Donquixote Rosinante really is just the most anti-allegiance character ever huh
He's an exiled Celestial Dragon who became a Marine, despite his morals fitting the Revolutionary Army more, and went undercover with the Donquixote Pirates, before completely abandoning everyone for a D clan child. All while committing a truly uncountable amount of arson crimes and lying like it pays his bills.
YAY AN EXCUSE TO RAMBLE ABOUT ONE OF MY AUS, GO MY OUTLINE & BULLET POINTS!!!!!! 💞💞💞💞
—·–-–·—
In this concept, only Doflamingo and Rosinante swap roles. They do not swap personalities, and nobody else is shuffled.
The butterfly effect is simple; Sengoku is told to go to the Red Port instead of Downs. There he finds lil baby Doflamingo (+homing's head) and decides to keep him, despite the screeching and biting.
Doflamingo grows up in the Marines, befriending the Firestorm Squad more reluctantly and being inclined towards the Logia Trio overall. Still thinks Morgan & Nezumi are idiots though. Didn't care as much about Ohara, other than fearful curiosity about the Poneglyphs thing. Absolutely hates Garp.
Rosinante, meanwhile, is found by the Suites. They were looking for Doffy after he didn't return and instead find poor lil Rosi hiding under some rubble, sobbing about a dead dad & missing brother. They put the dots together, realize that Conqueror's Haki is genetic, and decide to groom keep him instead, under the assumption Doffy died on his way to Mariejois. Or the head thing actually worked, who knows.
Doflamingo becomes your typical Marine Commander, doing frontline work instead of undercover, becoming quickly known for his ruthlessness and terrifying Devil Fruit. He thrives in the power of being a Marine, though gets twitchy whenever it's brought up that he technically works for Celestial Dragons. It's considered a curse to get assigned under him.
Rosinante becomes a crime lord, dealing far more in information and weapons over slavery (since he considers it disturbing). The Nagi-Nagi still finds it's way to him, and he quickly becomes known as "Cryptid" for the fact that no one outside his allies has ever gotten a clear look at him and lived to tell the tale.
Rosi keeps contact with Shamrock, who is no longer part of the Firestorm. Barely tolerates the Suites, a fact he makes known. He only keeps them alive/around because they're useful (and the only other people who knew Doffy). While he generally doesn't like children, the ones in his crew are treated very well.
In the Marines, Doflamingo is regarded as someone you can have a casual conversation with, but not a good friend in the long run unless you're part of the handful that knew him before the power got to his head. Generally dangerous and volatile, especially since he refuses to take his meds. Never trust his strings, ever.
Among his allies and crew, Rosinante is know for being gentle. Kind, caring, observant, and calm above all else. Always there with a quiet word of reassurance. He absolutely despises both the Celestial Dragons and how the world currently operates, a violent reputation left in his wake as he tears his way through the foundations in an attempt to make the corrupt succumb to their own cruelty.
Doflamingo ends up joining the Majesty Pirates (different name because Rosi would never replace his blood family or disgrace the name like that) after an incident in one of their territories where his patrol got ambushed by nobodies. He was the only survivor, among both the marines & pirates, thanks to his overpowered Fruit and well-trained Conqueror's Haki.
Rosinante finds him severely injured and brings him back to Spider Miles to heal up, then invites him to join the crew. Doffy makes a call to Sengoku first, where he permits Doffy to stay and get information on how to take the crew down. Doffy is more conflicted about this entire idea than Canon!Rosi was, but still decides to go through with it under the idea of forcing Rosinante to join him in the Marines once it's all done.
Law approaches the Majesty Pirates in hopes of finding the violent reputation true. It is, in several ways. Rosinante allows him to join out of empathy for his situation and ofc seeing Doffy in him (fondly). Law stays because of the comfort, the training, and the violence against the world but never each other. Rosinante doesn't actively send the kids into dangerous situations, but if they choose to tag along, they can help while the rest of the crew makes sure they stay safe.
Doflamingo does not harm the children, Rosi would kill him, but does openly hate the Suites/other members of the crew, which Rosinante doesn't mind since he 90% agrees lmao. So long as the kids are safe he doesn't care what Doffy does. The Suites need to be alive to be useful, not unharmed.
Vergo is sent to infiltrate the Marines and Doflamingo is given the Heart Suite position. Vergo is sent to infiltrate to help deconstruct any Celestial Dragon influence in the Marines and also just steal information, Rosi still hides the entire thing from Doffy simply because he doesn't think it needs to be mentioned.
Doflamingo ends up interested in Law after the kid fucking stabs him for "literally no reason" (made a joke about Flevance getting burned down because of propaganda + stupid people) so resolves to keep an eye on the brat & not rat him out to Rosinante for the stab thing. Also yk the similarities and projection.
And then he overhears the "D" and has a brief crisis. Eventually strings Law up onto a rooftop, tries to explain how being a D around people like him and Rosi is dangerous, ends up spilling that he's still loyal to the Marines, Law runs off. Law doesn't rat him out, so Doflamingo later kidnaps him to get the damn brat a cure. Stupid empathy. Stupid D clan. Stupid doctors (insert the sound effect of collapsing buildings).
Law eventually warms up to him after an incident where Angry-Drunk Doffy rants to the stars about how unfair the world is and how nobody Like Them (lumping Ds and Celestials into the same not-mortal idea 👀) deserves to be treated like this. Law starts calling him Doffy, Doflamingo nearly cries but he isn't he swears fuck off. Devil Fruit show offs mainly consist of Sky Path because it's cool and useful, but also regular string tricks.
Rosinante, meanwhile, sees no problem with his big bro taking one of the kids on a road trip to find a cure, especially since it eliminates prejudiced asshole doctors along the way! He's so happy Doffy's actually bonding with Law, he'd gotten along great with all the other kids but him, so it's good they're finally friends! :)
Doffy gets a call from Rosi telling him about the Op-Op trade and ordering him to come meet back up with the crew on the Ravenette Owl (again, different name bc of different captain). Doffy panics, decides to just steal the Fruit and drag Law back with him to the Marines bc he sees literally no other option.
Rosi gets the call from Vergo about Doffy being a traitor and shows up in a vengeful rage because this is the second time Doflamingo has betrayed him because of his own goals (first with homing & mariejois, now with law & the op-op fruit) Doffy shuts Law in the treasure chest, strings both it and Law's mouth shut, tells the brat he loves him, then turns to face the music Silence.
Doffy uses his best acting skills and convinces Rosi to send everyone else after the Marines under the assumption he dropped Law & the Op-Op with them. They yell at and argue with each other, Doffy maintaining his confident grin while Rosi is fighting back tears.
Eventually, Doflamingo says the right words for Rosinante to pull the trigger. Several times actually, just keeps shooting until he runs out of bullets and Doffy's signature vanishes from his Observation.
He immediately regrets it. Falls to his knees, drops the gun, cradles Doffy's body and sobs. Screaming apologies, desperately trying to see if he can revive him, Conqueror's Haki lashing around in response to all the emotion, Nagi-Nagi going haywire— the whole shebang. He literally has to be knocked out and dragged away from the body by the rest of the crew.
Law is still in the unmoved chest to hear all this, so it's safe to say his relationship with Rosinante is complicated. Later ends up naming his crew the Heart Pirates in honor of Doffy's position, with that grinning Jolly Roger topped by a crown to mock the Majesty Pirates'.
Rosinante locks himself away for a few weeks after the incident, only eventually pulling himself together because he needs to take care of the kids. Becomes a lot more tired and reserved in private, still putting on his happy-go-lucky calmness act for anyone outside his crew. Puts up with absolutely none of the Suites shit anymore, they walk on eggshells around him.
He refuses to get involved in Kaidou & Ceaser's... Whatever that is. He has no interest in artificial Devil Fruits, dealing in the real deal is much more consistent in results. Later holds the Heavenly Tributes hostage and becomes a Warlord.
He takes over Dressrosa much more calmly, simply hypnotizing the King into publicly announcing the Majesty Pirates are their allies. He still wanted Dressrosa because the Suites convinced him it was his birth right, it's what Doffy would've wanted, and he doesn't trust King Riku to rule his ancestral homeland. Riku is still officially the King, but everything is being decided by Rosi.
Rosinante takes in Monet & Sugar, giving them their Devil Fruits, but doesn't actually use Sugar's for anything other than animals into toys to entertain the citizens & draw tourism. Prisoners are still fighting in the Colleseum though.
Rosinante is generally pretty calm and complacent at Warlord meetings, showing up to them consistently. He avoids the Marine Parent Trio, especially Sengoku, after finding out through Vergo that they raised Doffy. He still feels regret for that whole incident and gets twitchy/violent/teary whenever Doflamingo is mentioned.
The other Warlords find him unnerving, which is a general sentiment among the public really. Shamrock still visits, even after Doffy's murder, because he knows Rosi regrets it and will never do something like that to someone he cares about ever again.
—·–-–·—
Bonus Notes
•Rosi has his cane, Doffy has his sunglasses. Assistive devices for the disabled blorbos!
•Doffy has medication, as mentioned above, he just doesn't take it. Rosi is unaware that he even needs medication
•Rosi still gets hurt & scars very easily while Doffy remains mostly unscarred due to his Fruit and penchant for protecting himself over others. For example, Doffy got the shoulder scar but didn't fuck up his leg during the Firestorm vs Whitebeards encounter
•Rosi's coat (post-minion incident) has patches of pink feathers among the black, forming small sporadic heart shapes
•Doffy thought Rosi was dead until the bounty posters showed up and he freaked the fuck out over it, tried to insist that the Marines focus on finding him but Sengoku turned the idea down. Doffy was upset at him for weeks
•Rosi is wanted for arson, devil fruit & weapon trafficking, sabotage of supply lines, destruction of several noble ships & vacation homes, indirect liberation of slaves, information smuggling, and several counts of stealing heavenly tributes. Also just general piracy
•Doffy genuinely believed Rosi wouldn't kill him. Rosi believed Doffy was about to shoot him (was he? who knows)
•Rosi knows from the beginning that Doffy "was" a Marine, but believes they lost his loyalty after the incident that lead to Rosi finding him. Doffy meanwhile has never been the most devoted to the Marines, but he still prefers them over pirates (being raised around that much propaganda does that)
So i have seen many fanwork potraited Doffy as a mama’s boy, and while i absolutely love this concept, i see that in the canon flashback Doffy rarely interact with his mom and mostly interact with his dad, although he mostly just being annoyed or furious with dad. Of course Doffy loves his mom a lot, i mean his mom’s death effected him a lot and he kinda blame his dad for her death, but the only time in those flashback that he directly interact with his mom is when he and Rosi brought food home for her.
On the other hand, Rosi is the one who always stick to his mom, and later on, stick to his brother. Rosi didn’t really interact with their dad. Homing only hug his younger son 2 time: protected him from the mob, and kept him away from Doffy, who was a furious mess with a loaded gun. Rosi was terrified at that time, but he was trying to stop Doffy from shooting their dad, not protecting their dad from being shot by Doffy, and that’s quite a different. Even when talking to Law about how his brother “was a monster”, Rosi’s flashback for that statemen was the time Doffy awaken his conquerous haki, not the time Doffy shot their dad.
Do you think it kinda interesting, since Doffy hate his dad so much yet in his flashback he had interacted with his dad more than with his mom, while Rosi doesn’t really acknowledge his dad (like he did mention “his parent”, but that’s all), and when he was young he had been sticking to his mom and brother more than to his dad.
Anon I have never thought about it this way and I am having SO many thoughts now, thank you for opening my eyes
It's probably just because of the Narrative (cough and also Oda's habit of side-lining female characters especially moms cough cough) but you're absolutely correct, Doffy is never scene directly interacting with his Mom alone while Rosi is always near her. Meanwhile, Doffy was always focused on Homing and Rosi barely interacted with the man.
And oh doesn't that just make the tragedy all the sweeter? A boy who looked up to his Father, only for said father to make so many horrible mistakes it drives the boy to make his own? Another boy and his mother dragged along through all the chaos, desperately trying to keep a handle on everything, only for the mother to die and the boy to fail at keeping whoever's left alive together?
I will be Thinking about this, thank you Anon, please return 💞💞💞💞💞
Has Rosi ever got too feral that even Doffy has to do something to stop his brother?
Depends on the AU! I've got so many of them, so I'll just mention these two scenarios~ 💞
—·–-–·—
In main timeline, he did have to intervene once shortly after Rosinante joined the Donquixote Family Pirates. They were meeting with another crew for negotiations and one of the henchmen decided it would be hilarious to throw a knife through the book Rosinante was reading in the corner.
Said book was one of the last copies of it's kind left. A treasured piece of Rosi's Hoard. Rosinante stared at the damage for several seconds before promptly damn-near launching himself across the room to strangle that bastard. Doffy had to use a LOT of strings to drag him off the poor idiot 💀
Yes Rosinante was allowed, encouraged even, to kill the bastard. But not with his bare hands! He has a gun, he should use it! At least in Doffy's opinion.
Speak of the devil, Doffy didn't think much of this incident. That's a normal reaction to someone breaking a piece of a Celestial's Hoard, if a bit more feral than he'd prefer or expect out of his shy weakling of a lil brother <3
—·–-–·—
In any of my various Marine Doflamingo AUs, he's far more desensitized to Rosinante (more accurately, Crow)'s feral behavior. What happens when a Celestial is raised by D clan and all. It still makes him twitch though, Rosi is solidified in his mind as meek and caring, so seeing how Crow is quick to resort to violence is a bit baffling every time. Eventually he gets over it.
The one time the feralness went too far and he was actively present to intervene was that incident with Axe Morgan. Doflamingo was watching from a distance, curious to see what's about to happen, and then promptly had to step in & join the "holding Crow back" party. Soooo many strings keeping everyone seperated. Eventually just picked up Rosi and yanked them both into a Sky Path so his lil bro could calm down 🤭
—·–-–·—
Thanks for the Ask! Come back please, I am eternally bored and therefore impossible to annoy! Even if the executive dysfunction means it'll take a bit before I answer 💞💞💞
I like to think Rosi has mild memory lost about his past, while Doffy remember clearly everything from their past. Rosi remember the main events, Doffy remember all the details. Rosi remember emotion clearer (what make him afraid/ uncomfortable, how hurt/ scare he was,…), Doffy remember both emotion and events
I wouldn't specifically call it memory loss in the way I imagine it, more so that Rosinante aggressively avoids Thinking about that time period of his life that the memories simply slip away easier.
There's bits and pieces that he remembers of course, mainly stuff about his Mom, but whenever he tries to think back all he can remember is blood and fire and arrows (and a single gunshot)
Rosi definitely remembers in feelings & flashes around that time more, which is a bit unnerving to him considering his usually excellent memory (Devil Fruit issues not withstanding)
Meanwhile, Doflamingo remembers every single event– but cannot place how he was feeling during any of it beyond surface level/assumed "Anger". He knows what happened, but how he was feeling during any of it? He has to guess and that usually means he assumes he was angry.
They're both so fucked up and desperately need therapy 💞💞💞💞💞
advantages of a fragile mind? whats that one about? 👀👀
That WIP is a silly fun AU oneshot where Doflamingo can see/hear Rosinante's ghost! Doffy's the only one who knows about ghosts being real, and Rosi's having fun using all that Little Brother Behavior + ghost powers to be an absolute menace. This somehow ends up fixing canon 💞
Not much to say, so I'll include an excerpt under the cut 😋
—·–-–·—
When he tilts his head, the spot drifts into his blind side, and he realizes why.
Rosinante, the persistent ghost of him, is laying across the loveseat like a particularly smug cat. The expression on his face makes his position look comfortable despite his height. He raises a hand and waves, smile widening like the evil bastard he is. Doflamingo blinks, eyes darting around as he slowly processes that nobody else can see the specter.
He opens his mouth, but is promptly cut off. "They won't believe you, Doffy. Sorry about that, I can only show myself to you." Rosi teases with a pitying smirk. Doflamingo's own smile twitches as he fights to look consistently calm and relaxed and in control.
He storms over to the loveseat and sits, flinching at the sudden– drop? increase? both??? in temperature. His nervous system does not appreciate the feeling. Even as Rosi yelps, phasing through both the couch and floor before reappearing in the next blink, pouting next to him.
—·–-–·—
Thanks for the Ask, Anon! Please feel free to return, I'm impossible to annoy and forever bored! 💞💞💞💞💞
I’m very intrigued by the “No Mission” AU that you mentioned… 👀
No Mission is yet another Donquibros centric fix it au, and it's exactly what it says on the tin!
It's pretty similar to my Fight Fire with Fire AU, in that it's about the Donquibros working together! But this time, they're on the Marine side, not pirates <3
Here's what I've got so far!
Sengoku refused to let Rosinante infiltrate the Donquixote Family Pirates, despite his begging and several pages of arguments as to why it's a "good idea".
Rosinante is briefly very upset about this, signs up for some direct combat missions to get it out of his system (something he hasn't done since he was 13, for the record). After he calms down, he starts thinking of other ways to more indirectly stop Doffy, or at least do damage control. Doflamingo is still his responsibility as far as he's concerned, even if Sengoku won't let him deal with him directly.
After a while, he remembers Dressrosa exists and it's connection to his family. Immediately realizes that there's absolutely no way Doflamingo forgot about it, and that he would definitely want to "reclaim" it. So, he asks for a Marine base to be set up on the island, and to be the one in command of it. Using all those charming nepo baby connections <3
While the base is being organized, a new face joins the ranks among Marineford. A man named Vergo. Rosinante is immediately suspicious because he checks his file (←does this with everyone) and learns he's from Downs. You know, the bad place. Rosi keeps his guard up and eventually, using his superior spy skills, figures out that Vergo is a spy for Doflamingo. Promptly gets the man called out and imprisoned before he can tell Doffy about his existence.
Once the Marine base is set up, he drags Smoker & Hina along with him because Clingy™ and they don't have any problem with this so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ All three of them still regularly visit Marineford though, force of habit.
Meanwhile, Law still joins the Donquixote Family Pirates, but due to a Lack of Cora-san; he never leaves. And he doesn't get the Op-Op on Minion Island.
Don't get me wrong, Doflamingo never gets it either. Neither do the Marines, or the World Government. The raid on the Barrels Pirates base still happened, but by the time the DQ crew got there, the place was on fire and the Fruit was gone.
Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the island, Tsuru meets with Rosinante who had snuck onto her ship. He's carrying young XDrake and claims that's why he left the ship, a panicked Haki signature. His initial excuse for sneaking into the mission in the first place was simply because he wanted to try and help take down Doflamingo, something nobody questions because He Does That™
The Op-Op Fruit is declared simply lost, because nobody ever bothered to check Rosinante's pockets or ask why he immediately went to his room at Marineford after returning from the mission. Rosi would never let a Fruit that powerful fall into the hands of the Celestial Dragons, so it's kept in a tightly sealed box in his Hoard.
Law gets sicker and sicker, eventually ending up bedbound and mostly unresponsive. The only reason he's still alive is sheer D clan & unawakened Conqueror's Haki typical stubbornness. Also plot, but that's less interesting.
Eventually, Doflamingo becomes a Warlord. He holds off on his Dressrosa takeover plan due to the loss of Vergo and the presence of a Marine base, who's mysterious commander has a fearsome reputation for burning down any pirate ships that dare attack the island.
When Doflamingo shows up at Marineford for his first Warlord Meeting, Rosinante meets him at the docks! Finally reunited, with words this time! Rosi is very excited to see him, and it's partly genuine because he has Plans. Doffy is so baffled, especially upon learning that sweet precious would-never-hurt-a-fly Rosi is the terrifying Dressrosa Marine base commander he's heard so much about. Rosi never mentions that he was the one who took down Vergo, for obvious reasons.
Doffy & Rosi talk a lot, whenever Doffy is in Marine territory and Rosi can make an excuse to see him, and eventually Law gets brought up. Rosinante takes from that conversation to the next Warlord Meeting to decide what he's going to do about this.
He asks Doffy to grab Law, takes them both to his Hoard, and shows off the Op-Op. Talks to Doflamingo very pointedly (seastone loaded gun sitting there blatantly) and explains that Immortality Sucks Ass No Matter What™ so they're feeding this thing to the kid and letting him heal himself. What does Doffy get out of this? A goddamn doctor for his disaster crew. Oh, and yk, Law's loyalty to him will be rapidly increased and all that and he'll be a terrifying fighter. That stuff too.
In exchange for all this, Rosinante agrees to let Doflamingo set up his crew's base in Dressrosa and let him roam the country freely. Even introduces him to King Riku personally, allowing Doffy to go for a more subtle, behind the scenes method of taking over Dressrosa.
This AU is really about changing who's pulling the strings when it comes to the Donquibros relationship. In the main timeline, Rosinante was in Doffy's territory, surrounded by Doffy's allies. In this world, Doflamingo is in Rosi's territory, surrounded by Rosi's allies. And of all people, Rosinante knows Doflamingo. Knows how to talk to him, manipulate his lack of morality, nudge him in the right direction, and most importantly? Seperate him from those Suite bastards.
If you have any more questions, I'd be happy to answer them! I haven't gotten around to exploring what changes during the canon timepoint or most of Law's shenanigans, so ask away! It'll help me figure things out! 💞
This au has a plotted multichap called "aimless (it's still you)" that I'll get around to someday in the next century lmao
