other than my Crocodad DofuWani bullshit (which is now at 22k and yes this is the first im mentioning it here whoops its still only half done. send help) my other brainrot which i have been thinking about today is AceLaw.
More specifically, an AceLaw where they met shortly after Ace entered the Grand Line, started dating, Marineford happened as normal... And then the plot starts. With Luffy and Law and the insurmountable mountain of grief they're both shouldering.
I have something relatively short (2k) to post about it soon, courtesy of exploring exactly how many characters will discord let me cram into a single message (got to -8808 lol) over in MDL
Here's an excerpt bc i ought to make some use of this blog:
Pulling out the leather-bound journal, he set it carefully on Luffy's lap.
"Please don't destroy it. There's only this one copy."
Luffy glanced up at him, baffled. It was better than anger or sadness, at least.
Law motioned towards the book wordlessly and leaned against the desk; No description he could give for the book would be better than Luffy just taking a look himself.
He pulled the cover open gingerly, recoiling slightly at the sight of the first page. It was inked almost fully black, with only three coloured letters right in the middle of it: red A, blue S and yellow L.
Their first Jolly Roger, Ace had told him. The one they flew over the treehouse right up until they abandoned it after their brother's death.
Law supposed it might still hang there, if no one had bothered to take it down.
Luffy whipped his head up, staring at him with wide eyes.
"Keep going," Law encouraged. "He wanted you to see it, eventually."
Looking back down, Luffy turned the page. And then again, and again, and again, moving through the pages fast enough to make it clear he wasn't actually reading any of the words, barely looking at the pictures.
If he was anything like Ace, he likely couldn't read all that well, not even the carefully calligraphed words Ace had bribed Law into writing for him.
That was fine, though. There would be time for reading, later. Luffy already knew most of those stories, anyway. He had been there for them.
The only novelty would be getting to learn Ace's perspective on them; Something that, judging by his words, Luffy could clearly use.
It didn't take him long to reach the end, flipping the pages faster and faster until he reached the end of the filled portion. The few dozen empty pages fell towards the rest easily, opening the journal on the last page, the one Ace had most often returned to.
Luffy's hand carefully traced the edges of the portrait carefully inserted into the back cover.
"This..." he trailed off.
Law gave him a moment. When it became clear he wasn't going to continue, he filled in himself.
"Is Sabo, yes."
Luffy looked up at him again. There was old pain filling them, old tears.
"Ace had been working on it for a long time," Law elaborated. "I have a whole binder of his previous attempts, too. He wasn't happy with how this one turned out, either, but he said it was the closest he could get." And then, because he had been curious for the longest time- "Did he get it right?"
Luffy hunched his shoulder. "...I don't know," he said. "I don't- I didn't remember what Sabo looked like, anymore."
It's been ten years, to be fair. If someone had asked Law to describe Cora-san, he would have had troubles, too. Feathery coat, heart-dingled hat, wide lipstick smile, spikes under his eye, that much he remembered.
But how many spikes? Under which eye? What colour were the eyes themselves?
Time had an unfortunate habit of sanding away the details, taking the sharp edges of memories and tumbling them into blunt, opaque things, like sea glass.
It did the same to grief; That was the price you paid for healing.
