, even without Roger's influence.
.::.
Rosinante shivered as Kuzan lowered him back down to his feet up on a cliff side. Whatever was left of that house Law had been in was gone, a huge crater lay there instead, wrecking that tiny corner of the poor island, and the Numancia Flamingo (Doflamingo's ship) had been shoved out back to sea. He had no idea where Doflamingo or Rouge where, and threw a hopeless look out to the sea where Law's submarine had disappeared into.
"As terrifying as ever that woman is," Kuzan grunted. "Portgas D. Rouge still has a murderous face."
"Law's father never name back as a ghost, I'm surprised Rouge did." Rosinante frowned.
"It is unusual, but from what Sengoku and the Elders said Law's bloodline was considerably weakened by Amber Lead Disease. They believe it poisoned their magic." Rosinane felt all the blood drain from his face. Kuzan grimaced at the sight. "Portgas D. Rouge is also on another level of witch compared to most. That girl could destroy islands and fight against the likes of the Yonko and Gold Roger."
"And Law's with her!" Rosinante choked.
"And she's claimed him as one of hers," Kuzan sighed. "Trying to get the kid back with you is going to be way too difficult now unless they split from each other. The problem is..."
"Rouge's kid and Law are both young witches," Rosinante finished. "They might not be willing to split up, and sadly I didn't see who they were either."
"Me neither." Kuzan frowned. "This is not going to be a fun report, but at least Doflamingo didn't manage to get a hold of the kid."
Rosinante groaned, running his hand through his hair. "This is bad! We need to get to Law and get him somewhere safe. He's not safe being the last Trafalgar witch and the user of the Ope Ope no mi and if anybody lays a hand on them I swear-"
"Your shoulder is on fire," Kuzan pointed out.
"GAH!" Rosinante yelped.
.::.
Doflamingo scowled at the ocean. He had managed to land back on his ship when Rouge had tried to wreck the place. Crazy woman. It wasn't like this was New World and she had to go psycho on them all.
"Was that Portgas D. Rouge?" Vergo grimaced as he approached.
"Yep." Doflamingo scowled. "And Rosinante."
"The traitorous scumbag!" Diamante scowled. "We should get back on land and deal with him ourselves, Doffy."
"I would love to, but Kuzan is with him unfortunately," Doflamingo huffed. "And with Portgas no longer distracting him it won't be so easy for us to punish the traitorous scumbag."
"So we can't get Law back right now?" Baby-5 deflated.
"Fufufufufu, not unless you can turn into a submarine," Doflamingo teased.
"I'm a weapon's girl, not a ship girl!" Baby-5 protested, cheeks bright pink. "You know that, Young Master!"
"Fufufufufu, you'd also sink like a stone." Doflamingo smirked. "I'd rather not be crushed to death by the water pressure."
"Behehehe, what we gonna do about Law now, Doffy?" Trebol asked.
"Little Law is going to be quite difficult to catch, especially now that he's hanging around a Portgas kid with a ghost and the Revolutionary Dragon."
He heard Jora choke on her drink from somewhere behind him, but Lao G gave her a good few slaps on the back to stop her choking.
"It won't be easy to catch up to Law now," Doflamingo mused. "Especially not when he's now suddenly surrounded by such capable people."
They would get him back though. Doflamingo didn't give up easily, after all what king would? He would get Law back and punish both him and Rosinante, Law for running away, and Rosinante for tearing Law from his side and poisoning the boy against their family. He would pay dearly for that. It didn't matter if it took years, Doflamingo was patient. He could wait.
He'd have his witch back soon enough.
