Head Towards the Sun (My Broken Corazón)
(*crossposted on Ao3*) Masterpost
Chapter 2
It's been a week since Fisher Tigers’ attack on Mariejois, and many Celestial Dragons are either having the Navy search for their slaves or are doing it themselves. One had taken it a step further. In the paper, the First Lady of the late Saint Camael, Saint Silene, has had ‘Missing Pet’ posters made for two of her favorite slaves: a man and a teenage girl. There were no pictures, but there were drawings, and good ones, too.
There have been a few pirates whom, for whatever reason, the Navy has been unable to get photographs, so drawings have been submitted based on descriptions from Marines and civilians who have seen the pirates. They were never good, and usually inaccurate, what with too many contradicting inputs and giving the artist fuck all to work with besides basics, like hair color or noticeable scars. However, these posters could be considered accurate to such an extent that they might be mistaken for pictures if it hadn't been stated otherwise.
The girl had asymmetrical eyes and auburn red hair in an elaborate updo, wearing a white kimono with a blue delphinium floral pattern and a pale pink obi. For a slave, she looked rather clean and well-kept. The poster said that she was an “exotic pet” from Wano, and most likely traveling with the man. The reward for her return was 50 million Berry.
The other escaped slave was a tall, sinewy, scar-laden man with short, shaggy, golden hair that covered his eyes. His clothes were plain grey, but dirty and ragged; nothing at all like the girls. The poster stated he was a mute Silent Man, having eaten the Calm-Calm Fruit and unable to speak. The reward for his return was 70 million Berry.
Senior Pink shook his head, removing the glorified wanted posters from the paper, and set them aside. He felt bad for the two now free slaves. It's bad enough as is to be branded by the Celestial Dragons, knowing if you are caught, you'll be returned to your tormentors, but to have your face plastered on a poster, telling the world that you were an escaped slave with a reward? The world truly was cruel.
From his peripheral vision, Pink saw the posters move and turned to see the newest member of the Family picking them up for a look-over.
Law was, as far as the Family knew, the only survivor of Flevance. He was also suffering from amber-lead poisoning (Doflamingo made sure the Family knew it was poison that was slowly killing the boy and not a true illness that can be spread via contact or exposure), and during the year he spent with the Family, his dark skin gradually developed pure white patches. The unnaturally white coloring made it obvious he didn't have vitiligo, and if that were not enough, the difference in touch would be. It still threw Pink for a loop every time he touched a white patch; the skin no longer felt like smooth skin but instead like smooth lead.
Like someone had poured liquid metal onto the kid's arm.
“Why are they calling them pets when they're people?”
Senior Pink blinked at the boy before looking at the posters. Surely, having lived in White Town, he had seen a Celestial Dragon? Surely he knew about their slaves. Unless the World Nobles never visited. The kid could also have been too young to remember if they had.
“Have you heard of Celestial Dragons before? Or heard someone talk about the World Nobles?” He asked, watching as the boy's brow furrowed in thought. After a moment, he nodded slowly. “Once. One of them visited during a festival, but my father told us not to leave the house while they were there. Never said why.”
Pink nodded in understanding. He'd have done the same thing. “For good reason,” he told Law. “Celestial Dragons have slaves and have been known to pick people of interest off the street to make into spouses or slaves. If they think you are being disrespectful, you don't do as they say, or even if you look at them, they'll kill you. Your father must have wanted to avoid any chance encounters, hence you all stayed home.”
Law scowled, his mouth set in a hard line as he looked back at the posters. “So, these people were slaves. And their so-called owner wants them back.”
Pink nodded with a hum of agreement, and when nothing else was said, he turned back to the newspaper. Eventually, he heard Law walk away, taking the posters with him, as he could see that they hadn't returned to the table. He didn't ask for them back, nor did he ask Law why he took them. It wasn't until about a month later that he saw the posters again.
The boy shared a room with Baby 5 and Buffalo, though he had chosen to take the bunk above Baby 5 on the right-hand side of the room rather than the bunk above Buffalo. Each bunk was decorated differently. Buffalo had his wall decorated with pictures of different types of graffiti art as well as a wide variety of birds. Baby 5 had old drawings pinned up alongside pages torn from magazines about bead-work and handmade jewelry.
Law, with his claimed top bunk, had more wall space than the other two, but it wasn't as decorated. The last time Pink had looked, there was a midnight blue tie decorated with constellations pinned to the wall (Doflamingo had bought it for the boy when he asked), a drawing of a bracelet tacked to the wall with a copy Baby 5 made hanging above it, and a picture frame that held a pressed flower with orange and pink petals. Underneath the flower were the words Apache Magic, which Giolla said was the name of a cactus flower.
There were now two new additions, however. The ‘Missing Pet’ posters. Only now they looked like the wanted posters issued for pirates. Pink isn't sure how the kid did it, but looking at the posters, you'd never be able to tell they were once anything else. The girl was named Grus Japonensis, and the man was named Arremon Taciturnus. Peculiar names, but Law was a strange kid. Why the kid felt the need to give them a wanted poster, he couldn't say, nor did he plan to ask. He didn't see the harm in the kid imagining the former slaves becoming pirates with odd names.
Rosinante stared at himself in the mirror as he painted his lips with dark red lipstick. He had faint memories of putting on his mother's makeup when he was younger and finding joy in it. He wore it now to help hide, but it still brought him some enjoyment, even now, however faint it may be. He rubbed his lips together and then smiled a bit when he finished. His bangs had been trimmed so he could easily see his carmine eyes looking back at himself. Rosi looked a little different from his wanted poster, but not enough. He still had to use eyeliner to draw a design under his eyes.
“You look so pretty when you cry, pet.”
Rosi swallowed the lump in his throat and quickly grabbed the eyeliner, removing the cap. The lady in Sabaody said it was waterproof and would work for what he had in mind, better than his original plan to use eyeshadow; something about it lasting longer. Looking back up at himself, he thought about drawing teardrops. Would that be too obvious? Or would he just look… pretty, like she said? That's what he wanted, wasn't it? To look different but pretty? If crying made him pretty, then he should draw tears.
“Oh, Rosi, mi corazón, don't cry.”
Rosinante stopped whatever memory tried to surface.
Mi corazón. My heart. The voice he often remembered but still forced himself to forget always called him the nicest of things. Rosi looked down at his sweater, at the large pink heart in the middle. There were pleasant feelings he didn't understand that came with the familiar voice, and despite himself, he couldn't hold back a smile. He might not want to remember the voice, because although it brought nice feelings, there was something more at the end of them all, something painful and lonely and heartbreakingly naive he didn't want to face. Not yet.
“You'll always be mi corazón, Rosi.”
Well, that settled it then. Carefully, Rosinante drew three small, blue hearts under his right eye before moving to do the same under his left. Once they were colored in, he took a good look at himself in the mirror. The hearts weren't the best he'd seen and could use a little work, but anyone could tell they were hearts, and that was all that mattered. He looked different enough from his wanted poster that people shouldn't second-guess it. So long as no one looked too closely, he should be fine. There was a knock on the bathroom door, followed by a soft voice.
“Rosi? Are you finished? Sarkani will be back any minute now.”
The soft voice belonged to Hotaru, the teenager who escaped with him from Mariejoi. Sarkani had also escaped with them, though he didn't have a wanted poster like Rosinante and Hotaru. Shortly after escaping, the trio fled to Fishman Island, with a small detour at Sabaody, and have stayed here for the past three months. The locals weren't overly fond of humans, but once they realized Rosi and Hotaru meant no trouble or harm, they warmed up to them easily. It was easier for Sarkani as he was a mink, and fishmen had no bad history with anyone from the mink tribe.
When they first arrived, Sarkani posted a poster at the port with his Den Den number, indicating that three people needed transportation: one to Zou and two to North Blue. It was a gamble, asking people to take them to two very hard-to-reach locations, but it was a gamble they were willing to take. It wasn't until recently that someone reached out and offered to take Rosi and Hotaru across the calm belt to the North Blue. Sarkani said they were what the world called hunters: sailors who hunted sea kings for a living. They crossed the calm belts often and with ease. They sell sea king meat, bones, and other parts to all four Blues, both halves of the Grand Line, and even to islands within the calm belts.
Before these sailors showed up, Rosi and Hotaru had been learning to read and write. They still had a ways to go, but they had the basics, even if their spelling wasn't the best. All three of them had jobs as well to help pay for the hotel room they stayed in and the food they needed. With all three of them working and the hotel room being so cheap, they managed to save up their travel expenses with plenty of extra money.
Hotaru had turned in her resignation at the teahouse where she worked, and Rosi did the same at the clothing store where he worked. While Hotaru had enjoyed her time at the tea shop, she hadn't grown attached to her coworkers or boss. Not as much as Rosinante had with his. Tempest, a seahorse merman with golden scales that ran the register, had cried when Rosi told him he was leaving. Pappag, Tempest's pet starfish who had taught himself to speak, had cried as well. His boss, Brandin, a red-bellied piranha fishman and Tempest's husband, had shed a few tears but wasn't nearly as emotional as his husband and their talking pet. Which, considering the merman was practically ready to give birth, made sense.
It still confused Rosi, but if a fishman had prominent seahorse genetics, then their body made it possible for them to get pregnant and have babies, like Tempest. It was very confusing and hard to wrap his head around, but he eventually got used to seeing the pregnant man on a near-daily basis.
There was a knock on the bathroom door again, and Rosinante realized he had gotten lost in his thoughts. Quickly, he packed away his makeup before opening the door with a smile. Hotaru was a freckled, tall fifteen-year-old who, if her growth spurt last week was anything to go by, was still growing. To avoid being traced back to her roots, she no longer wore kimonos but instead opted for dresses, as pants made her uncomfortable. Today, she wore a teal wraparound dress that reached her calves, with a black scarf tied around her hair, covering her auburn hair. It had taken Sarkani over a month to get her to tie the scarf under her chin instead of her nose. It was too reminiscent of a ninja from Wano, he had said. Rosinante had just thought it was weird.
“I like the hearts,” she said, pointing to the space under her left eye. “They suit you.”
Rosinante beamed.
She smiled and shook her head as she turned away, heading towards their shared living space as the door opened. Sarkani was a red panda mink that was shorter than Hotaru, wore jumpsuits constantly, and turned his nose up at shoes. He looked from Hotaru to Rosinante, both dressed, packed, and ready to go. Smiling sadly, he said, “Alright. Let's go. You both got a captain to meet.”
Monkey D. Goi was a large man, both in height and build, with tan skin, blue eyes, and black hair that was beginning to grey. A muted green tropical shirt decorated in pineapples was left open, revealing a wide array of scars, most of which Rosi guessed must have come from sea kings. When he smiled, it was with all of his teeth and made the man look wild.
“So, you two must be the ones wanting to get to the North Blue?”
Rosinante nodded with Hotaru.
“Which of you is which?”
“I'm Hotaru, he's Rosinante.”
Rosi raised a hand in a wave and shifted his weight slightly as the man gave them both a once-over. “I ain't no passenger ship so I won't be taking your money,” he said, surprising even Sarkani. “Instead, you'll pay me back in labor. Rosinante, you look like you'll be fine working with the men. Hotaru, no offense, you look like the wind could carry you away.”
Judging by the noise that left the girl beside him, Rosi thought she was taking offense. Which, to be fair, the man wasn't wrong; she did look like a strong wind could knock her down. While she was growing taller, she wasn't gaining much muscle mass, not to mention her fast metabolism that kept her from gaining any body fat. All of this makes her look thin and weak. She wasn't completely weak, not like when she was younger. Sarkani had been teaching her and Rosi how to defend themselves, but it wasn't much, considering the mink was a former acupuncturist before his time at Mariejois; still, it was better than nothing.
Goi raised an eyebrow at Hotaru and stared at her until she finally dropped her glare and mumbled under her breath. He nodded before continuing, “You won't be able to help with most everything else, but I'll have Gopher show you around the kitchen and give you a rundown of his rules. He's the head chef, and in that kitchen, what he says goes, got it?” At Hotaru's nod, he turned back to Rosinante. “You can help the boys with sailing and maintaining the ship. A sea king shows up, and you stick with either me or Alexia. One way or another, you'll learn how to take one down quickly and easily, and then how to gut it efficiently. Understood?” Rosi nodded quickly. It was a bit much to take in, but it didn't seem unreasonable.
“Alright, Sarkani said one of you has a devil fruit.” Rosi raised his hand. “I'll tell my men to keep a closer eye on you. Don't want to risk losing you to Calypso; she can be a cruel mistress, especially to you fruit users.”
Goi turned on his heel, making his way up the gangplank. “I'll leave you to your goodbyes. When you're done, come on up, and we'll set sail.”
Rosinante watched the man board his ship and begin to shout orders to his men. He seemed like a decent person, though Rosi didn't have many people to compare him to, so maybe he just had low standards.
Beside him, Sarkani released a shaky breath. Rosi looked at his friend and smiled, getting a small smile in return. “Wasn't how I thought that was going to go, but it's better than it could have gone. You'll both have more money when you reach the North at least.” The mink's face fell as tears gathered in his eyes. Unable to resist, Rosi picked up both him and Hotaru, hugging them tightly.
“I'm going to miss you two!” Sarkani cried, returning the hug. “Remember what I said, okay? You two hit the stomach nerve number 9 at full force, and you run. Got it?” They both nodded, and they held him tighter.
During their time on Fishman Island, when they all decided they were going to different places than the mink, he taught them how to prevent capture again. Hitting something the mink called “stomach nerve number 9”, which was a specific location on the neck that, if you hit it just right with a great amount of pressure, would knock someone out. If hit hard enough, it could cause serious injury or even death. It was better than nothing. Now, knowing who their travel companions were and what they did for a living, Rosinante and Hotaru planned to ask the sailors to show them how to defend themselves with weapons during their trip.
They won't get captured so easily. Not this time.
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