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The Donquixote Jolly Roger was emblazoned on every surface. Painted on every wall, carved on every door and table, even a ring of ash remained where it had been burned into the one patch of greenery. The bodies of pirates littered every surface, some still hanging from the rafters, sliced and shot to pieces.
Cora lay Law in a crate and climbed to the roof, and fell back down. He scooped Law up and set off with determination.
Law clung to Cora, unable to let go even to cough. Every movement shook his bones and churned his stomach, his skin feeling both too loose and too tight at the same time. The rashes had almost taken over his hands and face, and he was sure they were even spearing to his eyes, blurring his vision.
Snow fell like walls closing in on them.
The shape in the distance became a ship. The sails became visible. The Jolly Roger on them became visible.
“Cora…” Law croaked out.
Cora only shushed him.
The Donquixote Pirates stopped loading as they approached, standing still to stare at them without speaking. It was as eerie as the calm-calm fruit itself, the heavy crates in their arms, the stillness of the air, the constant beat of the snow.
The gangplank thudded under Cora’s boots. He stumbled onto the deck with such a distinctive clatter that Doflamingo’s head rose.
Cora held Law close to his chest, cradling his body in a swathe of stolen blankets to keep warm. Law coughed, spitting blood and white phlegm over Cora’s shirt.
“Rosi,” Doflamingo’s boots crunched down the snow as he approached, “Where have you been.”
Cora bounced Law in response. Doflamingo nudged the blanket open to look at Law, at the rashes dominating his face, at the gaunt cheeks, at the blood and phlegm splattered down his lip. His face was tight behind his shades.
“Poor boy,” Doflamingo said, voice soft and high with pity, “He’s dying right in front of you and went dragging him off on some silly adventure.”
Cora’s shoulders curled in, false meekness shrinking him before his brother’s eyes.
Law tried to bite at Doflamingo’s fingers but moving his head made his vision spin. Attempts to cuss Doflamingo out died in his throat, everything from his mouth to his chest dry as sandpaper.
Cora didn’t speak. He was Rosi again, the klutz brother traumatized into silence. Rosi, the only man Doflamingo cared for beyond himself. Rosi, Doflamingo’s loyalest soldier watching everything he did. He held Law by one arm and gestured with his hand over his mouth.
“Yes, we’ll feed him,” Doflamingo said, “If he can even still eat. I’ll send Baby 5 to locate some tinned soup…”
Rosi shook his head so violently he almost tipped over. He made the gesture again.
“You need to eat? Of course, Rosi, there’s always a plate for you.”
Rosi shook his head again. He shook Doflamingo’s lapel, and made a gesture with his hand, his palm face down and his fingers outstretched. He made the gesture for eating again and patted Law.
Doflamingo copied the gestures slowly. He repeated the palm-down gesture and a sphere of webs formed around his hand and relaxed his hand.
“You’re talking about the devil fruit?” he said. His voice had dropped several octaves.
Rosi nodded. He took Doflamigo’s lapel and shook again.
“How did you know we had the devil fruit?”
Rosi pointed up at the sails, at its Jolly Roger.
“Why were you looking for it?”
Rosi gestured to Law.
Law coughed, curling up on himself. He choked on the phlegm, fingers grabbing at his throat as he gasped for air.
He moved in the air. He was face down. A hand struck his back, and he vomited phlegm over the deck.
The hand patted his head. It wasn’t Rosi - it was firm and rhythmic, performative.
“You want to eat it to save the boy.”
Law looked back over his shoulder. Cora was gesturing to Law, his body still over Doflamingo’s long forearm, a few strings wrapped around his cocoon to hold him in place.
“You thought you’d find it before I did. You idiot, Rosi.”
Cora dropped to his knees. He put his hands together and shook them, pleading with his whole body.
The Donquixote Pirates jeered from various corners of the ship. Rosi betrayed you Doffy - he abandoned you Doffy - throw him overboard Doffy. Doflamingo turned on his heel, Law still in his arms, and stalked off. Rosi scrabbled to follow, tripping over his feet and crashing into the mast before he could catch up.
Doflamingo’s cabin was furnished in a rich pink, from the drapes to the bedding to the rug. Strings of lights coiled around the edges of the room and the legs of every piece of furniture. A desk was shoved in the corner, a small treasure chest on top.
Doflamingo opened the little chest. Inside sat an oversized fruit, bright red and heart shaped.
Law coughed and spluttered, aiming intentionally for Doflamingo’s front. He flung thick globs of blood and phlegm up Doflamingo’s suit, catching his suit jacket and his shirt. He grinned in victory.
His vision was growing smaller. His ears were ringing with a high, bell-like note. His limbs were heavy.
Doflamingo lifted the fruit from the chest and held it aloft, admiring it. “At last, Rosi. Everything we’ve wanted is finally in our…”
Cora snatched the fruit. He shoved his other hand into the blankets, pinching Law hard on the ear.
Law’s mouth dropped open and Cora rammed the point of the fruit in. The soft flesh fell apart as Law’s teeth touched it, dropping into his mouth and almost dissolving itself to a syrup to run down Law’s throat.
“Rosi!” Doflamingo leapt back, Law still hung from his arm, “What the fuck did you do that for?”
Law’s body hummed with energy. He reached his hands out of the blankets, out over his chest like he was asking for a hug.
His chest tightened. His diaphragm tensed. His lungs squeezed hard, and a thick hose of white phlegm shot out of his mouth, hitting Doflamingo square in the face.
Doflamingo dropped Law. Rosi dove to catch him, landing in a heap with him at Doflamingo's feet.
Law gasped for breath. His muscles still ached, but the air filled his lungs, clean and delicious.
“Did it work?” Cora said. Doflamingo was searching blindly for something to clean himself with, far outside of Cora’s bubble.
“It’s working,” Law said. He held one hand over the other, making the rash peel off his skin in fat flakes that dissolved in the air.
Cora groaned and hugged Law tight. “I love ya, kid.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Law said.
Law waited until Doflamingo had changed and washed the worst of the phlegm from his face before he summoned the hot bile out of his stomach and vomited all over Doflamingo a second time. Cora barely had time to form a bubble before he laughed, Doflamingo too busy cussing Law out to hear him.
“You were supposed to eat the damned fruit, Rosinante!” Doflamingo threw his ruined shirt at Cora.
Cora grabbed a notepad from the desk; “He knows more about medicine than I do. I couldn’t have saved him even with the fruit.”
And with that, Cora’s secret stayed safe.
“Fuck the kid!” Doflamingo screeched, “This ain’t about your damned stray!”
Cora clutched the notepad to his chest and gaped at Doflamingo, as if this was horrifying new information to him. Doflamingo scrubbed at his face with the wash cloth, the cabin hanging in silence.
Law pulled himself out of the blankets. He walked without pain, without his legs giving out from under him, without his bones aching. He jumped up and down without pain, without his legs collapsing, without fire shooting up from his feet. He spun, he kicked, he flailed, he laughed, all without pain.
He tripped on the blanket and landed on his ass. He looked up at the Donquixote brothers, Cora still holding the notepad to his chest, Doflamingo staring at him.
Doflamingo sighed. “We’re keeping the kid. He’s strong, he’s got moxie. I like that.”
“You just called me a stray!” Law snapped.
“You are. You’ve got no one left, just like us. Just like all of us. It’s why you fit in so well.”
Law looked from him to Cora. Cora was grimacing in judgement.
“You’re not mad at Cora, are you?”
“I’m not mad at - what did you just call him?”
“Cora,”
Doflamingo’s hands flew to his heart. Cora’s face dropped in horror.
“Like Corazon? You hear that? He calls you heart too - I knew you were worth saving, clever little Trafalgar.”
Doflamingo scooped him up, hugging him close and twirling. Law caught Cora’s eye over Doflamingo’s shoulder and pointed a finger down his throat. Cora caught his laugh before Doflamingo heard.
“This is perfect,” Doflamingo said. He stopped his twirl to sway, pulling Cora in to hug from the other side, “We can get the boy learning everything he needs about the fruit. He’ll be the most amazing ship’s doctor with his new powers. And we’ll keep looking for one for you, Rosi. Maybe something Logia-type - flame-flame or smoke-smoke.”
Cora forced a smile. Doflamingo squeezed him tight and pressed a kiss to his mouth.
“I’m so glad you came back to me,” he murmured, “I was so worried about you. Don’t ever get lost from me again, Cora.”
Cora flicked a look of disgust at Law, and tilted his face to kiss Doflamingo back.