A few minutes ago

Somewhere inside the dark recess of the ship the doctor threw his bag and hung his lab coat in the hanger. Then he undid his tie, lit the nearby mounted candle and with a sigh he looked at his wrinkly stressed out self in the mirror, he was relieved that his graveyard shift has ended. Today was particularly hectic and stressful for the 50-something doctor and he doesn't expect it to get any better for the coming days. Today, not only did he have to treat gruesome mortar wounds by amputating it, he also had to do it 10 times faster than the normal time a normal doctor could do a normal amputation on his anesthetized patient or other people will die, at one point he practically just have enough time to cut somebody's arm and left the screaming patient to the 'nurse' for him to stitch and stop the bleeding, anesthetic be damned. Maggots he could stand it, spilling intestines he could handle it but to operate and to be expected to fix all that in an insanely little amount of time in a rocking ship full of people shouting, wailing and other tortured voices with limited anesthetic, painkillers and other important drugs is just outright crazy and the 'Marine sailors-slash-nurses' are only making it worse by spilling blood everywhere!

He didn't know that the ship would be taking this many people, he used to recognize most of the people in this ship after all he's the chief doctor on this vessel with a young resident who looks like he could break under the pressure anytime, but now the majority of the ship's occupants are civilians, crying and clearly traumatized by what just happened to their island, he pitied them but certainly this is not the only boat that could land them to safety is it? The good thing about not knowing them is that he doesn't have to feel a thing when he has somebody putting the dead body of someone's family somewhere in the corner along with other casualties. But what concerned him of all was that the ship's been unable to communicate with the others. What happened to them? Did 'He' give chase and begin to pick them off one by one?

Looking at his throbbing arm he recounted the encounter he just had with a large man and his son minutes ago. There's something fishy about him, he thought. That strength, and that burst of haki, those are not of petty officer level, there's no way a mere petty officer has the permission to be taught and trained with such advanced technic of fighting…and yet from his ID, he is. If only he could get a clear look of his face…

And this expired fruits thing. As if his job hadn't been so stressful enough lately now he has to deal with the possibility of the entire ship's populace getting food poisoning. Surely if the whole barrels were filled with rotten food then it'd only mean that the worst part is yet to come, it's worse than the case of amputation or the lack of sanitation, sick people maybe he could handle but hunger, there's no cure for that except obviously, by eating something, something that's not rotten more importantly. He'll inform the captain first thing in the morning. For now he just needs his power sleep. Please Dear God just let me have some semblance of sleep tonight

Then as he prepared himself for his long-awaited 4 hours sleep, he caught something on the corner of his eyes. It's the rotten grape that the large guy's son had eaten.

It wasn't just a shadow…but…It can't be…the room was dark, but now it can clearly be seen

He may be a doctor but he's also a Marine, he used to be stationed in the Paradise side of the Grand Line so he knew a thing or two about the infamous devil fruit (in spite of the fact that this is the first time he saw it live, though it is no longer holding the great ability that used to reside within). He knows that the fruit will completely deteriorate once it's bitten for the first time. How can I have missed this!

More awake than ever the doctor quickly put his socks and shoes back on and scrambled to the ship's tiny library containing several guidance for live at sea, search and rescue procedure and other Marine stuff about discipline and doctrines especially those about the 'Absolute Justice' and the will of the WG, but most importantly it holds the devil fruit encyclopedia amidst an old one, he's read the newest edition in the HQ's library, but this will do, the encyclopedia itself is quite complete, the difference between the new and old one are the new ones are more complete and have an up-to-date profile of each fruits including its weaknesses and others, though there are still some fruits with unknown weakness which is yet to be discovered and the debunking of a few bogus fruits. Yes there are quite many of them out there, some people are just so desperate for fame and money they'd do anything to have them or squeeze money out of them, including trying to fool people by adding swirling patterns on normal colored fruits. Usually pirates who wish for instant fame and strength fall for this kind of con, the Marine know about the fruits well enough to not get fooled by them.

After some time searching, the doctor found it and as he pulled it out of the shelf a huge thundering sound of something all seamen knew all too well exploded from afar. He quickly braced for support as he prepared for a huge rocking. As he took hold of the closest pole, the sound of woods getting hit by multiple cannonballs erupted in his and every single one of the ship's occupants' ears. The quiet night in a blink of an eye turned into a war zone, with the little Marine personnel left scurrying off to their post, some handle the rifles and ran toward the upper deck where the action will soon begin, some went to the gun decks to score some major damage to the foe's ship, while the ladies and the children screaming and cried as usual.

The doctor however, too curious about the devil fruit, spent the little time he and the rest of the ship passenger might have looking for the answer. Even for a Marine it's quite difficult to decide which is which, the Bara Bara no Mi looks similar If not for the bigger individual grape size. Then there are a few others but overall, devil fruit with grape shape is considered as 'rare'.

Then with countless of matching the fruit with the info on the book, he at last think he's found it, it was the Sui Sui no Mi or the Acid Acid fruit. However, information is scarce, the writer didn't even know whether it should be classified as paramecia or logia, paramecia is more likely thought the doctor. Now all he has to do is to tell the father the good news or maybe bad news, though for now it's more of a bad bad news, but considering the power of the fruit, the kid would be quite an asset for the Marine because…

"IT'S DEFINITELY A DEVIL FRUIT!"

Back in the canteen

"It's not just an ordinary rotten fruit! It's a devil fruit!...and it belongs to none other than Shiki, as in THE Shiki the Emperor from the Flying Pirates" shouted the doctor, with slight pauses for catch some breath. To Len this sort of surprises was expected the moment Shiki, the guy from upstairs came on to the ship and ranted about devil fruit. This is just the kind of misfortunes that the world loves to throw at him for their entertainment, Len thought.

"What is a monster like Shiki who have obliterated and defeated hundreds of strong ability users in his long tenure as the frickin' pirate Emperor doing chasing one mere devil fruit!?" Ravlos said with a disbelieving voice, drowning the sound of the doc's incessant panting…"It's not like he needs the money or have a death wish of eating another DF right guys?"

"Because it's not just an ordinary DF, it's an Acid fruit, I just looked it up in the book about devil fruits, though it has little info about this particular fruit one can assume that with a name like 'Acid devil fruit' the user will be able to devour anything with maybe a single drop of his most powerful Acid, it may even devour the strongest metal on this world, believe me this kind of ability is rare and more destructive than say, Floating Floating no Mi or Gomu Gomu no Mi if there's any…" Explained the doctor after quite a long pause

"…Is it a logia?" Ravlos asked, now with a quieter tone.

"I'm not sure, could be since it's a natural element"

"Hey Len what are we gonna do about this, Shiki's probably not going to react in his best manner when he finds out that the fruit has been eaten by a 2 years old baby" asked Ravlos, he and the doc suddenly remembered about the father and son, the two people that are probably going to determine the future of everyone on board of this God forsaken ship.

"This…is my fault so I'm going to take full responsibility for this…" Len said with a slight tremble in his answer, standing up as he did so. He just can't believe his luck, he just wanted to feed his baby and now he got this whole mess on his hands instead.

Ravlos looked up at the gigantic guy whom he just knew yesterday with awe and silently praised him for his bravery, he (Len) must have known the consequence of crossing a mad man like Shiki is an agonizing painful death and yet he said it like he was standing up against a mountain thug or the likes.

The doctor in the other hand think the idea's not that farfetched. Other than the fact that the guy's not what he said he was, he also could control his haki and from his aura he knew it's one that has been trained for years if not decades. The guy could probably stand a chance against Shiki, but this ship can't possibly withstand such level of fighting. The moment he releases his haki, Shiki with his power will probably just turn this ship upside down and be done with it.

As Ravlos fired away his nonsense questions about the devil fruit, Len stayed quiet, leaning back on the cold creaking wooden wall while trying to determine the few choices he has. With handing his baby out of the negotiation, Len knew his end was nearing. As a warrior he should fight until the last drop of his blood, kill or be killed but he wouldn't want the blood of this ship's passengers on his hand and with a guy like Shiki there'll always be collateral deaths. Not that he thinks he has a chance of winning against a guy who's killed hundreds of thousands of Marines but still…it's not a good death to drag along hundreds of others with him. So the only way to put the passengers and most importantly, his son out of the harms' way is to lure Shiki and his crew away, but how?

"Just how are you going to do it?" asked the doc curiously, there's something on the doctor's face that accentuates his know-it-all attitude.

"Either you give them what they want or you fight them here or fool them" said the doctor again before Len could answer, he knew Len haven't got it yet

"It's the latter isn't it, with your baby in the line of fire…maybe I could help you"

"What?! Len you're not seriously thinking about sacrificing yourself right? I'm sure the captain will reach some kind of resolution" Ravlos said concerned though not surprised, there's no point of saving this ship since the second it enters the Calm Belt, hundreds of sea monsters and sea kings would greet it with open mouths.

"That's right, the resolution would be handing the person who consumed the devil fruit to him" said the doctor, Len's eyes lit up.

"You know what? This is pointless, we're going to die in a few days in the Calm Belt anyway, I don't think you sacrificing yourself is going to change anything…" said Ravlos no longer able to hold his opinion, unknowingly spilling the secret to Len.

"What did you say?…THE CALM BELT?!"

On the upper deck the fight has ceased, the Marines have been wiped clean save for those cowering inside and the injured captain. In the middle of the deck, now full of mangled bodies of the fallen Marines stood a large, golden haired man sporting a maniacal grin. The extraordinarily long golden sideburns, to the goatee , the golden robe with motifs of sunflower adorning it and the super-massive flying ship covering the night sky, that only the Emperor could commandeer he's definitely Shiki the Golden Lion. The usually calm and calculating pirate is now at the peak of his rage. His grin with a cigar pitted between his gnashing teeth only made it even more prominent. His eyes show that there'll be no compassion given tonight if he didn't get what he wanted.

"I ASK YOU AGAIN…WHERE IS MY SUI SUI NO MI!" The golden haired pirate yelled with intimidating voice, it was the exact same second that the doctor standing right beneath the deck found out about the name of the fruit.

The captain, limped slowly to the front of the crowds facing the assailant, he had a cane held tightly by his right hand thanks to a busted kneecap and broken tibia. His aide had insisted him to keep his wheelchair bit he refused to show such weakness in front of an enemy. Now standing face to face with the enemy who's killed many of his comrades and crews he felt nothing of the pain in his legs, he never thought that he'd come face to face with one of the greatest pirate emperors of all times, Shiki the Golden Lion. Him, a mere Marine Captain and Shiki a pirate Emperor and a legend.

"What do you want Golden Lion?" he said with a straight but stern voice, eyes trying to keep up with the pirate's glaring stare.

The pirate grinned, and blew his cigars on the captain's face

"I just want my devil fruit back" The Emperor said with great ease.

"I don't know what you're talking a…" before he could finish the sentence the emperor kicked his broken leg, sending the captain to the ground, he was a bit disappointed that the captain didn't scream in agony, he just grimaced while shooting his bright blue eyes toward the Emperor.

"You know who I am…you ALL know who I am…what I'm capable of…is that not good enough for any one of you to be running here with my fruit?" he stopped to kick the recovering captain in the stomach "As you've seen I'm not in a good mood today so here's the deal, bring me my fruit back or you all die"

He paused to smoke his cigar while looking around at the 'scenery' making people flinched as his eyes fell upon them and it's clear that Shiki relished on that. He knows what kind of effect he had on people and he likes it and uses it very well.

"…and I will…" he continued "…personally make sure there's not any one of you live to see another hour" at the end of the sentence the sounds of crying were getting louder and louder, there were people whispering all around them, talking about how the Marine chose the devil fruit's safety over their lives while the captain unable to do or offer anything could only glare at the killer in front of him as he was being helped onto his wheelchair by his aide. From the starboard side of the Marine ship is the Golden Lion Pirate's famed "ship," though it is more of a sky island than a pirate ship to be exact, laughter of his crews could be heard from it.

But after several minutes have passed nobody came forward with the fruit. The reason behind this is because nobody knows where it is. The fruit itself was stolen by a Cipher pol agent who did not make it on this ship, most probably killed in action, the Marine who placed it in a marked barrel as assigned by the higher up found that the barrel was no longer containing the cursed fruit even after some intense and thorough searching around the room and the entire ship. Some of the survivors on the upper decks began shouting for the captain to hand over the fruit but the matter's now out of anybody's hands. Now the fate of this ship and everyone on board is sealed. Everyone's going to die because of one stupid fruit that almost nobody knows about. But suddenly…

"I ate it, I was hungry" the sentence was followed by gasps from the now relieved audience, a man who until then was only another background spectator suddenly got the spotlight shone on him. Shiki turned his back, a hint of recognition in his eyes. "You want your power? I am your power" Len stepped forward.