Hi everyone! Hope you all had a great week so far :)

Once again, I do not own One Piece. It all belongs to the glorious Oda-sensei, a creative, hardworking and hilarious man. (Not that I've ever met him, and I wish I could, but I'm sure he is all those things I mentioned and more!)

I don't own Trafalgar Law, or the other characters who appear in this work, except for Claviger Shingle.

Trigger warning for VIOLENCE.

6

...

From that moment on, we spent the next few days falling into a daily routine.

Shingle tended to wake up early in the morning, much earlier than me, which made sense considering the trek to the town took around 30 minutes. If I happened to wake up shortly after her, I would find her doing some light exercise warm-ups, like jumping jacks and squats, outside in front of the shack. She would also sometimes practice with the small sword I last saw her use on the night we first met, and she'd cut up some wood from the forest nearby with her wind ability.

After coming back inside, she'd heat up some food for us for breakfast in the kitchen and we would eat together. She ate very slowly, so much so that I'd often finish before her, and shortly after she was done, she would head off to town wearing some of the shabby clothes we found in the chest. Apparently, she started her day of work as an errand girl doing odd jobs for some wealthy households in the town.

"Those clothes are too big on you."

"Well, I have look the part, you know. Gotta make sure I'm keeping up the guise of a poor, innocent girl who's only looking for some work to support herself." She winked as she gestured at the baggy red t-shirt and loose brown pants, both patched up with mismatched colored pieces of cloth after she repaired them with a needle and thread. I guessed it was supposed to make her look like a peasant? Well, it worked.

"The town down there is called Shellburn, and I'd say it's pretty big considering it's in the middle of nowhere." She told me as she was getting ready to leave. "There are a bunch of rich families that live in huge houses, probably people descended from nobility, and the rest of the town is made up of small shop owners and fishermen, since the coast isn't that far off from here. There's a small Navy post in the town to keep the peace, but that's about it. They don't seem to be suspicious of me, which I think is a good sign that they're not in the know about us. But, I also heard there's a bandit gang around these parts, so we should be careful. You especially, yeah?" I nodded.

After she left, I would start training my powers. I made the attic my personal practice space and sidled up near the front window so that I could easily notice anyone approaching the house.

I quickly found out that my ability sapped up most of my energy after I used it. I spent the day balancing between rests and using my power. While resting, I'd pour over the medical books, with memories of my old lessons flooding back quickly. I memorized positions of bones and muscles, and read about their composition and the processes that ran them. I also gave myself refresher courses on biochemistry and pharmacology, especially since we found out that the mold in the bread was affecting me.

Shingle would come back to the shack for lunch, bringing back hot food, which she bought as take out from a restaurant or inn at the town. I noticed she never actually cooked for us, other than heating food up, but given my first-hand experience with her cooking, that was probably a good thing.

After we'd eat our meal together, she'd put on some fresh clothes, more presentable-looking ones from her own wardrobe, before going to the library, where she said she helped around. She said it made it much easier for her to borrow books as she pleased.

She'd come back late in the evening, bringing back dinner, and we'd eat with the lamplight and several candles illuminating our meal. Then she'd go to bed after writing in her small journal and fall asleep on the moth-eaten couch at the foot of the bed.

I usually stayed up well into the evening, studying and practicing by the lamplight. I trusted Shingle a lot more recently, but that didn't mean that we couldn't get ambushed in the dead of night by marines or pirates. We still had to be alert, especially when we were at our most vulnerable.

Every day I was learning something new about my ability. I practiced with the apple that had been the first subject of my sphere. I practiced conjuring the sphere at will, which was exhausting, but got a lot easier as time went on. Shingle had given me advice and said that it was much easier to activate your powers if you assigned a word for it. After just a few days, I'd mastered it to the point where I would say "ROOM," the word I started using since I likened the sphere to an 'operating room' of sorts, and the sphere would appear out of my palm.

I learned that the sphere was not only transparent but was also intangible, so if I wanted to practice with something else, I could just put objects in and take them out whenever I wanted. I also found out that I manipulated the things inside by moving my hands as though I were leading them to where they needed to go.

Since discovering the yellow mold, Shingle and I agreed that we would culture and grow it by mixing the cinnamon rolls with new pieces of bread inside one of the cupboards. I ate another piece of the contaminated bread in Shingle's presence, since we were both wary of the possibility that I might get seriously ill afterwards. However, the pain, although still enough to incapacitate me for a few seconds, hadn't lasted as long and was much more tolerable the second time around, and the after-effects were well worth a few seconds of torture.

Shingle was reassured to know it would probably hurt less and less the more I ate it. I found it funny that she was more relieved than I was about the whole thing. It was probably because, if or when it came down to it, I didn't mind going through excruciating pain if it meant I would be cured.

For the people who had lived in Flevance, Amber Lead Syndrome was something we inherited, something that was in our very bodies the moment we were born, so I doubted that a chelating agent would be enough to heal me. For that reason, I put everything I had into practicing with my powers.

I was determined to find out everything I was capable of. The book described my fruit's ability for spatial manipulation, which meant that healing didn't just happen with a flick of a wrist. If I had any hope of ridding myself of my condition, I was sure I would have to physically extract the amber lead out of my system. I thought of something like a sieve, straining out the unwanted substance, and focused my practice on that. I told Shingle my theory and she agreed with me, and told me she trusted my intuition.

Several more days passed this way, and when the weekend rolled around, Shingle spent the entire day at the house. She cleaned the house up and washed all our clothes. It was a good thing the stream had melted over. In fact, I noticed that the weather had been warming up steadily since we arrived. Maybe this island's bout of winter was going to end soon.

I had offered to help her, but she insisted that I had to put all my energy into worrying about myself. I appreciated the thought, but at the same time, I was beginning to worry about what a workaholic she was turning out to be.

"You're going to burn yourself out if you keep doing everything yourself." I stated.

She turned to me halfway through hanging up a shirt on the clothes line she set up between two trees, eyebrow cocked, and sarcasm coating her expression. "Yes, and I suppose you have some better ideas as to how I'm supposed to be doing the chores?"

A vein popped on my forehead. "I'm offering to help you! You're so stubborn." I spat.

Her expression, instead of annoyance, had actually brightened. "Aww, you do care about me! I'm so happy!"

She pat my hat fondly and I swatted her hand away with a snarl. She laughed.

"Hey look, I really don't mind, okay? I'm, like, a lone ranger. I'm used to doing everything myself, and, as crazy as it sounds, I actually like washing dishes and cleaning and hanging up clothes. Just don't make me go near the kitchen, that's it." She whispered the last part like it was a scandalous secret.

"You'll be helping me most if you just keep your eyes on the prize and get yourself all fixed up. And tell you what, when you do get better, then I'll make you do some chores around here. Heck, maybe I'll make you do all the chores." She said the last part with a flourish of her arms, looking around us as if everything was a chore.

"Tch, fine."

Since she'd made it clear that she didn't want any help, I went back inside, took my station up in the attic, and began studying and practicing. It wasn't until I had gotten up there that the irony of my statement had gotten to me. Hadn't I been the one, at first, who had refused help when she offered it to me when we met? I looked down and watched her for a while, and she waved up at me cheerfully, and for some reason, I felt both annoyed and thankful.

She had finished washing the clothes by the end of the morning and after we had lunch, I went back up and she decided she would reward herself by taking a long nap in the bedroom, while I went back to the attic.

And it really was a good thing that I had decided to start keeping watch from up there, because later that sunny, cold Saturday afternoon, Doflamingo appeared.

I heard the faint whirring of propellers from outside, like a huge fan was whizzing past from up above us. It was something I'd heard before, and my heart stopped when I realized that it sounded just like Buffalo when he was flying through the sky. But it couldn't be-

The whirring noises gradually grew louder, and sounded as though they were just beyond our doorstep. Then they slowed down to a stop, and I heard the crunch of snow underfoot.

"Hey why'd we decide to stop here-dasuyan?"

"That weird bandit pointed in this direction, and this shack is the only thing we've seen so far."

There was no mistaking those voices. It was Buffalo and Baby-5! How could they have found me so quickly? And it should have taken at least a few weeks before Doflamingo could come back to this island, given the battle that broke out between the pirates and the Navy had been too recent. No one had even known that I was here- I never even left. So… how?

I had to confirm it. Carefully, noiselessly, I turned my head a fraction from the edge of the window to look down below me.

It was them, right there, just a few meters from the entrance. A large lump of bile formed at my throat.

"But didn't that bandit from earlier say that the person who wasn't from town was a woman-dasuyan?"

"Young master said to check any suspicious people in the area, didn't he? If she knows anything about Law, then we need to confirm it."

I had to warn Shingle! If they found out I was here, then there would be no way for me to escape them. Even with Shingle's Zawa Zawa fruit, even she might somehow be caught and killed by them if she tried to help me get away.

But, if I moved from my spot and rushed down the stairs, the noise would alert those two that someone was inside, and they might charge in and find me. There was no doubt in my mind that in my current state I would be captured or killed without difficulty. I would struggle until my dying breath, but I knew I wouldn't be able to fight my way out. I had no way of telling Shingle of the danger we were in without drawing attention to our enemies right outside.

Then I heard another pair of feet land on the snow-laden ground.

"Oh? Have you two found something interesting?"

My heart jumped right to my throat as I bit back my tongue from making a noise. I could recognize that voice anywhere- the voice that haunted my nightmares, the voice that crept at every corner of my mind, threatening to take my life away the moment I let my guard down. I knew that voice so well that I didn't want to risk stealing so much as a glance from my place next to the window, for fear of catching his eye and guaranteeing our deaths.

But I had to, and there he was.

It was Doflamingo himself, standing tall with his ever-present malicious smile plastered on his face. The bright light of the sun bounced off his sunglasses as he approached our small cottage, and my hatred and rage rose with every step he took.

It took every ounce of my will for me not to jump out the window and kill him where he stood. This was the man who murdered Cora-san, his own brother, in cold blood; the man who took advantage of my despair and spent years molding me into a remorseless, psychotic killer fit to become his successor. But the logical part of me knew that attacking him now would throw everything I've been doing out the proverbial and literal window.

But…. what should I do? What could I do?! Despite finally learning about my powers and how to use them, I still couldn't help anyone!

There was a frantic movement downstairs, and then the front door swung open with a loud crash.

Had they already stormed inside?

I heard a loud gasp, then Shingle's voice rang out in terrified bursts.

"Y-You're…. you're Doflamingo!"

"Fufuffu, someone who's in the know, I see! Well then this will make things much easier."

I heard Shingle shriek, and then a noise that could only have been someone getting hoisted into the air and thrown into the snow. She let out a grunt of pain. I couldn't bear to take a breath as I listened, my nails digging into my palms as I stopped myself from crying out for her to run.

"We're looking for someone. A kid with white spots all over his body. Have you seen anyone like that, miss?" I could hear the cold, sadistic grin in his voice.

"White… white spots? I… I don't know anything about th-!"

I heard her cry out as I heard a limb connect with a body, and I decided to muster all of my strength and look out the window. Shingle was several meters away from the house, doubled over, curling up into a ball and lying sideways on the ground, as the three of them surrounded her.

"Young master, I feel like I've seen this lady before-dasuyan…"

"Hey! I recognize her!" Baby-5 suddenly exclaimed. "She used to work for us!"

Shingle… used to work under Doflamingo's crew? The same as me?

But… why?

"She used to be a maid in Spider Miles about a year ago, but she didn't even last a month and ran away crying!" Baby-5 continued, pointing accusingly at the injured lady who lay helpless in the cold snow.

"Oh yeah-dasuyan! I remember when Cora-san punched her in the gut after she dropped his drink on him."

Doflamingo towered over her as she was struggling to prop herself up. "Fufufuffuu, no wonder you ran away. What a coincidence, huh? I wonder if it's fate that we should be meeting in these circumstances! Maybe you'll be relieved to know that the man who punched you, my dear younger brother, turned out to be a damned traitor and was killed by my hands."

He stomped on her stomach and ground his sharp heel deep into her skin as she screamed. "I don't take well to people who leave the family, you understand? But I'll make this an exception if you can tell me something useful."

"I-I didn't run away! Please! I quit because I couldn't take it anym-! Ahhh!"

She screamed as he grabbed her by the neck and hoisted her up into the air at arm's length. She fruitlessly clawed at his relentless grip, trying to free herself, but his grip only tightened. The murderous pirate captain was twice her height, and she dangled so far from the ground that she would have gotten her bones broken if she was dropped.

"So, what will it be?"

"A-Alright alright, I'll talk! I'll talk!" Shingle cried between chokes and coughs of pain.

Doflamingo cackled and released her, and she fell into a crumpled heap. I let go of the breath I was holding when I saw that the snow broke her fall, but at the same time I was speechless, my blood running cold. She said she would talk. She didn't mean-?

She spoke weakly. "If you're talking about- about that sick boy with the white patches, I… I know where he is."

Was she…. She wouldn't betray me.

….Would she?

"I… I saw him and fed him five days ago. H-He told me he was running away from pirates...! I-I helped him get a boat. He was heading to Swallow Island, when I last- last saw him. He left behind his hat with me and boarded the boat at the dock down at Shellburn four days ago! He's long gone!"

"And that's true, is it? How do I know you're not just hiding him in the house?" Every hair at the back of my neck stood on end.

She was shaking as she gradually picked herself up and got on her hands and knees.

"… There's no way…. Me and that boy…"

"Hm? Well? Speak up!" Doflamingo demanded.

"There's no way I would've taken that brat in with me! That kid was infected with Amber Lead! I would die if I stayed any longer with him. I didn't want that disgusting disease, so I had him leave as soon as I could!"

I… Maybe I was hearing things? I was sure my ears were working fine. But it couldn't have been true. Shingle cared about me. What she was saying wasn't real. She was just saying that. But even though I knew that… even though I knew, my hands were shaking, shaking so hard. I held my head so hard that I was squeezing it. It wasn't true. It wasn't.

She suddenly sprinted out towards the clothes that she'd hung out to dry, and dug frantically, almost rabidly, at the earth beneath them. Doflamingo and his two subordinates stood and watched her. None of them made any moves to stop her, and Baby-5 and Buffalo's faces contorted into revulsion as the mad woman desperately attacked the muddy patch of dirt. I watched, just as stupefied, maybe even horrified, as my enemies below me.

"She's crazy-dasuyan!" Buffalo exclaimed, with Baby-5 nodding and hiding behind him in horrified agreement.

After a few moments, Shingle had found what she was looking for. Holding it up in her hand for the others to see was a very dirty white mass of fur with some discernible dark spots, the very image of my hat. I almost found myself believing that it was indeed my one and only hat, if it wasn't for the fact that it had been sitting beside me this whole time.

"Here, you see! I couldn't risk getting that disease, so I buried the hat here."

I gripped it close to my heart.

"I told you what I know! So leave me alone!" Shingle screamed hysterically as she choked back frightened tears.

"How absolutely pathetic." Doflamingo briskly walked up to Shingle, and without a moment's hesitation, he kicked her down as she cried out in pain. He continued and continued until she stopped crying out. Her body seemed to have gone limp.

He kicked her so she flipped face-up on the ground, panting and tears streaming down her face. Her arms were covered with bruises and scrapes. He bent down and leant close to her.

"Listen, little girl. In this world, the strong determine the fate of the weak. You're still alive right now because I chose not to kill you. Do you know why that is?

It's because for weaklings and cowards like you," he got up and spat on her, "existing in this world of ours is the worst kind of torture. Watching you grovel on the ground for your life and looking at the filthy shack you're living in are proof of just how pitiful you are.

Fufuffu! Just know that when we find out you've been lying about everything you said, we're going to come back and murder you in the most horrific way imaginable, so you should find a better place to hide if you intend on protecting your life.

Baby-5, Buffalo, let's go."

I kept myself out of sight as I listened to them leave. The whirring started and then grew steadily fainter until it was gone. But still, even after I was sure they had left, I continued not to turn back to the scene outside. I didn't know how long I stayed sitting there, petrified and shaking. Had it been minutes, an hour? It felt like an eternity as I listened to the deafening pulse in my ears.

Finally, I decided to look.

Shingle had gotten up, and was silently limping towards the house with her hands over her stomach and her eyes staring straight ahead.

I suddenly found the feeling in my legs again and rushed downstairs. Right as I reached the receiving room, she opened the door.

Her greeting was an exhausted sigh and a weak smile. "Hey there, kid."

She looked terrible. Her clothes were covered in moist mud, and footprints and red blotches decorated her white shirt over where her stomach was. Her hair was a complete mess, there were cuts on her cheek and forehead, and a drop of blood trickled down the corner of her mouth. Despite all this, she continued to smile- a tired, broken smile.

"Shingle… I-!"

I didn't want to look at her, at how badly she'd been beaten, but I couldn't tear my eyes away because what I was staring at, and what was staring back at me, was the ugly truth. She had almost died because of me, because she was trying to protect me.

And I realized it was going to continue that way. I knew it all along.

It's the Amber Lead Syndrome! If we're infected, it's the end!

It's true! Look at those disgusting white spots!

"H-Hey… What's wrong?"

"I… I can't-"

Don't you know that's a cursed child?!

Are you a madman?! Get that demonic kid out of here!

"Law, I didn't mean any of the things I said, you know that, right?"

You'll kill us all! We'll all get his dreadful disease!

"… Law?"

Don't touch me!

GO AWAY!

She took a step forward, reaching her hand out towards me. "Hey… It's gonna be alright, kid. I'm okay."

There's no way I would've taken that brat in with me! That kid was infected with Amber Lead! I would die if I stayed any longer with him!

It was true. She shouldn't have taken me in. She was going to die, just like Cora-san had. And it would be because of me.

I'm sorry, Shingle, Cora-san.

My legs moved on their own, and suddenly, I had turned and ran out of the back door and straight into the forest, the shout of my name following after me.

Notes:

Woof. Was that too much?

I named the town Shellburn, because Shelburne, Nova Scotia was where Edward Low, Law's real-life pirate namesake, raided several fishing vessels and rose his Jolly Roger, effectively becoming a notable and feared pirate captain from then on. He's got a really colorful history, so go and look him up if you have the time.

Questions, comments and reactions are well-welcomed! If the mood whiplash was too much, please feel free to tell me your disdain. And thanks a lot for taking the time for read this.

Apple Bloom: Yes, it's nice to think that since he encountered such kind people, it made him appreciate life and open his heart up to others. He turned out being quite smug as well haha.