@kaizokugaris 'd For A Thing.

@kaizokugaris ❤️'d for a thing.

　　　❝ do you... think your crew moved the ship? ❞

　rosinante would hesitate to call his decision to tag along with zoro a 'mistake'; any opportunity to get to know law's comrades & crewmatesーthe people that were there for him all these years when he couldn't beーwould always be worth the effort to him. they were important to law, so they were important to rosinante in return.

but he would be lying if he didn't admit this excursionーthis seemingly easy route, from the sunny, to the blacksmith's, back to the sunnyーwas taking far longer than he ever thought it would. did they pass this street already? that sign? wait, he doesn't recognize this alleywayーhonestly, they seemed to be getting further & further from the port, but he wasn't at a high even vantage point to be able to tell.

　　❝ maybe that's why you're having trouble finding it? should i ask someone for a transponder so we can call strawhat or law? ❞

What do you think Cora would think of Law memorializing him all over his body, ship, crew? Would he find that obsessive or weird?

(apologies for the ramble; i get to your question eventually, i promiseーthis topic is actually really personal to me and makes me a bit upset).

　is this a popular take? because I’ve seen it several times now, and i just don’t understand what people are getting at. it genuinely kind of makes me upset because i feel like it’s coming from the perspective of people who have (fortunately) never experienced the unique kind of grief the death brings and are therefore judging how “messy” it can sometimes look.

sure, I suppose it’s “weird” in the sense that holding onto that kind of rage & guilt for literal years is unhealthy for your mental state (especially if that’s the last thing rosinante would have wanted for himーhe wanted to free him from doflamingo, not bind him to him via his rage)—but i’ve read multiple fics before where authors paint it as this… creepy, stalkerish thing? like it's helga's shrine to arnold in 'hey arnold!' or something? it’s not. It’s really not.  

(cw: death of a loved one).

when i was 22, a friend i knew since i was 2 (he was 2 years younger than me, so i literally knew him his entire life) passed away falling off a balcony. really traumatizing, really horrific—i genuinely have a fear of standing too close to balcony/banister railings now. i’ve had nightmares about it.

i keep his ‘in memory’ card and the funeral program his mother gave out at the service on a shelf in my closet so I see it every day when i get dressed or hang up laundry. i took several copies to ensure that i never lost them, and plan on putting them into a nicer shadowbox at some point (but have been too afraid to touch them because I don’t want to ‘ruin’ them). i still post birthday messages to his socials every year. i have old choral performances of his saved to my computer. i have a memorial tattoo.

if someone told me my way of remembering him was ‘creepy’ and ‘obsessive’ just because i think about him a lot or hold on to a lot of momentos, i think I genuinely might have a panic attack & burst into tears? this is all i’ve got left. he’s not here anymore; he was cremated so i don’t even have an actual grave i can go visit and have that connection. and i’m just… not allowed to have any of this because people on the outside think the way i express my grief is ‘too much’? i'd straight up just never speak to that person again.

ー.

so, no, i really don't think rosinante would be that off-put by the tattoos, or the jacket, or the jolly roger at all. if anything, he'd be honored that he made such an impression in this kid's life that he wanted to keep his memory alive like that.

he'd recognize they were separated in an extremely traumatizing wayーand adults have a hard time dealing with difficult emotions like grief, much less children & teenagers dealing with it. there was no way law wasn't going to be impacted by that, so he decided to redirect those things into something physical. tattoos. a custom jacket. a jolly roger. a special attack with his devil fruit. he turned that grief into something that guided him, and arguably gave him strength to keep going.

but also, not to mention, he's a doctor.

barring his jacket that literally has rosinante's codename on it, all of the heart motifs can just as easily hold a double meaning for law. he's literally called dr. heart stealer with a special move where he can detach your heart from your body and put it in a little cube. rosinante may have been a big part of the name & motif choices, but law clearly has other things in his life he connects the meaning of 'heart' to. it means a lot to him.

-

so, no, i don't really find law's behavior that odd or 'obsessive' (except for his blind hatred of doflamingoーthat was clearly obsessive) and i doubt rosinante would, either. the grieving process is wholly unique to an individual, and some people just like to attach their grief to physical momentos that they can latch onto when they miss that person, or feel like they're losing focus.

i find it endearing. beautiful, even.

Can't find the art atm BUT it was this really sweet au where Rosi survived and joined the heart pirates. Do you have any thoughts on how he'd interact with the crew, his place on the ship or actions/feelings during Wano and Egghead?

one thing i know for a fact immediately without even having to think about it is that he would adore bepo. sweet little guy? a bit anxious? a hugger? oh, he'd fold faster than law.

he even likes plums! in the light novel about law, he offers some to law (who proceeds to throw an actual fit about how much he hates them, but that's besides the point). rosinante will eat plums with you any day, bepo.

also, because rosinante's last wish before his 'death' was quite literally to give law his life & his freedom back, i know he'd feel indebted to all of the hearts just for being there for him (not just assisting him in battle, but just being there for him as friends & helping him achieve goals) but especially the founding members like bepo, shachi & penguin.

especially them because, going back to the light novel, they're the first people he meets after his escape, and the the first people law decides to put rosinante's 'will' of support & kindness for the people who need it most into practice. he becomes the person that shows them that there are good people in the world, just like rosinante was for law.

he'd make a real effort to ensure he knew all their names, their roles, basic facts about them allーif they're law's friends, then he wants to know everything.

-

the way i imagine it, post-minion rosinante has no interest in being in a combat situation if he can avoid it.

he'll protect people if he has to; he still the muscle memory of melee training ingrained in him from all those years in the marines, after retiring he makes a living partially from hunting so he's still a fantastic shot, he keeps himself fit because hauling farm equipment all day does that to youーbut it's different now. he's older (not to say thirty nine is old but, with his chronic pain, he may as well be forty nine) and he just wants some peace & quiet.

law's also been a pirate for sixteen years by the point they'd reunite in dressrosa, so rosinante knows he can handle himself whether he's there or not. he might come with him to wano, but it's also just as likely for him to pack all the hearts a nice little bento box with extra snacks and go "have fun overturning a tyrannical government, you crazy kids."

uh... if he doesn't go with him, though, winner island definitely makes him regret that decision.

@rubctosis ❤️'d for a thing.

　　　　❝ look. i’m sorry about the… hospital, thing...❞

　deja vu. rosinante had to have opened conversations with this exact line before. more than once or twice. more than he wanted to think about. his body language always ended up being the same, too; heavy sighing, scrunched mouth, and eyes averted whether or not law was too upset to look in his direction.

he never felt guilty about what he did to the doctorsーoh, absolutely not. fuck those guys. they're doctors; if there was anybody qualified to treat a couple bloody noses or some first-degree burns, it was doctors. plus, they were already in the perfect place to have their injuries treated, too, so the spy wasn't going to lose sleep over it. they'd be fine. but, although he hesitated to admit it aloud out of fear of bonding with the little shit and therefore making it that much harder to convince him to leave the family behind altogether, he did feel bad for subjecting law to it.

the visits clearly stressed him outーwhich wasn't ideal for anyone, but especially not him. normal, healthy people got sick all the time from high stress, so he couldn't imagine its effects on a terminally ill kid whose body was slowly but surely falling apart. thus, all rosinante could do was slip into this same routine over and over again: sheepish apologies & half-assed bribes.

　❝ what can i do make it up to you? you want... grilled fish for dinner? you wanna sleep in a cushy bed at an inn tonight rather than camping outside? ❞

　❝ because no one else is apologizing to you, so i figured you'd want to hear it from somebody. ❞ especially if that somebody is the one who keeps putting you through this.

　the blonde prayed that the kid didn't pick up on how sympathetic his tone was (something that had lead to arguments about being patronized and 'treated like a baby' in the past) as he turned his back and busied himself cleaning up the remains of their campsite. he dug his heels into the base of a tree until he was satisfied with the grip, shimmying halfway up the trunk until he could undo the rope suspending their rations of food higher up out of reach of the wildlife.

it fell with a thud, and him down with it. he tried not to wince at the pinecones digging into his back. it's fine. he was fine. totally part of the plan. from his face-up position on the forest floor, he rolled his eyes at the new question.

　❝ no umeboshi, ❞ he promised bitterly. ❝ are you still mad about that? ❞

rosinante didn’t appreciate how law spoke about a favorite snack of his with the same guarded suspicion as if the plums were poison. not at all; to be honest, it stung, especially when he shared them with the intention of giving law something he thought was a treat. he loved umeboshi when he was law’s age, what gives? and why did criticism of your favorite things always seem to hurt more when coming from children?

　❝ y’know… for someone feral enough to stab me through my ribcage despite being warned my brother would skin you alive if he found out, i didn’t expect a little sourness to turn you into a such a regular, fussy kid. ❞

small  shoulders  were  slouched.  The  sterile  scent  of  disinfectant  with  the  subdued  hum  of  medical  machinery  mingling  with  the  hushed  whispers  of  medical  staff.  he  could  remember  everything  because  it  was  a  repeat  in  each  one  he  was  taken  to.  every  hospital  they  visited  was  the  same.  people  would  look  at  him  in  disgust  and  would  avoid  him  like  the  plague.  he  wouldn't  say  aloud  but  it  hurt.    his  life  was  limited.  the  clock  would  tick  as  if  taunting  him.  his  pale  complexion  and  splotched  skin  ;   a  deadly  reminder  of  the  poison  running  through  his  very   veins,  sapping  away  at  his  life  each  passing   day.  his  dreams  often  leading  to  what  awaits  him,  a  dark,  cold  &  empty  void.  he  sighed,  a  weariness  that  seemed  to  reach  into  the  depths  of  his  soul.  He  ran  a  hand  through  his  short  hair,  fingers  tangling  in  the  strands.   His  stern  expression  softened  momentarily  as  he  observed  the  blond.  the  genuine  remorse  in  his  words.   The  silence  between  them  was  palpable,  the  ravenette's  expression  was  a  canvas  of  fatigue,  lines  etched  deep  into  his  face  from  the  relentless  battles  he  had  faced  within  his  own  body.  

  the  small  breath  seemed  to  carry  the  weight  of  his  burdens.  His  fingers  absentmindedly  traced  the  white  splotches  decorating  his  arm  ❝  you  don't  need  to  apologize...  there's  no  point  to.  i  dont  know  why  you  keep  trying.  ❞   Law  finally  spoke,  his  voice  calm.  perhaps  it  was  acceptance  of  whats  to  come.  gold  irises  bore  into  his.  the  sound  of  grilled  fish  sounded  promising.   ❝  ...you're  not  gonna  slip  an  umeboshi  in  it  this  time  are  you?    ❞

　　　　　❝ oh, nothing invasiveーdon't worry! ❞

　not that rosinante was curious to know such things anyway, but law would probably, definitely, without a doubt try to stab him again if he ventured anywhere close to 'too personal' territory. it wasn't as if there was any moral dilemma stopping him now; he was a doctor. any wounds he inflicted he could just fix later. plus, the ex-marine wasn't exactly versed in all the different ways law had learned to use the devil fruit he gave him all those years agoーbut he had learned law had adapted it to be used during combat, which could guarantee danger in his future if he wasn't careful.

　❝ i'm just... surprised. law's still the same snappy little loner that i remember him being when he was a kid, y'know? getting him to talk about anything too personal is like pulling teeth. i literally had to almost bleed out in front of him to see him cry for the first time. i know he's a sweet kid inside, but... it takes a lot of pushing to get there. you're clearly someone really special to be able to do that. ❞

"Ah-" Little did the man before her know that while Nami appeared incredibly confident in her relationship when she was with Law, that she very much was the type to blush when it came to discussing their relationship. Perhaps the allied pirate captain's combined embarrassment and enjoyment at being one another's is what had Nami along his lap or throwing her arms around him. Little things like grasping his hand in public and stolen kisses while everyone was watching was just an added perk.

Of course his Cora-san would want to know more, but it didn't mean she was prepared in any way to talk about it. Pushing past the flush of her cheeks she nodded. "I don't usually kiss and tell, but I might be willing to make an exception depending on the question."