Chapter Text
Corazón was in a dreadfully foul mood.
On their dingy boat, Law shivered under the spray of the rain and the waves rocking them on. He did not shiver because of the cold northern air or the water soaking through his clothes though. On his side of the boat the boy kept a vigilant eye on his abnormally tall companion. Corazón was expertly manning their barely sea-worthy vessel and somehow managing to stay inwardly dry despite the splash around them. Law made himself as small as possible, hugging his knees to his chest, his eyes never leaving the Heart Executive, trailing his movements.
He did not trust Corazón as far as he could throw him, which was not at all. What he could trust was the Heart Executive’s mood souring as soon as rain or any sort of water related situation reared its head. As far as Law could tell Corazón was funny in the head, and just because he said he wanted to get Law better it didn’t mean he could be trusted. Law didn’t. He’d been at the end of Corazón’s volatile temper more than once. Baby 5 and Buffalo as well. He’d seen where that fickle, capricious mood could get them. Law was not letting his guard down, particularly when it was raining like this.
It rained on, but under his coat, leather gloves and insulated cap, Corazón remained miraculously dry. But this was of no apparent comfort to him. Law shivered again. He could not see Corazón’s face but he did not need to. Between them, he could feel the electric like temper snapping biting at the edges of Law’s being.
Law did not let his guard down.
~*~*~*~
Traveling with Corazón was not half bad once Law got used to it. The pirate was a fucking weirdo and an arsonist to boot, but there was a strange softness to him Law hadn’t been privy to before.
It was strange, being so wary of Corazón and then… not. Some part of Law’s body still remembered the abuse at the hands of the Heart Executive. Being thrown out into a trash heap several times at high velocities tended to stick with you. But somewhere along the kidnapping and the overbearing insistence of curing Law, something inside of the boy had tawed.
Corazón also smiled . And not like he used to back with the Donquixote pirates, dark and dangerous, on the rare occasions that he did. Corazón's smile was nothing like that, and nothing like his brother's either. No, his smile was… soft. Even goofy sometimes. Law couldn’t be sure, but sometimes he thought Corazón was doing it to make him smile.
The man was undeniably still a bastard though.
At sea, a rough wave unbalanced Law as he searched for something to eat in their pack. He stumbled over the edge of their boat and his heart sank with the realization of what was about to happen. But Corazón snatched him back by the shirt before he could fall into the ocean.
“Careful!” Corazón snapped. “You fall into the water, I am not going to help you,” he threatened.
Law shrugged off the man's hold and glared at him.
“So you’ll go all around the North Blue setting hospitals on fire for not helping me, but you draw the line at getting a little wet? Good luck kid, you’re on your own?” Law raised a disbelieving eyebrow.
“Actually yes.” Corazón grinned widely.
“You’re clinically insane, you know that?” Law closed their bag of provisions harder than he needed to before going back to his seat at the other end of the boat.
“Now you’re just being mean.” Corazón chuckled deeply and snapped a flame to light a new cigarette.
“What’s your deal anyway?” Law muttered.
“My deal?”
“Yeah, you being so neurotic about water.” The boy looked at Corazón somewhat curiously but at his question the man started coughing out his cigarette smoke.
Law tilted his head at the reaction, and despite having witnessed the Heart Executive almost snap Baby 5’s arm for accidentally dropping a bucket of water at his feet, he continued.
“Are you like… scared of it or something?”
“I’m not scared of water,” Corazón wheezed out, indignant.
“Hm, yeah, sure,” Law said dryly.
“I’m not!” Corazón leaned forward with an upset frown. “Look at us, brat. We’re in the middle of the sea on a boat that by no rights should be allowed so far away from the coast. Do you think I’d do that if I was scared of water?”
Law shrugged. “You would if you were clinically insane.”
Corazón sputtered a tirade of annoyed defenses for himself, but Law said no more. The teen thought stranger things had happened. And maybe, if that scared person really, really, wanted to save a little boy from a deadly disease, well… maybe that person could be stronger than their fear of water.
~*~*~*~
Law was loath to admit it, but despite how much pain Corazón was making him relive and how little choice in the matter he gave Law, the Heart Executive was beginning to grow on him like a persistent weed.
Law had little energy that day. Not two days ago they had been run out of yet another hospital. Shouts of 'Monster!' and 'Kill him before it's too late!' followed them, ringing in Law's ears like well played songs. Law had little emotional energy to even muster much anger at them. Even if anger was a well known comfort to him.
Corazón’s nervous hovering was not helping, but by now Law was used to it enough that it didn’t compel him to shout and curse at the Heart Executive to back off or worse. Also, he was tired.
“How about we go to the library?” Corazón suggested softly.
Law heard the words, and a moment after, lethargically, he looked up. There was a timid glimpse of light there, or life, Corazón was uncertain of which it was.
“Sounds good, doesn’t it?” the man prompted, his deep voice encouraging. His excitement at Law’s positive reception was kept down and quiet.
“I- yeah,” Law agreed, as if waking up.
Law looked up just in time to catch Corazón’s blinding smile blooming on his face. Some days he still found it hard to believe that this was the same man he had lived with for almost three years. A kind stranger suddenly materialised where the Heart Executive used to stand.
He thought Baby 5 would’ve loved this side of Corazón. Maybe even Buffalo as well. Law did not want to think about why a guy who would hurt a little girl— who’s only wish was to please others— would stick so adamantly to his side and fight for a life that was already on the other side of the grave.
So to the library they went.
They browsed around. By now Corazón trusted him enough to not run away if he took his eyes off Law for longer than a few minutes. Law was fine with this; he’d realized after a while that being in the company of Corazón made him less angry, soothed the fires inside of him somewhat. Being with him didn’t make Law feel like he was losing the precious little time he had left. He didn’t know how it made him feel though; but it was not an unpleasant feeling.
Law went at once to the medical section—though he did like to read comics and science fiction, it had been too long since he had something professional to read. Corazón gestured to a different aisle with a grin and left Law to peruse on his own. Law selected a few books on different topics, following whatever whim his mind lingered on. Not long after, he had a selection of books carefully piled on his thin arms.
Law headed back to where Corazón was and found a small sitting space within watching distance of the Heart Executive. Corazón was still browsing the fiction shelves when the teen sat down against a plush cushion on the floor and opened a book.
“Bleh,” the man stuck out his tongue and put the book he had grabbed back into its place.
“What is it?” Law asked, looking up from his book on strange illnesses of the North Blue.
“Fairy tale,” Corazón answered distastefully.
The teen took a curious glance at the other books the man had set apart and lifted a judging eyebrow.
“You’ve got fantasies and romance though. Isn't that what all fairy tales are like?”
“Fairy tales are different,” Corazón said, moving on to a different shelf on the aisle without further explanation.
Law rolled his eyes at him; Corazón was being a capricious weirdo, and it didn’t surprise him at all.
A few minutes later Corazón came into the sitting room where Law was and got comfortable on one of the old couches. He settled down with a little groan and opened one of the romance books he had picked up. Law thumbed the next page of this book in deep thought; he wasn’t really looking at the printed words in front of him. With a quick look at Corazón, he closed the book and grabbed another one from his little pile.
Dictionary of Phobias.
Law leafed through the thick tome, taking discreet glances at his companion ever so often, but Corazón still felt his shifting eyes on him. He made sure to hide the cover with his bent legs so the man wouldn't be able to see it. The Heart Executive tilted his head and smiled at Law for a moment before going back to his own book.
When Law found what he was looking for, he read the words carefully. Then, he took a quiet breath and stood up with conviction. Corazón looked up and before he could say anything Law shoved the open book into his face.
“I think this is what you have,” Law said, pointing at the section he’d been reading. “And I know you said you weren't afraid. But it’s okay. I read it’s hard accepting these sorts of things.”
Aquaphobia. Corazón read.
His lips slacked into a frown, dislodging a few embers from his cigarette then lighting his feather coat on fire.
“ Shit ,” he cursed, falling from his seat as he patted out the flames out. “LAW!” Corazón exclaimed once he’d taken care of the fire, loud enough to garner a very annoyed shhh , from the librarian at the far off front desk.
Corazón winced then turned to Law.
“Law,” he said more quietly with a sigh. “I’m… touched that you’re concerned, really,” he did not sound touched. “But I’m really not afraid of water. Much less-” He grabbed the book in his large hand and turned it to Law. “Much less, ‘so anxious about water that the very thought of it makes me dizzy.’ We sail every other day Law,” he said with a whine as he pointed at the text he just read.
“Not everyone has the same symptoms,” the boy countered, snatching the book back and reading from a different section. “ They may also avoid water-related activities, such as swimming, showering, or bathing. Look, Corazón!” Law mocked in the same tone the man tended to say his name with. “This book is perfectly describing you!”
Corazón grabbed the book without taking off his glaring eyes from Law and snapped it shut in his hand. “This conversation is over. So unless you want to leave this place to head to our next medical adventure, I suggest you go back to your other books.”
Law glared back at the man, well known anger in his eyes.
“Fine,” he snapped and turned back to his spot.
Still half sprawled on the floor, Corazón sighed heavily.
~*~*~*~
The day had been getting progressively worse. They had arrived at a new island with the unfortunate realization that they were very low on supplies. but no time to do anything about it. Corazón was on a quest, and its name was ‘new hospital,’ which would for sure kick out Law on sight.
They had, in fact, been kicked out of it, and the subsequent smell of burning had crawled inside Law’s nose and stayed there. The teen tried his best to not let the memories of Flevance creep into the still early day.
As they’d fled from the town and went further into the surrounding woods to continue unto the next town, which lay deeper into the island, in the hopes of finding another medical facility. Corazón realized they still had but the bare bones of rations. He sighed, knowing it was going to be a pain to get Law to eat, more than it usually was—the boy’s illness made it easy for his appetite to disappear.
They walked a few kilometers more until they were deep into the forest when Corazón’s stomach began to complain. The man sighed and set Law down.
“Let’s stop for a while for some breakfast and rest,” he said.
Law said nothing, mood sour and dark. His clothes smelled of smoke and it was so maddening he wanted to either rip them off or stab Corazón in the neck for doing this to him. Again. And he was planning to do it again on the same island when he’d already set fire to a hospital. The man was so stupid Law wondered if he’d been dropped on the head when he was a baby.
Corazón made a displeased sound but Law did not care to know what was making the man miserable, whatever it was, he deserved it.
“I’ll be back in a moment,” Corazón said, standing up and walking away.
“Good riddance,” Law muttered.
It was not long before the man returned with an unhappy frown. He kneeled by their pack and rummaged through.
“Here, Law, we don’t have much now, but it’ll have to be enough until we reach the next town.”
In the boy’s line of sight appeared two slices of bread held in a huge hand. Law wrinkled his nose and turned away.
“I’m not hungry,” he declared, not looking at Corazón.
The man took a deep breath and said with a pleading voice, “You can’t afford to miss more meals, Law.”
“I don’t want bread,” Law turned to glare at him, enunciating each word with venom.
“I don’t care if you don’t like it. You still have to eat something or you’re going to faint later.” Corazón grabbed the boy’s hand and slapped the slices there. He took a bite of his own slice and turned a little green from forcing down his own mouthful of bread.
“You’re not making me eat bread,” Law deadpanned and turned his hand upside down, dropping the food on the ground.
Corazón swallowed with effort and looked long and hard at the boy. The softness on his face was gone now, his painted smile doing nothing to soften his face.
“Oh I will, your body really can’t keep going on without food like this. So you’re eating, or you’re eating,” he said, his deep voice lacking any inflection.
“You want me to eat so bad, fucking find something else,” Law snapped, making his companion frown at his curse.
“I already tried, but unless you want to waste several hours trying to fish something from the lake, hours which we don’t actually have time to waste, I suggest you get to eating what we do have.”
Man and boy glared at each other.
The confrontation ended with a thoroughly disgusted Law and a Corazón who had a set of bloody half moons indented on both sides of his hand from trying to force feed Law.
Corazón sat with his makeshift fishing rod on the lake’s side where the edge was deeper than in other sections. Law stood a few steps away, glaring at the water where the string bobbed up and down.
“Your parents didn’t teach you not to waste food?” Corazón asked, not out of malice but tired curiosity.
He knew the moment the words had just left his mouth that he shouldn’t have said that at all. His past wasn’t Law’s own. The fact that he could stomach something that made him want to vomit did not mean Law had to. And he really shouldn’t have brought up the boy’s parents.
Corazón's eyes shifted to the teen, an apology already forming in his mouth. But Law’s eyes were filled with a cold fire. He looked just like the day he had come to the Donquixote pirates, grenades strapped around his thin chest and ready to burn the world down.
“ Fuck you, ” Law bit and shoved Corazón into the lake. The man, clumsy as he was, could not stop his fall.
It was with crystal clear clarity that Law did this, and it was with that same crystal clarity that in a fraction of a second Law realised his terrible mistake. It was more than the fact that Corazón didn’t like water. At all. Or in any form. But more importantly, the man was a devil fruit user. And Law had just pushed him into a body of water.
Corazón was not going to come out of the lake.
Law’s heart sank at the same time that Corazón disappeared. He was a monster of a man in size. There would be no way Law was going to be able to pull him out on his own.
Shit.