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“I’m telling you right now, you do not want to make an enemy out of me! I am Buggy the Clown! The whole lot of you are gonna regret this!” he spat, reaching to rattle at the bars of his cage, only to droop when his hands met seastone.
Buggy had been captured by the marines. It had happened in such a silly way, too. The whole crew had been partying on a small island where they thought no one knew they’d be, but just as they’d toasted to their recent successes, marines stormed into the party grounds, trashing everything as they made their way to Buggy.
He’d been foolish. In the moment, he knew that if he were to run, his men would end up captured with no hope of rescue. He’d stepped right in front of them all, right where he could easily be caught, telling his crew to keep running.
After all, no one could keep Buggy the Clown locked away forever. At least, that’s what he’d shouted to them as they kept running, thanking him for his bravery and praising his strength.
His only strength was his lies, and even on that front he was lithe. Sweat beaded on the back of his neck at the thought of going back to Impel Down after only two years of freedom. He couldn’t go there again. There was no way he’d get so lucky a second time.
Someone as reckless as Monkey D. Luffy, ready to risk it all to break into that god forsaken place and rescue one person let alone as many as he did was only something that would ever happen once, he was sure. No, if he were to end up behind those walls once more, they’d throw him as deep as they could get him. He’d never see the light of day, the salty waves, or the smiling faces of his crew ever again.
All he could hope to do was to rely on his own bargaining skills…so he was done for.
The griping changed once more to pleading, him swapping back and forth at random intervals for hours. “Please, I swear, if you let me out, I’ll give you any information you want about the other emperors! I know where all of them are and I can tell you everything! Please!”
“Yeah, there’s no way we’re letting you out,” Rosinante finally spoke, looking up from his paperwork with a frown. After trying tirelessly to get the last of it done with all of the noise, he’d reached his breaking point. It was bad enough that he’d been the one stuck with him to begin with, no one else on the base qualified to keep an eye on him.
It had been a sudden request. The ones who captured him had brought him to the nearest base to keep him there until they could ship him off to impel down. Why they didn’t just cart him straight there was a mystery to Rosinante, but he was sure it was some bureaucratic bullshit.
They couldn’t transfer him for at least the next few days, he’d been told, and he was already sick of it all after just one. In the room with him was just Buggy and a couple of cadets, the cadets merely there out of obligation to stay by their commanding officer until given orders otherwise, and the both of them were shaking in their boots from being in the same room as Buggy.
The sight almost made Rosinante laugh. If they knew how much of a pitiful pirate Buggy really was, they wouldn’t even bother to look his way.
“None of the emperors want anything to do with you,” he continued. “Not even your old pal Shanks.”
Buggy scowled.
“It was clear that we overestimated you, especially with how quickly your cohorts were willing to give you up. They didn’t have any loyalty to you whatsoever.”
“That’s a load of crap and you know it!” Buggy yelled. “Mihawk and Croccy baby would never give me up to the navy like that! We had a deal!”
“A deal for them to work beneath you. Did you really think they were fine with that?”
Buggy’s eyes widened and he deflated. No, of course not. No one of their caliber would be satisfied to stay as his subordinate. He’d known that deal had been risky from the start, but he’d thought that the three of them had started to become friends. A foolish thought.
Rosinante sighed. After all his whining, Buggy had finally gone silent. The reprieve surely wouldn’t last and he needed to get his work done.
Despite his deadlines, as he worked, he found his eyes wandering back over to him, watching the way he stared pitifully at the floor of his own cage. His eyes traced over the colorful patterns that adorned his sharp features. Something flickered in his heart as he looked at them. An old feeling he fought to forget.
He pushed it back down as he always did. No. He was at work. He needed to be professional. He wasn’t that kind of man anymore.
Buggy’s eyes flickered up. He’d seen that same look earlier that day, the way Rosinante would look at him in silence, blatantly staring at his face, and then stiffening up for a moment before getting back to his work. That gave him an idea.
“Well, hey, uhhh Rosi, was it?”
“It’s Rosinant—”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Say, Rosi dear, you’ve got a really nice face. What do you say I give you a little makeover? You look like someone who’d enjoy a little extra color in your life and that dull marine uniform does nothing to highlight those gorgeous eyes of yours. What do you say?”
Rosinante swiftly stood, his chair skidding behind him and thudding against the wall, making both of the cadets flinch. “I think it’s time I get you to shut up for good. Cadets,” he looked to the men who looked scared shitless, “go find something more useful to do for the next few hours or so. This might take me a while.”
The two men nodded and scurried out of the room.
Buggy gulped and more sweat dripped down his face. Maybe he’d finally drifted a bit too close to the sun.
Rosinante stepped toward his cage.
“Hey, uh, sorry about that,” Buggy floundered. “I promise I won’t bother you again. I’ll stop talking right now, I swear! Please! It was a silly idea, very sorry about that, just please—uh, you don’t have to come over here. I’ve learned my lesso—!”
The cage unlocked with a loud click. Rosinante opened the door and stepped into the cell with him, careful not to touch any of the seastone and backed Buggy into the corner. He stared down at his terrified gaze, him looking so small, so harmless, and so pathetic. It was actually a bit cute.
A soft blush rose to Rosinante’s cheeks and he looked away from Buggy’s eyes bashfully. “So…do you really think I’d look nice in makeup?”
Buggy nearly collapsed with relief. He was sure that was about to be his final breath. “I say a lot of things, and I don’t always tell the truth, but I wasn’t lying about that. You really are very pretty and I think a little extra pigment here and there really would look lovely on you, Rosi dear.”
Rosinante shuffled back and forth on his feet. “God, I’m gonna get in huge trouble for this, aren’t I?”
He snapped a pair of cuffs around Buggy’s wrists, the inside lined with just enough seastone to keep him from using his powers without leaving him too weak to move, and enough chain to let him use his hands freely. “You’d better not make me regret breaking protocol like this. I could lose my job.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
“Good. Then let’s head to my room.” He used his own powers to make their steps silent as they snuck through the base, nearly being caught before they both safely made it into Rosinante’s quarters. The both of them were sweating from nerves with shocked expressions on their faces.
Rosinante’s powers dropped and they both shared a quiet laugh.
“Alright, um,” Rosinante cleared his throat. He walked over to his vanity against the far wall and opened one of the drawers. The inside was empty. Or so it appeared to be.
Reaching inside, he pressed on the bottom, sliding the panel away to reveal a hidden compartment with just a small case inside. He took it out and placed it on the vanity for Buggy to see before stepping to the side, avoiding meeting his gaze.
“This is everything I’ve managed to collect on my own. It’s not a lot. It’s hard to buy anything for myself without anyone noticing, at my rank. There’s always other marines around to catch me in the act. I’ve even had to bribe cadets a time or two after being seen.” He scratched the back of his head. “Ever since I managed to make it out alive after being undercover as Corazon, I’ve been too afraid to try wearing any makeup again.”
Buggy’s eyes widened. “Wait, that means—”
“Yeah, I’m Doflamingo’s brother, Donquixote Rosinante.” He sat on the edge of his vanity with a tired expression. “Is it that hard to tell? I’ve always been told that I look way too much like him.”
“Not at all,” Buggy scoffed. “Anyone who’s told you that is an idiot and a liar. You’re nothing like that pompous asshole, trust me. The only thing you two have in common is that you’re both tall blondes. Other than that, there’s not a single bit of resemblance. I had to work with that guy when I was a warlord and it sucked. You’re a hell of a lot nicer than he is.”
“Anyone is nicer than my brother.”
Buggy snorted. “Alright, you got me there, but you’re also much nicer to look at.” He stepped forward and opened the case. “This is some high quality stuff too. You’ve got a good eye. Sit down and I’ll make you look nice and flashy! You’ll look so gorgeous that no one will be able to look away from you!”
Rosinante smiled softly and sat on his stool. “Maybe don’t go that far. As tall as I am, I get looked at plenty.”
“Alright, alright,” Buggy said as he pulled out a brush. “I’ll do something that’s more you then.”
Most of the eyeshadows in the case were various shades of pinks and red with a small number of purples as well. They were all very soft and pastel, and Buggy used that as a guide.
He didn’t go too far, just some pink to cover the lid and shading his crease with a lovely shade of red. He used just a bit of lavender shimmer on his inner corner to make it pop and then used the red eyeliner he’d found to draw a little heart beneath each of his eyes, finishing off the eyes with a dramatic wing using that same red liner. He couldn’t help himself there.
To finish the entire look, he applied a bright red lipstick to his lips, using a brush to pull out the corners in a clownlike fashion, just like his own. He stepped back and admired his work.
“All done! Um, sorry about the lips. They’re probably just a bit too on the flashy side, but I’m just so used to doing my own lip looks. If it bugs you too much, I can fix it, though.” He started carefully placing everything back into the case as Rosinante turned around in his stool.
It was like seeing a ghost.
In the mirror, he saw his former self, but also not. Something was different. The lines on his face held no secrets. Even the lipstick that was eerily similar to the way he’d do it on himself held no unspoken words. Each color was lovingly applied, nothing like when he’d put it on himself every morning, dread filling him before living a lie for another day.
It was something entirely outside of the clutches of his brother and his superiors. He was free to look that way.
“I love it,” he whispered. His eyes teared up and his cheeks glowed a rosy pink, smiling wider than he had in a long time. He just looked so…pretty. “Thank you, Buggy. I know it’s a weird thing to ask of someone, especially one that’s still in cuffs.”
Buggy laughed. “Well, you can change that, you know.”
“Not happening.”
“Can’t blame me for trying,” he said and leaned against the vanity beside him. “It’s really not that weird. What’s weirder in my opinion is the fact that you’re hiding this at all. I just don’t get it, I mean,” he looked around the room, “I’ve seen plenty of guys in the navy wearing all kinds of makeup and getup, so why would you…” as he gazed around the room, he squinted. Everything was soft shades of pink, plush, non-threatening. Even the things that weren’t pink were still pastels, everything in the room having a distinct feminine look to it.
“You really like cutesy stuff, huh?”
Rosinante glanced away once more, fiddling with his sleeves. “Well, um, yeah. I guess makeup isn’t that weird in the navy, but I just get nervous about it. This room is really the only place I feel safe to even humor the idea.” He sighed. “It’s the only place I don’t need to be someone else.”
“Someone else?”
Rubbing at the back of his neck, he stared hard at the vanity’s surface. “I-I don’t know, I’ve just never felt quite right, I guess. It’s just always felt like I’m living someone else’s life in their body, y’know? I mean, no one likes wearing stuffy uniforms all day and doing all the crap I’m forced to do at my rank, so I’m sure I’m not alone on that. Plenty of the other higher ups have gotta feel that way too.”
“Um, no, probably not. To me, it just sounds like you might be a woman.”
Rosinante’s jaw dropped and he nearly toppled from his stool. “What? No, that’s definitely not true.” Eyes scanning around the room, Rosinante thought for a moment. All those times something had felt off, the longing, searching for answers only to shove the desire to explore back down until it hurt. Could that have been it?
“Would…would that be a bad thing?” She squirmed in her seat, the puzzle pieces slowly falling into place.
Buggy smiled wide. “Not at all. In fact, I know a whole island of ladies that I think you should meet. Their queen would be able to help answer your questions a lot better than I can, and a whole lot more.” He stepped toward her once more, grabbing her hair styling products that sat off to the side and gently scrunching it into her hair, the natural wave in her hair shining through. “I could take you there, you know.”
“I could never do that,” she said. “I’d lose my job, my position, everything!”
“But you’d be able to do whatever you like. You wouldn’t have to worry about all these rules and regulations or what anyone else thought if you became a pirate. Pirates can be whatever they want to be.”
Rosinante couldn’t bring herself to respond. She chewed on her lip, tears gathering in her eyes once more. She owed the navy far too much to even consider it. She couldn’t just throw it all away for her own whims. It would be like spitting directly in Sengoku’s face after everything he did to help raise her and get her to where she was.
He’d sacrificed so much for her.
Buggy tucked one of his own garishly colored fake flowers behind her ear. “It’s all up to you, of course, but if you joined my crew, you could dress however you wanted, wear whatever makeup you like, and be whoever you want to be. You wouldn’t have to worry about what any of them think because every last one of us is flashy. If anything, you’d probably stand out for looking far more normal than any of us!”
She pursed her lips and looked away from his earnest gaze. It was so tempting. She could get away from all the things that had been tying her down for so long. She might even be able to track down Law and tell him that she was alive after the navy forbidding her to do so.
“I think…” she looked up, her heart swelling in her chest as she looked into his soft eyes, holding so much affection for someone he’d only just met, and who had him cuffed. “I think I’d really like that.”
A commotion could be heard from outside the door, footsteps thundering through the base and shouting heading toward them.
“Shit!” Rosi said. “They must have noticed that we’re gone. I didn’t think those cadets would go back so quickly.” She pulled the key to Buggy’s cuffs out of her pocket and unlocked them, letting them fall to the ground. “Let’s get out of here.”
She used her powers on the both of them once more and hastily scooped Buggy up off of his feet. Opening one of the windows in her room, she took only a moment to pray before jumping the several floors down to the ground below. Miraculously, the two landed with nothing more than a bit of a roll down a hill, leaving them dirty and slightly bruised.
Without waiting a single second for the others to notice their leap of faith, she broke into a sprint, still carrying Buggy. “I want—I want to live freely, just like you said.”
Buggy laughed and leaned into her chest. “With me, you’ll get to live freely and flashily!”
The two escaped toward the setting sun, a whole uncharted future ahead of them. A future free from the shackles that Rosi had been held down by for longer than she’d known. For the first time in what felt like decades, she could finally breathe.
She’d never need to be anyone else again.