One Piece's Doflamingo, Rosianante, and Law: A Thematic Breakdown (Part 1)

Trauma, especially childhood trauma, is common in One Piece flashbacks. Each traumatic experience oda portrays saying something slightly different with each backstory. Law's flashback, however, is a bit unique. Unique because his flashback is not meant to stand on its own. There is important context that needs to be added to the whole. And this comes in the form of another flashback of a different character. Both stories are traumatic. Both are still scarred by the events that changed their lives for the worse. Law witnessed his family and even his entire homeland be destroyed. The ones who were responsible represented the world. The world took from Law what he loved most. And as if to wrench the last amount of hope out of him, gave him an incurable disease to boot. But rather than lie down and take the beating until his inevitable death, Law chose to instead go out with a more worthwhile bang. 

It doesn’t take Doflamingo long to accept Law into his ranks. It was as simple as looking into the young boy's eyes to understand that their world views were almost identical. Doflamingo went through something very similar in his childhood. The same system that robbed Law of his homeland robbed Doflamingo of his lifestyle and the status that came with it. It made his family a target of the resentment of humanity that had been bottled up for so long. He lost so much. He lost even more with his own hands. The child could only pull that trigger because he had experienced both heaven and hell. And then he, just like now with Law, concluded that the disgusting world is one not worth being righteous in. If one wants to viably survive in darkness, they must shroud themselves in darkness as well or be destroyed by it. But then why is Law the only one who gets saved from this mentality? 

Corazon is a character mostly seen through rose-colored lenses. He is the younger brother of Doflamingo. And the opposing force that represents the good still left in the don Quixote family after Homing's passing. Doflamingo values family. A faint glimmer of light behind a malevolent smile. A faint trace of humanity. Even though Cora had already dropped breadcrumbs of betrayal in plain sight, Doffy allowed himself to ignore the evidence so that he could preserve his last remaining flesh and blood bond. He showed mercy on Corazon because he didn’t want to pull that trigger again. He didn’t want to admit that his brother was that much different than himself. But Corazon, despite being portrayed as one of the more kind-hearted souls in one piece, never reciprocates that mercy. Law struck a knife into Rosinante. Yet despite this, he forgives Law, because he wanted to help him. But why did he want to support this boy he didn’t even know? Well, as Corazon says, because he felt sorry for him. He felt sad that he had become a product of the corruption in this world. He wanted to show Law, to prove to him that there is something worth living for. He wanted to show him love. And he did. And this changes Law for the better. "There is still good in this world." "I still have hope for survival." He gave Law both of these phrases. 

But his rescuing of Law from the darkness ultimately came at the expense of allowing his older brother to seep further into it. He had betrayed Doflamingo, and just like his father, died by the hands of the one he betrayed. It all becomes apparent on the surface. Doflamingo had killed the man law viewed as his savior. So Law would devote his life to making sure that Doflamingo, at the very least, rots in a solitary cell.What Law is doing is surely not wrong. Even the kind-hearted Rosinante had said Doflamingo is inherently a crazed manifestation of evil. If Law executes Doffy, he would only be eliminating more needless darkness from this world. But the actual truth is something that Law could’ve never imagined. The truth that Corazon is wrong.