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The sun was scorching hot as Doflamingo and Law walked in the streets. Doflamingo meowed and huffed.
“It’s so hot!” He complained.
“Yeah, and the sunlight is glaring.” Law groaned. He was not wearing sunglasses, so it affected him more.
Doflamingo sighed. “I’m not made for such weather. We large cat men originate from the north. I will always blame my dad for moving here.”
Law nodded. He, too, was tempted to blame his parents for giving birth to him in a place with such inhospitable weather. He would have preferred the weather to be cooler. However, something had to be said about global warming, and the capitalist deniers of global warming who refused to do anything about it for the obscene amount of profits that they made.
“Oh, look, that’s another large cat man.” Doflamingo said, gesturing at a blond cat man who was walking down the other side of the road. He was wearing a light blue dress shirt and khaki pants.
“Huh, he’s blond, too.” Law smiled. “And he’s also wearing sunglasses.”
Doflamingo chuckled. “We large cat men are quite handsome, if I do say so myself.”
The other cat man stopped to cross the road without glancing around. He seemed to be preoccupied with something on his mind. Just then, a car swerved around the corner. Doflamingo’s lightning-fast reflexes caused him to tackle the other cat man, knocking him out of the path of the vehicle.
The other cat man landed not so gracefully as his head hit the pavement.
“Meow, my head!”
“Be careful when you’re crossing the road, dumbass!” Doflamingo yelled at him.
Law smiled to himself, as he remembered how he and Doflamingo had met. Although Doflamingo did get hit by a car, Law was quite certain that it was the driver’s fault, since Doflamingo had very good situational awareness.
“Are you okay?” Law asked, crossing the road to get to the cat men as soon as he saw that the coast was clear.
Doflamingo reached out to help the other cat man up, and the three of them moved to the sidewalk where it was safer.
Doflamingo rubbed against Law happily. “I’m alright, meow!”
The other cat man glanced at the both of them and nodded. “You seem to have a good relationship with your master.”
“He’s not my master, he’s my husband,” Doflamingo grinned.
“Oh. A human and a cat man? That’s not very common around these parts.”
“How about you? Are you alright?” Law asked, addressing the other blond.
“I’m fine. I just have a bump on my head. It hurts…” He rubbed his head as he complained.
“Let’s go back to our place and have a look at you,” Law suggested. “Can you remember everything? Who are you, and do you have an owner?”
“Yeah, I remember everything just fine. Why?”
Doffy laughed. “He’s probably asking that because I lost my memories when I got hit by a car.”
The other cat man meowed in horror. “Oh, no! Are you better now?”
“Yeah, I got my memories back.” Doffy chuckled.
“Our home is just around the corner,” Law said, as he walked in front of the two cat men. The cat men followed him, the other blond rubbing his neck awkwardly.
“I appreciate your hospitality, but is there really a need to go to your place?”
“You could be hurt and not know it. We could wait a while to see if you’re okay.” Law insisted. “If you’re fine, you can go back on your own.”
The cat man nodded, and followed both Law and Doflamingo.
“You know, it’s so rare to see another large cat m—” The cat man said, but was cut short as he tripped. To regain his balance, he stuck the other foot out – and accidentally kicked Doflamingo in the butt.
Doflamingo turned around, a vein bulging on his forehead. Just then, the other cat man flailed his arms and ended up losing his balance completely, falling flat on his butt.
“Ow!”
A look of recognition flashed on Doflamingo’s face. “Rosi?”
“Doffy?” “Rosi” blinked as he picked himself up.
“You’re as clumsy as you were as a child, Rosi!” Doflamingo laughed.
“Rosi” meowed happily and went up to Doflamingo. They rubbed their bodies against each other, purring at the same time.
Law looked at them in surprise. The two knew each other – were they perhaps related? They did look similar, what with their blond hair and golden fur.
“Law, this is my long-lost brother, Rosinante.” Doflamingo grinned. He patted Rosinante firmly on the back. The other cat man was obviously not used to this gesture, and he wobbled a little.
“I can’t believe I finally found you, Doffy.” Rosinante grinned.
“We should catch up over something to drink. Maybe juice,” Doflamingo suggested. “Or do you prefer milk?”
“I don’t know. What do you suggest?”
“Well, it’s all quite generic. Maybe I should open a bottle of wine. Are you in a hurry to go anywhere, Rosi?”
Rosinante shook his head. He seemed overjoyed. Doflamingo, too, looked as happy as ever.
As soon as they arrived at Law’s apartment, Doflamingo fetched a bottle of wine. Law procured a couple of glasses, and Doflamingo poured the wine into those glasses. “Are you going to sit together with us, Law?”
Law thought about it for a moment, and decided to join the cat men for a while. “Okay! Don’t you want to be left alone to catch up?”
Doflamingo made a half-shrug and grinned. “You’re my husband, of course I want you around.”
“So, what have you been doing, Doffy?” Rosinante asked. “Aside from getting married to a human.”
“Well, just the usual business. You see, I’m involved in trading some goods and manpower.”
“But cat people aren’t allowed to work or do business. It must be illegal.” Rosinante gasped.
Doflamingo chuckled. “Someone must bring in the money, Rosi. If you’re willing to get your hands dirty, I could make a spot for you in my organization.”
Rosinante rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t need to work for money, but I think I’d like to know in more details what you’re doing, Doffy, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course!” Doflamingo seemed satisfied at Rosinante’s answer. “Your master must be treating you well, then?”
“Yes,” Rosinante smiled.
“Who is he? Maybe I could meet him someday to thank him for taking care of my little brother.”
Rosinante laughed awkwardly, as he rubbed the back of his neck again. “N- No thanks, that won’t be needed. He’s… Uh… He’s quite reclusive.”
“Oh?” Doflamingo frowned for a moment, but shrugged it off. “I see, he’s that kind of guy, huh? I’m glad you’re not quite as gloomy, Rosi.”
Rosinante grinned widely, his eyes sparkling. “Yeah! That’s right! Of course I’m not, you’re my brother, after all.”
“What does he do for a living? Are you well-off enough?” Doflamingo asked. “Do you need any money?”
“He’s… Uh… He’s just an ordinary white collar worker.” Rosinante shook his head. “I’m doing fine. He gives me an allowance and I don’t have to do any chores around the house. He treats me like his own son, instead of a pet.”
“I’m glad to hear that. You’re so lucky, Rosi. I’ve been worried about you.” Doflamingo sighed. “I’ve seen way too many bad things happen to our kind. My organization protects the rights of cat people, and makes sure that no humans exploit them.”
Doflamingo is such a good cat man, Law thought, when he heard that. He cares so much about his own kind.
“Whatever it is, it can’t be legal,” Rosinante frowned slightly.
“That’s because cat people have no rights!” Doflamingo hissed. “The humans made sure of that to keep their supremacy over us. But it won’t last forever. I will dismantle the system they’ve built up to keep us down, one day.”
Rosinante fell quiet. He said nothing to Doflamingo’s declaration, and only nodded passively, as if he was just absorbing what Doflamingo had to say.
Law had assumed that, as a cat person, Rosinante would agree with Doflamingo’s point of view. He was shocked to see Rosinante’s reticence, but then reminded himself that Rosinante had it better than many cat people did.
“I think we should work with humans,” Rosinante said after a while. “Not all of them are bad people.”
Doflamingo hissed once more. “Have you forgotten what the humans have done to us, Rosi? Your owner must have brainwashed you into believing that humans are good.”
“And you’re married to a human,” Rosinante pointed out. “Would you have married him if he was bad?”
Doflamingo fell silent for a moment. He scratched his chin lightly, and nodded. “Law… Law is different. Most humans are bad, Rosi. There is no working with them. Cat people die everyday, but they go on and live their lives as if nothing happened. Cat people’s lives are worth nothing to them. If a human dies, the humans make so much fuss about it. But cat people are dying everyday because of the system that oppresses us, and they act as if it’s only natural. No, in fact, they close their eyes to our suffering and even delight in it! You know it better than anyone else, Rosi!”
Rosinante lowered his head. Silence reigned for a moment as Rosinante thought about it. Law thought that if Rosinante had any sense, he would agree with what Doflamingo had said. However, he did not feel that it was his place to take sides in the argument that the Donquixote brothers were having, so he kept quiet.
“Does your offer to show me your organization still stand, Doffy?” Rosinante asked, as if he wanted to change the topic.
Doflamingo’s demeanor became more animated. “Of course! You can come to my workplace tomorrow, Rosi. I’ll show you…”
Doflamingo and Rosinante kept talking, making arrangements for the day after. They then made sure that Rosinante was not injured, and finally, Rosinante stood up to leave.
Law had a bad feeling about Rosinante, even though Doflamingo was clearly happy that he was taking interest in his work. Besides, it was not as if Rosinante had openly said that he agreed with Doflamingo. Silence, to Law, could have meant anything. He felt as if Rosinante’s answers to Doflamingo’s questions about his owner was dodgy, at best. However, Doflamingo seemed like he was in such a good mood that Law felt as if he couldn’t spoil it. He did not want to pop Doflamingo’s bubble, so he decided to pretend to be as excited about Doflamingo reuniting with his brother as Doflamingo was.
Once Rosinante left, Doflamingo and Law cuddled up on the sofa and watched television.
A thought passed through Law’s mind as he recounted the conversation. “Doffy?”
“Yes, my love?” Doflamingo was lying with their bodies flush against each other’s, purring.
“You and Rosinante must have gone through something especially terrible under the hands of humans. Do you want to tell me what it is?”
“Well, it was very traumatic.” Doflamingo frowned. “A group of humans basically strung us up and beat us. They would have set us on fire, had Trebol not saved us.”
“I see.” Law fell silent. “I’m sorry that happened. Trebol was your saviour.”
“Yes. He despised humans. And so do I. He was like a mentor for me as I was growing up.” Doflamingo nodded. He wrapped his tail around Law’s waist.
“And what happened then? How did your brother get separated from you?” Law wondered.
“Well,” Doflamingo laughed. “After Trebol saved me, he convinced me that it was possible that our previous country would take us back if we showed loyalty to it in some way. He gave me a gun and trained me up to become stronger. When I was strong enough, I went back to my father and killed him. Rosi ran away after that.”
“You… You killed your father?” Law gasped.
Doflamingo frowned. “Are you judging me for that? He was a naïve fool who wanted to live among the ‘noble savages’! In doing that, he doomed us all to hell, in this shithole where cat people suffer and have no rights. His stupidity directly caused the death of our mother, and caused us to be tortured in the hands of humans. Trust me, Law. He deserved to die.”
After hearing Doflamingo’s justification, Law was convinced that Doflamingo was right. He definitely had good reasons to kill his father. “I guess they didn’t take you back, then?”
“No. It was some bureaucratic bullshit. Since I now had a different citizenship, I could not go back.” Doflamingo growled.
Law nodded sympathetically. He absentmindedly fondled the fuzz of Doflamingo’s tail. “I’m sorry to hear that. You deserve better.”
“Well, at least I found Rosi now.” Doflamingo grinned, as he rubbed his face against Law’s. “I knew you would understand me, my darling.”
Law smiled quietly. “Of course I do, Doffy.”