After the Fall (post-Dressrosa One Piece fanfic)

MY ONE PIECE LITERATURE DEVIATIONS (more here):
Shades of Memories -CoraLaw fic, contains spoilers
Memories can be linked to an image, or to a particular sound, or even to a taste or a smell that people associate with something they experienced in the past.
Sometimes these memories can be good, sometimes they can be bad; some other times, they can be… unexpected. For instance, who would associate the smell of burnt bread with war and destruction? Certainly not the so-called “normal people”, but I forgot how to be one long ago.
That said, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that my memories of you are linked to a particular shade of red: most people would just call it "pink", but I don’t like pink.
No, your colour is a unique, unnamed shade that belongs to you and you alone: the shade of precious blood mixing with pure, just-fallen snow. And when I least expected it, I stumbled upon this caducous colour again…

Shades of Memories
Prologue
DESPITE EVERYTHING, I still remember Flevance as a town that belonged to a Awakening (post-Dressrosa One Piece AT, revised)Sengoku?! Law winced.
That was the name of the former Fleet Admiral: the person his benefactor had worked for before being killed to save him, many years ago...
    "Let's move! Those bloody marines have started searching for you!"
    After pondering it for a moment, Law decided to follow Bartolomeo and the others.
Not a Shichibukai anymore, he was a wanted man again and could be arrested, so he scrapped the idea of searching the old marine even if there were a few questions he wanted to ask him.
    "I just remembered I need to do something, go ahead without me!"
    Law stopped in his tracks. He should have imagined it; when Luffy was involved, things never went as planned.
What do you have in mind, Mugiwara-ya? If the other captain intended to delay their escape, he would have enough time to meet Corazon's superior–it would be risky, but was worth a try. "I'll come with you!" he called after Luffy.
    The All is Lost (OP, post-Dressrosa Doflamingo poem)A silent prison is all he has left, but silence is the last thing he wants.
    Bound in seastone chains, he can't even move, and the pain in his chest is driving him insane.
He doesn't remember if they gave him first aid, and keeps shifting in and out of consciousness while dreading the moment lights will be turned on.
    Strings have fallen—everything has fallen—and only his ambition is keeping him from falling apart, too.
He's naked, now. Bare eyes blinking tiredly in the darkness, bare shoulders trembling against the cold floor, bare thoughts threatening to escape his lips.
    The shades the coat the smile the mocking remarks... They're all gone, pummelled away by the embodiment of "inherited will."
He has been defeated, and soon a justice not his own will come and claim his soul.
    Before his unshielded eyes, memories from a hellish past turn into visions: his father's bloodied head in his hands; soldiers from a Behind the Mask (post-Dressrosa One Piece AT fic)Rocinante didn't want to see him. Not after what he'd done to the people of Dressrosa—and especially not after what he'd done to Law.
Yet, it was his duty to take him into custody. That was an obligation he had put upon himself to begin with, so he couldn't really complain.
Now, it was time to even the score with the one whom he had once called brother.
First Act
The tall man's hands trembled slightly as he took off his large burgundy mask; it was decorated with a faux beard and long black feathers, and a frowning face appeared from behind it. A blue four-pointed mark was tattooed under the right eye of the man, and dark red lipstick painted a fake smile on his features.
Once a marine—and now a member of Cipher Pol Aigis Zero—the blond agent's name was Donquixote Rocinante, and he was the younger brother of the infamous Heavenly Yaksha.
After slackening his black tie a little, the CP-0 agent took a deep breath and looked at his feet. Code name: 'Corazon' (One Piece AT fanfic)Rocinante's black feather coat was getting wet. Beneath him, the snow was mixing with his blood as it melted from what little warmth he had left.
He had at least a couple of broken ribs, and burning twinges of pain from the bullets still in his body assailed him when he tried to get up; he would have probably screamed if one of them had not pierced his lungs, making even breathing close to impossible.
His head was spinning, his limbs were going numb, and the metallic taste of his own blood was sickening, but he kept fighting.
He couldn't die, yet... If he gave up, Law's voice... Law's cries would be heard throughout the whole island.
Please, Law, run!
He coughed and almost chocked as a sudden gush of blood filled his month. The warm liquid trickled down his chin, his heartbeat becoming fainter and his breath more laboured with each passing second.
Things weren't looking good for him, but even in that situation, Rocinante's last thoughts were for the child he'd managed to save fr SMILE (One Piece, Dressrosa main flashback AT fic)They had been travelling for nearly six months, and up to that morning the search of the Ope Ope no Mi had been unsuccessful. Rocinante had never given up, though, and his perseverance was finally rewarded when he learnt that a bunch of pirates had gained possession of the fruit. Stealing it from them had been a piece of cake for someone with his powers, and despite a daring escape and a couple of bullets still in his body everything had gone according to plans... Until Vergo found out the truth about him, at least.
Now, they were running away from Doflamingo's right-hand man, but Rocinante was too happy for Law to worry about himself. That longed-for Devil's Fruit would give the boy the powers to heal his otherwise incurable Amber Lead poisoning, and that was what really mattered.
Law had grown a little within the last few months, yet Rocinante—or Corazon, as he was called by the Donquixote Pirates—was still a giant compared to him. And a klutz, Law was reminded whe

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Vignette focused on the Trafalgar Law character from One Piece, and my contribution for the sixth day of the Everything We Love About One Piece event on Tumblr. 
Tumblr post.

I wrote this short story after the release of chapter 796 of One Piece, and this is my (late) reply to some complaints I read around about the conclusion of Dressrosa—or better, of its main fight, since the arc hasn't ended yet.
I had many theories for the conclusion of this arc, and so far no one but the CP-0 returning to the island and a couple of minor things had turned out to be true/correct, but I can somewhat see what Oda could have in store for us.

Dressrosa is an arc that features many anomalies within the usual OP formula; here you are just the most important ones:
- the co-protagonist isn't a member (or future member) of Luffy's crew, but an ally of him (similar to Vivi, but she is part of the crew more than what Law will ever be, in a sense);
- the main villain of the arc had an extended flashback, which was even intertwined with the co-protagonist's;
- the main flashback character aside from Law, Corazon, didn't appear in the cover of either of the two volumes in which said flashback was included;
- we didn't have a final, emotional moment for the ending of the arc yet (aside the recent conclusion of Kyros and Rebecca's story).

Considering all of that, I can understand the feeling of dissatisfaction coming from some readers; actually, I think that's a reaction Oda tried to instil in us on purpose; we should feel Law's point of view, and his feeling of emptiness.
Law did win (with Luffy and others' help, but it's still a victory), however what's the point of victory—or even revenge—if you can't get what you really want? And what Law really wants is Corazon, as he revealed to no other else than Doflamingo himself.

I've my theories about Rocinante possibly surviving beyond the flashback, but I already wrote fanfics and other comments about them so I won't repeat myself.
I will only say this: be patient, because Oda could have a great surprise in store for us. And no, maybe having Law's emotional reaction just after the end of the fight wouldn't have been the best option because—I want to stress this again—Law wanted to stop Doflamingo since he felt indebted to Corazon, but Law's greatest wish is another.

Furthermore, why hadn't Oda shown Doflamingo's face, yet? If, as I believe, Doflamingo used his shades to hide his true emotions to the world, the best moment to show them would be a situation in which he wouldn't really be able to hide his feelings anymore. And who could trigger (pun totally intended    ) in him a deep emotional reaction?
If you really think about it, it's the same person whom Law wants desperately back—same as most of the OP fandom, that shares his same point of view at this point of the story (if you notice, aside from Rebecca's memories we only saw Law's thoughts when he recognizes Sengoku's name in chapter 796).

Let's face it: we all miss a certain klutz, and some of us also hope that there is still some good left in his elder brother, since it was hinted in the manga several times.
Having positive expectations isn't naive, but simply reflects an optimistic stance towards life—which is often hard, but not everything that happens is necessarily bad. Isn't this one of the main messages of One Piece, after all?


P.S. Law's thoughts about Dressrosa and its people having lived in an illusion is based on something The-Replicant said while we were talking about the possible messages of this arc.  ^^

P.P.S. I reworded the ending line for a better rhythm, and changed "Mansherry" into "Manshelly" (I'm still unsure about how to spell her name, to be honest, but at least it's consistent now).
I also wrote a sequel to this fic, titled "Awakening". Both can be read on their own though, since they are basically one shots.