Marked

Title: Marked
Rating: T
Fandom: One Piece
Summary: Doflamingo finds his younger brother in a worse condition than when they were kids. In his arms was a baby. What had happened to him?

His brother and nephew mostly stayed in their room. Every single night, Rocinante would try to stay awake but eventually he would fall asleep and a few minutes later, he would reawaken due to nightmares. Doflamingo decided to just stay by his brother's side as he slept, which worked in keeping away some of the nightmares.

Doflamingo tried to get his brother used to the other members of his family, but Rocinante wouldn't trust them. Doflamingo couldn't blame him, after all the younger Donquixote had been put through hell for over two years. He knew how the slaves were treated, having been a slave owner himself when they were Celestial Dragons much to his parents chagrin.

His parents.

Doflamingo felt himself fill with mix emotions as memories of his parents resurfaced. 'What would Mother think if she saw me now? What would she think of Rocinante's situation?' He bit his lower lip, glad that he was in the solitude of his room so that he could express emotions he deemed weak when shown to others, even if they were his family. 'I'm Rocinante's older brother. I should've been there to protect him!'

He pulled the trigger, lodging a bullet into their father's skull. Donquixote Homing slumped to the ground, a large puddle of blood already forming. Rocinante was sobbing loudly, some of the crimson having gotten onto his clothes. Rocinante continued to cry as Doflamingo chopped their father's head off. Without sparing a glance at Rocinante, he headed for Mariejois, determined to get his title as a Celestial Dragon back.

He had left his younger brother alone; his poor, weak, defenseless, younger brother. He knew that the villagers weren't too far away and were out for their blood. He knew that his younger brother wouldn't survive. Yet, he had still left him, filled with the selfish greed for power.

What kind of big brother was he?

XXX

Rocinante sat beside his son as the two year old slept. Law was peacefully dozing, hands tightly holding onto a large polar bear plushy. Doflamingo had gotten it for Law when he went into town a few days ago and Law had immediately fallen in love with the stuffed animal. He would never let the polar bear go whether he was eating or sleeping. He would cry if the stuffed animal was out of sight when he was being bathed.

'I shouldn't have brought you with me…' Rocinante thought, gently running a hand through his son's hair. 'In Mariejois, you would never go hungry or thirsty. You would never suffer injuries. You would have all the toys in the entire world if you wanted,'

"Roci, Law, I brought some fruits and crackers," Doflamingo entered the bedroom and realized that his brother was crying. Setting the tray down on the table, he sat beside his brother. "What's wrong?"

"I'm…bad…father…" Rocinante didn't take out his notepad and pen and instead spoke to the older Donquixote.

"You're not a bad father, Rocinante," Doflamingo told him. "You care about Law. You even went against a Celestial Dragon for him. What makes you think you're a bad father?"

"Same…rea…son…you…did…" Rocinante's face scrunched up in pain and he finally took out the notepad and pen.

"I don't think you're a bad father," Doflamingo was confused as to where he got that assumption from.

Rocinante quickly scribbled something down in response. "You thought our father was a bad father,"

Doflamingo frowned as he recalled their past. "You're different—"

Rocinante held a hand up to silence Doflamingo and then wrote a list down. "I took my son away from Mariejois just like Father did with us and Mother. Both we and Law were forced to leave behind the comforts and riches of the Holy Land. You, Father, Mother, and I barely ate and had to dig through trash or steal for food. I had not a single beri on me after fleeing and I was in no condition for work. I knew I wouldn't be able to outrun store owners if I stole so Law and I survived on trash. Mother died because of the poor conditions we lived in. Law and I were extremely malnourished when you found us. My own son would've died if you had showed up a few days later! If Father hadn't taken us out of Mariejois, we wouldn't have experienced starvation and pain. Mother would've still been alive. We would've still lived a rich, peaceful life," Rocinante slowed down in his writing. "I could've escaped by myself. Law would've stayed in Mariejois and been raised without worrying about food, medicine, shelter, and money. But I was selfish and I took him with me…" He looked at his brother straight in the eyes. "How…am I…different…from…Father?"

Doflamingo stared at the comparisons, not knowing how to respond. He wanted to defend his brother and not compare him to Homing, but the similarities were true.

I decided to end this chapter here. I think I'll just have this story focus on the emotional aspects.

Maybe I'll make a sequel for the taking down the Celestial Dragons idea, but I still have other stories to work on.

There's also the possibility of a collection of short stories surrounding Roci and Law. If I do write it, it'll have some terrible cliché name like Moments.

There'll be at least one more chapter left.