Hola, yes a new story, but i wont be updating this one very often, also the first chapter of this story is a sorry for how slow i've been on updating lately. This year is taking a lot out of me, though thats not a very good excuses. I hope that you tell me your idea's i worked really hard on this new story and i'm pretty proud of the first chapter. So thoughts are very welcomed, good or bad.
The Coincidence Theory Chapter 1
Trafalgar Law's pov
"Huh," a sigh fleeted across the large sized room, bouncing against shelves, test tubes and oddly Miss Shapened glass figures. The walls were drenched in a plain gray color and four silver tables set behind me in the middle of the room. Wires curved and twisted off in sickly directions.
A wooden desk pushed against the wall in front of me and millions of papaers and books were laid out beside me. My head was slumped forward and my eyes drooped a little. I had been up all night studying a strange disease.
It mystified me, I just couldn't come up with any solution to this strange disease that we had come across a couple of days ago when a strange man washed aboard our ship.
The clouds were black and loomed across the normally blue skies ominously. The ocean turned monstrously and bared its fangs upon our little submarine, though we could not submerge because the waves made it quite difficult. My crew and I maneuvered ourselves across the sub working and prodding at different places to assure our survival to the next day.
Little lanterns were arranged around the ship that needed to be changed quiet frequently thanks to the sea water flying around. As we worked hard and fast my navigator and I shot orders out like bullets, which the crew obediently listened to without question.
The waves swiveled and turned in acquired directions as sea water made it way onto the deck of the sub with ease. Small things came with the water such as fish or discarded ship material. Be it from our sub or another ship that had sailed the grand line, I did not know. Though I was quite surprised when a body was flung up and onto the deck of my sub, the body was as still as death when I approached it. The scraggily thing laid completely still, as tattered clothes lined the creature's body.
Matted hair clung to its figure while clotted blood with bits of sea shells stuck to the skin of this almost animalistic beast. When I got close enough to the body I gingerly turned it over and looked at this creatures face. The face showed signs of starvation and discoloring. Stranded after a fight maybe? Or abused and starved by a slave owner or family member? Maybe a pirate who crossed the marines for the last time? Could it be someone that got stranded from a ship wreck?
All these answers could be yes but nothing could be sure without knowing the way of death. This would be a boring autopsy, his way of death just seemed too normal. I should really just throw the poor fool right back into the water, save me time and supplies. With that though I picked up the body and was about to throw it back into the murky depths of the sea in which it came from.
"Wait..." a voice strangled out as I looked down at the man that was most certainly alive. I guess I should have given this fine gentle man the benefit of the doubt.
"Save me . . . diseases . . . hurry. . . . Please" The man rasped out as he once again fell limp in my arms. I sighed and scratched the back of my neck as people still rushed around the deck in frenzy. This really wasn't the right time for an interesting new toy to wash up on my ship.
Though I couldn't just let an interesting specimen leave my grasp now could I? So I turned my new toy into a better position and flung him over my shoulder. I carried this fragile man inside my sub, as my men worked to keep our sub steady during the rapidly increasing storm at hand.
The halls shook and quacked under the pressure of the water outside. Though compared to the ruckus outside the halls were dead silent. The only noise that truly stood out was the reverberating sounds of my footsteps as they knocked against the floor of the sub.
At the end of the hall I made a sharp left and then a right bringing me to a secluded dark room. I reached my free hand out to the wall beside myself and flicked on a conveniently located switch which sent the room into a blinding light.
The room was circular and held everything I needed to poke and prod at any human being I so desired. Though it also held the instruments to which I could save any I desired to as well, it almost made you feel like a god sometimes.
The air was lit with the smell of cleaning supplies and medicine. Though to those who's smelling was good enough you could catch the faint scent of blood. Though that's not very surprising for I am a pirate doctor after all.
The room had four long silver tables that sat in the middle of the room surrounded by machines, cables, and wires. While a clock conveniently hung on a wall near by. I set the man down on to one of the four silver operating tables and proceeded to keep him alive in till I could take the time to really work on him.
I clasped a breathing mask over his mouth and nose to make sure he got enough oxygen. Then I took out a clean needle and grabbed the patients arm. I attached a tourniquet* tightly to the man's upper arm, I cleaned the junction of the man's elbow, taking the needle I had gotten earlier and sticking him with it. The blood smoothly came out and landed in a low pressure blood test bottle. Once the tube was filled I took out the needle, capped the blood and set it to the side in a test tube holder. I proceeded to take a little ball of wool cotton and press it firmly against the tiny wound, I held the tiny wool cotton to the wound for about two minutes in till the blood stopped.
Then I began to fill a bag with a general anesthesia, known to most as morphine, to make sure the patient slept peacefully in till the storm was over. Once the bag was filled I attached a needle, cleaned the patient's sight of infliction, and then swiftly stuck the tiny silver object into the underside of his arm, hitting one of his veins on the first try. After I saw that the needle went in right I attached a piece of white tape over it to keep it in place.
I flicked at the wire attached to the bag, making sure the clear liquid flowed evenly through and into the patients arm. I watched the liquid flow from the bag to the needle for a couple of seconds then made my way back to the door. I'd do some tests on the blood latter; right now I had to get back to my crew.
I briskly walked from the medical room back onto the deck, where my men were still running about like tiny ants. I spotted my navigator Shachi with his Casquette hat upon his head, as his shrill withered voice still tried to call out orders above the sound of the crashing seas around us.
Once the lean man saw me step outside the sub he made his way to my side, almost like a very loyal dog.
"Captain," The man screamed through the rain. "The storm seems to never end, it maybe awhile in till we make it out of this mess," The man finished. As he spoke this I looked around at my men, all wore worn out looks on there faces, and there bodies sagged as there frail muscles started to finally catch up with them. This was going to be a long storm and a long afternoon.
My men and I worked as hard as we could through the storm ahead of us. The storm finally ended though about an hour later. The men's bodies were soaked with sea water and I wouldn't be surprised to see them all in the medical room tomorrow with colds. Though I still think it a miracle my men could still stand afterwards they would need there rest. Rather sadly though I was tired I knew I had to get back to the patient from earlier or tomorrow he may not be around for me to work on.
"Men get some sleep!" I ordered, I couldn't do anything with a crew to tired to stand. So I watched them drag themselves from my now destroyed deck that I'd get fixed in the mourning. They marched in file down the hall as I followed behind. One by one all headed for the bedding area in which they all shared. They all walked passed the medicine room but I stopped and stared at the door for a second.
I then pushed open the door and walked into the calmly lit room. The room now instead of smelling of the usual medicine and cleaning supplies, smelled musty and salty from the man. The man still lied perfectly still against the silver operating table motionless and speechless. This was to be expected from the I.V of anesthesia that I had given him. Hopefully the guy was still alive, other wise I would have just wasted my anesthesia on him.
As I walked into the room I started at the lone figure in slight interest. No matter how tired I was a new test subject was always appreciated. I stood by the man's side and took his wrist into my hands. I shifted my index and middle finger in till it was right underneath the thumb bone, and then pressed down as I watched the clock. I counted how many beats occurred in one minute and for the man before me it was seventy-eight beats per minute, which was fine because it was in the sixty to one-hundred beat mark.
So apparently the man was still alive and even had a good heart beat. I guess I should test the blood for any abnormalities. But before I did that I should hook the man up to a heart rate monitor. Walking across the room I pulled out a white machine and dragged it over to the operating table. The machine had a blank screen and many tubes and wires were attached to the big device. I took out several long spindles of white tube and attached the multiple sticky ends to the patient's chest and arms. Turning around I flipped on the white machine and watched as the pattern on the screen glided up and down.
I took the tube of blood that I had extracted earlier and proceeded to do test on it. I even looked at a film of blood on a slid, which allowed me to look at it through a microscope. I ended up testing the blood for numerous things, such as anemia, malaria, leukemia, and cancer. But all tests came back negative, not that I was disappointed, no quite the opposite to tell the truth.
How exciting, maybe this little toy of mine would be even more interesting than I though before hand. I smirked and stared down as I continued my work on his body. My tests played out long through the night, to which I found myself sleeping at my desk on some occasions by accident.
Though one nap was interrupted by a long drawn out, abnormal beeping noise, the sound drew against my ear drums and immediately awakened me. I flashed around and started at the heart rate monitor seeing a red line firmly printed across the black screen.
I rushed to grab my equipment and pulled out a defibrillator as I saw the heart rate monitor read for a Ventricular Tachycardia*. I rubbed the two metallic pads together and proceed to push both ends into the man before me. I repeated pushing the two pads into the man's chest every time it didn't work. I turned up the power multiple times and hoped that the man before me wouldn't die before I could figure out what was wrong with him.
Though even with my repeated tries to save the man's life, I couldn't. The man lay before me quietly, silently and forever asleep. Looks like my new toy didn't hold up half as long as the others, though no matter I'll just get to perform that autopsy now.
Even after the autopsy, nothing showed to be wrong with the man's body. At first I though that he may have been lying about the disease he sputtered about on my deck, but when I looked over his body no physical damage was done, no internal bleeding, and it couldn't of just been old age either. The man looked to be only in his early twenties at the least.
Though something interesting did come from searching the man, in his right pocket, miraculously, there still laid a perfectly unharmed log pose. This certain log pose pointed in the direction of an island I had never heard of before, Clover Island, it read at the bottom. So with no better judgment and no other reason than curiosity I made my crew float off towards that island. But even with the knowledge of the island the disease still plagued my mind and I could not help myself but to keep working to figure out what it was.
"Captain we have arrived at the island, would you like us to resurface?" My big furry polar bear first mate asked me as he drenched my perfectly nice floors. But that was not important right now, what was important was figuring out this mess.
"Of course Bepo," I spoke blandly and leaned back staring at the ceiling. Eyes lined with black rings and eyes burnt by a sunless sun. My clothes crinkled and stuck to my skin as I hoisted myself up and made my way towards the deck as I felt the sub slowly rise upward.
Water flushed past the little ship as I walked and as I reached the door I heard a pop, signaling the reaching of surface. I opened the door and looked up at the darkened sky above me.
? pov
Wind pushed passed my head swirling my tangled deep gray hair in strange directions. Water dropped in fresh flows over the land before me in sheets of cold sharp bitterness. Trees billowed around the area, in which I stood in, a small sheen of fog draped over the land and the sun could not reach the ground because of the dark clouds ahead. The Island was always like this ever since they showed up.
No wonder the people here were in such bad shape, with this weather and the military, all contributions to theses good people's bad condition
Though I could feel a change upon the wind, this islands lassitude was about to come to a hiatus. Though I didn't know from whom or by what means, it was just a fleeting feeling I guess. Though maybe it just all has something to do with the coincidence theory, the occurrences of events that happen at the same time by accident but seem to have connections, but I shouldn't be so optimistic.
"Raissa!" someone shouted from behind me, I turned my head slightly and saw a friend of mine. Running towards me with a smile was none other than my friend Cornelis. I waved to the older man and let a smile tug upon my lips.
"Raissa, you have a new patient!" He yelled towards me. It wasn't that rare of me to have a patient even though I wasn't your "conventional" doctor. We didn't have any of those left, I was a psychiatrist. More or less a practitioner of the illness represented in ones own mind.
The man who ran towards me, Cornelis, was an old doctor's apprentice and now my helping hand. To bad he wasn't a full fledged doctor, or he could have already cured all these people. All I can do is try and make them feel better, though it works with some, others wish for more. Others wish for answers, or proof and don't believe that a good mood or a different perspective can heal you.
Though all I know is when a person is happy, there body is fine. Then when a person is sad they get sick and eventual die. I'm no medical doctor and I never will be. But I do feel bad for these people. What this island really needs is an actual doctor to tell them what's wrong with them, I can't truly figure out what's wrong with them in till that time comes.
Though in till that day comes I'll try and make there last moments the best ones that I can make them for these people and some day maybe even myself.
"I'm coming," I spoke then turned on my heels and followed the older man to my little office not to far way. As I was about to walk into my office I looked up at the sky, sighed and then shut the doors behind me getting ready for another patient of the day.
Trafalgar Law's Pov
The land before me looked like a mush of vegetation and buildings entwined in a strange dance. Fog flowed across the not so vibrant landscape and darkness surrounds us like a nice warm blanket in the summer.
There were no people in sight but we could tell that, they were here some where. Bepo, Sachi, Penguin and I ventured forward, farther into the muck and slime of the islands foliage and leaves.
The window shutters on the building banged bombastically against the houses. As they opened and shut simultaneously, I could see the whites of people's eyes staring at us. But only for mere second before the shutters would bang closed and the eyes would retreat back into the darkness of their homes.
Though without fail, my team and I moved on looking and scanning the area. What was up with these people? Did it have anything to do with that mysterious sickness?
"Come young ones," a voice croaked through the darkness and interrupter my thoughts. I looked up and toward the sound of the voice to see an old lady that looked to be in her eighties. Her gray hair curled against her head in cob web like curls, her eyes shown a dull blue weathered from life's misfortunes perhaps. Her skin was wrinkled and gave off an almost eerie light due to the paleness of her skin. She wore a light pink dress with a darker pink sweater hanging off her shoulders and draping down to her waist.
She stood tall and stoically in front of what anyone could only guess was her house.
"Would you boys like to come in?" The women asked my men and I, though I shook my head and proceeded to walk forward.
"Then is there anything I can help you with?" The women asked us again, though this time I took her up on her offer.
"Miss, you wouldn't happen to know anything about the sickness on this island, would you?" I inquired and then listened to the old women.
"Well . . . no," The women answered slowly and caused me to feel slightly disappointed "But I know someone who knows more than anyone else on this island about it." The lady spoke up again making me feel a spark of excitement run through my body.
"Who?" I questioned the women and unnoticeably leaned forward a little.
"Ah, her name is Raissa," the women spoke "She lives up on the cliffs," the women pointed towards them. "Her office is up there, where she takes patients," the women finished
"Thank you miss for your help," I returned politely the old women just smiled a little then limped slowly back inside her house.
I watched the women as she went then turned back to my crew mates.
"Well let's go see this Miss Riassa," I spoke smirking at my men and then we made our way to the cliffs. Surprisingly the trip didn't take much time and the building stood before us. It to, like all the other building stood in shambles, but the difference was that this house was made from a hollowed out tree.
The door was carved and stood firmly against the house while tree branches at the top let off smoke from a fire inside. Tiny circular windows rested in the walls and a dirty mailbox lay a bit away from the house. My men and I walked up to the house and I knocked on the door twice.
Knock
Knock
It took a second for the door to open, but when it did a women stood there stoically though also in a goofy manner. Our eyes met instantly and a sort of realization shot through her eyes.
Riassa's pov
I heard a knock at the door then answered it. A tall man stood before me when I opened the door and I looked into his eyes. Before I could even take in his features I could tell my optimism may be right on this one. Maybe the coincidence theory wasn't just a theory.
Theory: Proved