Disclaimer:Do people do disclaimers anymore? this is a FANfiction site. I came here to write FAN fiction. And believe me, if I were Oda, the following situation would be canon. Also there would be way more fights handled by the ladies. And Sanji's backstory would be completely different. OKAY I DON'T OWN ONE PIECE LET'S MOVE ON.
East Blue
It was the same in Cocoyashi as it had been all around North and East Blue. Law didn't know what Cora-san expected anymore. They weren't welcome in any big hospital, Law's steadily worsening condition saw to that, and what was more, no one knew the cure for Amber Lead Sickness. Why should some backwoods doctor in the heart of East Blue know when the best doctors the world had to offer had already turned Law away with cries of disgust and fear.
As Law sat on the edge of the stool, kicking his legs listlessly and waiting for the doctor to finish up with stitching that girl's cut already really it shouldn't take this long, he readied himself for another screamed rejection, readied himself for Cora-san to get pissed and start shouting the usual
"It's not contagious! What kind of a doctor are you?!" at this old man who was taking forever to get the simplest doctoring task done.
Finally, finally, the doctor snipped the thread and stood up smiling.
"There you are, little miss Nojiko." He smiled benignly, and patted the little girl's lavender hair. "Be more careful when you climb trees now, okay? And tell your mother I said hello."
"Thank you Dr. Nako!" Nojiko chirped, grinning, and she hopped off of the infirmary bed, moving much too incautiously for someone who'd just gotten stitches in her arm.
Dr. Nako turned to Law and Cora-san, finally, and raised an eyebrow.
Law couldn't exactly blame him, considering Cora-san's chosen attire: in addition to the enormous black feathery coat, red hood, and weird makeup, Cora-san was wearing what Law considered to be one of the ugliest sweaters he'd ever laid eyes on. It was hideous: an orange, shapeless blob that disguised Cora-san's gangly, awkward upper half and was assaulting any innocent onlooker's eyes with a ghastly barrage of geometric patterns. Stitched dodecahedrons, to be precise. Law had had time enough to count the sides on every single dodecahedron on Cora-san's right sleeve while little Nojiko had been getting her stitches. There were eight of them.
Once Dr. Nako got over the orange monstrosity that was Cora-san's sweater, he looked to Law.
"Ah, this is my patient today, I take it?" His aged face wrinkled up in a well meaning smile as he examined Law. "Let's have a listen to your heart then, shall we young man?" Dr. Nako pulled out a stethoscope from the pocket of his white coat.
This doctor's visit was going remarkably well, Law thought mildly, but he knew that it was going to all fall apart soon, once the old man figured out that he had Amber Lead Sickness.
Law couldn't know for sure, since the man wore dark sunglasses, even inside at his practice (another amateurish decision, Law thought. Was this guy even a real doctor?), but Law could feel the doctor's eyes sweep critically over Law's white spots.
"I know what the trouble is." Dr. Nako announced, leaning back in his chair. "It's Amber Lead Sickness."
"We've known that for ages," Cora-san snapped. "Do you have a cure?"
"There is no cure. Now, leave the island immediately or I'll have to quarantine the boy."
Relatively speaking, this was one of the better reactions that Law and Cora-san had gotten. Even so, Law could still feel the hot, ugly tears well up in his eyes, saw Cora-san rise to his feet, towering a considerable distance over Dr. Nako (there was almost a four-foot difference between the two men,) and saw the pirate's expression darken.
"What kind of a doctor-" Cora-san began, but Law didn't stick around to hear the rest of what he was inevitably going to say. He'd heard it all before, after all. Instead, pulling his spotted hat low over his eyes so that no one would see his tears, Law hopped off of the stool and ran out of the tiny hospital at all possible speed.
Unfortunately, pulling his hat down over his eyes also meant that he was unable to really watch where he was going, and consequently, it was only a few steps out of the infirmary when he crashed straight into an orange-haired little girl, sending the both of them painfully to the dusty street.
"Sorry," Law muttered under his breath, standing up and patting the dirt off of his shorts, preparing to run back to the boat.
The little redhead, however, had other plans: she opened her mouth and shrieked. "Bellemere-san! I'm hurt! It hurts! Bellemere-san! He pushed me!"
Law froze, so surprised that he almost stopped crying.
A shadow loomed over them.
"You pushing around my little girl, kid?" asked a menacing voice. Slowly, Law turned to see the scowling woman with a cigarette dangling from the corner of her mouth and sporting a very odd hairstyle. She could almost give the Donquixote Family a run for their money on crazy looks with that ponytail, Law thought. The woman also looked like she could give the Donquixote Family a run for their money when it came to fighting- she was probably the toughest-looking woman he'd ever seen.
The lavender-haired girl, Nojiko, was hovering at the woman's elbow and watching with a sort of gleeful curiosity.
"N-no, ma'am."
"He did, Bellemere-san, he did!" The little redheaded girl squawked.
Bellemere's expression darkened, but her face twisted into a grim grin as she squatted down to Law's level, all the better to look him in the eye, placing a clawlike hand on his hat to ensure that he didn't run away.
Law looked away instinctively. His face was still stained with tears, and he didn't need some busybody he'd never met to be asking him why it was so.
He could practically feel the change in her expression as Bellemere registered his tears, the white spots on his face, the snot running down his meniscus.
"What is it, kid?" She asked, her voice suddenly soft. "What's wrong? Where are your parents?"
"He was at Dr. Nako's with a big bird guy! He had funny clown makeup on, Bellemere-san!" Nojiko offered cheerfully. "And he ran into Nami on accident. I saw."
"Bleeh!" tiny Nami stuck her tongue out at Nojiko, who grinned and returned the gesture.
A loud crash came from the tiny hospital, and Bellemere immediately straightened. "Girls, stay here. You too, kid." She said, and sprinted through the doors.
"Come on, Nami, let's watch!" Nojiko pulled her little sister up off of the dirt road and they started hurrying towards the front window of the clinic. Nojiko paused after a step, turned back to Law, and offered him her hand. "You can come, too. I'm Nojiko, by the way, and this is my sister Nami. She's a really bad liar. I would have done much better. What's your name?"
Law wiped his face off and shook Nojiko's hand seriously. In a strange way, she reminded him of his little sister, Lamie. "Law." He said shortly. Nojiko grinned and pulled Law towards the open window.
The three children peered through the window, arranged in a bizarre staircase formation: Law, the tallest by about half a foot, on the left, Nojiko in the middle, and Nami on the right. Inside, Cora-san had made the usual mess, falling flat on his face in the middle of threatening the doctor, and causing a cart of scalpels, scissors, and other sharp doctor's instruments, to crash to the floor.
"Dr. Nako!" Bellemere said, apparently appalled by the state of the clinic, and of the doctor, who was cowering in a corner. "What the hell is going on?"
Dr. Nako pointed a quavering finger at Cora-san, a black feathery mess on the floor. "That man is threatening me!"
Cora-san shot up indignantly. "You won't cure Law! His condition isn't contagious at all, and you won't even try!"
Bellemere's eyebrows shot up with surprise. Then she squinted at Cora-san. "Rocinante? Is that really you? What the hell are you wearing?"
Cora-san froze, then turned slowly. He looked just as surprised as Bellemere. "Bellemere?"
"It is you! Ahahaha, you look like a big black chicken in that getup!"
Bellemere strode over to Cora-san's side, stood on tiptoes and reached up to grab the heart-shaped ends of his hood. She pulled his head down so that he was almost bent double. Locking him in a firm half-nelson, the tough woman put a fist to Cora-san's temple and started rubbing furiously. "What are you doing with a kid, huh? You been busy since I last saw you?"
"Ah, ow! Yeah, I guess you could say that." Cora-san grinned. "Can I introduce you two?"
"More than that, you can come over for dinner. But you'll have to lose the coat. And the hood. And the makeup."
Yes, thought Law, finally he'll have to take off that awful sweater!
Cora-san pouted. "Can I at least keep my sweater?"
Bellemere considered the bright orange monstrosity. "Yes." She decided.
Dammit. Thought Law.
