Kaimu

We are one week away from the biggest Coralaw holiday of the year, and I've locked in on five fics! Sad that I won't be able to get the other two done in time, but I really hope to revisit the ideas eventually. Here's a little sneak peek of what I'll be posting; I'm excited to hear what you're excited about!

DAY 2: OMEGAVERSE Tags: established relationship, extended foreplay, trope subversion

Law opens his mouth, ready to keep arguing because the last vestiges of the general alarm are still rattling in his blood and he needs to have a fight or a fuck about it. Cora’s broad hand lands on Law’s neck, and he squeezes soothingly at the tense muscle there, and inadvertently the scent gland and the mating bite, too. The post-contact adrenaline twists into something heavy and hot, low in Law’s gut. Now there's an idea for how to power through the long day ahead of him.

He puts his coffee cup on the counter, then takes Cora’s to do the same. “Down,” he commands. 

Cora folds obediently-- there’s kneepads sewn into his boilersuits for a reason-- and Law bites rough kisses into Cora’s neck until he goes soft and compliant, ending on a sucking kiss square on his mating bite. That gets a breathy noise, and Cora’s voice is thin as he teases, “Is it finally time to christen the mess? Better hope nobody else wants a post-emergency coffee.”

DAY 3: REUNION Tags: amnesia, Sabaody arc, filth with feelings

Rocinante releases his hold on Law enough that he can pull back to look at his face--bright red and frantically sweating as he gasps for air--but not so far that he lets go of Law. He’s never letting go of Law again. 

“What the fuck is going on,” Law asks. He’s gathered himself enough to be annoyed, and delight rushes up in Rocinante’s heart, because that’s the Law he remembers. 

“I was just extracted from Wano and Garp sent me here--”

“I don’t give a shit about the Navy!” Law’s eyes narrow as he stares up at Rocinante. “You’re dead.”

“Is that a fact or a threat?”

“Both.”

“Law!!” His furious expression doesn’t budge as Rocinante squishes it between his hands. He’s going to explode from the fondness that’s surging up in him. “Oh, I’m so glad you haven’t changed too much.”

DAY 5: LITTLE LAW Tags: fluff, fluff, fluff

An expansion of this little idea!

DAY 6: INEXPERIENCE Tags: modern au, old(er) man yaoi, let Rocinante have friends 

“Roci, focus.” Tashigi’s pointing him to his living room, and he obediently sits. She stands, arms crossed, and commands, “Report.”

It takes more time than it should for him to ramble out I went to the gym and the hottest man I have ever fucking seen in my life told me when and where to be for a date and I really don’t want to fuck this up but I’m definitely going to fuck it up.

A long silence falls as he gets to the end of his stuttering explanation. The buzzer rings, surely the delivery guy, so Reiju says, “I’ve got it,” and ducks out. 

“Wait, you need a key--!” Rocinante calls, but the door is already shut.

“She took your keys. Don’t worry about it.” Fucking special ops. “I need more intel, Roci. What’s he look like? What does he like?”

“Hot! Idiots, apparently!!!” 

Tashigi pushes her glasses up to sit atop her head and pinches the bridge of her nose as she sighs. “You’re so lucky Smoker told me to take care of this. He would’ve kicked your ass and left by now.” 

DAY 7: PIRATE CREW Tags: the heart pirates, scheming for the good of the captain, seven minutes in heaven

Penguin takes command. “Okay. Strategies. Shachi, you first.”

“What?! Why me first?!?!? How about you go first if you think you’re in charge here!” 

“You’re the ideas guy.” 

Shachi mutters, “You only ever say that when you don’t have any ideas.” He sighs and tips his head back to stare at the ceiling as Penguin and Bepo stare at him in turn. “Fine. Okay. Survival protocol, then seven minutes in heaven?” 

For those not part of the exclusive group that understands exactly what this means, a translation. Survival protocol entails quietly spreading word around the Tang that if anyone brings anything to Law’s attention that isn’t an adorable fluffy animal, they’ll be dealing with more than just Law’s wrath. All information is to flow through Shachi or Penguin, while Bepo is under standing orders to entice Law into a cuddle and/or nap at least once an hour, and the kitchen has to make onigiri to go with every meal until told otherwise. Survival protocol has been in place for many, many years, starting back on Swallow Island when sometimes Law wasn’t in his bed when they woke up and they’d find him standing out in the snow, barefoot and crying and practically catatonic with grief of some kind. 

His heart breaks all over again when he can't find anything anymore.

Sengoku had said the best they could do for cora-san was not to forget him, and law scoffs every time he recalls that part of their conversation. As if he could. as if there was any slight chance of forgetting, as if he even wanted to. All he did was remember, all law could so was ink his skin and brand his crew and wear feathers around his neck to find some sense of comfort from the memories that kept him up at night. He'd happily trade sleep for clear reminiscences of days coated in burnt feathers and cigarettes. Remembering, remembering, as if everything would disappear if law dared not recollect everything that happened between his acceptance of death and getting his heart back.

The tiny box with ragged feathers sat on his bedside table, stuck in time. Law wished he was small enough to crawl inside, into the warmth of it all. But it wasn't just the material what had his body and soul set alight. it was the beating heart he'd lay his head on, under scarred skin and too bright clothes. the cold that crawled under his skin could never settle with a million feathers surrounding his entire body. If it wasn't cora-san, if it wasn't his laugh reverberating deep in his chest, if it wasnt the complete silence where he could finally sleep, what's the point?

He still has the feather. He's had it with him since, at first tucked into a sleeve or a pocket, now carefully stored in a pouch that he keeps against his skin. He tells it of his successes and his triumphs, confides to it his worries and sorrows.

(He does not show it his anger or his bitterness; it's what fuels those feelings, after all.)

When Doflamingo is finally defeated and thrown to the depths of Impel Down, when the world is quiet around him, Law takes the feather from its pouch for the first time in years and begins to speak–

–and instead weeps.

Enemies fighting his crew but nothing is working within his Room; Sprays of blood flowing back into wounds that seal closed, limbs reattaching seamlessly, if they get cut in half they just knit back together. Even if you behead someone it takes their body seconds to realize that it is dead.

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IMAGE GALLERY

IMAGES

It is important to note that the images featured on this section are only a portion of the documentation taken during the encounters noted in the paper.

Fig 1. Full image of the coelacanth merman, left-facing; taken on the second dive at approximately -110m. Parts of its unique scale patterns on its tail and back are prominent.

Fig 2. Sketches of the coelacanth merman along with associated notes (Donquixote R).

Fig 3. Hypothetical skeletal sketches and associated notes (Donquixote R), featuring a notochord running across the length of the fish portion of the spine (Charlotte P).

VIDEO FOOTAGES

Diorama depicting the first encounter with a live coelacanth merman specimen.

Footage of coelacanth merman interacting with the Proko Den Den.