Three Eye? Mm... I Haven't Heard Anything. Sorry.

　　 ❝ three eye? mm... i haven't heard anything. sorry. ❞

　not that rosinante was exactly a well of knowledge when it came to the comings & goings of the surrounding area. he lived in the middle of the woods, for seas' sake, and the only 'news' he was concerned himself with following was the morning paper and keeping his ears open for sightings of a boyーno, no, he would be a young man nowーin a spotted, white fur cap.

but, still, the three eye people were a rare sight, he knew that much. doflamingo had told him so; they fetched a high price at the auction house, he remembers him saying. tribe members were supposedly highly sought after due to their ability, among other things, to read ponegylphs. because of this, rosinante could only surmise they were deliberately trying to hide themselves out of fear of persecution. fear of being hunted. he could empathize with that.

a single sighting of a member of the three eye tribe was certain to attract attention, so him not being able to recall anything recently solidified his thinking. the moment the statement left his lips, he was taken in by her obvious disappointment. he almost wanted to apologize. but offering his home seemed like an okay consolation.

　❝ well... i have some spare rooms here, if you'd be interested. i live by myself currently, so you're more than welcome to stay as long as you need. ❞

the disappointment on pudding's face is hard to conceal even though the poor man has done nothing wrong - another place that has nothing to do with her ancestor's land, no sight of them whatsoever and at this point she's starting to think that they might not even be around anymore.

"well, that's a bummer." voice trails, map put back inside her pocket. this brings another problem - what to do next; in any other moment pudding would have given up and gone back home, her life is still there and all she has to do is picking it from where she's left it. would her citizens still want her as minister though? are the ministries even a thing still? sigh pushes past lips at the thought - albeit safe and coddling, pudding knows well that her old life has to stay in the back and the future ahead is what matters the most.

"uhm, three eye?" hand raises slowly, fingers pushing bangs aside from her forehead to show her own third eye. "i'm looking for them but i guess this is another dead end." gaze studies her surroundings for a moment, wondering whether to go back to the town she came from or the next. "do you happen to know where i can find a place for the night? i definitely need to gather my thoughts before continuing to chase ghosts."

Do you think Roci loved Doffy?

　　　oh, of course he loved him. it's evident in his behavior:

　for one, rosinante couldn't bring himself to shoot him. even at the cost of his own survival, even knowing what a fundamentally evil person doflamingo is and what a better place the world would be if he just wasn't in it, even knowing that his whole mission was to stop him because, if he didn't, doflamingo was going to hurt a lot more peopleーhe couldn't do it.

doflamingo was so confident he wouldn't do it, too. he stopped his crewmates from interfering, sent all of them away and allowed rosinante to wave his gun around for a solid three minutes of screentime before pulling out his own.

　the second main thing is that rosinante always calls him doffy. there's a reason a lot of people with nicknames are uncomfortable when strangers or acquaintances use them without askingーjust using their nickname in itself implies an emotional closeness. a connection.

rosinante wasn't even doing it for his cover within the familyーhe couldn't speak to the family, so he never used it around them anyway. he had absolutely no reason to continue using the nickname by the time that he left the family with law, but he did anyway. because they were close. actually, the only time he calls him by his full name is when he's speaking to him in an official capacity as a marine, which shows that he easily could slip out of calling him doffy if he wanted to. but he doesn't want to. because they were close.

　because, at the end of the day, doflamingo said it best: he's just like his father. he loves him unconditionally, despite everything. honestly, the reason he went on that mission at all is another way to prove how much he loved him.

he probably knew in his heart that he stood no chance against his brother; he didn't have a devil fruit suited for combat, his clumsiness made him a hazard, and he even admits to himself during the scene with the op op fruit phone call that he cannot refuse doflamingoーwhich, again, is why doflamingo wanted him to eat it in the first place. the only things that made him have second thoughts was the fact that he already ate a devil fruit (so he'd die anyway) and the fact that law was a better candidate for it. if it came down to a standoff, he probably knew he wouldn't be able to do it.

but he still went anyway. because of their connection. because he probably didn't trust anybody else to 'handle' his brother the way that he would handle him. because he loved him.

　 ❝ oh, a whole three hours? my mistake. that's plenty of sleep, ❞ rosinante muttered sarcastically. he was careful to keep his tone on the lighter side as to not unintentionally start an argument, which was a real possibility when law was exhausted like this. from his seat on the floor, he leaned forward on one elbow as he listened, forehead scrunched sympathetically. ❝ i can imagine, i mean... i know how important she is to you. ❞

even during those short six months rosinante & law had traveled together back when law was a child, the spy recalled just how attached he had become to their little boat. it was their home, their bedーsomething he would vent to, something he would personify. there were a lot of memories on that little boat. and that was just six months; law had been sailing on the polar tang for the last ten years. he couldn't imagine how much stronger that fondness was after living on

　❝ do you think getting a new vessel means you'll have to scrap her, though? why not... leave her with me? ❞ he suggested. ❝ at my place, i mean. you could still get a new ship, but... you can see her anytime you want. that's a compromise, right? ❞

"i slept three hours last night," the heart captain sighs, glaring a little at the blond although in more of a sulky way than anything. he's not sure if he ever had a healthy habit of sleep, even as a child, he was guilty of reading under the blankets until dawn more than one night. however, law knows cora tends to be worried but there is little he can do, he's just too stubborn to try and let go of bad habits. "recently, the polar needs more repairs, not the youngest ship anymore. i guess, it's time to start considering a follow up but giving up home, it's not so easy... it's also not like i could simply get a new submarine but a normal ship seems odd as well." he sighs deeply, it might be an odd worry but it had been on his mind, how to tell his crew about it? the polar had carried them for more than a decade now.

they are so important for me

Easily falling victim to making purchases of heart shaped items. Sorry for believing in the power of love.

part of me is like "i'm neglecting my boy!" but also, between talking to rabbit at length about our various takes on this guy and also writing something completely different offline that's rosinante-centric, technically i'm not.