Live, Die, Repeat

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/53452681.

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: Other
Fandom: One Piece (Anime & Manga)
Relationships: S-Flamingo & Seraphim, S-Hawk & S-Snake, S-Flamingo & Marines
Characters: S-Flamingo (One Piece), S-Hawk (One Piece), S-Snake (One Piece), S-
Bear (One Piece), S-Shark (One Piece), S-Gecko (One Piece), Marines
(One Piece), Seraphim (One Piece), Donquixote Doflamingo,
Donquixote "Corazon" Rosinante, Sengoku The Buddha, Akainu |
Sakazuki, Kizaru | Borsalino, S-Crocodile (One Piece), Doctor Vegapunk
(One Piece)
Additional Tags: Reconditioning, Mind Control, Hurt No Comfort, Ambiguous/Open
Ending, Everyone Needs A Hug, Cora is trying his best, Mind Games,
Watching and Waiting, Implied/Referenced Torture, Helpless,
Febuwhump 2024, How Do I Tag, I'm Bad At Tagging
Language: English
Series: Part 2 of Jailbird AU, Part 1 of Kat's Febuwhump 2024
Stats: Published: 2024-02-01 Words: 855 Chapters: 1/1
 Live, Die, Repeat
by BlackKat2907

Summary

(Jail Bird AU)

S-Flamingo…no, Cora. That’s what the book said. His name was Cora. Cora watched from
the sidelines. He observed in silence, looking for his opponents weaknesses before he
planned a divisive strike that took out his opponent clean and simple. He loved the thrill of
messing with people, having the upperhand, and watching his enemies suffer and fail. And he
loved seeing his friends happy and smiling. He wanted his friends to live life. He wanted to
live. They all wanted to live.

Febuwhump Day One: Helpless

Notes
See the end of the work for notes
What was his name? He flipped through the journal, golden eyes wide in shock. He read
down the pages, page after page, horror after horror. A drop of water hit the page. No, he
wasn’t crying. Weapons weren’t supposed to cry. He slammed the old journal shut and
shoved it back into its hiding space under the floorboards under the bunk of S-Hawk. The
notes explained that no one would bother to check under the floorboards, especially under S-
Hawk’s as he was supposed to be their golden child.

S-Flamingo…no, Cora. That’s what the book said. His name was Cora. He chose Cora as his
name in honor of Rosinante, the first Corazon of the Donquixote Family. Cora didn’t know
how his past iterations found out about all of this information, but he didn’t really care. As
long as no one found out about the notebook, everything would be fine. Cora adjusted the
pink sunglasses in his head. They didn’t feel right on him. He wasn’t some homicidal maniac.
Was he?

Cora shook his head. He needed to focus. Observe. The journal said his devil fruit was an
artificial calm-calm fruit. It allowed him to make a zone where there is no sound. He could
make people mute. He could make people deaf. His powers were more defensive than
offensive, but deep down, Cora had a feeling he could use them to his advantage. If the
previous Coras could do it, he could do it.

The first thing he learned after waking up was that he had to act like he didn’t care about
anything. He was a weapon. He was supposed to act like one. Take pleasure in taking lives
and follow orders to a T . However, Cora wouldn’t let himself lose his sense of self. “But am
I me if I’m just a clone of King and Doflamingo? Can a weapon become anything else?”

Every month one of the admirals would come and give an inspection. Usually, it would be
one of the Fleet Admirals who had the highest clearances. Cora vaguely remembered—did he
truly remember or did his brain trick him into remembering what he had read as being
personal to him?—Sengoku visiting once and leaving. Most of the time, Akainu or Kizaru
were the ones giving the inspections. Cora’s eyes narrowed, nails digging into his palms. His
wings bristled in fury, fire burning hotter. Those admirals were also the reasons he and his
friends were forced to forget everything. Torn apart and rebuilt to be better than the last.

Today was one of the monthly inspections. Kizaru was giving it this time. All of the
Seraphim were lined up. Cora saw S-Crocodile, S-Gecko, S-Seal, S-Leopard, S-Hawk, S-
Snake, S-Fire or S-Dragon (the notebook was very unclear in the Ace clone’s official name),
and their newest edition, S-Lion. Cora schooled his face to be neutral. He allowed a
Doflamingo-esque smirk on his face. He was a clone of Doflamingo after all.

“Ugh, why use Doflamingo’s blood when you had a perfectly good body full of DNA that was
Rosinante?” Cora could hear the notebook’s words echo in his mind. He fought the urge to
snicker. He felt an elbow jam into his side and he glared at S-Crocodile. Though, when
Kizaru strolled in, Cora was grateful for the warning. Cora glanced over at the others.
Everything should be fine.

But nothing was fine. Cora bit the inside of his cheek so hard he tasted blood. “Retry with S-
Snake. It’s broken goods. Our tests show the venom isn’t working correctly.” Kizaru turned
to Vegapunk. “Try again. And S-Hawk.” Cora saw the two Seraphim stiffen. S-Snake
clenched her fists, teeth gnashing painfully. S-Hawk looked down, glaring at the floor. “It
attacked some soldiers. Try again with it. Make sure to re-code its ability to listen to orders.”

Cora forced himself to stand still while S-Snake and S-Hawk were dragged out of the room.
His glasses covered the tears welling in his eyes. His nails drew blood from his palms. It
wasn’t fair. Suddenly, he understood the angry scribblings from the journal. Were they
weapons or people? They had feelings. They had emotions, could feel pain, anger, happiness.
They could laugh and enjoy things as well as hate things.

Cora watched from the sidelines. He observed in silence, looking for his opponents
weaknesses before he planned a divisive strike that took out his opponent clean and simple.
He loved the thrill of messing with people, having the upperhand, and watching his enemies
suffer and fail. And he loved seeing his friends happy and smiling. He wanted his friends to
live life. He wanted to live. They all wanted to live.

But weapons don’t live. Weapons don’t feel. Weapons killed and followed orders. Weapons
had no freedom. Cora put the book back as he finished documenting S-Snake and S-Hawk’s
decommissioning. The journal was put back. S-Hawk and S-Snake didn’t reappear for weeks.
The other Seraphim had gotten used to their new routine without the two. Finally, the two
came back. But, they were back to default. Emotionless weapons.

Cora frowned and muttered, “Live, Die, Repeat.”

End Notes

This is a little blurb from before the Jailbird au begins. I wanted to write something for Cora
and them BOOM Febuwhump hit me with ideas.

Kudos and comments are appreciated! I love hearing from you all!

Have a wonderful day!

~Kat

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