deathsdoctor | Appointments 2.0

Harbinger of fate. That...well, I can understand that.

[Chosen one and all that.]

And you know, if these Tenryuubito are every bit as false as you say then I say it's probably the other way around. I take it they're the sort of rulers that choose fear over democracy?

Because I can hardly imagine you of all people deliberately going out of your way to eat children.

If there's a kid being particularly annoying, I might just flash my teeth, you know.

[Eat kids. Haha. That's just bunk.]

They can do whatever they want, though, so yes, it's very much fear. They have incredible wealth - each country pays massive tribute to them. Incredible power - the Marines dance to their whim. They can murder and rape and slave without question and they're above all their own laws.

No one, save a very few, will act against them. The consequences tend to be unspeakable.

That sounds like a group from my galaxy. Entirely too similar.

[Luke frowns, wondering just how it was that oppressive governments seemed to take root like that.]

Have you stood up to them?

You know... I have been unwittingly been working to take down one for the last fifteen years of my life. An ex-Tenryuubito that wants to literally become a god.

But I didn't actively stand against them until Saobody. When Monkey D. Luffy assaulted one of them for shooting one of his friends and trying to buy another enslaved one. They're not very happy with me freeing one of their prized slaves.

His name's Jean Bart. He's a member of my crew now.

Good. That's good. Those sorts of people should be opposed at every turn.

[Nodding, the Jedi's hand drops to his knee, and the bottle.]

This man you've been working against? Is he as mad as the rest? And...how is it you came to be opposing forces?

His name is Donquixote Doflamingo. He is an absolute monster.

... and that's a story... that's only going to be understood if I tell it in full. It's a very long story and all the parts are important.

... it starts when I was ten...

If you're willing to tell it, then I'm willing to listen.

[And he will.]

[The telling of it isn't getting easier, even if he's done it once before.

It starts in Flevance. It always starts in Flevance. The White City is difficult to get through - his voice is shaking as he does.

The first meetings with Doflamingo and Cora-san. Being thrown out the second story window and into the scrap metal pile. Wanting to kill Cora-san. The beatings by the man in the week that followed, and the Donquixote's Family's reaction to learning of the source of his discolouration. The Rule of Blood - dare touch Doflamingo's brother and die horribly.

Being so choked full of rage and hate and railing against the injustice of it all that he stabbed Cora-san anyway.

But Cora-san covered for him. Being hauled in front of Doflamingo by Jora and Machvise (and he had been such a child to think bribing Buffalo with ice cream would do anything) and being told that Doflamingo wanted him to join his crew, unknowing of what he'd done, and offering him hope to be cured by the right Devil Fruit if it was found. Be his right hand in ten years.

And so he did. Doflamingo had stood up for him before when they had found out he was sick, and he took special interest in raising him to be a worthy hand. He was everything a young, lost boy could desire to aspire to.

At ten, growing up, he couldn't see the subtle brainwashing and psychological abuses being employed. Everyone held Doflamingo up like a god - the young master - and the ties of family he and others like Baby 5 craved were twisted into chains to milk use out of them.

And all the while the disease grew worse.

At twelve, things changed. Baby 5 and Buffalo cajoled out his true name under threat of revealing what had happened two years ago to Cora-san.

Cora-san heard. Said that since Law was a D., he should be no where near him. He had been lying, and lying about everything - even said he wanted to take down his brother to stop his madness. Said no one knew what Doflamingo truly was save for his four top men and Vergo. Told him about the Will of D.

("What do you mean?! Am I a monster or something?!""Maybe. No one knows the truth.")

The boy he was didn't take it well. But he didn't tell Doflamingo either. He had his own honor and the debt from long ago needed to be repaid.

So Cora-san kidnapped him.]

[Cora-san was a marine. He was in communication with Sengoku, Admiral then and Fleet Admiral (now ex) in Law's present. He denied it. Law knew he was lying. He hated the government. But Cora-san was bent on a cure even though Law knew it was hopeless.

He thought if he was cured then he would have no reason to want to stay with Doflamingo.

They went to hospital after hospital. Not that Law himself wanted this - he already knew what he would face. White Monster, plague bearer. Look, I'm not a person anymore. He wasn't - not to them. Call the police, call the army! Why weren't you all exterminated? Cora-san really didn't understand - he just got angry and tried to kill the doctors (Law began to try to stop him). Burn down the hospitals (Tried to stop him there too). And then it was onto the next one, promising this one would be the one to hold the cure. Over and over and over again.

Six months of torture later, it was enough. Cora-san realized the harm he was doing. Law listened to him while he thought the child was asleep pouring his heart out and drowning himself in a bottle.

And it hurt. Away from Doflamingo and with him his humanity was waking up. Doflamingo had been pushing, encouraging him into darkness, and here this man was making him remember what he was before Flevance.

Of course Doflamingo called the next morning about the Ope Ope no Mi under the pretence of using it to save Law's life. Of course he wanted it and Cora-san to eat it to grant him immortality. Because he was his dear younger brother.

Immortality has a price. The Ope Ope no Mi user must sacrifice their own life to grant it.

So Cora-san decided Law would eat it instead.

There was another Den Den call to Sengoku... but as he was listening to him speak, his illness was accelerating. Endstage.

They were running against the clock.

Off to Minion. There had been an unnatural storm on the way. It had whipped up out of nowhere. Cora-san had denied he was a Marine again after hearing the story of Flevance. They both knew the truth.

They snuck onto that island. Cora-san went to steal the fruit, while Law was left in the ruins of the former town there. It looked like Flevance. All white. Covered in pure snow.

Bad memories. It got worse when he began to hear explosions.]

[Cora-san's power was silence. Hearing explosions... was frightening.

But he appeared all the same. With the fruit. And proceeded to shove it down Law's throat before collapsing. Shot all the way through. Law had nothing to save him with - no medical supplies. And his own new found powers?

("Haha... you're funny. I told you its abilities aren't like magic.")

The request to deliver the information about Doflamingo's activities to the Marines. To save a country named Dressrosa.

He found the one Marine he shouldn't have. Vergo. And then he made the worst mistake. He asked for help. He begged him to help save Cora-san's life.

It was a disaster. Vergo had been the spy sent into the Marines as Cora-san had been the spy. What followed was brutal. They barely escaped.

But not for long. Vergo informed Doflamingo of Cora-san's betrayal. Birdcage. A new massacre began of everyone trapped inside. Doflamingo's tools of death were the captives themselves. He savoured them killing each other.

No escape. At least for Cora-san. So he found a treasure chest, used his abilities to silence any sound Law made, and promised the boy his brother wouldn't kill him. Then he smiled, told him he loved him, and shut him in the box.

Pirates loved treasure. If Law was patient, they'd take him out of immediate danger and he'd have the chance to escape when they were looking. It was the best Cora-san could do.

They caught Cora-san quickly enough and dragged him right back. The torture went on and on, inches away; just wood separating then.

Doflamingo appeared. Cora-san revealed himself as a Marine. And then the talk turned to the Ope Ope no Mi. Cora-san admitted that he, Law, had eaten it, then lied, saying that he had escape and was already in Marine custody. (A boy had been captured, yes, and the message intercepted - such strange luck). Doflamingo was furious... but he would have the Ope Ope no Mi at any cost. No matter who he had to face to get Law and his power.

("What am I going to do, you say?! Now that he ate the Ope Ope no Mi... I think I'm going to have educate him on the importance of dying for me!!!")

His perceptions of Doflamingo finished shattering right there. To think he wanted to be like him once. But lost boys are foolish boys indeed...

Then Cora-san proved himself a liar once more. The brothers drew pistols on each other. But Cora-san was far too gentle hearted to pull the trigger and Doflamingo was out for blood.

("Law... won't listen to you, Doffy... He beat his own fate of dying in three years time!! That lost boy that ended up with the mad pirate, he isn't what he used to be.

He won't pick up anything from an heaven sent child that... has strayed from the path like you!!

JUST LET HIM GO!!! HE IS FREE!!!")

Gunfire. Cora-san shot again colliding against the chest. The sudden intervention of Marine ships attacking and the roar of cannon fire that covered his own escape.

Knowing the exact second of Cora-san's death because he could no longer be silent.

Wandering the world like a ghost until he was stronger, because Doflamingo was looking and Cora-san was wrong. The horrible operation to cure himself.

And the resolve to take down Doflamingo if it was the last thing he ever did.]

[Luke takes in the entire story in silence. He's not sure exactly how to take it, other than a mingled feeling of empathy and sudden, ineffable understanding. Of why Law was...well...Law.

There aren't many words worth saying after that. So Luke just hugs his friend, tightly. With all the certainty a man can have, he knows that's...all he can do.]

[He's so tired. Wrung out raw. The wounds still so painful, so fresh.

The weight of all the years, the loss, and the death weighing down on his back. The personal responsibility... even if some would argue he hadn't been responsible at all.

Facing more.

Law crumples into Luke's arms and just... allows himself to be held tight. To be comforted. Lets the moment... be... closes his eyes.

He's tired, Luke... he's so tired...]

[Luke holds Law, silent for a long, long time. He doesn't really know much to say, but...he does manage something.]

Hey. It'll be okay. We'll find a way.

Appointments 2.0

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If you want to skim or summarize, feel free, I know this is a long one and Luke won't interrupt.

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