#yeah lets just ignore every mention of clowns in canon save for one line that implies clowns are mostly purples but not the other way round

[notwhatyoucameherefor]

Hiveswap sucks bad because they had no fucking idea how to make characters that weren't intrinsically tied to the homestuck trolls. Not every purpleblood needed to be a clown. Not every goldblood needed to have psionics. Not every cerulean needed to be Vriska. But whoever was making the characters just could not fathom this.

[fatedcipher]

     It’s over.  I beat Kingdom Hearts 3, a game I’ve waited thirteen years for.  And now that it’s all said and done?

     I’m just disappointed.

     What follows is mostly my stream of consciousness impressions of the game, put to text more to organize and vent than anything else.  Be warned of strong opinions and acerbic criticism.

The Good

Roxas

It was one scene, but it was one hell of a scene.  McCartney fucking killed it.

The Sea Salt Trio finally gets justice.  Xion and Axel finally wear something besides the coat.

I had Sora walk around and take selfies while Roxas and Xion effortlessly demolished Saix.  So much catharsis.

Demyx

Yeah, I know, last thing I was expecting too.

Had exactly zero patience for series melodrama.  Every other word out of his mouth had me laughing.

Dude stabbed evil mcdarkness in the back to do the good guys a huge solid and got away with it scot-free.

Lingering Will

He was on screen for all of five seconds, but I cheered for all five of them.

Namine was the one who called him in.

Should have been him to finish off Terranort, but close enough.

Half the Disney Characters

Telling the obnoxious villains to fuck off.

Actually making them fuck off in a couple instances.

Put that Edgelord back where he came from or so help me!

Hayner!  Pence!  Olette!

Twilight Gang actually contributing to the main plot again.

Them giving a shit about Roxas when they didn’t need to.

Fucking bamboozled SoD, he just didn’t know how to react to their Scooby Doo shenanigans.

Mixed Bag

Some of the Disney worlds were pretty charming and had good cast interactions.

Frozen’s world was not.

Sora using the fallen keys was visually breathtaking and played in well to his power to connect to other people.

It was a reference to the stupid mobile game that has only polluted the plot further.

TWEWY world effectively confirmed in whatever is next.

I may not actually want to play whatever is next.

Music

It practically goes without saying at this point but, JESUS CHRIST THERE’S SOME GOOD MUSIC IN THIS VIDEO GAME

OTHER PROMISE/VECTOR TO THE HEAVENS ARRANGEMENT SLAYED ME

I LOVE YOU YOKO SHIMOMURA

The Bad

Gameplay

Plays like a janky version of 2 with a botox injection of DDD flowmotion that only makes the game feel more awkward.

Clunky melee combos have too much start-up, most have no invincibility or even armor to prevent being hit out of them.

Only a handful of the keyblade transformations are actually useful, all of which are a massive step down from drive forms.

Shotlocks still feel like extraneous instant damage and add nothing to gamplay flow.

Oversaturation of minigames leaves several worlds light on actual combat.

Attraction flow is too easy to get, not fun to use, lasts too long, and leaves you vulnerable to damage.

Worlds are simultaneously expansive by individual area and depressingly small on an overall scale.  Most of Twilight Town is inaccessible, Destiny Islands and Radiant Garden can’t be visited.

General Plot and Storytelling

Generally poor writing that fails to resolve several plot threads and introduces ridiculous retcons that only create more questions.

There’s a scene where all of the good guys are in the same room having a discussion about how convoluted the plot is and Jiminy chimes in that they should read the in-game summaries on the in-game phone.  This was when the game crossed over into self-parody for me, and not in a good way.

The total absence of Final Fantasy characters save for the mention of Cloud and Auron at the start of Olympus eliminates half the appeal of what is ostensibly a crossover series.

Awful pacing, having the Disney worlds as unimportant filler with the majority of the plot happening in the last few hours of the game, following what has depressingly become the norm.

General cutscene incompetence, from characters being effortlessly overpowered by enemies to standing around unarmed and slackjawed waiting for said enemies to cut them down.

Bad dialogue and direction clearly mandated by someone who doesn’t speak English mars a number of moments that could have been good.  The script shines primarily when it escapes that ignorant control, which is not as often as it should be.

Mass death and revival scene was entirely pointless, as were the multiple Heartless swarms everyone was suddenly incapable of even putting up a fight against.

Death is still largely non-existent save for a few characters.

It made me more bitter and fed up with this series than DDD did and that is a fucking accomplishment.

Sora

How fucking dare you treat my precious boy like this, Nomura.

Half the cast spends half the game demeaning him and refuses to listen to him for no discernible reason, despite the fact he immediately solves every problem he is introduced to.

It’s not as bad as DDD, but he’s still written to be way less intelligent than he was in 1-2.

He’s the only one who doesn’t get a perfect happy ending and the only who actually seems to suffer any consequence to his actions, despite those consequences being utterly nonsensical.

It’s not even clear what the fucking “Power of Waking” is and he never needs it save for the artificial death scenes.

Riku

Every other line in the script is shilling him and how he’s somehow better than Sora.

This Yozora clown is literally just a palette swap of him.

Three Rikus in one scene.  It is laughable in how stupid it is.

He gets two playable sections and fights the same shitty boss in both.

He’s the one who goes to pick up Namine, not Roxas, Sora, or Kairi.

You can feel how much Nomura loves him and it repulses me.

Kairi

Her lively personality is completely absent along with any agency she might have once had.

Despite getting a keyblade and training the whole game, she gets halfway through a single fight before she’s easily kidnapped, held hostage, and callously executed.

None of her statements about protecting Sora are followed through on and are empty allusions to the first game.

SoKai is finally all but canon, yet the characters themselves hardly interact in the game and the Oathkeeper charm is never even brought up.

Namine

Her in-engine model is only ever used in the character files.

The only thing she does in the entire game is have a single conversation with Sora in the afterlife, in which he still fails to properly thank her.  

Riku is the one to pick her up after she gets a body because Nomura felt like awkwardly shifting Versus XIII’s unused dynamic onto two characters totally unrelated to it.

She’s still wearing the same white dress she has been since her introduction in CoM.

Aqua

Loses every fight she’s in to cutscene incompetence.

Seriously, you kick Vanitas’ ass in her only playable segment for her to throw herself spread eagle in front of some fireballs he throws out, it’s embarrassing.

Likewise jobs to Terranort and has to be saved by the COME GUARDIAN who is apparently Terra’s heartless?

Her single contribution to the plot is finding Ventus.

The refusal to let her age is just bizarre, the same extending to Ventus and Terra.

Antagonists

Xehanort remains nonsensically overpowered and omniscient, using time travel, clone bodies, and other contrivances to achieve his goals and have the heroes play straight into his hands until his actual last scene.

Multiple members of team dark don’t even have a good reason to work for the old man.  The former traitors are the ones to remain unfailingly loyal.

They show up to vaguely talk down to the heroes and/or wipe the floor with them before smugly disappearing without a scratch.  The only instances where this is even slightly averted are a couple scenes with the Disney characters and the defeat scenes in the final boss rush.

The majority of the villains are given cloying and contrived attempts at casting them in a sympathetic light when they have only ever been shown to be selfish, merciless, and cruel prior to their final defeats.  Xehanort himself is the absolute worst offender, being cast as a well-intentioned extremist at the last possible moment, despite this directly contradicting the entirety of his character prior.

     So yeah, Kindgom Hearts 3 isn’t that good of a game and has a story that’s legitimately quite poorly written and told overall.  Are my expectations inflated by the amount of time I’ve had to wait for this game?  Absolutely, but the series has been on a downward slope in quality since BBS and this was their big chance to correct course.  Even with the promise of TWEWY involvement in whatever is in the future, I can’t honestly say I’m interested in playing another Kingdom Hearts game after this disappointment and that’s depressing for someone who’s loved this series for so long.  There’s still a lot I want to write for Roxas and the rest of the cast, but when most of that stuff is attempting to revise the canon, it can be pretty discouraging.  All the same, I don’t want to give up on this blond haired kid and his friends just yet.  Their story’s too important to me to let it end like this.

[jeidafei]

D.Gray-Man: Few Things You Should Know about “Red”

A few facts we DGM fans really should talk about before succumbing to that Red!fic plotbunny pouncing about in our brains!

So I’ve been suffering through another D.Gray fangirling phase. I’ve been trawling Fanfiction.net for every DGM story I could sink my teeth into. I absolutely adore fanfictions about Red. Heck, EVERYONE absolutely adore fanfictions about Red (just look at the number of favs and comments!). Firecracker, A Blast to the Past, Red, etc., you name it. I’ve pretty much read through all of them more than once.

But something just isn’t right about these otherwise perfect fanfictions (well, other than the fact that they’re never finished T T), and it bugs me so much, as I am myself an avid fanfiction writer (of a Thai novel), and I’ve seen this same mistake play out in various fandoms.

It’s Red himself.

I’ve read Lost Fragment of Snow (LFS) whenever I wanted to tear my heart to pieces, and recently I’ve been translating it, so there are a few things I’d like everyone to keep in mind when you come up with little past!Allen plotbunnies.

1. Red does NOT talk back at Cosimo. Or anyone.

Red is rough and bitter, yes, but he is not a big-talker and he is not stupid. He is deeply traumatized, and traumatized kids will not do things they know will only get them more beating-ups.

Actually, I think anyone will know better than to talk back at Cosimo, not just traumatized kids.

So if you have Red yelling his head off at Cosimo, you’re not only giving the poor kid unnecessary misery but you’re also making him look silly.

(C’mon Allen, use your brain. You’re seven years old and a pipsqueak. Unless you’re sure you can beat him up with your Innocence then shut your trap, kid!)

If you look carefully at Red in LFS, you will notice that he barely even talks at all. He could curse them wankers for pages in his head, but he’ll never voice it out.

Hoshino-sensei described Red in the guidebooks as nama-iki, which could be translated along the lines of brazen, impertinent, cheeky, feisty...etc. Red (and later Allen) has certainly shown that side of him to Mana, Cross and Kanda, but even he knows when he must bite his tongue and keep his head down. 

Examples:

1) Cosimo is annoyed when he fails his act, and throws a juggling ball hard at Red’s face, blaming his cursed arm for dirtying the ball.

Fanfiction!Red: What da heck ya stupid wanker! It’s ya own fault ya messed up yer own show! (goes on and on and on until Cosimo knocks the fluff outta him.)

CanonLFS!Red: He thought how performers would blame the propsー and himー for their mistakes. But to Cosimo, he simply glared after his back (and not before he turned and left the tent.) and said nothing...at all.

2) In the opening scene, Cosimo just came picking on Red and started kicking him like a punching bag. Not because Red said anything to him; just because Red (foolishly) gave him an angry glare (he’s seven years old, you gotta forgive him sometimes).

As far as I can see, not a single Whaddya want, ya wanker! I can hear. When you’re Red, you don’t have to go that far to get a kick from Cosimo. You only need to exist.

2. Actually, Red’s life is not that bad.

Please don’t kill me yet and hear me out on this. I mean yeah, it’s bad. Sorry, it’s EXTREMELY BAD at that circus. And I cried and cried whenever I read LFS, but some fanfictions just go waaaay further than the original story confirms the circusーand the world in generalーhas done to Red.

We don’t ever see the Cook poisoning Red or Red recalling he had glass shards or cyanide (smells like almond) in his soup. In fact, it is shown Red has no qualms digging his spoon into his food. He just digs in right away because he’s so hungry he could eat a horse. Yep. I’m still talking about the Red. 

As much as the Ringmaster despised Red, he said it himself he still wants to work Red to the bone until he earns back the gold he paid to buy Red. So why kill Red now when you can still exploit him? After all, who’d do all the errands if Red is six feet under?

Though the Ringmaster did change his mind at the end and threw Red to the lions, that’s after he thought Red had killed Mana and Allen, his top money-spinner. Other than that, he tolerated Red enough to let him live, at the least.

Another thing is sometimes people would have Red mention churches and mental institutions trying to burn or imprison him, but actually, Red remembers nothing but the circus he now lives in and he has never left the circus for the outside world (except of course the occasional supplies-run with the Cook). So how could he have been through all that?

And no, no-one has sexually assaulted Red, either. Not even Cosimo. Red himself never once mentioned anything of the sort in his narrative/thoughts. One might argue it could’ve happened off-screen, but Red would definitely have recalled such a horrifying experience if it had happened, right? 

I’ve seen many fanfictions that has Allen revisiting his old circus (which I will rant about in the next point) and reliving how he was used by the disgusting men there. No, this has not happened to Red. Cosimo beats him regularly, and he is mostly ignored by the other members of the circus, but no one has ever abused him in that way. No! They are disgusted of him and they shun him. That is all.

I’d guess this last part is probably the influence of the legendary Mana, which describes Allen’s long history of sexual abuse in gruesome yet ingenious detail. That fiction was a masterpiece and I read through it despite usually reading only canon. But canon!Red and Mana!Allen is separate, my lads!!

3. The old circus is gone and Cosimo is DEAD. Pe-ri-od. (HOORAY!)

Yes, some fics had Allen meeting Cosimo again in a literal trip down nightmare-fuel memory lane, or musing that Cosimo is probably still alive, and I’d only stumbled upon this mistake recently when I re-read LFS.

This is impossible, you see: Cosimo died along with the other troupe members when the Millennium Earl attacked with his Akuma army, which is disguised as the audience. In fact, as Cosimo is ranting about the show starting without him and stepped onto the stage first, I’d even say he’s the first poof.

Everyone who was in the backstage (which is basically pretty much everyone in the troupe, as Cosimo had called them all in to hear him frame Red for Allen’s murder), save for Mana, died from the hail of Akuma bullets. The only survivors of that night were Red, the Ringmaster and the two performers he had ordered to drag Red to the lions, because they’re in a different place: the warehouse. And of course Mana, because Cross stepped in just in time.

So if you’re going for canon, let’s leave Cosimo in his grave. 

4. Red is truly, EXTREMELY scared of Cosimo

Like, sh*t-his-pants scared.

Well, who can blame him? He’s scrawny, crippled and freaking seven-years-old and the wanker would stomp the daylights out of him if he merely looks at him wrong, and he knew nobody would ever stand up for him.

Nobody...at least until Allen the Dog comes along.

Simply the sight of Cosimo emerging from a tent sent him screaming and hiding behind a tree. Simply the sight of Cosimo standing before him sent his hand trembling. When Cosimo is annoyed his breakfast isn’t served first, Red all but hightail it outta there for dear life.

Red avoids Cosimo as much as he could and would not seek to prolong their interactions or annoy him by talking back.

Red’s friendship with Allen is the only thing that gave him courage to stand up to Cosimo in the end, and when he accused Cosimo of killing Allen, that’s the first and only time we see him actually verbal-sparring with the wicked clown.

5. Red is very quiet and reclusive, and polite when necessary.

No matter how bad they treated him, Red does not talk brashly with the circus troupe members. He talks in polite form (keigo) to the cook, the jugglers, the Ringmaster, as of course he needed food and a roof to live under, and he doesn’t want to be socked (though he did look sullen in general).

And most importantly, it was as Red has always told himself: Things have always been like this, and he’s used to it. (yes, yes, we later know he’s just trying to be strong and he’s really very sad, but you know what I mean XD.)

So no point ranting a paragraph at them, obviously. Red understands already that it has to be this way. So why the rant? Why ALL the rants?

He also avoid interactions unless truly necessary; they ignored him, and he never speaks to anyone first. He doesn’t care about anyone back then. When he does speak, he speaks shortly. If he realizes that even if he speaks for himself, no-one would listen to or believe him, then he won’t waste his breath.

No lengthy tirades about how churches would attempt to burn him and Cosimo would beat him up or that it’s not his fault in the least and Cosimo has framed him and all that blah blah blah blah blah...(seriously, why would he spill this many beans to people he just met and did not yet trust, like Komui?)

//Even when he’s grown up and became the Allen we know, he’s almost never shown talking about his life at the circus, or even what happened to Mana to anyone, for that matter (Link said so!). Yes, he told Lenalee how he travelled with his adopted parent, but it was only happy and funny stories, and he told Bookman how his eye became cursed, but that’s just because Bookman asked and he couldn’t possibly wriggle out of answering. I seriously wonder if anyone knows his full bio except Cross, the Bookmen and the church authorities. It’s simply too painful and he’d only just come to terms with it recently, when he mused about Mana to Link.//

The exception to all this is probably Mana, and that is because he is the first person Red decided to go talk to. And this is solely because Mana is Allen’s owner, and Red is simply curious as to what kind of person he is like. He probably knows Mana is a decent person, being Allen’s owner and the brilliant new clown and all, and so is not afraid to talk casually (and quite a bit roughly) around him.

Anyway, most little boys pretty much talk like that in Japanese. It’s not as if Red’s that much ruder than any normal kid his age, in my opinion. 

At least, Red hasn’t called anyone a “*bleep*head” like that antisocial little chopped-hair, girly-faced douchebag we all love, either. So no need for the T-rating and tone down his language, please, dear DGMers.

.....End of rant! Will keep adding more if I could think of anything else!

Thanks for bearing with this crazy fangirl!

[petite-neko]

Boyhood Blues - 04

Fanfiction: Boyhood Blues Story Summary: Actions, and inactions, have their repercussions. It may not be immediate but somewhere down the line, the effect will be seen. Chapter Characters: Law, Sabo, Luffy, Ivankov, Sakazuki, Ace, Jinbei, Bepo Pairing: LawLu Rating: T Warnings: Swearing, Universe Alteration, canon-typical violence, angst, A/N: I hope this is alright, I had to redo edits D< so. Here you all go.

.xxx. > Time/scene skip

.+++. > PoV change

Read on Ao3

Chapter 3 || Chapter 4: Brothers|| Chapter 5

Trafalgar Law didn’t have any time for questions. No, he just took the injured into his submarine and had them immediately prepped for surgery.

(The marines wouldn’t let them go this easily. No. No after the war that just happened. Not after Portgas D. Ace being declared at the son of Gol D. Roger. Not after Monkey D. Luffy being declared the son of Dragon the revolutionary.)

Ace was the worst of the trio. He had taken heavy damage to his side, and if the injury was anymore to the center of his body… (He wasn’t too sure if even he could repair the damage done…)

Jinbei wasn’t pretty either, a hole through and through. It would take a lot of work to heal that. But at least it was in a non vital area.

Luffy’s injuries weren’t light, (perhaps in comparison to the other two, yes, he was the least injured) he still sustained heavy damage, but repairable.

As he scrubbed himself down, Bepo was able to pick up on the anger that was practically radiating off of him.

(And angry he was… The Marines would do this to these boys? Merely on the basis of whom their parents were?)

(Who was he kidding? He was from Flevance after all. The Marines hadn’t changed, despite what Cora-san had said…)

“Captain, are you okay?”

Law sighed. “I’m just angry Bepo. Angry at the government. Let’s just go save these brothers, shall we?”

(And if he couldn’t save them, well, Trafalgar Law just had two more people to avenge.)

.xxx.

“…How are they?”

Law sighed at the repetitive question. He had been asked that by multiple people at once when Boa Hancock had boarded his submarine, demanding to know the condition of Mugiwara no Luffy. And then that person with the purple afro had also asked the same question but in the case of Ace and Jinbei. Thankfully, it was only the Snake Queen and this blond haired man that insisted upon remaining on his submarine’s deck, the others were aboard the stolen Marine ship. It was the blond haired man’s turn to ask this – but in the case of all three involved.

Law remembered seeing him. The man with the black claws that has succeeded in redirecting Sakazuki’s attack so that it was not immediately fatal. The man who had extended Ace’s life long enough to find medical attention.

 (That attack however caused Ace to fall unconscious, and Luffy had just… assumed that Ace had died and proceeded to pass out in shock as well. And… that didn’t surprise him, no, because his memories of the two brothers had been becoming clearer and clearer as he mulled on them, and he remembered now, that these two brothers had been more. There had been three until…)

“Stable, for now.”

He didn’t want to imagine what it would be like when Luffy woke up however… (The boy had been through so much, as he had heard. He was informed of Luffy’s trials in Impel Down, and how he had been running on sheer adrenaline that entire war… And believing that he had lost yet another brother….)

It was going to be hell.

“My crew are constantly monitoring them. Ace sustained the worst of the damage, but I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss Jinbei and Luffy’s injuries as non life-threatening either.”

And the man relaxed. “They’re okay?” He let out a sob. “Thank god. Thank god…”

Ah, no… this was no ordinary man. Law realised now just where he recognised him. He was a revolutionary… ranked just below Dragon. The Chief of Staff...

“Why? Why did you do it? Why did you come here?”

Law blinked and shrugged. “A whim. Certainly, yes, I have history with these two brothers but…”

“Say no more!”

…Ah right, that person with the purple afro was Ivankov, weren’t they?

“Be glad ve have so many allies Sabo-boy!”

Law flinched as he heard the name. Sabo? Sabo?

“Luffy… Luffy calm down.” Ace’s arm was wrapped around the hysterical child.

Luffy was crying and screaming incoherently. Law could hardly understand what he was even saying, but he heard something about missing and not fair. And Sabo.

“Shh, I know Luffy. I know. I miss Sabo too, but we need to be strong for him. He wouldn’t want to see his little brother crying like this, would he?”

“Sabo wouldn’t want to see us like this at all Ace!”

And Law? All he could do was bring his legs up and buried himself deeper into his book about metal poisoning, trying to seem invisible. He couldn’t help but recognise Luffy’s actions as his own in his past… Had Sabo died?

It didn’t take long for his younger self’s suspicions to be confirmed with later visits by the brothers, and that Sabo’s death had really affected Luffy.

“…Sabo?” The name sounded foreign on his tongue. “Sabo-ya… isn’t that…?”

“…Yeah. Somebody Luffy and Ace knew as kids. Also happens to be my name, go figure.”

Law sighed and shook his head. “…No, not just somebody. He… was their brother, and he apparently died in an accident.”

“…A brother, huh?” Sabo said thoughtfully before wandering off.

.xxx.

Law didn’t know what to make of Sabo. He was perplexing and, well, he wondered just what his motivations were for helping Ace and Luffy. From what he knew, the second hand of the revolutionary army hadn’t been captured by the Marines, so just why was he at Marineford? It couldn’t be the fact that Luffy was Dragon’s son, because Sabo was already on the battle field before that was revealed…

He had begrudgingly let the revolutionary wander the ship – as long as he was accompanied by one of his crew members, and, well, he wasn’t looking forward to being that person whenever that time came. He didn’t know why but… there was just something he didn’t like about Sabo. Maybe it was the mystery surrounding him?

Meanwhile, he had Luffy’s hat in his hands, and he had been toying with it a little. Mugiwara… this was the reason for his moniker huh? Well, the kid had been wearing it even back then too, even if it was a little big and not as ragged looking as it was now. It had been important to Luffy, although why, he didn’t know (or remember if he had ever been told about it) but, he wasn’t the only one who seemed to know that it was important. That flying clown knew that too, didn’t he?

“Hey, isn’t that Luffy’s?”

Law flinched at the presence of the revolutionary. Dammit, he was hoping to avoid him until he had to…

“Yeah.” He said and ceased twirling it in his hands. “I’m holding onto it for him. Don’t worry, I left my sword in his care in it’s place.” (But not on his head, obviously.)

Sabo laughed and shook his head. “Nah, I wasn’t worried. So, how do you know them?”

“We met as kids every now and then.” He stated simply and looked at the hat in his hands. “After that, I had forgotten all about them until I encountered Luffy-ya at Sabaody a few days ago.”

“Oh! So you’re Torao!” Sabo was laughing. Laughing.

God damned idiot and not being able to pronounce his last name!

“…Apparently Luffy-ya has difficulties pronouncing things.” He sighed. Ah well, he had gotten used to it as a kid, so he couldn’t complain.

“You know, he doesn’t shut up about you.”

“…What?”

“Yeah, you were all he wanted to talk about as we travelled from Impel Down to Marineford.”

…Luffy was talking about him to others? Why? And when did he give that idiot permission… he better not have opened his mouth about…

“He was so excited to see you at Sabaody. I bet he will be when he wakes up too.” And more laughter from that damned revolutionary.

(Although now that he thought back to it… Luffy was rather enthusiastic back at the Auction House…)

“I can’t imagine why.” Law conceded with a shrug, and truthfully he couldn’t. “I mostly ignored him and his brother and read my books.” His life depended on it after all… Studying various poisons and genetic diseases, or whatever he could find on his devil fruit… “Not to mention, well, he’ll want to check in on Ace first. Shock was what caused him to pass out after all. It was the final straw, considering the stress he had put on his body.”

And Sabo nodded. “I… I understand him there.” His hand trembled. “If something happens to either of them…”

Law watched him carefully. He was a perplexing character. He didn’t seem to have any connection to Luffy or Ace and yet… he was so emotionally invested in this. Why?

“…Why did you help them Sabo-ya?”

“Huh? I… I guess it was similar to you, but not quite. I just… I had this urge. I had to stop the Marines. I couldn’t let Ace die. It just… unleashed this fury within me, and so I went to the nearest base and snuck aboard a ship…”

While Law could understand to some extent… he could also rationalise his own thoughts and reasons and behaviours. It was a way to get back at the government. At the Marines. And, well, he knew these brothers as well…

But Sabo? He couldn’t logically rationalise his actions one bit.

Unless Sabo knew about Luffy’s lineage, but he doubted that would be the case. Hell, even he didn’t know who Luffy’s father was. Not to mention, well, Luffy wasn’t even in the equation when Sabo decided to smuggle aboard a Marine ship…

So he shook his head. “I just… I don’t understand. Why you would do so much for men you don’t even know. Instinct? What caused that instinct? Or… do you just have a thing for righteousness?”

(He supposed that made sense considering the guy was a revolutionary after all…)

Sabo sighed and shook his head. “...No, it’s not that. Honestly, I... I don’t know. Just that when I read the paper that they were going to execute Ace something in me just... boiled with rage.” There was a sad smile on his face and the revolutionary placed a hand on the scar on his eye. “Ten years ago... I only have memories for the last ten years of my life. Maybe I experienced a trauma of execution as a child? Maybe it triggered some other sort of trauma? My feelings were the only thing that seemed to transfer over after I was involved in that incident which caused me to lose my memory.”

Ten years ago... isn’t that when...?

Law was starting to piece things together. It was making sense. If Sabo was in an incident traumatic enough to cause a loss of memory, it seemed feasible that people might think he had died. And since he didn’t remember...

“It… didn’t happen to occur in East Blue, did it?”

Sabo sighed and his hands clenched again. “...I know what you’re thinking. Iva brought it up too. But...” His gaze went towards the operating rooms. “Even if it’s what we all think it is... it’s better the way it is.”

Law’s hand clenched at the strawhat beneath his fingertips. “How? How is it better!” Why? Why was he so angry at this? This was just Luffy’s problem, not his. “Anybody would rejoice if their loved one wasn’t actually dead!”

Sabo sighed. “That’s just it. I’m not the Sabo they know and love. It’d just be like dangling a piece of meat where they can’t reach it. Can you imagine being told your brother or mother or father or whoever you lost was actually alive, but they don’t remember a thing about you? They don’t know your face or care about you, and may actually be a completely different person than you remember?” Sabo was clutching at his own hat now, pulling the brim down with taut fingers. “Or that it was just a maybe and may not even be true? How can I do that to them? To give them hope but brutally rip it from their grasps? How can I tell them I might be their Sabo but I don’t remember them? That there’s a possibility I might not even be that Sabo? They’ve been through enough right now.”

Law looked down at the hat in his grasp, fingers only tightening. No, Sabo was right. It was cruel to do that to the brothers. Law knew just how much they suffered. He heard it in their cries. He saw it in Ace’s eyes as he forced himself to stay strong. He knew what it was like to lose the people you cared about...

(That was probably why he had reacted that way. Jealous. He was jealous. Luffy and Ace had the chance at reuniting with a loved one they thought dead, and Law... he was angry that Sabo wasn’t allowing it to happen. What he would do to have Cora-san back… Or Lami... Or his parents... Or Flevance... and he didn’t think before he spoke.)

“…You’re a doctor, do you… do you know any way to remember what you have forgotten?”

Law looked at Sabo, and he realised that he wasn’t being mysterious just to be an ass, no he was just genuinely confused. (Just like he was.) He didn’t know what was going on, or why he was doing what he was doing, and he truly wanted to remember – especially if he was their long lost brother. And sadly, Law had to shake his head. “Memories are a strange thing. It all depends on where they were stored, and how they were stored and just what was the cause of your amnesia… If the memories or where they were stored were permanently damaged, or it was just simply the pathway was blocked, or even a subconscious decision or shock…”

Sure, he could transfer personalities along with their memories but…

“Let’s just say I doubt you’d be willing to lose who you are again just on a maybe.” And Law wouldn’t blame him if that was the case. Although, he did let a dark smirk slip past his features, “There are no documented cases of the Ope-Ope no Mi solving amnesia, and even if I was willing to attempt it, well it’s highly probable that things could go wrong.” He supposed it could work in theory – that was if memories were tangible to his ability and he could separate the personality from them. (But then again, where would that leave Sabo as he sifted through the memories?) “Not to mention I would have a great deal of knowledge about the revolutionary army once I finished.”

(And, finally, it probably required far more energy than he had at the moment. And whatever energy he did have had to be reserved if any of his patients took a turn for the worse.)

“I guess you’re right.” Sabo finally said with a soft chuckle. “I think I’ll leave it to nature… I think I sometimes almost remember… even if clouded by fog. Two boys calling my name… inviting me to go with them… foreign words and names whispered to me by a foreign voice… And it always seems to revolve around these brothers…”

And Law just nodded as it fell silent.

All they could do was wait after all.