#Cora tries his best to make him a kid again

[kusaribanana]

Law is all excited for 2 minutes, but right after he’s like « where did you steal this »

[l-in-the-light]

Why is Law so afraid to be used and hates to be ordered around ? I think of the scenes in Wano where Kid makes fun of Law being Luffys subordinate.

I love when I get asks casually giving me the biggest questions I had since the first time I reread those scenes haha. Keep them coming!

There's no direct answer to this question stated anywhere in the manga, at least for now. But we can read a lot between the lines. So let's dive in! And I mean it when I say we will take a dive, because I brought up every. single. scene in which Law complains to be ordered around! We will try to find a common pattern here. But first, let's start from "afraid to be used and hates orders" part:

Most important reason is Doflamingo. No surprise here that he's the one behind Law's fear.

We know Law recruited himself into his family and even tells Cora-san he wants to be "Doflamingo's subordinate" and that "he doesn't have to listen to Corazon" because of that.

And we know as well how Doflamingo operates. He grooms his subordinates to die for him. It might be the first time Law heard about that here and it clearly terrified him, he understands that Doflamingo would keep him around just because he obeys him, like an useful tool, not even human.

In comparison, Cora-san showed him compassion and love. It means a lot to Law, who felt he was no longer considered human by other people because of his disease. And here he learns Doflamingo, a person Law somewhat respected, who defended him in front of others who feared to be in the same room as him, would actually also not see him as a human. This must have been a major blow to Law, breaking his trust, yet again, in other people.

Now let's take a look at that:

That's what Doflamingo tells Monett and Vergo to do, just "die for him". That's how he would have groomed Law as well, if Law stayed with him, he would teach him obedience and to follow his orders, just so Law would be ready to sacrifice his own life as well, one day.

And here we have Bellamy, who would also do just about anything to earn Doflamingo's respect, even if it means dying for him. It's possible Law's mercy for Bellamy is related to this: Law was also once in that position himself. And Law would do everything not to be in that position ever again.

Now let's take a look at Law giving orders himself. He does it but only to people he considers lower in hierarchy than him and mostly to protect their lives. He made an equal alliance with Strawhats and in general he tries his best not to give them orders (he does those funny suggestions instead). There's one exception for it though: if situation truly requires it and there's no other option, he will give an order, just like Luffy.

Meanwhile he himself isn't really great at obeying rules and following orders. How many times has he broken the law of blood while staying with Doflamingo's Family?

He doesn't like other people making decisions for him, especially if he doesn't feel ready for whatever they try to make him do.

The "Don't tell me what to do" attitude. To be fair, Luffy's triggered by that as well. They both don't like it when others decide things for them. For Luffy it also applies to setting destination for adventures, Luffy always wants to be the one to decide that himself.

And finally, we reach the very first scene when Law says it outloud: don't order him around! Please notice though that Kid and Luffy say basically the same thing, yet Law directs his complaint only to Kid. He's fine with Luffy saying the same thing, curious, ain't it?

Again, Law is complaining to Kid to stop ordering him. Law's the one who will decide what he wants to do.

And again, complaining to Kid.

One time he complains to Zoro, but this time not because he feels like he's ordered around. He feels like he's a babysitter, constantly having to support others instead of focusing on his own fight. Well, Law, everyone knows you're actually their babysitter in this alliance, a bit late to complain. And yet, despite complaining, he never denies the Strawhats and does what he's told anyway.

"I won't let it slip this time" says Law outloud for some reason, which is very uncharacteristic of him. It's almost like he's doing it for the show.

Let's sum it up so far: Law complains 3 times to Kid, once to Luffy, and once to Zoro (about babysitting in the last case). And let's take a look in which scenes he actually does what he's told to do without complaining:

This time he doesn't even comment on it, just takes Zoro and shambles out.

Zoro tells him he counts on him. Curiously enough it's the exact same phrase Law used all the way back in Dressrosa when he asked Cavendish to just leave him to rot (Cavendish didn't agree with that).

That's just from Wano, because no matter how much I searched, there was literally no scene in Punk Hazard or Dressrosa when Law complained about people ordering him around. None at all. Despite Luffy destroying his plans, dragging him forcefully through half of Dressrosa, and then undermining their ultimate strategy to take down Doflamingo, the only complaints Law had was "what about my cuffs??" and "we will have to face against a very furious emperor!".

And this here, when Luffy decides against what Law told him. Law did get his revenge when he later shambled himself with Luffy's position, just like he originally wanted, instead of shambling himself next to Luffy to do a combined attack (which would have been more effective!). But it was payback, and payback was important.

And then we have this scene, in which he just voices his feelings outloud instead.

Now that we have gathered all the necessary evidence, I will share my interpretation of this: Law has no problem usually with Luffy, even when Luffy acts really selfish, destroys his plans and Law has to babysit him. He simply takes it like a man, without complaining about his fate that he chose for himself after all (Law was the one to propose the alliance in the first place, he knows the responsibility is his!).

Curiously enough Law also has no problem with Luffy in Sabaody. That might be because he feels grateful to him there, after all he even gives half the credit for freeing Jean Bart to Luffy. Luffy might have gotten them into trouble in the first place, but Law instead thanks him "for showing him something interesting". That "something interesting" wasn't only about punching Celestial Dragon, but also defending Hachi when people around were afraid of him and crying out bullshit like "he will spread diseases! Don't come closer!!". Law heard those phrases as well when Corazon was searching for cure to Law's amber lead syndrome. It probably triggered a flashback for him. Seeing Luffy punch a Celestial Dragon and with that punch also defending Hachi must have reminded Law of what Corazon did back then as well: punching some doctors for Law. Law probably "let it slip" when Luffy said the same thing as Kid, because he was simply grateful. Meanwhile, he doesn't want to owe anything to Kid or be grateful to a person who talked shit about Law behind his back.

Okay, but then what about Wano. What's Law's problem in Wano all of a sudden??

His problem has a name. That name is Eustass Kid. As soon as Kid became part of the raid, Law is behaving differently and complaining about being ordered around. He comments stuff outloud, he starts to openly compete, he makes a big show of getting angry at Luffy for ordering him around (which he never did before!), complains he's a babysitter... and as soon as Kid is gone to fight Big Mom, Law is back to his normal behaviour again. For me this proves that if Kid wasn't there, Law wouldn't even say that line in the first place.

Let's take a look again at this scene:

Law is complaining to Luffy while making sure their eyes are on same level. He's basically saying "this is an alliance, we're equals, don't give me orders in front of Kid, it makes me look bad". Kid is an outsider, Law has bad beef with him ever since Sabaody, he wants Luffy to be more mindful about Law's own feelings here. Funny thing is, Luffy quickly gets the drift, proposes the stupid chicken game which actually works on freaking Eustass Kid which surprises Law.

Just look at him looking at Kid. Luffy ended up being involved in the conflict between Kid and Law, and took Law's side in it, but not in an obvious way: he made it a competition for all three of them, yet pulled a move on Kid that he couldn't refuse. Luffy is pretty smart at reading people and he basically put Kid back in line here, but he did it only because Law complained. That's because in their alliance Law and Luffy always has each other's backs, and Luffy proves it yet again, not leaving Law alone with this.

So actually Luffy's reaction of "How does that even matter?!" is very justified, because it's literally the first time ever that Law complained about "following orders" to him. And he figured out the reason fast: it was because of Kid's presence.

Now let's dig into one more thing. Kid clearly plays with the idea that Law and Luffy are so close that they seem like they're in one crew. But the way he phrases it is very offensive: he suggests Law is Luffy's subordinate, just like Law was once a subordinate to Doflamingo (again, not bringing up any fond memories here). Meanwhile Law tries to make a point: they're equal, no one is above the other. Luffy actually also minds the "subordinate" part as we can see from his "WHAT" reaction there. He doesn't like the term subordinate nor the term scrub either. For Luffy, his crew are his friends, they're equal most of the time (the only time Luffy actually uses his right as the captain is when he chooses which island to visit or who to fight), they sleep in one room, they do chores all together, damn, his crew can even punish Luffy if he does something stupid that endangers them! Luffy's crewmates are definitely not his subordinates, not in Luffy's eyes at the very least. Is Kid just mean here by calling them "subordinates" or does he actually think of his own crew as subordinates and that's why he uses that word here? Who knows, Kid likes to be full of shit, so maybe he said it knowing exactly well what effect his teasing will have. But he is right about one thing: Law and Luffy in Wano really work together like they're one crew.

Last important thing: Law is a captain and he learned long time ago from Wolf (his father figure he respected a lot, who gifted him the submarine): captain has the image to uphold and responsibility over his crew. Law has his own crew, Heart Pirates, and he doesn't want to be seen as incompetent person who can't even make his own decisions. It's about not losing his face in front of others, something that is important to him, and he commented on it as well in Dressrosa when he said he will at least take care of Trebol. Otherwise he wouldn't be able to face his own crew, feeling like he failed them. His crew holds him in very high regard and he doesn't want to disappoint them, despite the fact he probably isn't sure if he can always meet their expectations.

Yet he tries his best to cooperate with Kid and proposes him a temporary alliance. He dislikes him, he doesn't want to look bad around him, but also he wants the chance to show off/not lose face as well, not leaving everything up to Luffy. But he will remain super petty in his "alliance" with Kid. For example, he won't be talking to him on same eye level, like he does with Luffy. His body language really betrays his feelings towards other people.

Now, you might ask, but why does Law dislike Kid so much? Law doesn't really act nice to strangers in general. Luffy is basically an exception and even then he's almost never cheesy with his words (not counting his big declaration in Dressrosa), instead showing his appreciation of Luffy in not so obvious actions.

But there might be a particular reason why Law is so salty towards Kid in particular. Kid didn't exactly leave a good impression on Law in Sabaody. Not only he talked about him behind his back (and Law could hear that), he also accused him of bad manners. Rewind to Vergo always trying to chastise Law about the exact same thing. Kid voicing it out must have left a really bad aftertaste, so bad that Kid is literally one of the only two people Law flipped off his finger at. Kinda tragicomic, because I think Kid thought he's saying a compliment (he seemed to have a respect for him), but it was completely misunderstood. It might take those two a hundred years to finally talk it out heh.

That's my best shot at analyzing it. Summing it up, Law doesn't like to feel controlled (all thanks to Doflamingo betraying his trust), he's afraid to lose his face in front of his own crew, he doesn't want to be used as a tool (he's fine supporting others in battle, but he wants his own liberty with that and wants others to trust him to make the right judgements), and he also simply hates being ordered around by Kid for a number of complex reasons. Also there's this running theme with Law and his ope-ope fruit and it's ultimate technique. People basically treat Law like disposable goods because of it: only good for performing the operation, even at the cost of Law's own life. All things considered I think it's not so strange that Law gets really nitpicky with any attempt even close to objectifying him, even if people don't mean it that way. On the contrary, every time he doesn't act this way, he shows how much trust he has in his allies or even how willing he is to ignore his own feelings as long as people close to him are fine.

I hope you enjoyed reading about it, anon!

[melkyt]

Lawlu as parents mmm, (mpreg Luffy vibes)

Luffy doesn't have any father figures in his early life, not even sure what dads do with a kid that is not dump on some island and ditch.

Shanks and his five seconds of fame that Luffy mentions every chance he gets dont count in this scenario, I love Shanks as a dad content, but his track record is spotty xd

Law as a Father is conflicted, scared, and happy at the same time. He had a loving biofather who treated them with kindness and still thinks that Cora made a great guardian despite their rough start together. So he tries to follow their example, so he would never leave his child, though he looks at how Luffy was raised and decides that he will be solely responsible for their kid.

Thats okay, he has a space on the polar tang for when it arrives, decorating with sunflowers and hearts so atleast the kiddo knows the symbols of both their parents, even if they never get the chance to meet Luffy for long.

The relationship Law and Luffy have in Law's eyes is just some fun and a distraction when they both needed it most. So they ended up with a kid in the process, its fine. Law gets used to repeating its fine through the entire process of getting things ready for the child to be part of his life.

Then they arrive, a little ball of shine that resembles them both with bright pale eyes and a brighter smile.

Law is completely taken by their baby. He will spoil them and give them world!

Luffy does that stare of his when he is serious about something, an unwavering determination focused on the kid. It unnerves Law a little as they usually share everything, and he understand what Luffy is thinking better than he did when they met, but sometimes its hard to read Luffy's focused expressions. Especially now,

Law decides its best not to ask, he doesnt want to hear that Luffy thinks they should leave the child behind for its own sake. Worry gnawing at his mind, that he will have to do something drastic to keep the baby and that it will break the relationship he built with Luffy and the strawhats

The baby has to stay on the Sunny for a few weeks, and Law decides to stay there as well. He is determined not to leave the kid. Every waking moment he is carrying the baby arround, washing, feeding, anything he can do while Luffy recovers.

Running himself ragged in the process. He wants to be the best parent ever, and sleep or food doesn't factor into the equation when Law gets hyperfocused. He is a mess. Coming into the nursery on the Sunny with a yawn, just to look at their baby.

Luffy stops him before Law can go to pick them. Instead, forcing Law to take his bed in the room next door.

Law out like a light as soon as his head hits the pillow. When he wakes up, Luffy and the baby are gone. His mind immediately jumps to the worst-case scenario. They are both pirates, and a ship is no place for a baby. That's something Luffy said before, quoting Shanks. So Law is worried he didn't even get to say goodbye.

Law is not bothering to grab his hat, his sword, or even to put on shoes, slipping on the wood. He hears Luffy laughs and runs into the kitchen of the Sunny.

Much ot his relief and surprise, the baby is still there. Luffy is wearing one of those baby slings that let him move around hands free, chattering to the kid about what food Sanji is making, getting everything wrong, much to Sanji's annoyance, as he corrects his captain, determined that the baby knows for sure that cooking is an art!

Law pulling Luffy into a hug, something he only does when nobody is watching. Yet now he doesnt care because they are still there. Luffy chuckles and hugs him back. "Duh, we're still here Traffy" He ruffles Law's hair, the baby giggles where it is pressed between them.

Law after that mini panic at losing family once again, decides to talk to Luffy and what they are doing. That he is prepared fo take care of the kid on the polar tang and while its Luffy's choice in the end and not his, he would rather have the kid in his life then leave it on some island whete it might be safe. Might not have people after it just for being born, but Law would rather be able to protect their kid all on his own.

Luffy pouts, "Who said you gotta do things alone, Traffy?" Luffy holds their kid closer. He tells Law about how even though he dont care about it anymore, he remembers how he felt about being tossed out all the time as a kid and that it hurt not having a place to belong.

He remembers how much Ace hated his dad for leaving him with old man Garp. How Uta felt when Shanks left her.

Luffy aint gonna do that. The kid stays and they are gonna raise it with their crews, with their families and make sure it knowz that its loved!

Law smiles with a soft expression, tension leaving his body. They will have to deal with a lot of danger and shenanigans to protect their child in the future, but at least they will do it together.

[isleofdarkness]

"So," Evie, ever the diplomat, started. Mal was glaring daggers at Riah and Riah looked confused beyond belief. If conversation didn't start soon, she was genuinely worried Mal would lunge at him. "A lot happened last night that I think we need to discuss. Does anyone want to start?"

"I'll start." Evie barely hid a wince as Mal spoke. She sounded like she was itching for a fight. "I caught fire and there's only one villain on the Isle who has a habit of doing that, a villain whose adopted kid is sitting right there and who never told me that I'm probably related to the god of the fucking dead."

"He's your dad," Riah responded, confusion only getting worse. "Why are you so upset?"

"Why am I upset?" Oh gods, Mal sounded ready to murder him. "Because I found out that my father, who fucked off when I was a baby, apparently had enough room in his heart to adopt a kid and have two more but never even bothered to say hi, sorry I abandoned you with your mother, and that apparently that adopted kid knew the answer to my life's biggest mystery and kept that shit to himself for no fucking reason! Why wouldn't I be-"

"Hold up," Riah held up a hand, cutting her off, "You think- Mal, what makes you think... gods above and below, there's so much wrong with that statement that I don't even know where to start."

"Well, you'd better start somewhere because you've got a lot of explaining to do, you son of a bitch."

"Number one, don't you dare talk about Hades or Persephone like that," Riah snapped, getting to his feet to meet Mal's glare with one of his own. "Number two, exactly what makes you think Dad didn't want you? Dad misses you so much no one in our house even mentions you unless he starts that conversation, because it depresses him that he can't have a relationship with you like he desperately wants to have with all of his kids. He's got your name tattooed same as the rest of us, and he's got your name on the list he keeps in his pocket, right over his heart, same as he's got mine, Hara's, Cora's, Selah's, Nico's, and all the other ones. He misses you just like he misses your sisters and half-sisters, even though he won't say it. You wanna know why Dad isn't in your life even though he'd give up his title as a god for even a chance at it? Your mom wouldn't let him!

"Fuck if I know all the details because Dad doesn't dump his problems on us, but your mom hates him even though he's the best dad in the world. She's put every effort into keeping him away from you because she knows he loves you, and she doesn't want him to turn you soft. And before you go and suggest he should've done something suicidal like try to be in your life anyway, no, absolutely not. She keeps doing something to him, summons him out of the caverns every few months and... I don't know, tortures him or some shit, just to reinforce that she'll make his life hell if he tries to be in your life! The one time, the one time, he tried to get you away from her, that was three days before my eleventh birthday. You wanna know how she retaliated?" He pulled up the leg of his pyjamas, showing the scarred skin and deformation of his left calf, scars and injury she knew had nothing on his thigh. "Yeah, she summoned him away and then sent six of her grown men to go to my house, lock my mom and brother in a room, and torture me for hours before trying to fucking beat me to death while Hara, Mom, and Claudine could hear everything! She threatened to do the same thing to you in front of him if he ever tried that shit again, and this time you wouldn't be as lucky as I was. She would torture you to death to keep you from having a relationship with him.

"As for why Dad went and adopted a kid rather than raise you, that, like everything else, is also your mom's fault. He found me three months premature, nearly dead in a cardboard box on the street like garbage, while he was still with her. He was the one who nursed me back to health, helped me survive those first months. Then your mom gave him an ultimatum, that if he wanted to stay with her he had to dump me back on the streets and leave me to die. And he wasn't heartless, he wasn't going to kill me, so he dumped her abusive ass and took me AND you into the caverns to try and raise us! But then your mother found out where he was and threatened to torture me to death and punish you if he didn't give you back to her, and what the fuck else was he supposed to do? He didn't have any options there, it was either give you back and know you'd live or lose me completely and run a MASSIVE risk of losing you, too, because he knew your mother was the type who would. So he gave you back, and he was forbidden from having a relationship with you or else I would die like Cora, or you would die like Ire and Malice-"

"Don't you fucking dare say their names!" Mal snarled. No one was allowed to say the names of her dead sisters, not even her crew. "You don't get-"

"WHY NOT?!" Riah was shouting, "They're my sisters, too! I love them just like you do, I love them just like I love Hara, Cora, and Selah, and I love them just like I love you! Because the three of you are my sisters, because Dad loves you just like he loves me and Hara, and because we're supposed to be a family!" He paused, forcing himself to take a deep breath as he shook, whether from grief or anger no one, not even him, could tell. After an eternity of silence, with Mal still speechless, he continued. "We're supposed to be a family, Mal. It's supposed to me Dad, Mom, Cora, you, Ire, Malice, me, Hara, and Selah. But your mom destroyed that. Four of us are dead, I'm crippled, Hara's traumatized, Dad's lost everything, and Mom comes back every autumn genuinely terrified she's going to get the news that one of us kids- and that means me, Hara, or you- is dead or dying... We were supposed to be a family.

"Dad talked about you once, you know," the switch of topics seemed to throw everyone in the room through a loop. Vaguely, Evie realized that the rest of them probably should have left a while ago to let the two of them work through this in privacy, but it was too late now. "It was when we were thirteen. He was in the market, getting some clothes to fix up for me and Hara, when something happened. He didn't get the context of the situation, but he heard an adult call Jay a... a really mean word, and he saw that adult reach for Jay and Jay was just frozen, but you stopped her. It was like you'd appeared out of thin air. Suddenly, you were just there, right between that woman and Jay, grabbing her arm and twisting it. You told her never to call Jay that ever again, and never to even look in his general direction ever again, and then you beat the fuck out of her like it was easy. When you were done, you turned to Jay and made sure he was okay, then challenged the entire bazaar, telling them that if anyone else had any thought about touching what was yours without his consent, she would do far worse. He was your second, and you weren't going to allow anyone to touch him without his permission. He told us all how incredible you did it. That you looked so powerful, almost regal. You protected Jay no questions asked, protected him against someone so much older and bigger than you like it was easy. And then you stuck up for your second and challenged the entire bazaar, made it clear that you stood with him and that his consent mattered to you, so you would hurt anyone who violated it. Jay had seemed so comfortable with you even with what happened. Like he knew he was safe with you without a doubt. Dad went on and on about how safe Jay seemed to feel with you near, how well you protected him and how much you seemed to love him. He was so damn proud of you, Mal. That's our girl, he kept saying to Mom. That's our little girl!"

Mal stepped back, dumbstruck. All of her life she'd assumed her father hadn't cared about her, but he... fuck.

"I couldn't wait to meet you, Mal. I always asked Uma and Diego about you, I wanted to know you so bad. I've always wanted a sister, and I know Hara wishes he could have one who he doesn't need to die to meet. We all want you, Mal. Me, Hara, Mom, Dad, we all want you in our family. We have all always wanted you." He sighed. " I know it doesn't fix anything, but-"

Riah gasped in surprise as Mal slammed into him, hugging him hard. Even with his arms pinned to his sides he tried to hug her back.

It took a long time for Mal to pull away. If any of them noticed the way her eyes were glittering, thay weren't going to mention it. She punched Riah on the shoulder- not enough to hurt or even throw him off-balance, just enough to prove a point. "Fuck you for making me cry."

Riah smiled, risking a hand to her horns to reach out and mess up her hair. "Love you too, sis."

[apphiarothowrites]

Au where black beard gets his fruit sooner and steals away whitebeards first commander

Bb makes a trade with the worst warlord doflamingo information and alliances for the famous phoenix

Corazon tries to warn law away from the guilded cage that doflamingo keeps. Tries to tell him the man inside is too broken.

“He talks all the time.” Law rolls his eyes, with a proper amount of exasperation of a 10 year old can produce. “You just suck at listening.”

For the second time law shocks both Corazon the brother and rocinate the marine into silence. It’s stupid, it is and reckless and every other thing he shouldn’t be doing because he’s already pushing it with law half the time. But Corazon sits in front of the cage during his watch. The man inside is haggard, blood matting shaggy hair and cuts that ooze. One piercing blue eye stares back out from the damage.

“Are, you.. ok?”

A beat, then raspy laughter breaks out quickly dissolving into a wet cough. “A marine masquerading as a pirate asks if I’m ok.” The man tilts his head, as words pour out in choppy gasps. “Sounds like the start of a bad joke.”

- Corazon now has to steal law and marco away from doflamingo.

-Marco does help slow the spread of amber lead

- marco is mostly sane still but he’s also very very traumatized: bb kinda tortured him into breaking so that’s a thing. He was kept drugged and chained for a long time

- white beard is still looking for marco

- doflamingo goes celestial with marco quite a bit (my property and all)

Uhh yeah, what can I say. I was listening to loser baby again and this is now my new favourite thing.

hell yeah hell yeah hell yeah once again you have the best shit in stock racccoon

When the day comes that Cora-san is taking Law, he knows he has to take Marco with them. With Law passed out and half-delirious with fever in the little single-mast dingy he's 'acquired' (a bad day for the kid), he uses his fruit to it's fullest extent.

The man is awake-eyes barely open with crusted old blood staining his eyelashes-when he silently slips past the usual guard. The key in the lock, normally a loud clanking thing, is utterly soundless. The creaking, groaning resistance of the rusty hinges of the cage have only specks of falling dirt to signal their protest. Marco lifts his head just barely, eyes pulling as wide as they can. A cut under his jaw drips red.

Cora-san pulls on a pair of gloves he stole and sets about removing the seastone thorns and chains in total absence of sound. By the end he's sweating with the effort-each thorn and nail pulling a harsh jerking movement from the man that makes no noise. Marco's wounds steadily worsened and blood flows freely to the floor of the cage.

But the moment the last cuff slides off, Marco throws himself backwards. Blue and gold heat rushes to fill the space and Rocinante staggers to the other side of the small cage to watch in silent awe.

The Phoenix is beautiful, and angry. It's eyes scream murder and it's beak opens when the flames properly clear, but just as the half-hour preceding didn't, no sound comes. Rocinante knows they're running out of time for this to work, so he offers a hand to the man-turned-creature and, finally, lets his voice be known.

"We need to go. I have a way off this island."

The Phoenix's eyes narrow to dangerous slits, but it's wings draw in and the fire sheds off it's body like feathers. The man, Marco, stands in it's place utterly pristine. An enviable power, Rocinante thinks only to himself as they sneak away.

An enviable power indeed, he thinks again as Marco-without a word or even the suggestion of help-puts his healing hands on Law and the flush of the boy's fever fades within minutes.

The thought changes, envy caving under something else, as days turn to weeks seeking answers for Law's condition. Marco disappears on the second island they visit and for an hour or so Rocinante thinks that he's taken off, returned to his father's fleet that he speaks of only fondly with a tired smile. Instead he returns just as Rocinante and Law do to their transport, his shoulders pulled back confidently.

He says nothing of his disappearance.

Then, the night that he finds the fruit, Law's fruit, something changes. He falls, bleeding out, against the most valuable treasure chest in the world believing Law is safe knowing Marco is waiting for the kid just offshore in a raft. He passes out knowing he won't wake up.

He wakes up.

Curled up against his side near his hip is Law, patches of white skin already gaining color. Standing at the end of the bed is a nurse in the most unprofessionally tight set of scrubs he's ever seen. Sitting in a chair to the side of the bed, behind Law's tiny back, is Marco with his head tilted back and eyes closed, snoring lightly.

[ilikealotoffandomsandstuff]

Just watched the teenwolf movie and I think it was a bit good like it wasn’t that bad so yeah spoilers

ethan is still with Jackson and lives still in London

No explanation for Isaac? Like did Chris really just left him in France and never returned to get him back????

How did Liam got this box? He didn’t was in season 3 he never knew the nogitsune and Isaac had it

Eli is stiles 2.0

Jackson in the movie is idk but I kinda liked him there

Stydia because of a ducking dream?

Derek becomes an true alpha just for him to brun alive in front of his son not even a secound later like he with his family

Where’s Corey? Did Mason and he broke up? And where did he go then?

Where’s theo? They didn’t even mention him

Honestly I think peterxchris had more chemistry than. malia and Parrish

Danny wasn’t there and no explanation where he is gone

Couch calls scott Greenberg. Like was scott just Greenberg all along? And when not then why did we never see the face of Greenberg

No mention of Kira like is she still in the dersert?

Melissa is a doctor now from what it seems and she derserved it

The nogitsune… stiles and Kira should been there they were the main plot for that

Also hes a hybrid? Even though in season 3 they say he can be a fox and a Werwolf but now he is? like what? And they killed him? But in season 3 he said that you can’t kill the nogitsune

Mason and Liam just interacted once and just for Liam to end Mason sentences like come on they were best friends

Peter’s sniffing scene…. I didn’t thought you guys were joking but wow he realised that there was no need for that

Peters hair flip was funny tho

And that he got his revenge on Derek with burning the wolfsbane out of him

What was the scene between Lydia and Scott when they were searching for the place from who Allison died ??

Scott and Alison adopting Eli you tell me Alison who tried to kill Derek and is probably still a teenager mentally maybe physically too is with Scott? A grown man and they adopting eli? Like he as family ok peter and malia not to be choice but where the duck is Cora and also the shriff could take him they have a bond and know each other and not like Scott who last saw him when he was kid and Alison he never meet her she tried to kill him

And Alison came back to live and they didn’t even bother to text Isaac it? Like Allison was his girlfriend when she died and he had to watch that she always liked Scott (even when. He was with him I guess?) that’s wow. And then he’s adopted by Chris his girlfriends father who tired to kill him and go ti France but only Chris retuned and left Isaac in grace alone???? And his daughter came back but he didn’t told Isaac???

Isaac derserved better

Like sheriff should told Eli it would make more sense

And malia or even Peter could help him with his werewolf powers yeah Scott to but he probably leave beacon hills again

Malia still hates peter and Peter still wants malia to call her dad I guess that never change

[sirianasims]

Things are going well for a bit, until…

“Oh no.”

Uhm, Alex? Is there something you need to tell Don?

Meanwhile, Brielle is growing up and being adorable. As Alex and Johnny have the same hair colour, it’s still difficult to tell who she’s going to look like, but she has her mother’s eye colour.

Alex is spending all her time and energy on Brie, and hasn’t seen Don at all since she found out she was pregnant.

Alex, that baby bump is getting pretty obvious. Didn’t you promise Don to be “open and honest” in this relationship?

“But he’s non-committal! He’ll run away screaming when he sees me!”

I mean, possibly. But you can’t exactly hide it from him forever.

We finally break the news to Don. I use Lumpinou’s amazing mods and to my surprise, Don is giddy with excitement about having a baby. Aww. I feel like the mod does know that Don is non-committal though, it has also assigned him a preference for non-exclusive relationships. Meanwhile, Alex has no strong feelings one way or another about babies and relationships, so she’s just going along with everything.

Let’s hope this works out!

We’ve moved! It seems like Don had been left alone in the Caliente house after all the women moved out, so we can afford a nice little house in one of the cheaper areas of Willow Creek.

The house is old, Victorian style, and has a fenced garden and a small pond. Behind the house is a community garden.

The new house isn’t in great condition, but it’s all Alex and Don can afford for now, especially with a second child on the way.

We also finally has room for more exercise equipment.

Don wins step-dad of the year. He is obsessed with Brie and constantly taking care of her, without being prompted.

He will comfort her when she’s sad.

He jokes with her while she eats breakfast.

He insists on teaching her to dance.

Alex can’t believe her luck. Don is not living up to his reputation at all?!

“I have a real house, a kid, one more on the way, and an amazing boyfriend. I feel so grown up!”

I mean, you did just age up to Adult, so I guess?

“Oh hey Don, I was just walking by. Johnny told me you and Alex and Brielle had also moved to Willow Creek so I thought I’d see where you lived.”

“… and so anyways, when we announced our engagement to Johnny’s parents, they told us that they have decided to forgive him. So he’s a Landgraab again. Oh, and I guess I am too now. I think Nancy and Geoffrey wanted our baby to be a real Landgraab. Oh, uhm, I mean, not that Brielle isn’t a real… I mean… Nevermind. Whew, is it hot out here today, or what?”

Not easily offended, proud step-dad Don shows Dina all his family pictures of Brie and Alex.

“Anyways, nice to see you again, Dina. Best of luck with the Landgraabs.”

“Oh Don, I’ve missed you. It was so good to see you again…”

Dina, you said goodbye already. Why aren’t you leaving? Luckily, Don is oblivious to Dina’s longing looks.

“Brie! The doctor said you are going to get a little sister! Isn’t that exciting?”

“Oh hi, Don, long time no see. Wanna have some fun?”

I am not making this up, Katrina immediately tried to hit on Don. Luckily, he was too preoccupied with his parfait. The random townie is deeply regretting his choice of bench.

“Oh heeeey, Mortimer…”

KATRINA GO HOME

She’s here! Welcome to the family, Cora! Daddy Don is ecstatic.

Brie is also happy about her little sister.

The only person who isn’t happy seems to be Dina. She angrily stomps past the house several times a day. And at night. Dina, there’s no way you’re out running with that belly, you’re not fooling anyone. What are you up to?

beginning / previous / next

[jacks-dark-oc-stuff]

Hurt

Cw: physical/verbal abuse

Summary: Adonis finds Rowan once more being abused by Gideon. He does his best to comfort the king.

“You pathetic whore! If you pull that shit again, I'll make your punishment worse, got that?” Gideon snarled as he slapped Rowan. “Fucking answer me!”

“...Yes.” The king murmured as he tried to hide the way his voice wanted to break. Rowan couldn’t let the old man know he was still the scared little kid he had first preyed upon.

“Tch, good.” The duke clicked his tongue as he tipped Rowan's chin up. “I push you, so you'll be a good king. You know I'm only doing this because I love you, right?” Gideon asked in a tone that made Rowan's stomach churn.

“Yes.” He felt defeated. Nothing he could do would get him out of this. He could only hope the old duke's fiend heritage had no effect on his life span.

“Hmph, good. Now, good night. I have a big day tomorrow, so this was a good stress relief session.” Gideon turned and left. Once the man turned the corner, Rowan's legs gave out.

“Rowan…?” Great, it was Adonis. He had seen everything, no doubt. It took everything Rowan had to not give into the beast right at that moment.

“O-oh, you saw that? I apologize…” Rowan strained to say as he swallowed the lump in his throat. He couldn’t look at the man behind him. Not after what had happened.

“No… no need to apologize… That guy's a piece ‘a shit, and he smells like musty metal.” It almost made Rowan laugh. Adonis was terrible at comforting people. “But, um, it's kinda cold out… so how's about we get you in where it's warm?”

“That… that sounds nice…” Rowan sighed as the man picked him up. Closing his eyes, the king leaned his head against Adonis’ chest plate. It was cold, but Rowan felt closer to his knight this way.

~~~

Rowan was acting distant more than he had before, despite the fact he hadn't let Adonis leave his sight. The knight was panicking internally. He knew of Rowan's curse, and he knew the king was close to cracking.

“Hey, I think you should eat something warm,” Adonis suggested as he watched Rowan lying in bed, staring at the canopy. He almost wanted to force the king to eat. “...C'mon, please?” If it meant begging, Adonis would get on his knees.

“I'm not hungry.” Rowan hadn't even turned his head to look at his knight once. Then, Adonis got an idea.

“Oh shit, I have training in the morning. I'll get Cora to look after you.” Adonis hoped he was convincing. He stood and turned to leave when Rowan called him out on his lie.

“You're a horrible liar,” Rowan said flatly. “I know your schedule. I know you have tomorrow off.” Of course, he would know his knight's schedule.

“Well, I'm leaving unless you eat!” Adonis stomped his foot like a toddler. He felt like a one with how badly he wanted to lie down while screaming and flailing.

“...Fine.” It seemed Rowan really didn't have much fight left in him. Adonis felt like shit for using Rowan's fear of abandonment against him, but he needed to eat.

“Okay. I'll call a maid.” Thankfully, Adonis wouldn't have to leave. There were servant bells in Rowan’s room. They were magic and alerted different people depending on what bell they held.

Adonis fumbled a bit, as he still had trouble reading, before finding the bell for the kitchen and ringing it. It wouldn't take long for a maid to come running. Soon enough, there was a knock at the door, and Adonis was requesting chicken soup noodle soup for Rowan.

~~~

Rowan wasn’t hungry. In fact, eating was the furthest thing from his mind, but it would make Adonis happy, and he knew his body needed it. After the stress he went through, Rowan knew his body was already losing strength.

“Here it is!” Adonis cheered as he pulled the bowl of warm soup from the dumbwaiter. “And it's still steaming.” Rowan didn't really have the energy to sit up.

“You'll have to feed me,” Rowan sighed. “My body is tired.” He could always count on his knight to help him when he was like this.

“Sure thing,” Adonis hummed as he helped his king sit up. “I like this soup. It's better than the stuff I ate at camp, but sometimes I miss it.” Rowan couldn’t understand how the man would miss the dried meat and gruel he claimed to eat.

The soup did make Rowan feel better. It warmed him and made some strength come back. He preferred the broth and chicken over the noodles. They were too slimy for Rowan's taste.

“I feel like I'm feeding a baby.” For some reason, Rowan let that slide. He always let the knight get away with dumb shit. After Rowan finished the bowl, Adonis put it on the bedside table.

“Stay tonight.” Rowan didn't want to be alone. Adonis nodded and tried to get comfortable in the chair he was sitting in. “Join me.” The knight looked slightly hesitant, but got in bed with him. “Thank you.” Rowan muttered as he rolled over and snuggled into Adonis’ side.

“Huh? O-of course!” Adonis stammered. Any other day, Rowan would tease the man for his shyness, but he was tired and just wanted to feel his knight beside him. Even if he didn't hold him, Rowan felt better curled up next to Adonis.

Then, carefully, Adonis pulled the king onto his chest. Rowan was too grateful for the affection to care about the surprise he should feel at the knight taking initiative. Adonis holding him was all he wanted at the end of the day. Now, despite everything, Rowan could sleep peacefully.

[fairytalegumiho]

Follow me down the rabbit hole of teen wolf movie trash#2

I couldn't go through the last half an hour of the movie because I knew Derek was going to die. So I put it on hold. I completed it just now and Scott doesn't deserve Eli.

Say it again with me Scott fucking doesn't deserve Eli.

Everytime since the series started, Almost every time, Derek is the one who cleans up Scott's mess and does the job and if not Derek, then Stiles, then at rare times some other person when Scott simply gets away with speech and elevation by Deaton. I feel like , as Jeff Davis couldn't be in the show, he created Deaton to prop Scott up more. Every time the 'he is the alpha' scene came up, I cringed and it's coming from the person who likes the cheesy and corny stuff.

Scott is not an alpha, he doesn't deserve it.

Reason #12345678

He let Derek die like at least didn't even try to stop him. When Scott was supposed to be dead, when he offered him as bait, poor Derek not knowing about the fox fire said, "No Scott, don't" That's exactly what an alpha would do. He even tries to release him from the binds struggling with them.

But when Derek is the one doing the sacrifice, no one said anything. Why?

Sheriff seems to be close with Derek, why didn't he say anything?

Derek is Malia's cousin, why didn't she say anything?

Why didn't Peter say anything?

Why didn't anybody say anything?

Scott and Allison after watching their friend die, celebrated and kissed very happily and you are telling me they're gonna take care about Eli?

The sheriff should be the one approaching Eli on the field because the minute he sensed something is terribly wrong, his first instinct is going to the auto shop. It shows that he knows about the emergency plan which implies how close he is actually with them unlike Scott who last saw him when he was three. It just doesn't make any sense.

Why does Jeff Davis likes the 'steal everything from Derek and give it to Scott' trope.

If Scott wants kids, he can have them with Allison.

But Eli needs to be with The Sheriff. If he feels like he's too old, then he can be with their actual aunts, Malia or Cora or even Isaac.

Actually where the fuck is Cora?

Or Stiles, actually Stiles, he is the best choice. Stiles can easily help ELI in his transformation and he can take care of him because he helped in Scott's first transformation.

Derek 'born werewolf, late 30s, a walking encyclopaedia of supernatural creatures, smart' Hale couldn't figure out how to make his kid transform but Scott can do it just because.

I hate this with a passion. Derek doesn't deserve to be taken his kid's first proper transformation away from him.

Whoever said Scott changed, he clearly didn't. Someone compared him with Captain America, please don't. It's absolutely disgusting.

Scott is a good guy. I love him but he's a pretty shitty alpha. Also Scott not wanting to tell Derek about the dangerous ritual because it's personal is a shitty move on his part. Like he seemingly abandoned Beacon Hills and settled in the city. Derek is the one taking care of the Beacon Hills. I can practically hear the argument in my head that Derek wouldn't agree if Scott told him but maybe it's a good thing.

[hermes-whistle]

LES MISERABLES 22/23 CAST REVIEW

Wednesday, November 30th, 2022

ACT 2

Cast:

Nick carnell-Jean Valjean

Hayden Tee-Javert (temporary replacement)

Haley dortch- Fantine

Matt Crowle-Thénardier

Christina Rose Hall-Madame Thénardier

Hazel Vogel- little Cosette

Cora Jane Messer- Little Eponine

Christine Heesun Hwang- Eponine

Addie Morales- Cosette

Gregory Lee Rodriguez-Marius

Devin Archer-Enjorlas

Kyle Adams- Grantaire

Gavroche- Harrison Fox

Well uh, unfortunately my theater decided that they weren't gonna flicker the lights to let us know to go back to our seats so I missed all of building the barricade and eponine giving the letter

On my own

-"Now I can make believe he's here" that tone she had was gorgeous

- I couldn't focus on most of the number because some kids behind me decided to get chips during Intermission because they were bored

- the blocking feels a bit stiff

-the lights where pretty tho

-again unfortunately I couldn't pay attention due to the kids behind me

-bUT oh my God when that barricade comes out with all the fog, one of the best scenes ever

At the barricade

-seeing the boys climb over the barricade was funny ngl

-the barricade bits are blurry in my head sorry yall

Javerts return/little people

-it looked like javert picked up a stick and started drawing

- this is a Gavroche Stan page

- gav tried jumping off the barricade like enj does

-gav flipping javert off might be my favorite thing

-marius in the back literally went like :0

-meanwhile after that grant picked gav up for "your the top of the class" after enj had his whole speaking bit he came over and ruffled gavs hair

A little fall of rain/ night of anguish

-during the small battle scene or whatever happened (I'm sorry I'm writing this In a car and can't remember so) ep moved marius and got shot perusal, she had a very small scream but it was at the same time the gunshot went off so it wasn't as noticeable

-she basically stumbled off the barricade with marius

-the way he said "oh god it's everywhere" was chilling tbh, he sounded scared almost

-miss girl basically falls onto him and then he carefully lays her down

-towards the end Gav ran over, taking a few moments to realize what happened

-Enj and grant then walked in (more like enj strutting) gav then clung to grants leg once ep actual died

-rip bad bitch, you will be missed

-IM SO SORRY THE WAY THEY CARRY HER OFF IS SO FUNNY

- FELT LIKE I WAS WATCHING THE QUEENS FUNERAL OR SMTH

-"her name was eponine,," lawd that was a kick to the gut huh

Valjeans revenge

-wake up babes daddy is climbing

-javert is back on stage (I don't know if he left)

-the hesitant 'he belongs to you'

-jean pushes javert down onto his knees facing the audience

-javert stayed looking forward while Jean approached him from behind (📸)

- he kept shaking his head as Jean was talking, he then grabbed the gun and forcibly put it in his hands then made Jean angle it at him

-Jean seemed clearly upset about this and the way he says "you are wrong,," sounds like he was trying to remind himself that

- he then continued to grab onto his jacket while saying "clear out of here"

- the gunshot scared me and my mom, we knew it was coming but it's so loUD

Drink with me

-once Grant starts singing and goes to the middle, Enj now looks over and starts getting off the barricade

-"marius, rest please" was very gently said

-the boys gave a small cheer when grant started singing

-grant lightly shoves one of the boys

-once he sees enj his mood changed

- during "can it be your death means nothing at all?" Enj clearly tried to hug him and grant pushed him away then walked away

-gav was standing right by enj and then held onto his leg

-grant goes over where the sewer is and puts his head against it, enj looking down and told gav somthing

-gav then ran over and hugged grant for behind (more like his legs since grant was tall) and he then put his hand over gavs arm

Bring him home

-chills the whole song

-nick gave it all ON A RANDOM WEDNESDAY NIGHT

-he really does sound like he's begging for marius to be alright

-enj is at the left top of the barricade, has his head slightly tilted down watching (I can't blame him)

-grant and gav are still sitting against the sewers, it was dark where they where but I think grant was holding him while he was sleeping

-the way my soul actually left my body at his last note

-breath support is all I gotta say

Second battle/Gavroches death /Final battle

-I don't remember much pre gav dying sorry

-everyone is dead silent the second gavroche starts singing

-Enj holds out his arms for gav then puts his fist up for "you better run for cover when the pup grows u-" and then he's shot

-gav falls onto enjs shoulder, enj took a second to hold onto him and slowly turned around clearly looking upset before giving him to grant

-everyone looked horrified at what they just saw

-grant held him close to his shoulder

-eventually when the shooting did happen Jean ran over and took gavs body and took it off stage then returned

-Randy Jeter was really slaying for the loud hailer

- the "until the earth is free" note gets faded into the music

-I don't know if it was on purpose or not but when enj is supposed to be kicking people down from the other side he nearly fell off, thankfully one of the fake boards was there and he pulled himself back up

-enj waving the flag has got to be the most beautiful thing I've ever seen omg, he was waving it very desperately

- the first one to go is Enj, before he starts falling grant starts trying to get up the barricade to grab him, only missing his hand by a little bit

-I'd like a moment to appreciate Jean basically t-posing while laying unconscious on the ground

-grant is the last one to die

-jean woke up then crawled over to marius whispering "shhh your okay please get up, get up" and then drags him off stage

-javert comes running over the barricade, the live fire torch looked so pretty for the scene

-when he got down he watched as the barricade opened

-Enj was vibing on the cart upside down per usual

-only one of his arms was hanging which is important in a second

-Javert walked over to Gavroche, prays over his body then lets the other dude pick him up

-gav gets thROWN in

-when the cart starts getting rolled off, enj was a little too far off the edge of the cart so it looked like he was gonna fall off, his other arm now fell off the cart

sewers/dog eat dog

-okay this scene deadass is my guiltly pleasure

-I got a tiny bit dizzy with the back screen visual

-the way Thénardier draggs one of the boys by the ankles💀

-I just love the song, it's so groovy

-valjean let go of marius and he just fell like the tower of terror

-when Thénardier goes over by marius he takes his hand like singing and puts it on his cheek acting as if it's his own hand

- "only the moon looks down" is still one of my favorite vocal moments, it scratches an itch in my brain

-"vALJEAN😧😧😧😧 AINT THE WORLD A REMARKABLE PLACE😧😃😧😃😧😃😧"

-marius seems to be like slightly awake

-I TRIED SO HARD NOT TO LAUGH WHEN IT CUTS 3 TIMES TO HIM CARRYING HIM DIFFERENT WAYS

- instrumental was such a bop

-javert is already waiting in the dark by the time Jean comes out

-once Jean looks over and sees him, javert points a gun at him (is this a new thing?? I don't remember seeing it before in boots)

-just gay old men arguing

-when Jean leaves with marius he looks back at him the same way javert did to him at the beginning, same places on the stage

Javerts suicide

-This is one of the scenes that is so so much better in person

-i personally think Hayden is one of the javerts that perform this scene best

-the stage is completely dark during the first Part

-but in the background you can see the bridge coming together on both sides which was so cool to see

-I definitely got more of a panic attack vibe from him instead of angry

-he kept on literally reaching out but his hands where extremely shakey

-javert was very slow about getting up on the bridge, he seemed hesitant

-"I am reaching but I fall" part was almost the exact same way nick as Jean performed it at the beginning with his hand reaching up

-once javert starts his final note I wasn't expecting the bridge to come out from Underhim and MANS WAS FLYING

-ofc he was up on wires but I never seen them and was shocked because I didn't know the scene is done like this (usually the bootlegs are taken from a weird angle for this scene)

-the visuals behind him are going down and eventually he gets pulled back into the darkness, the last thing you see is his hand reaching out

Turning

-interesting but sad scene transitions

-some of the women where dressed upperclass and half lower

-the little girl :((

-I'm not sure which actress is the one who says "what's the use of praying when nobody will hear??" But it was said very raw and emotional almost angry

-very beautiful song though

Empty chairs ar empty tables

-the tree is back

-yet another nice song transition

-love the performance but I don't have much to say???

-when le boys came in enj was the closest to him

-they pick up the candles, marius then waves his arm behind him like he was trying to make them go away during "don't ask me what your sacrifice was for"

-everyone blows their candles out except marius and enj

-enj is the last one to leave, marius looks over then enj blows his candle out then goes bye bye

-marius raises his candle at the end

Everyday/valjeans confession

-marius In his emo era then there's Cosette westing purple like hey lol

- cosette helps him walk over to the bench, once he sits down Cosette takes his cane and puts it behind the bench

- pretty vocals but everyday is kinda a basic song

-here comes the dilf, and he's got his limp again

-when he tells Cosette to go inside Cosette kinda looks between them like what's going onnnn and then leaves

-the change in tone when Jean talks to marius is interesting

-"who am i?" Idk man you tell me

-its 2:34 am when I'm writing this sorry I ain't remembering much

Wedding/beggers at a feast

-holy shit that is a very fast quick change for marius, I know he wears his coat over the wedding costume but sTILL

-again height difference between Cosette and him>>>

-Cosette's veil is gorgeous it's a shame it's only worn for like 5 minutes

- them dancing is the cutest thing ever and they kissed again before walking off the the side of the stage

- Marius introduces her to someone then goes over by the Thénardiers

-i was focusing on Cosette dancing

-the way the ensemble and cosette dance is interesting because they are clearly listening and moving to the tune

-Marius punching Thénardier was a slay per usual

-once they run off the plates drop ofc, overall the audience loved them

- the little hops during "among the elite"

- the line is back to "there goes a jew, this one's a queer but what can you do"

-the chaos that is the rest of the number>>>

Epilog

-Lmfao the change between songs

- he struggled for a sec to light the candles but got them eventually

-Nick made me appreciate jeans final solo part

-the chills I got when fantine comes out, I know she's an angel and she looked like one, she came out from stage right and had an orange haze casting over to her

-Jean looked relieved when he heard her, just ready to die

- Nick said a few times that his favorite line in the show is "she's the best of my life" and it shows 🥲🥲🥲

-Fantine got about 3 feet away, she was reaching out for him then Cosette comes running in

-this part is a bit of a blur since I was trying to get my phone out to get a small audio

- Marius comes in a few seconds after her, then he goes over behind the candles and looks at them until "you must forgive a thoughtless fool" then he sits by Cosette

- during the confession he slowly reached over and gave it to her, during "those who always loved you" He booped her nose again

- cosette is holding onto his hand until he gets up, more like he dies

-i wasn't paying attention to eponine I was trying to figure out why my camera didn't show the stage, turns out it was facing the wrong way

- "to love another person is to see the face of god" I'm not religious but that line always gets to me

-by the time Valjean gets up the chorus is starting, and the bishop comes out

-listen I know some people think it's stupid but I do like the Jean and bishop hug💔

-marius is holding Cosette and kissing her hair while rubbing her arm

-the ending just is so🤌🤌🤌 probably one of my favorite musical closers

Bonus if you made it this far

[makesmiistakes]

@grandtheftjeep liked for some angsty times with abuelo... #sorrynotsorry

He'd tried to make it in time for the funeral. He really had. But his car had broken down a ways outside of town and it had taken a while to fix. It didn't help that Chris Argent hadn't gotten in touch with him until late last night. He'd driven straight through the night. The high school had his number on file so really he was annoyed they hadn't called but really it hadn't fallen down to them to contact Eli's next of kin. It'd been on Stilinski if they were getting technical. Considering how much had been going on the last week or so, Rowan couldn't really blame anyone for not getting in touch sooner. At least he'd gotten a call instead of an email.

Driving through the town limits he made his way towards his son's house. He'd only seen it a few times over the last decade or so. What with Derek raising a young kid and everything Rowan hadn't wanted to bring anything with him to Beacon Hills so he had kept his distance. He got phone calls and texts occasionally ( especially when Derek was struggling with the single parent thing ) but in person was a rare thing.

He pulled up outside the house. Turning the car off he sat there for a moment. It was happening again. Another one lost. He still remembered the pain from losing Talia. Laura. Cora, for a while before she'd resurfaced. With a sigh he opened the door and made his way for the porch.

Inside he was met with a small group that was mostly familiar. Eyes searched as he made small talk with Stilinski. A nod to Peter. Knowing he wasn't fully paying attention Noah pointed him in the right direction and he excused himself before anyone else could approach.

Walking down the hallway he paused outside a mostly shut door. Rowan stood there silently for a moment. There was nothing he could say that would make things better for Eli. All he could do was his best. And that started with him knocking. He reached a hand up.

A pause.

He knocked.

Pushing the door open slightly he looked in the room.

"Hey, nieto."

[kitkatwinchester]

BRUH!!

I HAVE SO MANY EMOTIONS RIGHT NOW AHHHH!

I'M SO TORN BETWEEN THE POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE ONES!!!

Okay, the negative first.

ARE YOU F*CKING KIDDING ME?! REALLY?! YOU WENT AND KILLED BOYD LIKE THAT!!

I was all excited, because I was like "yes! Look at our little team go! Even when they're separated, they're still freaking awesome and kicking butt and have the best plans!"

And then they freaking FORCED DEREK to KILL ONE OF HIS OWN and I just....

THAT'S SO F*CKING MESSED UP!!! I HATE YOU ALL!!!

And then that entire sequence, with Boyd flashing back to Erica, and saying it was okay, because the feeling was worth it, and Derek just shaking with guilt and anger and hatred that you know he's pointing at himself and IT WASN'T EVEN HIS FAULT GOSH DARNAT!!

And then Cora crying, and Jennifer having to be there to see all of it because they brought her into it because they SUCK, and everyone just...AGHHHHH! WHY?! :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(

...okay, now that I've said that, the things I did appreciate about that scene that also honestly made me want to cry even more.

The way the team all figured things out and managed to communicate and come up with a back-up plan.

The way Isaac just grabbed Jennifer and held her with everything he had because he knew keeping her safe was the most important thing he could do in that moment (do you think everyone knew, in that moment, that if anyone was gonna die, it was Boyd? Because I get the sense that Boyd knew, and as freaking upsetting as it was, he was ready for it, and it's sad, and I hate it, but ahhhh anyways).

The way Cora and Stiles and Lydia all ran in and were just immediately distraught at realizing that the plan didn't work out the way they wanted it too.

The way that Stiles, of all people, who still has beef with Derek, who still doesn't always trust Derek, who still blames Derek for a lot of things, put his hand on Derek's shoulder because he KNEW how much that hurt Derek, and no matter how he might feel about Derek, he knew that Derek would never, EVER want to hurt one of his own. And he knew how much it tore him apart to watch himself do it and not be able to stop it.

....and now I'm crying again. :'( :'( :'(

SO ANYWAYS SCOTT!!

Okay FIRST OF ALL, the second the mountain ash was a thing, I was like "GOD F*CKING D*MMIT THIS IS WHY YOU ALWAYS HAVE AT LEAST ONE HUMAN WITH YOU!".

And then he tried SOOOO hard, and his eyes turned red AGAIN, and I soooo thought he was gonna make it, because he was soooo close, and then he didn't, and I was all prepared for my heart to break.

And then freaking SHERIFF NOAH STILINSKI WALTZES IN AND SAVES THE DAY (and for some reason did not question why Scott had such a hard time getting Deaton down, but I'll allow it lol) and comes in with the best line ever with "Let me give it a shot" and then LITERALLY gives it a shot and I just!!

THIS is why this man needs to find out. Bro he's in the middle of SO much of it already, and he's clearly fully capable of saving the day. At least give him a better chance at understanding and explaining it all lol.

And then one of the MANY things I have been waiting for...

THE TRUE ALPHA JOURNEY BEGIIIIIINS!!!

I'M SO F*CKING READY TO WATCH SCOTT FULLY BECOME A TRUE ALPHA!!!

I'M SO READY!!!!

LET'S GO BABY!!!

So anyways that was a rollercoaster of emotions, but it was a really good episode, and I have no idea when I'm gonna be able to watch the next one, but you know you'll all know when I do lol.

Also as an aside, I'm glad Allison was smart enough to figure out that Gerard was alive, and I kind of hope she keeps going behind her dad's back, but secretly following everything he does just to prove him wrong lol. I mean, I love her dad, and I appreciate that he's trying to protect her, but also, again, WORK TOGETHER GODD*AMMIT. ...anyways.

[nehswritesstuffs]

Father Like Son, Mother Like Daughter, Parent Like Child - Part 3 of 4

Now we’re really getting into canon divergence! All the consequences keep piling up lol. This also got really long and idk whether or not I should apologize.

First chapter on [tumblr] - [FFN] - [AO3] 

Prior chapter on [tumblr] - [FNN] - [AO3]

Some meetings are fate--they’re bound to happen no matter what is going on around them. When it comes to the future Pirate King, he’s going to have nothing but the best. [10,516 words; AU where Cora-san and Bell-mère raised their six kids in the East Blue and everyone is better-adjusted]

“Huh…? Who is that…?”

Usopp squinted as he attempted to adjust his goggles in order to see what was against the horizon. Luffy suddenly appeared at his side, nearly vibrating in excitement.

“Who is what now?!” the straw-hatted lad gasped. Usopp tried to shove him off while fiddling with lenses.

“There’s someone nearby, but not near enough for me to get a good look,” Usopp explained.

“Any way you can signal them or some shit?” Zoro asked, not even breaking rhythm in his reps.

“Not without sending up a flare,” Usopp replied. He paused and stared for a moment before swallowing hard. “Oh, shit, they’re coming towards us.”

“What’s coming towards us?” Sanji asked, coming out of the galley with a drink-laden tray in-hand. “It better be land—Luffy’s almost eaten through our supplies.”

“It’s another ship, dumbass,” Zoro sniped. Sanji glared at him as he retrieved his drink.

“Watch your mouth, asswipe—I control what you eat.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

“Huh… it’s a dinghy… like what you and Zoro were traveling in, but the sail’s busted,” Usopp noted. “It’s got a couple girls our age in it.”

“Ladies?!” Sanji gasped, snapping out of his bickering with the swordsman. Hearts were in his eyes and his steps grew light. “I’ll go ahead and make them some refreshments~!”

“I thought we were running out,” Usopp grumbled. Sanji pretended he did not hear that and twirled into the galley. “Anyhow, it doesn’t look like they’re doing much one way or the other. Think maybe they’re coming here by the current?”

“That’s what you said we’re sailing across, right?”

“Well, yeah…”

“Then probably.” Usopp stared at Zoro; how in the hell did he survive before joining the crew? Then again, how did he and Luffy survive before Sanji and Usopp joined up?

“OI!” Luffy shouted, waving his arms. “What’s going on?! Do you have any meat?!”

“How have you remained unmurdered?” Usopp deadpanned. He then did a doubletake as Luffy stretched his arms to get momentum and launched himself across the water.

Holy shit… what sort of a captain was he with…?

Eventually, the dinghy caught up to the Going Merry and Luffy brought the newcomers aboard. It was indeed a pair of women about their age, one pale with red-orange hair and another tan with blueish hair. They both had tattoos as well—the former with a mikan and a heart on her shoulder, and the latter with a swirled heart design across her arm and neck.

“This is Nami and Nojiko,” Luffy said happily. “They’re sisters. Nami’s gonna be our navigator!”

“I never said I’d agree to that!” Nami snapped. “All I asked for was a tow back to Cocoyasi! It’s not my fault you’re in these waters and don’t know where it is!”

“Welcome to life with Luffy,” Usopp said. He tried to exude an air of confidence, yet his knees still shook. “I’m Captain Usopp, the real brains of this operation. You’re already met Luffy, and this is Zoro…”

“…yo…”

“…and Sanji is our cook.”

“…and where is he?” Nojiko asked. Usopp simply held up three fingers and counted down.

Two… one…

“Oh laaaadieeees~!”

“That’s Sanji.” Usopp kept a straight face as the aforementioned cook came out of the galley, hearts in his eyes and fancy fruity drinks on a tray.

“What a sight for sore eyes,” he crooned, lowering the tray so that the women could both take a drink. They did, which seemed to send him over the moon. “It’s about time we had some civilized company on this ship—even a temporary break from this sausage fest is such a delight!”

“For fuck’s sake; get laid already,” Zoro scoffed. The pair glared daggers at one another while Nami and Nojiko snickered and Luffy complained about wanting a snack.

“So, Cocoyasi was it?” Usopp asked, pretending that chaos wasn’t going on behind him. “Where are you coming from?”

“Cocoyasi,” both women said simultaneously. Nami shook her head when she saw Usopp’s confusion.

“I’m a cartographer by trade, and my sister and I were just using a free day to sail around and get some new details for my maps.”

“She’s a hell of a navigator too,” Nojiko added, “which probably explains Luffy’s enthusiasm.”

“To be fair, he was like that with all of us,” Usopp shrugged. “Once he gets something in his head, there’s no real getting it out of there until he’s either exhausted it himself or he’s kidnapping you with your permission.”

“Yeah, that’s a boy alright,” Nojiko smirked. She watched as the three teens argued, feeling a pang of very specific nostalgia hit her. “Say, why don’t you rest at our place as a thanks for giving us a tow back home? We can even set you up with some mikan trees for the ship.”

“Oh, that would be lovely, Nojiko-chwan~!” Sanji gasped. “Fresh fruits are like gold to seafarers!”

“Yeah, and our parents are killer cooks too,” Nami mentioned. That caught Luffy’s attention, the promise of food sparkling in his eyes.

“Yosh! Let’s go to Coccobashi!”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Bell-mère could hear the newcomers before she could see them.

“Huh… you hear that…?” she frowned, staring down the road into the village. Cora put down the bushel he was holding and shielded his eyes from the sun as he looked.

“I don’t hear anything, but I sure as can feel it,” he admitted. “Raw Haki like you wouldn’t believe… there’s a mast in the harbor with a black flag; do you think there’s someone here?”

“Someone just passing through, or someone supremely stupid,” Bell-mère spat. She was about to climb down the ladder when she suddenly felt a Haki signature come barreling towards them—oh, shit, it was flying towards them! Something whizzed overhead, cackling, and crashed into the far end of the orchard. The couple ran towards the crash, only to find that several trees had been destroyed while some kid got up from the debris.

“What the fuck are you doing?!” Bell-mère snapped. “Those trees were older than you!”

“Ooops, sorry!” the kid laughed. “Guess I got carried away. Nami said that her parents are great cooks!” He looked at the couple and smiled softly. “That’s you two, aren’t you?”

Cora had to hold Bell-mère back by her collar, using his Devil Fruit to make her threats silent. “…and what, might I ask, brought our youngest child to tell you that we’re great at cooking?”

“Oh, we ran into her and Nojiko while at sea—their sail ripped and we gave them a tow,” the lad said casually. “She’s gonna be my navigator.”

Bell-mère went limp and she and Cora stared at one another, then at the kid. She was what…?!

“Luffy! You idiot!” Nami and Nojiko appeared, having run there along with three other young men their age. “What part of ‘I’ll bring you there’ don’t you understand?!”

“…but Namiiiii… I’m hungryyyyy…!”

“He said something about finding you two with a ripped sail,” Cora said. “Is that true?”

“Yeah,” Nojiko admitted. “This is Luffy, Zoro, Usopp, and Sanji; their ship is in the harbor.”

“It will be nice to have a full table again,” Cora beamed. He looked at Bell-mère, who was sourly pointing to her throat. He undid the silencing on her and let her say her piece.

“How the fuck do you kids think you’re going to pay for these?” she growled, gesturing at the felled trees.

The silence she was met with was highly reassuring.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

On that sunny day, years after their first aborted attempt, Arlong the Saw attempted to invade Cocoyasi again. It was deeply personal for him, as he had been unable to find a permanent base since being beaten the first time, not to mention the fact that his ego was still bruised after the time that had passed. He had brought reinforcements, preparing for the rumors that a majority of the brats who had driven them out currently being in the Grand Line to be misleading. One thing was for certain: the rumors were true and the hotshot rookie Heart Pirates currently battering tougher waters were indeed some of the brats from Cocoyasi.

The bad news was: Cocoyasi ended up with backup of their own.

The six young people stood there, tall and proud and ready for a fight, just with a slightly different lineup than eight years prior. Arlong stood there cockily and laughed.

“Shahahahaha… looks like you’re down your best fighters,” he said tauntingly. Three swords? A suit and tie? Shaking knees? That jokes. At least they were down the Mink and Devil Fruit. “What a shame—I was hoping for a true rematch.”

“These people never did anything to you without being provoked,” the boy with the straw hat replied. “You have to leave now.”

“…and what if I don’t…?”

“Then you just asked for an ass-kicking,” the lad grinned. “Hey Nami, wanna do the honors?”

“Sure thing. One…”

It was the same brat that did the countdown as before…

“Two…”

…and she almost looked… smug.

“Three; looks like they asked for it.”

“Then let’s take care of these guys so I don’t have to pay the scary lady for some trees!”

“Right!” the others agreed. The five charged into the crowd of Fish-men, holding their own against what were supposed to be their physical superiors. The girls were unnaturally fast, the boys unnaturally sturdy, and their leader simply stared at Arlong, grinning all the while.

“What loyalty do you have to this place?” Arlong asked. “This is not your hometown.”

“You’re right, it’s not,” the kid with the straw hat shrugged. “But you’re in the way of me getting the best navigator for my crew, and I’m afraid I can’t have that.”

Arlong raised an eyebrow. “Oh…? A measly Human…? The best navigator…?”

“Yup! She asked for help, so we’re giving it to her.” The kid cracked his knuckles and crouched into a fighting stance. “Any last words before I kick your ass?”

“Only that I’m sorry I’m going to have to ruin you.”

“Nah, you can’t do that! I’m gonna be King of the Pirates one day!”

Arlong began to laugh hysterically.

Luffy used the opportunity to strike.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

By the time Cora and Bell-mère made it down to the village, it was a very different scene than they had anticipated. While they didn’t think that their daughters and their new friends were going to be bad at fighting the Arlong Pirates by any means, they didn’t think that they’d already have them unconscious and tied up, ready to be transported to the nearest Marine base.

“You kids sure do good work,” Cora noted.

“I used to fight pirates on the deck of my old man’s restaurant all the time,” Sanji shrugged. “These goons were nothing.”

“Don’t forget I used to be a bounty hunter,” Zoro mentioned. He was sitting on Genzo’s porch, cleaning his swords. “People actually know my name.” The pair began to bicker, which everyone else tuned out.

“I guess it’s time for me to officially meet your dad, Rosi,” Bell-mère frowned. She nudged the comatose Arlong with her foot, her lips curling in a disgusted sneer. “At least we’ll be able to bring him a present to make up for not inviting him to the wedding.”

“We really only need to go as far as Logue Town,” Cora said. “That kid Smoker’s in charge there these days from what I hear.”

“The little shit—he’d detain us until HQ arrives anyhow.” She glanced over at her youngest daughter and cracked a smile. “So, how’s a day sound for a headstart?”

“What…?” Nami tilted her head in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I mean: the last time you two fought this asshole alongside four boys, you sobbed like a baby when they left,” Bell-mère scoffed. “Go with them—meet your brothers out there like you promised. You’re already older than half of them were. Nothing’s stopping you.”

Nami stared at her parents, completely taken aback. Go…? Now…? She felt a hand settle on her shoulder and she turned to see Nojiko standing next to her, an assuring smile on her face.

“You ever feel like coming back, then you know exactly where to find me,” Nojiko said. Nami began to silently cry, trapping her elder sister in a hug. Before she knew it, both her parents were hugging them as well, just as they did on the docks with her brothers years ago.

“Hey,” Luffy said, breaking the silence. “I’m hungry. Do you have any meat?”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

In all actuality, Law felt as though he was being generous.

Because, really, when all was said and done, the crew had only docked in order to stretch their legs and gather supplies. It wasn’t their fault that there was a Marine base that was particularly huffy when it came to visitors, let alone pirates, and that they refused to let them be until Law shambled them all into odd bits. Leaving them alive was more than generous, not to mention leagues more humane than what other crews currently sailing would do. He was being the epitome of charitable.

“This is exhausting,” he grumbled at Bepo, who currently had custody of his nodachi. “Mom and Dad never warned us about the fucking tedium that the Grand Line is capable of.”

“Sorry, but… it could be worse,” Bepo replied. The pair looked over the square of screaming, terrified Marine bits, compounded by screaming, terrified locals. Yeah… it could definitely be a lot worse. They began the trudge back to the harbor, knowing that there would definitely be several stragglers who would attempt to exact revenge on them.

Were other rookie pirate crews having this much fun?

“Boy, Mink,” a voice said firmly as they rounded a corner. There was a late-middle-aged shopkeeper standing in the doorway of his store, staring at them cautiously. “What are you…?”

“Pirates; I thought it was obvious,” Law shrugged. The man shook his head.

“No—you have the sounds of many lands in your voices. I’ll ask again: what are you?”

Law and Bepo exchanged glances, silently coming to the same conclusion. The shopkeeper sounded Eastern, but an Easterner on the Grand Line would be someone who would know the difference between a broadly Northern accent and the ones their voices had become. The young man shrugged casually in hopes to add some brevity to the situation.

“Moved around a lot as kids, as you can tell considering my kid brother here’s a bear…”

“…sorry…”

“…so I don’t know what it is you really want to hear.”

The man regarded this for a moment before eventually saying, “I heard that there were Northern pirates in town, but you sound more like you’re from my home sea at times. Does that mean the rumor about you being pirates is false as well?”

“No… we’re Northern, and pirates, but you do sound a lot like our mom,” Law said solemnly, purposefully affecting more of his Flevench tones. It was easy to use his more Eastern patter, but it was even easier to go back further, to the accent that often made grown adults cringe in terror. “She’s stubbornly East Blue—I guess it rubbed off more than we thought.” He then tactfully decided to offer an olive branch. “Where you from? We might have been through there recently; we haven’t been on the Grand Line for long.”

“It’s a place you wouldn’t have been old enough to remember,” the man said. That made Law and Bepo’s eyebrows shoot up. “Have you ever heard of a place called Oykot?”

Bepo wanted to immediately be small enough to hide behind Law, whose nostrils flared and breath hitched. Oykot? The older man saw their reactions and knew… breaking into a grin.

“People still know my homeland? Did they rebuild?”

“No…” Law stated. “The Marines took it over—I don’t know what they did with the land, but it’s government property now.”

“Then how do you know it?”

Law calculated the risks for a moment before answering. “We grew up knowing people from there. They left as refugees after the war. It was always something of a sore topic…”

“Then they were the lucky ones,” the man nodded. “Can I give you something, for next time you see them? They are young like you, correct? Or at least have youngesters of their own?”

“Uh… yeah…?” Bepo said warily.

“Then hold on!” The shopkeeper ducked inside his store for a moment before popping back out with a small trunk that was covered in decorative carvings. “Things from our homeland—they’re difficult to find. Even if they don’t want them, their children might.”

“Wouldn’t your children want them?” Law frowned. The man shook his head.

“I have none, and my wife has long-passed. I’d rather give these to a face than to die wondering if they will be burned by the government in part of their cover-up.” A shout could be heard from around the corner and the three tensed up. “Hurry, run!”

“Do you really trust me?” Law asked. He put his hands on the chest, both men holding it between them.

“Wha…?”

“Do you really trust me?”

Footsteps rounded the corner and fully-functional Marines were in-sight.

“There they are! With a conspirator!”

“Yes,” the shopkeeper whispered.

At that, Law ripped the chest from the man’s hands and knocked him to the ground with a hiss. Bepo accentuated the action with a loud, Electro-accented roar, one that sent shivers down the spines of the Marines and shopkeeper alike, before the brothers went running towards the docks. Law and Bepo swapped their cargo as they made it back to where the Polar Tang was, the former unsheathing his sword as he turned and skid backwards in a crouch, now facing the Marines.

“Finish loading!” he ordered. “Take roll! Make sure everyone’s in!” He put up a Room around them and the Marines hesitated to enter—they did not wish to be trapped again. Once he got the all-clear from Hakugan he went into the Tang himself and they immediately dove under the water. He found the crew in the mess hall, all marveling at the chest that Bepo held.

“Holy shit, Cap—this thing’s gorgeous,” Ikkaku whistled. “Where’d you get this?”

“It’s a gift…” he said idly, “…for my sisters…” He waited until Bepo placed the chest on the table before he opened a Room to begin working on the lock—the only thing the shopkeeper had neglected was giving them a key.

“What could you have possibly gotten for Nojicakes and Gingersnap?” Penguin wondered warily.

“Hey, I’m still reeling over the fact that you four are brothers, let alone that there’s a couple sisters to the set,” Clione snarked. Everyone waited until the lock gave with a soft click, allowing access to its contents.

Lifting the lid carefully, Law saw that the chest was stuffed full of trinkets and mementos from Oykot. There were photos, tiny statues, knickknacks, all wrapped gently in soft clothes made in the Oykotti local standard. He gently pulled a dress from the bottom and let the fabric run over his calloused hands, his brow furrowed in thought.

“Bep said some dude just gave this to you?” Ikkaku said, holding one of the statuettes to the light. “This is the sort of shit the Marines burn in a pile to cover up mass murder.”

“That’s kind of the point,” Law said. “Get caught with it and watch it burn along with you, or give it to someone who can keep you and it alive that much longer.” He set the dress down in the lid and began to look through the photos, a twinge of dread knotting his stomach. The people, the places—few to none of them existed anymore. It was a haunting thing, knowing that the photographs were not that old, yet the children in them were long-dead. “It feels like I’m looking in a mirror.”

“Dramatic, but go on,” Ikkaku said idly. Oh yeah, that’s right—everyone could hear him.

“These really could have come from anywhere,” Law explained poorly. “Bep, I want you to figure out how to get these back home without using the News Coo. This chest is too heavy for them.”

“Aye aye,” his kid brother grinned. “Our sisters are gonna be floored.”

“More than just them, I can assure you.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

It didn’t take Nami long to realize she might have been in over her head.

“This is it?” she asked, gesturing at the sad pile of money on the table. “You really are literally some of the brokest pirates I’ve ever seen.”

“It doesn’t help that the captain eats like a vacuum,” Sanji grumbled. Nami just rolled her eyes.

“Any of you know what a budget is?” Both Sanji and Usopp raised their hand; Luffy and Zoro did not. “Well, I’m going to do everyone a favor and take care of finances. I want the two of you who do know what budgeting is to give me a detailed list of what you need and pricing. Those of you who don’t, just remember you have to go through me to get your allowance.”

“Witch,” Zoro growled. “What makes you a money expert?”

“We didn’t have a lot of money when I was very little,” she explained. “Poor people are some of the best with money, because they know what they can stretch and when. Mom was always trying to find new ways to get things to last longer before Dad came into the picture. She still has to make it stretch in the off-season most years—we’re not rolling in money.”

“So, that clumsy guy is rich?” Luffy asked, pinkie finger up his nose. Nami shook her head with a laugh.

“No—he just showed her what paperwork to file in order to get her Marine pension. She’s the one bringing in the money.” Her crewmates all went rigid. “Oh, didn’t I tell you? My parents are both retired Marines. Dad’s dad is apparently still one.”

“…and yet you and your brothers are all pirates,” Usopp noted. “Sounds complicated.”

“It gets way more complicated than that, but that can be a story for another day,” she said. Nami then looked at the money again, counting it up really quick. “Yeah, we’re going to have to get some jobs for a little while in the next island if we want to be able to afford supplies… this is going to be an entire thing, isn’t it?”

The four lads in front of her stared at her—of course it would be. It wouldn’t be her and four guys if there wasn’t at least some resistance.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Cora sat slumped in the chair as Bell-mère paced impatiently up and down the short corridor. They were currently in the Loguetown Marine base, in a holding pattern while their credentials were being checked and the several bountied prisoners they dragged in were being processed. A young woman stepped out of a nearby door and adjusted her glasses, looking at them expectantly.

“Captain Cocoyasi? Commander Donquixote?”

“…and you are…?” Bell-mère scowled.

“I am Chief Petty Officer Tashigi, subordinate to Captain Smoker,” she replied, giving a short bow. “Pardon my saying, but you two are legends in the Academy.”

“You don’t say,” Bell-mère replied. She looked at the shorter woman and raised an eyebrow. “Now where’s our little punk at?”

“Captain Smoker’s currently out, but you can await his return here,” Tashigi offered. “It shouldn’t be more than an hour or two.”

“Darling, I have a business to get back to—a legitimate mikan farm—and I’d like to not be given the run-around.”

“Belle, please, don’t scare the girl,” Cora groaned. “She’s telling the truth, at least to the best of her knowledge.”

Tashigi looked awkwardly between Bell-mère and Cora, not sure what to respond to that with.

“My Haki was always sharper than yours,” Cora added teasingly. Tashigi, used to seeing squabbles and pissing contests between other Marines, blanched at the sight of Bell-mère seemingly wanting to murder Cora.

“Maybe you’d be more comfortable waiting in my office,” Tashigi offered. She gestured towards a door and watched as her guests stared at her, seemingly sizing up her offer.

This was going to be a long afternoon, wasn’t it?

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

As it turned out, at hearing word that two former superior officers magically showed up on his doorstep with piratical presents in-tow, Smoker very quickly made the trip back to the base to meet them. Within twenty minutes, in fact. His cigars nearly fell from his mouth as he stared at the ghosts in front of him.

“You’ve done well for yourself,” Bell-mère noticed. “All of Logue Town? That was your goal, wasn’t it? To protect your hometown?”

“One of them,” he admitted. He waved off his subordinates, though used his Devil Fruit ability to close the door in Tashigi’s face while remaining at his desk. “No… you stay. I need confirmation that I’m not dreaming.” She hesitated before returning to her captain’s side.

Time crept slowly as Smoker read the report, outlining a myriad of things from not only just the other day’s attempted invasion, but the one from eight years prior as well. His ever-present scowl simply solidified, letting the others in the room know he wasn’t entirely convinced.

“So… you took down the entire band of pirates by yourselves…? As good as you both were, I find that difficult to believe.”

“It’s probably best for the slags to think it was us,” Bell-mère shrugged. “It was actually our daughters and their friends this time, if you’ll believe that.���

His eyes finally lifted from the report and he closed the folder. “Your daughters…?”

“So… then the rumor was true, Captain Cocoyasi,” Tashigi noted. “No one knew for sure, but the main hearsay was that you left to raise a couple of children. That’s really what you’ve been doing all these years?”

“Six once this one entered the picture, but yeah,” Bell-mère said, gesturing at Cora. She gave the pair before her a shit-eating grin—there was no chance in hell she was going to deny being a mom… especially when bragging about her brats.

“That can’t be it,” Smoker stated. “I remember you taking us younger recruits for practice—neither of you simply woke up one day and decided to find some children to raise. What happened?”

A long silence passed over the office, growing increasingly uncomfortable with each tick of the clock. It wasn’t until Cora cleared his throat did the silence shatter and attention was drawn to him.

“We wanted Justice, plain and simple.”

“Justice is what we dole out as Marines.”

“Except, we know Marine Justice, and it doesn’t give a damn if a kid is alone or lost or scared. That’s our humanity that cares… and humanity won.”

Smoker folded his hands and placed them atop his desk. “I’m listening.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Nojiko,

We just got word of what happened at home. There was a small article in the newspaper, but we have been hearing rumors as to otherwise. There’s word that you had help from some kid who thinks he’s going to become the Pirate King, and that he is traveling with a crew that has a crackshot navigator. You know that I am aware of what this means. They’re still so far behind us in the Grand Line—it’s taken a long time for us to get to where we’re at. I don’t even know if there’s the chance for us to meet.

One thing is for certain: I was right. You are the strongest. Out of all eight of us. The rest of us can all keep running, but there’s strength in staying. I think it’s worth holding over our older brothers for a bit.

The goons send their love, sort of; Bepo definitely sends his.

I love you,

Law

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Smoker towered over Luffy, end of his jitte keeping the lad pinned to the floor. Crocodile had already left them to attend to other matters; he did not care if the pirates and Marine man in his care drowned, for it was only that fewer people in his way.

“So… your chasing us here in Alabasta is completely different from when you were trying to capture us in Logue Town,” Usopp realized. He glanced over at his crewmate, impressed. “Man, I didn’t know your parents had friends in such high places, Nami.”

“Neither did I,” she replied. She regarded the man carefully, not entirely sure she wanted to believe his intentions. He was a Marine, after all.

“Think what you will, but I owe Bell-mère and Rosinante much of my early successes, which means I essentially owe them my career. When they speak, I listen.” He lifted the jitte from Luffy and holstered it on his back. “The absolute least I can do is watch out for their children.”

“Hate to break it to you, pal, but pirates don’t get help from Marines,” Nami frowned. Smoker silently gestured to the everything about their situation and she grumbled. “Not often.”

“After talking to your parents, I don’t know what Justice is anymore,” Smoker admitted. “Maybe, through a loose alliance of sorts, I can figure out what it really means.”

“When we get out of here, you should leave us alone and go bother my brothers—they might be able to help you.”

Smoker considered it. “We’ll see. For now, let’s concentrate on getting out.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Mont Blanc Cricket’s hut was modest at best, much to the Straw Hat Pirates’ surprise. They all huddled inside the older man’s home, with him grousing as he recovered from the bends.

“You got a lot of neat stuff!” Luffy marveled. He was staring starry-eyed at all the things that Cricket and the Saruyama Alliance had salvaged. There was all sorts of antiques and glittering treasures for them to look at, though one member of the crew was conspicuously not paying attention. “Nami! You have to look at this!”

“Huh? Oh, that’s nice.” Nami pulled a book from a shelf and opened it up, skimming through the old pages.

“That’s not gonna get you much of anywhere,” Cricket scowled. “Not many read or speak that language anymore. Can’t get rid of the damn thing because it’s taboo. Crew found that abandoning me was a good reason to get rid of it too.”

Nami smoothly read a few sentences of the book aloud, making everyone’s jaw drop but two: Sanji and Robin. The archaeologist turned inward and pensive, a knowing smirk upon her lips, while the cook froze dead in place before turning it completely around.

“Oh, the language sounds so lovely on your tongue, Nami-swan!” he crooned. “I don’t think I’ve heard that language since I was a little boy!”

“What language is that, shit cook?” Zoro scoffed. Sanji glared at him and the two stewed in their shared competition before Nami stepped between them.

“It’s a language from the North, like Sanji-kun is,” she said. “My siblings and I all speak it.”

“How did you manage that, might I ask?” Cricket wondered. “The last sad fuck I met who spoke that was literally dying from disease before my eyes. Poor bastard—just glad I didn’t catch the damn thing that did him in.”

“You couldn’t have,” Nami said firmly, snapping the book shut. “That wasn’t an infectious disease; it was poison that took out the entire country.”

“You know a lot about it for someone from the East Blue, Navigator-san,” Robin noted. “I would assume Cook-san would have heard it at least in passing… but you…”

“Let’s just say we’re all extraordinarily resourceful in my family,” Nami smirked. She then turned to Cricket. “Got any other books written in this language?”

“In the chest—take them,” Cricket said, waving her off. “They’re worth nothing anyhow.”

“They might mean nothing to you, but they seem to mean everything to Navigator-san,” Robin said.

Nami ended up adding over a dozen new books to her collection, which intrigued her roommate immensely. Robin knew what it was like to gravitate towards things from a civilization now passed… though… no… it wasn’t entirely time to reveal that yet.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“Oooooh… this is bad…” Nami cringed as everything clicked into place. Zoro glared at her.

“How the fuck is this worse than it already is?!” he griped.

“We’re not dealing with any old Marines, nor any average undercover cell,” she shivered. “We’re dealing with Cipher Pol 9.”

“Fuck,” Paulie spat. Rain and wind whipped at his jacket as he desperately wished the weather would permit him to light a cigar. “How would you know that?”

“Is this because your parents are Marines?” Chopper asked. Nami nodded seriously.

“Mom and Dad taught me a bit of Rokushiki—or the Six Arts—and I’m… okay at them. Not enough to use it in a fight regularly. My sister’s a little better, but even she’s nowhere near Cipher Pol agents, who have to master all six. Cipher Pol 9? The one that shouldn’t exist? They’re deadly with them.”

“Those bastards.” Paulie took the nub of his cigar and threw it downwind in his ire. It flew across the train station, landing in a puddle. “I’m gonna fire them, then I’m gonna kill them.”

“Let’s concentrate on getting Robin back,” Zoro stated. “We know the shit-cook’s on the train, but we can’t leave it to just him.”

“Plus we have to find Luffy!” Chopper squeaked.

“There’s a lot of things that we need to do,” Nami agreed. “Now, we’ve got a Government to defy.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Everyone was recovering quietly on Thriller Bark as the inevitable conversation continuation happened.

“I can understand Sanji having heard Flevench in passing if he is from the North, but you, Nami…? How do you know it?”

Both Sanji and Nami glanced over to Robin from where they were helping Chopper by prepping nutrition-packed food and medical equipment respectively. The cook and navigator gave each other a tense glance, then turned their attention back to the archaeologist. She had given the language its name and that was something they could not ignore.

“I told you: I speak it with my siblings.”

“Are you from Flevance?” Robin wondered. “You would have been very little…”

“Nami was adopted as a baby—you weren’t there when her mom told us,” Sanji replied.

“Yeah; where I’m ultimately from isn’t exactly thriving either, but that’s incidental.” Nami placed the final roll of bandages in the box and frowned. “It doesn’t change that my home is the East.”

“…which makes your knowledge of a moribund North Blue language all the more curious,” Robin admitted. “May I ask: is anyone in your family Northern?”

“Dad,” she shrugged, “most of my dumbass brothers. We’re all adopted though; no one’s blood in our family.” She regarded Robin’s arched eyebrow carefully. “What…? Are we not allowed to know this language?”

“I would say you’re more than allowed, but it’s a fact I wouldn’t allow too many people to know if I were you. Sure, there were pockets of migrants here and there, but when all’s said and done, they still killed the citizens for a reason.”

“To cover up the cost of greed, I know,” Nami shrugged. “I’m more than aware of what happened. How did you hear the language, Sanji-kun? Did someone you know speak it?”

“More like…” he shrugged noncommittally, “I had to learn it, until I didn’t.”

“You learned it?” Nami gaped. “Why did you learn it?”

“The White City was a popular destination right up until the Outbreak. It made sense to learn it, and it made sense when I dropped it.”

“Must have been some teachers you had,” Nami replied. Robin stayed silent, watching the conversation with interest.

“I’d say it would be more impressive if I retained any of it,” he said. “I think all I know is hello, goodbye, counting to ten, and some colors.”

“Still more than a lot of people,” she chuckled. “Maybe when we’ve had a chance to breathe a bit, I can teach everyone some of what I know. It would do a lot of good, I think.”

“Anything for you, Nami-swan~!” Sanji crooned. Hearts were in his eyes as the topic at-hand morphed from their pasts to whatever it was Nami wanted, he would do. Robin took it all in quietly, not broaching the even bigger topic at-hand: what was he hiding?

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Tortuga honestly felt like some sort of lurid stereotype.

There were a ton of pirate crews wandering around, making their own merriment and being as debauched and insane as they wanted. From what the Heart Pirates had gathered, there were several islands as such on the Grand Line. Tortuga, Jaya, Sabaody… they were all fairly standard as far as the fairy tales that would be told to children in order to make them behave, or else they’d find themselves fighting for survival on such an island. It was honestly sort of boring, if you asked Law.

“Is this an actual island or is it a theme park?” he scowled, finishing off the rest of his tankard. The bar they were in was just as loud and rowdy as it was outside, which was hardly anything the young man wanted, let alone wanted to tolerate. “Any harder on the aesthetic and the pianist in the corner is going to swap out for someone with a hook hand.”

“No one’s keeping you here,” Ikkaku scoffed. “Tang’s right where we left her.”

“What’s keeping me here is a month’s-long Log Pose,” the captain grumbled. Fuck, this was tedious. “I think I’m going to go… take a walk.”

“Take Bepo,” Penguin requested. “That dude in the corner with the fur collar’s been giving him weird looks.”

Law stood up with a grunt and left, but not before pulling up on the Mink’s shoulder and hauling him out as well. The remaining Heart Pirates let out a collective sigh once the pair were out of sight.

“It’s only been a week,” Clione whined. He looked over at Penguin and Shachi and frowned. “How the fuck do you two do it? How did you do it?”

“What helped was that we could offload Captain Cranky onto the younger three,” Shachi explained with a smirk. “He’d do anything for them. Still will. Well, for us too, but all they’d need to do is look at him and suddenly he’s painting nails or using his powers to debone herring.”

“In that, it makes sense that he’s the captain,” Uni nodded. “He’s always looking after the lot of us.”

“Yeah,” Hakugan agreed. “I thought it was weird at first that the oldest brother wasn’t the captain, but now that we’ve spent so much time together…”

“No matter what has happened or will happen in the future, the thing to remember is: Law cares,” Penguin asserted. “He might not be the best at showing it at times, but hey… neither are our parents.”

“…which is a very interesting admission.”

Penguin and Shachi both froze as a new voice filtered out from the crowd behind them. They turned around to see a tall man—nearly as tall as Bepo—with red hair, a scar on his chin, and way too much leather to be anything but the pirate captain of some sort of kink-themed crew.

Oh… shit.

The man’s eyes slowly dragged over the table’s occupants as he made his assessment of the situation. “Several unbountied members of the Heart Pirates as well as two bountied officers. No one who would be considered a heavy-hitter—that’s reserved for the Mink and the captain.”

“What’s it to you, Gristle McThornbody?” Ikkaku scoffed. She was right—he was, for lack of a better word, beefy.

“You sound Northern,” Shachi realized. “We’ve never run into you before.”

“That’s because I took an alternate route to get to this point in my life,” the man said. He then pointed at the orange-suited men. “You two—a word.” He turned on his heel to head towards a private room, only for Penguin to scoff.

“Buddy, we recognize a trap when we see one.”

The man looked over his shoulder, clearly irritated already, and said something none of the Heart Pirates expected.

„Respect your uncle. Now come along.”

Shit… he spoke Flevench… at least a little of it. Penguin and Shachi looked at each other and nodded before giving the rest of the crew a knowing glance and a discreet hand signal—if they weren’t back soon, evasive action was to be taken.

Cautiously, the brothers followed the mystery man into a corridor, which held a bunch of rooms, one of which they ducked into. Three other men were in there—their leather jackets seemingly indicating that they were all piratical  subordinates—and left with a wave of his hand. Once they were out, he checked the place over, confusing his guests.

“Sorry about that,” the man eventually groaned. “I’ve got to be extremely careful these days—not even my own men get a pass.”

“What’s a captain that can’t trust his crew…?” Shachi wondered. Penguin, however, got it immediately.

“A pirate captain that’s not really a pirate,” he said, tapping his fist atop his palm. The mystery man took a Den Den Mushi out of his pocket and activated it, the snail buzzing idly. The man waited silently for the other end to pick up, a deep man’s voice answering.

“Swallow.”

“Crane.”

“Good to hear from you, my boy. How are things?”

“I found them,” the man said. “Two left to wander, and I have two here.”

“You have them?!” There was a third voice, this one distant.

“Don’t you have someone else to bother?!”

“Tsuru kicked me out of her office.”

“…as I was saying,” the man continued, seemingly unbothered. Whomever the interloper was on the other end was a frequent, casual, and trusted occurrence. “I have two members of my absentee brother’s brood in front of me right now in a secure location; thought you’d want to say hello.”

Penguin and Shachi both suddenly felt very ill. Who the fuck was this guy? He looked nothing like Cora-san, so at least they knew it wasn’t the uncle they knew about, though the question still remained. The transponder snail perked up, though with a hint of caution.

“My grandsons…?”

“Wait…” Shachi marveled, pointing at the Den Den. “Who is that…?”

“A very tired old man who is happy at least one of his sons found happiness.” The snail wobbled as the man on the other end seemed to sigh in relief. “Which ones am I speaking to?”

“Shachi… uh… sir…”

“…and I’m Penguin.”

“The eldest two—I wish I could see you and your younger siblings in front of me, but I know that’s likely impossible at this point.” There was a pause, where the interloper sounded like he was making tea across the room. “Is he well?”

“Better than ever,” Penguin said. “We… uh… could get our other brothers…”

“There’s only enough time for one call, I’m afraid,” the snail said. “Maybe, when all this is over, we can be together.”

“Possibly,” Penguin replied. He glanced at the man holding the transponder snail and frowned. “Was this your mission?”

“Ancillary, so yes and no.”

“Trust this man; he is the uncle you should have grown up knowing,” the Den Den gently commanded. “If you ever think about muddling your allegiances in the name of a higher power, find him.”

At that, the call cut.

“Okay, so now the question is: who the fuck are you?” Shachi asked. The man fed the transponder snail and placed it back in his pocket.

“I am X Drake of the Drake Pirates, publicly a former Rear Admiral of the World Government Marines.”

Penguin hesitated at this. “…and privately…?”

Drake’s lips curled into a grin. “I thought you’d never ask.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Nojicakes,

I guess we have an uncle that we didn’t know about…? I know you know about Uncle Doffy, and no, I’m not talking about Uncle Doffy. Ikkaku describes him as both “a slab of meat” and something she’d like to climb. I still think you and her get along too damn well for our own good just via letters, which is why you’re not allowed to meet in-person. Anyhow, I get vibes that he’s the replacement son for the guy who raised Dad after Dad went missing. Dude gets credit for being able to roll with it as well as Nami rolls with being a replacement for Law’s first sister. All of it, I think, is related to the fact no one in the family is wanted “dead or alive”. It’s all “Alive Only”. That’s… that’s a strange power.

We are at a quandary though. Sach and I want to help this guy, but we aren’t entirely sure if we should, or how we should. Please don’t tell Law yet—we want to get this off our chests, but at the same time, we want to think about it before talking to him.

I’m scared, Nojiko. I won’t even tell Shachi this, but, I’m legitimately scared. What the fuck is going on in this sea? I doubt even our parents know that.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Sabaody truly was a formidable place, when one came down to it. The Straw Hat Pirates all broke into groups to wander around the mangroves, getting in some shopping and sights while Rayleigh coated the Thousand Sunny. Nami and Usopp broke off together for the time being, the pair taking solace in the fact that they were each in the sole company of a normal person for once. Even with all of the bandits and bounty hunters and strong pirates wandering around, there was something said about being normal, slipping through people’s radars without so much as a blip.

“I do hope that they’re being careful,” Nami sighed. She finished off the end of her ice cream cone by popping it in her mouth, the Bon Chari behind her filled with her varying bits of shopping.

“Hey, if we’re not worried about Robin getting snatched while wandering around all the weird bookstores, then  we can figure that Luffy will be alright for a few hours,” Usopp shrugged. His ice cream was long-gone, instead looking about the street for a specific shop. He shoved his hands in his pockets and tried to look casual as possible. “Besides, he’s got Chopper and Brook with him, and it’s not like Hatchi and Caimie want to do anything too reckless while here.”

“That’s true,” she shrugged. “See the shop?”

“No, but… I think we’re being followed.”

“Who’d be stupid enough to do that?”

“I dunno,” he shivered, “but these guys have been following us for a few streets now. They think they’re being slick, but considering they’ve got a giant bear with them…”

“…a bear…?!” Nami perked up as she looked up and down the street, trying to find their stalkers. Usopp opened his mouth to say something when he saw the bear barreling towards them, arms spread wide.

“Shit! Nami! Stay back!” Usopp gasped. He stepped in front of her and drew his kabuto, knees quaking. “I’ll fend him off!” His crewmate surprised him by shoving him aside and leaping into the bear’s arms, laughing as he spun around in a hug.

Huh… wait a second… the bear’s boiler suit was the same shade of orange as Nami’s hair…

“It’s so great to see you, Gingersnap!” the bear beamed. He then looked over his shoulder at the three men who were running to catch up; two of them were dressed in the same boiler suit, while the third was in spotted jeans, a yellow hooded sweatshirt, and a nodachi resting along his back. “It’s Nami! We found her!”

The two men in boiler suits crashed headlong into them, piling on the hug brightly. The third waited for Nami to disengage from the other three before bringing her in for a hug of his own, only for the others to pile on that as well. Usopp watched curiously, not entirely sure what to say.

“Uh… Nami…?” The five all stared at him. “Uh… what’s going on…?”

“Oh, that’s right.” The tips of her ears turned red as she wriggled out from the hug, effectively breaking it up. “So… you know how my brothers all left Cocoyasi before I did, right…?”

“Yeah…?” Usopp replied warily. Nami grit her teeth and forced a smile while gesturing to the newcomers.

“Meet my brothers.”

A chill ran down Usopp’s spine as the three men and a polar bear glared at him, for no other reason than that he was with Nami. He felt as though the treatment was very much undeserved as he was neither the boorish Zoro nor pervert Sanji.

“Great to finally meet you all,” he said, voice cracking. “Nami’s told the crew so much about you.”

“How many of you are there?” the man with the nodachi asked sternly.

“We’re a crew of nine, myself included,” Nami beamed. “I hope you have a lot of notes, Bepo-nii! I’ve been taking detailed ones of our route that I think you’ll find interesting.”

“Actually, I have,” the bear replied. He and Nami sat down on the ground and pulled out maps from… somewhere… and began comparing them. This left the other three men to menace Usopp, who was ready to cry for mercy.

“How did you and our baby sister meet?” the man with red hair asked.

“Gingersnap is safe on your crew, isn’t she?”

“Answer truthfully, Nose-ya, or we will demonstrate why we became one of the most feared crews in the North Blue.”

“Naaaamiiiii… help…” Usopp sobbed. “They’re acting like I’m your boyfriend or something…”

“Leave him alone, assholes,” Nami said idly, not even looking up from her map. “Usopp’s affections lie with a very specific blonde back in the East. You can’t kill him before we bring him back to her.”

“I mean… we could…”

“I have absolutely no qualms about telling Mom and Dad on you, and then where will you be, Law-nii?”

“You have always been too shrewd for my liking, even when you were little,” the man with the nodachi grumbled. He regarded Usopp and figured he had to play nice. For now. “I’m Law. This is Penguin, and Shachi, and that’s Bepo. We are the Tangerine Hearts, Captain and Officers of the Heart Pirates.”

“I’m Usopp… and I shoot things from great distances.”

“Law-nii, stop scaring him! He’s so terrified he can’t even lie! Lying is his thing!”

“Gingersnap, it’s been seven years since we’ve seen you; don’t think we won’t take full advantage of the fact,” Shachi said. “Is Nojicakes with you?”

“Nojicakes…?” Usopp frowned. “Is that seriously what you call your sister?”

“Noji-nee stayed at Cocoyasi,” Nami said idly. “She’s taking care of things with the mikan grove while Mom and Dad are out.”

“…out…?” Law cringed outwardly. “Fuck… I didn’t think they’d want to leave…”

“They were turning in some pirates that we had beaten,” Usopp offered. “I’m sure they took the bounty money and are back by now.”

“If you think that, then you don’t know our parents, Usopp-kun,” Penguin said, draping his arm consolingly along the other man’s shoulders. “Once they leave the nest, then there’s no bringing them back.”

“Usually people say that about the ones they raise, not who raised them,” Usopp said. Nami shrugged casually at that.

“You met our parents. They’re only, what, eleven? Twelve? Yeah, about that much older than Peng-nii, and he’s the eldest. The fact none of us are axe-murderers with a host of issues is kind of impressive.”

“Jury’s still out,” Usopp mumbled. He then got an idea, which he thought was pretty sneaky. “Say, you guys want to come meet the rest of the crew? We’re using a local bar as a hangout.”

“Using a table to compare maps would be nice!” Bepo beamed. “Come on! Let’s go!”

Unable to tell their cute baby brother no, Law, Penguin, and Shachi allowed Nami and Usopp to lead them back to Grove Thirteen, where they walked into a bar situated atop the mangrove roots. The rest of the Straw Hats were there, eating, drinking, and relaxing in their own ways.

“There you two are,” smiled the lady behind the counter. A cigarette dangled from her lips as she looked the extra guests over. “You brought guests, I see.”

“Go easy on them, Shakky,” Nami snickered. “They’re a bit out of sorts right now.”

“Neat!” Luffy gasped from his chair at the bar. “Where’d you find a polar bear?!”

“I’m sorry,” Bepo said, bowing politely. Luffy, Chopper, and Brook all gasped.

“HE TALKS?!”

“You’re a Mink, aren’t you?” The brothers noticed an octopus Fish-man sitting in the corner, pausing a game of cards he had been playing with a starfish and a mermaid. A moment and something in his brain clicked. “You’re that Mink! You’re from Cocoyasi, aren’t you?”

“What’s it to you?” Penguin sneered. He, Shachi, and Law readied for a fight, only for the Fish-man to bow himself.

“I’m sorry for the trouble I caused those years ago. I was part of the Arlong Pirates when he tried to invade Cocoyasi the first time and… well… you can see I gave that up a long time ago.”

“Hatchi was there, and he is genuinely sorry,” Nami confirmed. She pulled Bepo towards a table and put down some maps. “Everyone, meet my brothers!”

“This is interesting,” Shakky chuckled. The Straw Hats, however, were mostly taken aback. These guys? Nami’s brothers? They looked like a mismatched bunch of thugs, though their captain…

“Oh, you’re Nami’s brothers?” Luffy tilted his head curiously at the four before a grin brightened his face. “That makes you allies! Hi! I’m Monkey D. Luffy, and I’m gonna be King of the Pirates!”

“That makes you the punk that stole our sister,” Shachi threatened. Luffy, completely unperturbed, simply frowned.

“…but, ‘siblings of crewmates are extra-bonus-ally-friends’,” he stated, as though it was clear as day. “Well… unless you’re evil, but you’re not evil!”

“How can you tell, Strawhat-ya?” Law scoffed. “We leave a path of destruction in our wake. I’m a Supernova like you. Bountied not much lower you. There’s a lot of people who would consider us to be evil.”

“Nah—if you’re Nami’s older brothers, then there’s no way you’re evil,” Luffy chuckled. “I mean, older brothers are some of the best!”

“He’s right, you know,” Sanji frowned sourly at his captain. “Just because someone’s an older brother does not mean that they’re necessarily good.”

“Well, yeah, but they’re Nami’s brothers, and hey, you met Ace!”

“We are not ‘extra-bonus-ally-friends’ to anyone,” Law warned. “We are our own men, and we will not hesitate to take our sister and leave you to sink if we think it’s to our benefit, Strawhat-ya.”

“Watch it,” Penguin warned. “The last time one of us declared we were our own men, we got forcibly adopted and shuttled to an entirely different Blue. It’s a dangerous phrase.”

“For you two, maybe,” Law scoffed. Penguin and Shachi both shrugged casually—it wasn’t like they didn’t warn him.

“Alliances can be something that only genuinely come into play months and years after they’re formed,” Shakky smirked. “I wouldn’t pass up this opportunity, Trafalgar-chan. What better natural alliance than with a crewmate’s siblings? A sibling’s crew? It’s worth more than you realize.”

“Shishishi! She’s right!” Luffy hugged Law, which caused his siblings and the rest of the Straw Hats to stifle their laughter. “You’re our friends now!”

“He’s not really good with people, Luffy,” Nami warned from her table. Law looked over to see that her attention was on a map Bepo had drawn—this must have been a common occurrence.

“You saying Luff should go easy on him?” Zoro asked. Nami scoffed at that.

“As though he’d listen; I actually expect him to double-down, honestly.”

Fucking seas… he needed to escape.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“Are you sure she’s going to show up?” Ikkaku asked. The majority of the Heart Pirates were beginning their packing, restocking, and fueling before they made the trip down into the ocean depths. They had just finished hearing about what had tied up their captain and officers for so long, as it had taken a while for them to shake Luffy.

“Gingersnap said she’d show up before we leave, so she will,” Shachi said. He looked over his shoulder at Law and grinned. “She is coming, right?”

“Knowing our sister, she shall,” he replied idly. He was currently ticking off a list of their supplies from a clipboard as they were loaded onto the Tang.

“Who knows when we’ll see her again,” Penguin chuckled as he picked up a box. “We’ll probably end up running into her again in the New World.”

“With the way things are? Most likely.” Law kept marking supplies as the crew continued loading. They were about halfway when Uni and Clione came running towards the Tang. “You’re late.”

“Sorry, Captain, but we were avoiding a ruckus,” Clione said.

“Yeah—it looks like the Marines brought out the big guns for two other Supernovas,” Uni added. “Bad enough there’s an admiral, but I wouldn’t want to be the Straw Hats right now, fighting a bunch of Pacifistas.”

“…they’re what?!” Law stared at Uni and Clione, who seemed nervous at the fact they were even telling him the very crucial intel they had just received. Everyone else was attempting to load up the Polar Tang for the next leg of their journey

“The Straw Hats are being targeted by an Admiral and several Pacifistas,” Uni repeated. He watched as his captain grow pale, which was unnerving given his usual calm demeanor. “Uh… captain…?”

“Bepo! Shachi! Penguin!” Law shouted. “Gingersnap’s in trouble!”

“How much trouble could that brat get into?” Penguin scoffed.

“It’s the fucking Pacifistas!”

“Shit!” Penguin and Shachi swore in unison. Bepo simply squeaked in terror.

“What’s going on?” Hakugan asked. Shachi paused in his panic just long enough to get out a set of breathy instructions.

“Prep the Tang to dive immediately upon our return; expect,” he counted quickly on his hands, “nine more people. Make sure the medbay’s set.”

“Nine?!” Ikkaku gaped. “What the fuck are you going to do?!”

“Explain when we get back bye!” Shachi ran off, trying to catch up to his brothers, leaving the rest of the crew scratching their heads.

“After we warned her about there being more of those things!” Law growled. “I’m gonna kill that captain of hers!”

“If the Pacifistas don’t get to him first!” Penguin added.

“Oh, no, I’ll make sure he stays alive long enough so I can torture his rubber ass.” They headed straight for the grove Clione said they were on, getting there just in time to watch the Straw Hat as he lunged toward their sister, the real Bartholomew Kuma looming over her.

“Luffy! Help!”

With a pop, she was gone.

The four simply went still, watching as Luffy crashed into a wall before trying to go to the large reindeer-esque creature, then Robin, before Bepo snapped out of his trance with a horrified realization.

“Oh, no, the Admiral’s still here,” he said. Sure enough, Kizaru was still standing on the sidelines, watching as everything came to pass. “We gotta get out of here before he notices us!”

“Then come on; let’s go,” Penguin agreed. He and Shachi both turned on their heels, yet Law stayed perfectly still. “Law, you heard the bear!”

Except, he couldn’t move. Law was frozen in horror, his little sister having disappeared before his eyes once again. His eyes were wet and wide, his lips slightly parted.

He lost another sister, and there was nothing he could do.

Swearing under their breath, Shachi and Penguin each took a side and began to drag Law along as they ran back to the Tang. They were about halfway there when their captain began to struggle, trying to return to the fray. Bepo apologized and picked him up with one fluid motion, carrying him on his shoulder, not even dropping him with the rest of their crew in sight.

“Go! Go! Go! Prep to emergency dive!” Shachi ordered.

“What about your extra people?!” Ikkaku fired back.

“Questions later!” Penguin interrupted. They all tumbled into the Tang and immediately began to dive down towards Fish-Man Island. Once the ship was fully underwater, Law began to break down into tears in Bepo’s arms. The bear gently stroked his older brother’s hair, while sharing a look with the elder two that was a mixture of concerned and terrified.

“What is going on?” Jean Bart wondered. He did not push further, instead patiently waiting for a reply. The sight of Law sobbing seemed to unnerve everyone else just as much as it was unnerving him, and he didn’t like it.

“We just watched the Straw Hats get demolished by Bartholomew Kuma,” Penguin said gravely. His voice was weak, as though he didn’t even believe it entirely himself. “Our baby sister was their navigator.”

The mess hall was eerily silent, save for Law. Bepo decided that the right thing was to give him some privacy, so he picked his brother up in his arms—gentler this time—and carried him over towards his cabin. The rest of the Hearts all looked to Penguin and Shachi, both of whom looked deflated and sort of lost.

“I didn’t think there was anyone from the North Blue on the Straw Hat’s crew,” Clione noted.

“We moved with our dad to the East for a bit,” Shachi explained. “That’s where we met our mom and two sisters… all three of them were from there to start.”

“We, uh, moved back to the North when we started to make a name for ourselves as pirates,” Penguin added. “Didn’t want to attract any Marines to where our family was, not with our sisters being thirteen and eleven, and our dad having never officially resigned his post…”

“Your dad’s a Marine…?” Hakugan marveled.

“So’s our mom. They, uh, met as officer cadets.”

“Your family gets weirder and weirder the more we learn about it,” Ikkaku said. Yeah, there was no refuting that. “Why’s Law so much more shook up than you other three?”

“Well…” Shachi tried to figure out how to put it into words without exposing too much. The entire crew knew such a hodgepodge of information that it was difficult to discern what even needed saying. “You remember where he was born, right…?”

“Yeah…?”

“He’s been an older brother before.”

There were a few gasps and sharp inhales between the rest of the crew, this new bit of information completely recontextualizing the entire dynamic of their captain and officers. Only Jean Bart stood there puzzled.

“Where is the captain from?” he wondered. Oh yeah, that’s right—he’d only been a member of the team for a few hours.

“Then let us tell you,” Penguin said, “about a little country in the North that was called Flevance.”

[triviareads]

This month was a bit of a hit-or-miss in terms of books I read. I took the opportunity to revisit an old favorite Tiffany Reisz and reread her entire Original Sinners series plus a good chunk of her novellas. I also knocked out a few ARCs (I'm very excited about KJ Charles's upcoming book in particular). I'm hoping July will be a better month, but here are the books I enjoyed the most this June:

Minx by Sophie Lark Holy shit. I don't think I've read a sexier book in a long time and I JUST finished it at 1 am today. Blake is a high-class escort, and Ramses is a billionaire investor who not only wants her, but also wants to be her exclusive client and is willing to go to great lengths to make that happen.

I'm restraining myself from listing every sex act but here are the most pertinent ones: pet play is a big part of this story (if the title is any indication...), there's some really hot exhibitionism, role-playing, the rare period sex (like he fully goes down on her and everything and afterwards, they're shrugging like "we're all animals aren't we?"), and I'm actually surprised to see this again so soon after finishing the Kingmaker series— butt stuff during a blowjob.

The romance was also stellar— I appreciate how unique Ramses and Blake's brand of emotional intimacy is: Intimacy for them is him opening up his trading books to her and her accepting investing advice from him. It's her getting the information he needs to financially fuck over his terrible stepfather. It's when his estranged mom is being The Worst in public so she flashes her pussy at him to buck him up just before he has to deliver an important speech. For two characters who tend to play a lot of power games, this is very gratifying to read. They're wholly unrelatable in the best way— too hot, too rich, too smart— and we're just here along for the ride.

An Island Princess Starts a Scandal by Adriana Herrera Stunning. Gorgeous. Here are my thoughts as I was reading it. Manuela is a Venezuelan heiress who is set to marry as soon as she returns from Paris. So she understandably wants to make the best of her time in Paris. And because of her immediate on Cora, she makes a deal with her: in exchange for a parcel of land Cora needs for the railway project she is heading, she will show Manuela around all the lesbian haunts in the city.

Manuela is such a bright, effervescent heroine. And dare I say a bit of a brat? There was this scene where she purposefully told Cora she'd be at a more *risqué* party and swanned around until Cora stormed in and was like "fetch her and have her brought into my carriage At Once". Cora is a classic older heroine: worldly, confident, a silver fox(!!), and she's guarding herself from loving again. But when these two collide.... fireworks. No other way to put it. I said this when I just finished reading it, but I truly hope this will be a classic historical romance in another decade or two because it has all the beats while providing much needed queer and POC rep within the genre.

Heartless by Elsie Silver Small town romances are very hit-or-miss with me so I don't recommend them lightly lolol. But Heartless was a standout for me among the few Elsie Silver books I tried. Will is a fun, bratty heroine (wow there's a pattern here) who is panties-optional (which is a bigger plot point than you think, and the culmination is very fitting in a very hot way— at least I thought). Cade is a gruff silver fox rancher. Really, what more do you need?

Sidenote: Since a lot of the plot is about Willa nannying Cade's son, I will say, I'm fine with kids in romances as long as they're not weirdly precocious or actively trying to shove the love interests together. Which didn't happen here.

The Chateau by Tiffany Reisz One of the only Original Sinner novellas I hadn't read: What held me back was that the cult in this story is based on the Story of O so... I wasn't too enthusiastic about reading a cult centered around that book. But when I started it, I was surprised to see it really isn't like the Story of O? Apart from the setting and a few other references. Certainly not sadomasochistic to that degree, and it's about male, rather than female submission. It's a fun read. Young Kingsley being unrepentantly horny and having zero limits really comes in handy now that he's a spy (assassin?) assigned to infiltrate this sex cult and get his boss's nephew out. You also see his desire for a family manifesting, but his ultimate (and at this point kinda tragic) devotion is to Søren. Would recommend for anyone who wants to read about male subs.

The Return by Tiffany Reisz Søren and Kingsley return to the sex cult chateau. I'd say The Return is entertaining in a different way from The Chateau; Now that Søren and Kingsley's relationship is more secure (aka Kingsley isn't trying to torture himself about how Soren doesn't love him lol), you really get to see their fun side. And by fun, I mean, Søren being hella bitchy to the women that fucked Kingsley over like 2 decades ago ("only I get to hurt him") and then proceeding to make good on that promise. Anyway, would not recommend having a pissed off sadist and a perpetually down-and-ready Frenchman has houseguests. There will probably be come stains on the rug.

[3-heartstyle]

Left behind au prt. 2

This is what Layla goes through when she's taken back to Doflamingo so Tw for torture and human experimentation :D

Edit: @auxiliarydetective the answer to your curiosity is here!

So, the start would be that the moment Vergo shows up. Layla is the one fighting him and Corazon taking Law away.

With the Wail-Wail fruit's ability to paralyze people for some time is SO helpful for those two to have a large headstart, however, Vergo is very capable the moment it ends.

Obviously, Layla loses.

The moment Doflamingo is informed and creates the birdcage, Cora and Law are out of bounds.

Same type of ending for leaving the island but with an even angrier Doflamingo. Traitorous brother still alive, the devil fruit gone, and what he has now is a "defective weapon".

There was a hunting party sent out to find the two but with the possibility that the Dressrosa takeover could be compromised, Doffy needed all hands on deck. (Everything Dressrosa related will be in a separate post)

Now onto making Layla a doll. >:)

The first method of breaking her was to isolate her away from everyone in the family, especially the kids.

The only way for anyone to interact with her (by training or something) Doflamingo has to be present.

I'm not sure when Caesar joins all of this is but the moment he's available, Doffy had him create a mask to shut her mouth. To prevent her from using her power against them of course and if she tries to pry it off, it'll break her jaw.

Experiments with re-creating her devil fruit will obviously happen but the closest thing they got was a screaming fruit.

So the next best thing is to improve the one and only. Her power is strengthened by her feeling of grief and to do that she had to lose hope in rejoining Cora and Law.

Caesar creates a hallucinating drug to amplify her sense of fear and have her fight in that state. It works in the way that she'll fight to survive but not use her power. He even creates a depressant but that only harms her training.

She tries her best in holding out and steals away newspapers to distract herself from going crazy. Doflamingo finds out and as a punishment he blinds her. (Fucked up I know but hey, she develops observation haki from this :D)

Doflamingo takes advantage of being her only source of information and tells her one day that he finally killed his brother. Even bringing a head with similar features for her to feel.

However with Law creating his own pirate crew, Doffy plays with her emotions in explaining that Law only cares in gaining power just like he is. Saying that Corazon failed in changing his nature and the only way she'll meet him again is when he finally wants to kill him and the family.

All of this messes her up BIG time.

And what a pretty weapon she turns out to be after designing a sad doll face mask with a speaker built in.

Time after taking over Dressrosa, Doflamingo still has Sugar turn Llorona into a doll.

Having her isolated again in the treasure room.

[starlingsrps]

the nutcracker vol. 1

the nutcracker is a piece of theater that makes cora borderline homicidal every single time she has to perform. suicidal, depending on the conductor and situation. she's played in the pit for ballets before and that's an experience she'd rather pull off her left pinky than ever do again. cso doesn't do much with the nutcracker, thank fuck, but they have some new director of fundraising that came in hot with the wretched idea to have the orchestra play along a projected recording of the ballet.

and then have a gala.

the nutcracker and a gala is just about cora's limit for christmas cheer but she'd be an idiot if she didn't recognize that that, as far as christmas fundraising schemes went, was brilliant. there was no way that wouldn't get asses in seats and open wallets.

so, though she curses the director with every breath, she polishes her memory on the score, airs out her formal concert blacks, and invites liam to be her guest.

she shouldn't invite liam. probably. she enjoys their time together - he gets her and there are few people that truly do - and she would call him a friend but she also knows he's the kind of person who assigns a lot of value to the holidays and gets sentimental about these kinds of things. it's not a date, she says, when she asks him to go with her while she's eating a piece of pizza and wearing his shirt. it would just be nice to have someone she knows at the gala afterwards.

he nods like that makes perfect sense and like he hasn't just eaten her out and asks if he needs a tie.

it's nice knowing there's someone out there for her, she thinks as she changes into her gown backstage and then immediately kicks herself. she could have asked david - he's home from lisbon for the month and would have been delighted to eat and drink on cso's dime for the evening and been a perfect amount of bitchy - but /no. she has liam sitting among the rest of the string section's families and he's probably made five new best friends already.

the performance goes well (cora tends to leave her body when the nutcracker is involved) and liam is waiting for her at stage door when she comes out, cheeks red from the cold and with a big smile that she can't help but smile back at when she sees.

"you were great," he says, kissing her hello. "didn't look like you'd rather be having a lobotomy at all."

she laughs and kisses him because while this isn't a date, she's happy to see him. "oh, thank you. i tried, just for you."

"so proud of my little trooper." he takes her hand between his gloved one and rubs. "jesus cora, gloves?"

she shrugs and he rolls his eyes, tucking her hand into his coat pocket with his. it's sweet. and it's not a date but it is cold and she left her gloves at home. it's not a date but while they're walking up to the cultural center, he keeps making her laugh and she kisses him at stop lights. she's not a romantic but the city is beautiful at night at christmas with the lights and breeze off the lake...it's easy to get a little caught up.

if this was a night she'd been dreading, it goes better than she could have expected. it is what she expected - medium-decent passed appetizers and lukewarm cocktails while mingling with people who think they understand classical music because they played violin as kids. but liam can make conversation with just about anyone and stays close enough that when he slips away while she's discussing saint-saens with a booster, she misses him when she realizes he's gone.

she doesn't have time to feel weird about it before he's back, his hand sliding to the small of her back like it belongs there. and it's nice to feel like, just for a night, that it could. they eat the medium-decent appetizers and drink a few too many lukewarm cocktails and tumble into a shared cab heading north when the night is over.

cora lets her head rest on his shoulder because it feels like it weighs a million pounds and he's warm and smells nice. his lips brush against her hair and she sighs contentedly. she's tipsy and tired but his hand on her knee through the slit in her skirt has her thinking she may have just a little more energy left tonight.

"my place?" he asks, voice a low rumble.

it's absolutely not a date but she still lifts her head up to say yes.