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When Corazon woke up, his first thought was “why am I alive?”
Then the pain set in, and his second thought was “I want to be unconscious again.”
Sadly, that didn’t happen. The pain was keen enough that it was making him feel slightly nauseous, but neither was it so bad that he felt ready to pass out from it. He felt it in every inch of his body, like he’d become one giant bruise, and even just lightly twitching his fingers was enough to make him groan. Sweet unconsciousness, why do you elude him?
“Cora-san?”
Law’s voice floated from somewhere above him, and he gave a small jolt of surprise (wincing when that made his head throb painfully), cracking an eye open to see a blurry face looming over him. It was obviously Law, he’d recognise that hat out of focus or not, and gave some sort of unintelligible grunt to show that he was (half) alive; “Hrnh?”
This seemed to be enough for Law. There was a massive sigh of relief somewhere above him, and something wet was slapped onto his face, covering his eyes. It was absolutely blissful, and the headache that had been steadily stabbing away at his temples eased.
“You’ve been out for about a day,” Corazon heard Law shuffle about, the ground wobbling beneath him from the movements. They… they must be on a boat, then. Their boat? How the hell did Law drag his beaten up corpse back here by himself? “But you’re okay now. I’ve stopped the bleeding, so all we need to watch out for is infection,” there was a quiet sigh, “I was worried that…”
Law didn’t finish. Corazon painfully lifted his arm, pressing his hand against the wet cloth to push it up those few centimetres to open his eyes. They were on a boat, he realised, as his eyes came into focus – he could see the small mast of their boat loaming over him, the sail rippling from the light wind. He was still coming to grips with the fact that he was still alive – somehow in someway. A miracle? It had to be. An absolute miracle.
A thought occurred to him, and he spoke, his voice a hoarse croak; “Did it work?”
“What?” Law stopped his shuffling and a second later he was looming over him once more. The white patches were still there on his skin, his face carrying an unhealthy thinness with dark bags underneath his eyes, and yet he seemed… different, less weighed down. “What’re you talking about?”
Corazon weakly waved his hand, “The Ope Ope no Mi. Did it… are you cured?”
For a moment Law simply stared at him, his mouth slightly open as if Corazon had just asked something absolutely moronic – then, his expression crumpled into one of absolute frustration, and the next thing he knew, there was a horrible, sharp pain where Law thwacked him right on the chest. He wheezed in a very undignified fashion.
“You idiot! You were practically dead a few hours ago! Don’t you have any sense of self-preservation at all!? You should be asking about yourself!” Law all but threw himself backwards, and their small boat rocked a bit violently from the motion, a dull thud of the kid’s back hitting solid wood. “You stupid… yes, it worked. I’m cured, and you’re alive and not dead, no thanks to you.”
“Oh.” Corazon felt a bit dazed by the smack and the vehemence in Law’s tone, but he did latch onto one thing. Law was cured. It had worked! Somehow he was alive too, which was a bonus but, that, Law’s disease gone, that was the only thing that mattered to him at that moment. The pain felt very inconsequential then, and he laughed quietly, and ignored it when Law bad-temperedly kicked his thigh. “Good… that’s good…!”
“Idiot. Stop laughing before you rupture something,” Law muttered, “I won’t forgive you if you bleed out all over the boat.”
Corazon stopped laughing – not out of obedience but because it really did hurt, ow – and closed his eyes with a wide smile on his face. The thought to question Law on how this miracle happened occurred to him, but he didn’t act on it. What did it matter right now? They were both alive and free – Doffy must think of him as dead too, which was a plus. His brother wouldn’t chase after a corpse.
The boat trembled, and Corazon felt Law move from where he’d been sulking against the side of the boat. He sat next to him, the kid’s hip pressing against his arm, and for a moment there was no noise except the noise of the sea lapping against the boat.
Law suddenly spoke; “I’m really mad at you.”
This wasn’t anything new. Corazon annoyed Law greatly just by existing near him, sometimes. “Mm, what did I do?”
“You lied to me.”
Law’s voice was quiet, and Corazon felt his insides freeze.
“You said he wouldn’t try to kill you,” Law continued, “but you knew he would, didn’t you? You knew, and you still said…” He trailed off, and Corazon heard a suspicious sounding sniffle. “I thought you were dead! You idiot, Cora-san! Do you know what it was like, to find you and think that… that you…! That I was… that I was going to be… to be alone… and…”
Law gulped in a sharp breath, and Corazon could only stare up at him. The kid’s face was scrunched up, obviously fighting back tears, but he was glaring down at him with all the fury he could muster too. He didn’t know what to say – at the time, he had only been thinking of Law’s continued survival, not his happiness. He knew it’d hurt him, but he knew that in time, in time it’d get better. Law would be free. He’d go out and live, and little by little, he’d forget about “Cora-san” and the pain that accompanied him. He thought it to be for the best.
He wisely said none of this. He pushed himself up, wet cloth dropping onto his lap, ignoring the pain that danced along his nerves until black spots wobbled in his vision. Law was still glaring at him, and he snapped at him, voice choked strangely, to “lie back down before I-” but he never finished, because Corazon all but dragged him onto his lap and practically crushed him against his chest, arms tight and throat burning with emotion.
“I’m sorry, Law.”
Law sniffed loudly, but said nothing in response. He stubbornly glared out towards the sea, his eyes suspiciously wet looking but his cheeks dry. There was a part of Corazon, a masochistic part he was sure, that wanted to ask if Law had heard about the Marine soldier part too, but he remained quiet. It wasn’t like he was part of the Marines anymore anyway.
“Cora-san,” Law spoke up, just as Corazon felt himself start to drift off, “Are you staying?”
“What?” He frowned in confusion, “Staying where? With you?”
“Yeah.”
“Where else would I go?” Corazon was utterly bemused, and he straightened up, wincing when his back popped painfully. “Do you want me to go?”
“No,” Law’s reply was quick, “I was just…” he trailed off. “Anyway, now that you’re up, you can help me with something.”
Corazon relaxed his arms when the kid began to wriggle free from his lap, and Law clambered across their small boat, returning with a map and a log pose, his expression somewhat tense. Of course, Corazon had been doing all of the navigating, and on their way to Minion Island, Law had been unconscious most of the time. He probably had no clue where their next destination should even be.
Law slapped the map down in front of Corazon and smoothed it out. “Doflamingo wants me back,” he said this bluntly, and he looked up at him expectantly, “And he thinks you’re dead, so we need to find a place where we won’t cross paths with him.” A pause. “Or the Marines.”
Corazon grimaced at that, rubbing at his jaw as he peered down at the map. Doffy’s influence was far reaching, and Corazon had no idea how things were going to be on the Marines’ end. Most likely they’d be too busy dealing with Doffy for the next week now that they managed to bite onto his tail. They wouldn’t catch him though, they never did.
“We should probably leave North Blue for now,” he decided, leaning back and cautiously raising his arms above his head. Sore muscles and aching wounds pulled uncomfortable, but something popped between his shoulder blades, and some of the pain there eased. “Where do you want to go? There’s plenty of space in the seas for us to avoid those two.”
Law gave him a calculating look; “For now,” he said quietly, “I don’t want to hide from him forever.”
Silence descended on their boat, one where Corazon evaded Law’s gaze to continue looking at the map instead. They could scurry to the far corners of the earth if they wanted, but so long as Law possessed the powers of the Ope Ope no Mi, Doffy wasn’t going to give him up. Law was not the type to live as a mouse, he knew that.
“I’m going to kill him,” Law declared, still giving him that intense stare, “A few years from now, when I’m bigger and stronger, I’m going to do it. We can’t be free until he’s gone, Cora-san.”
Corazon sighed, and patted meekly at his trouser pocket, dragging out his cig packet. He didn’t like the sound of that – what, specifically, he wasn’t sure. Doffy was, after all, his brother, even if he was pure evil and needed to be put down. Yet, at the same time, thinking of him as dead was upsetting in a visceral way that made no logical sense. Doffy was right – he was too much like father. He loved Doffy too much to do the right thing.
“Let’s think about that once you’ve finished puberty,” Corazon muttered around a fresh cigarette, stuffing the packet away and pulling out his lighter. He paused when Law drew himself up in a sudden movement, a strange expression on his face. “What?”
“Puberty…” Law frowned, “I never thought I’d…” he shook his head, “Never mind. I- Cora-san!”
Corazon jumped, which was quickly followed by a yelp when the smell of burning hair reached his nose. He flapped, patting at his fringe (oh, his cap was gone) trying to put out the tiny smoulder that had caught on his hair. “Gah!”
Law’s face was buried into his hands. “Your fringe is nowhere near your lighter, how did you even…” Then, without warning, he started laughing into his hands – no, giggling.
Corazon stopped his frantic patting, staring at Law in total bewilderment. His lit cigarette almost tumbled out of his mouth with his mouth hanging open, and he hurriedly shut it, sucking in a nervous drag. “Eh?”
Law managed to control himself after a few seconds, and he dropped his hands, a weird smile on his face. “You’re an idiot.”
“Hey, now…”
“I’m glad…” Law’s smile faded, and he stared hard at the map before him. “I’m used to you being like that though. It’d be weird if stuff like that didn’t happen anymore.”
I’m happy you’re still alive.
Corazon understood that much. He smiled widely, reaching out to press his hand on Law’s hat and give it an enthusiastic ruffle, making the kid’s head wobble around. “You’re a good kid, Law.”
“Stop that!” Law shoved his hand away, his white splotched face flushed and expression embarrassed, “You’re making me dizzy.” He slapped a hand on the map. “Just look at this and tell us where to go already.”
Corazon chuckled – a noise that trailed off into a wheezy cough, ah, Vergo had definitely broken ribs – but obliged. He peered down at the map, his heart feeling ready to burst with a strange sort of happiness. He was in terrible pain, with no friends or allies in a position to help him, but he was happy. Law was with him and he was going to live past puberty. That simple fact alone was enough to buoy him.
Whatever the future may bring… he wasn’t going to think on that. Whether Law would eventually go to confront Doffy, he’d cross that bridge when it happened. He could never pull the trigger, but he could support Law as much as he could. Until then…
“How about… here?”
“There? That’s a little far for this tiny boat…”
They were going to live as freely as they could.