Chapter 8: Introducing Ace

A/N: The update is quite behind the schedule, but you should understand why . . And since Ace plays a major part in Luffy's life (in OP), so I've decided to make him as one of the major character here. Enjoy, my crime fighters!


Paw once, paw twice, and then leap!

Swish tail once, swish tail twice and then chase!

Shake bum once, shake bum twice, and then bite!

Above was the rhythm of Nami's behavior for the past half an hour ever since Luffy introduced the squeaking cat toy to her. It was a mouse doll made from Hessian, filled with natural catnip and attached on the end of a long string. Connected to the other side of the string was a finger band with a small button. Everytime the small button was pressed, a realistic mouse squeak made by an electronic sound module would be released from the toy.

As the redhead sat on the couch, Kidd watched his brother waved his hand to get the mouse doll move around and everytime he did it, the calico kitten would leap, run and pounce on the imaginary prey. Long to short, the toys he bought were just another method to fuel Nami's natural hunting instinct and to vent pent-up energy.

In his mind, play time is essential to Nami. Because when she's wasn't playing, she's practically everywhere! In the shoes, under the bed, behind the t.v, and she leaped and bounded all over the place. One moment she was an eating machine, and the next moment she would be a bundle of energy and then continued to being a snoozing fur ball. And the circle carried on.

Kidd took another sip of his canned drink as he flipped the channel for the umpteenth time. Nothing on the t.v seemed interesting enough at this hour. Sighing, the redhead turned his attention back at the child sitting on the carpeted floor. This time, Luffy waved his hand higher, bringing the toy mouse with him. The action only encouraged the energetic kitten and without a second thought, Nami too, leaped upward towards the catnip filled doll. Then, she swiveled her body mid air as she fell down and like a pro, she managed to land on all four feet.

Cats really are a fascinating creature, Kidd had to admit it. They are tiny but warm, they purrs, they don't hog the cover and they demanded nothing from you. Except for attention, of course. But along the way also comes the annoying habits. Plenty of them. The most basic one was the ankles chasing game where she would hide under the sofa or behind the cabinet and when you passed by, she ambushed your unprotected ankles. Although her teeth and claws are still tiny, but it was enough to make him yelled "holy shit!" for every time Nami took a piece of his skin in between her teeth.

Even worse when she started treating your legs as the scratching post.

Another mysterious habit of the calico was her absolute need to lay down on whatever reading material he had in front of him. The newspaper, the magazine and even the cookbook. At first, Nami would come while sashaying her hips in a cutest manner, purring and nuzzling her body and face against his legs. When she saw the guard was down, then bam! She already flopped down on the magazines before Kidd could even blink twice, rolling over on her back for a belly scratch.

Next on the list would be the staring part. In which she would stare intensely at a spot, preferably a dark area and keeping a sentry for a very long period, leaving anyone completely convinced there are supernatural things going on in the house. Of course, it wasn't like him to believe in ghost or anything.

Right…

It got even spookier when Luffy joined in the paranormal activity and stared at the dark spot together with the calico.

Then comes the kneading. Really, why does Nami have to knead everything that seemed soft to her? When he means soft, he means items like the towel, comforter, pillow, and your laps and believe it or not, even your hair. He had caught her red-handedly (or is it red pawed-ly?) a couple of time, pressing her front paws in turns against his hair while he was taking an afternoon nap on the couch. And Luffy had asked him once about that typical behavior and his answer was simple:

"Hmm… it's nothing. Nami's only making biscuits."

Ooh, the things he would do to see the face his brother made that time again. It was too priceless.

Of course, no one could disregard this one, which will be the feeding session. When she was desperate for food and he was going to feed her—Nami would walk very slowly in front of him to make sure he doesn't change his mind, making him trip everytime. Feeding time for him was more like a tap dance session. The only missing item is the tap shoes.

Nami's annoying yet adorable kitten behaviors went uninterrupted… until one day.

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For how long the morning sunlight been fallen through the thin gap of the blue, percale curtain, the child had no answer to that. By the time Luffy had finally aware of it, the single beam of orange sunlight already found his face and spread across his bed. His toes curled and his fingers twitched at the natural wakeup alarm.

Like any other normal boys would do, Luffy tried to ignore the piercing light by hiding his face under the comforter and curled on his side. Hidden beneath the cover, the eight year old then wrapped himself inside the makeshift cocoon, the edges all tucked under to avoid even the tiniest crack of light. Somewhere beyond the closed door, the distinctive clacking sounds were starting to make themselves noticeable. It only meant one thing.

Kidd had started to make breakfast.

After a moment or two passed, the lump finally shifted as the child wiggled himself free from the cocoon. Once the head poked through the opening, Luffy sat up, rubbing his knuckles into his bleary eyes to chase away the slumber and yawned. Short, raven haired stuck up in lazy, unruly spikes. Blue comforter still draped over his small back indicating the child had arisen while on his stomach.

The effect from the sandman's magic dust was still present, but little Luffy forced his frame to glide away from the cozy bed and stood up. He stretched up his body, making a long 'uhhnnn' sound while at it for a solid five seconds. Then he turned back towards his unmade bed—comforter bundled on the center of the bed with sheet crumpled like ocean wave.

Kidd had once, or maybe a couple of time told him that it's alright to leave his bed unmade during weekend. Still, he couldn't stop his hands from at very least, smoothing the wrinkled sheet and readjusted the pillow so his bed wouldn't look so…disarray. Like someone had just wrestled down a six hundred pounds black bear on the mattress.

Satisfied with the less messy bed, the raven haired boy finally paced across the room and exited. But instead of going straight to the kitchen, Luffy headed to the living room where the calico should be at time like this. He took a peek at Nami's red polka dot donut bed next to the sofa.

It was empty.

Then he looked at the scratching post at the corner of the room.

Zilch.

Nut brown eyes scanned all over the room but a multicolored fur ball still couldn't be spotted.

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Two pancakes, a sausage patty, egg and a slice cheese—all arranged on top of each other to make it looked more like a sandwich. After all, it was to compliment the name of the dish—Sausage-cheese pancake Sandwiches.

Kidd placed two plates on the table, each serving the same dishes. With spatula still in his right hand, the redhead strode to the living room where he knew Luffy would most probably be there. Ever since they got Nami, playing with the calico was like a routine morning exercise for the child. That's why he wasn't surprise at all to see the younger sitting on the carpeted floor, but what confused him was the pose Luffy was presenting.

On his hands and knees, Luffy had his butt raised up in the air while his head planted flat on the floor, eyes fixated on the gap between light cappuccino tv cabinet and the floor.

His left eyebrow joined his right. "Luffy?"

The man's call was met with unrecognizable mumbling and he interpreted the respond to mean that Luffy was in fact acknowledged him, but too busy with whatever the task was to answer him properly.

"…What are you doing?" Kidd inquired as he closed the distance and kneeled next his brother.

"Nami…" The child muttered and slowly pushed himself up. "… She doesn't want to come out."

To emphasize his point, Luffy started making clicking noises, beckoning the kitten to him. But after a few attempts, multicolored fur ball had yet to leap out from the dark space. The result they received was only a weak mew from underneath the cabinet.

Now that didn't sound right, especially for the bouncing calico. With his existing frame, Kidd had the difficulty to peak at the small gap but clearly something was wrong with Nami. So instead, he moved to the side of the cabinet and using the chest and the triceps muscles of the arms, Kidd pushed the cabinet. With sufficient force, the furniture shifted enough to reveal the subject of his brother's worry.

Curled on the floor, the calico gave another set of weak mew. Luffy immediately crawled over to the kitten side and gently stroked the soft fur but the reaction Nami gave didn't meet their expectation. Just a soft pants, accompanied by another strained mew. And that's all. No leaping, no nuzzling and definitely no rubbing against the leg.

When Kidd gently picked the small fur ball up, he felt the muscles twitched in his hands and Nami's body seemed to be warmer than the usual. He walked towards the donut bed and placed her down on the fleece cushion. As soon as her body landed on the soft bedding, Nami curled her body back, the soft panting sound was still there.

"I wonder what's wrong with her…" The mechanic muttered and took a glance at his brother. The child had his brows furrowed in concern and pursed his lips.

"Hey…" Kidd pulled his brother's attention away from the limping calico. "Don't worry too much. We'll bring Nami to see the vet after this."

"Vet…?" Luffy questioned meekly. Sure he had heard such term, but somehow he forgot the function of this called 'vet'.

Kidd combed the boy's hair with his pale fingers, flatting down the stuck up strands so Luffy wouldn't look like a black puma that had just woken up from twelve hours of slumber. "Yup. They are a special doctor for animals. I'm sure they'll know what's wrong with Nami."

"Then Nami will get better…?"

"Sure she will." The older gave a reassurance smile. In his head, Kidd made a mental note to search in the internet for the nearest available vet clinic right after this. "C'mon, wash your face first. We'll take her to the vet after breakfast, hhnn?"

Luffy could only nod in agreement. Anything as long it could bring Nami to her old self back.

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At 9.30 a.m on Saturday, the brothers stood in front of the corner house of West Blue Road. They weren't here to visit the house though. Their main focus to be exact was the vet clinic that was attached to the house, situated on the ground floor of the double storey building. The exterior of the house plus clinic was painted with ashwood color while the windowsills dyed with bison brown and strawberry licorice for the door, creating a warm and inviting atmosphere.

Kidd read the sign for the second time or perhaps third time of the day.

'Red Hair Veterinary Clinic'

At first, his left eyebrow rose up due to the clinic's confusing name. It has the words 'hair' and 'vet' on the same signboard. So was this place really a veterinary or a… saloon? But since there was an image of paws printed at the corner of the signboard, Kidd had no other choice but to convince himself that this place was indeed a vet. Next, his right eyebrow joined the left due to the fact that the clinic was so fucking close to their apartment because it actually took them less than ten minutes to arrive. To make the matter worse, they even went by this road everyday—morning and evening.

So how come he had never noticed there's a vet this close to them, sitting there at the corner of the road like a content cucumber?

Just another mystery of the day.

From what he read from the clinic website, this was a private clinic owned by Dr. Shanks assisted by a couple of nurses. Since it was a small veterinary, the services offered are similar to other animal hospital, except for major surgery—preventative and wellness care, hospitalization and minor surgery—there is even a private car park provided to the rear of the building access via West Blue Road.

The man could only hope that whatever sickness that struck Nami wasn't a life-threatening that requires a visit to a major animal hospital.

With a sunset orange cat carrier in his left hand, the redhead placed his palm over the door and pushed. In instant, the mechanical door chime rang, a pleasant sound echoed throughout the room. Kidd held the door for a while, long enough for Luffy to enter the house a.k.a vet clinic.

The interior of the clinic wasn't less charming. It was a country style with the paint and wood cabinet combination, creating an easy to live in mood—goldenrod walls with almost all the cabinets are rosewood in color, adding the room warm color notes. A simple paprika-colored shade could draw anyone's eyes up to the window.

Give someone a cowboy hat, boots and a banjo, this entire place would definitely feel like a country house in the middle of summer.

Someone was at the receptionist table who had her face buried into a newspaper and once their upcoming footsteps was coming closer and clearer, the receptionist finally eased down the paper.

To Kidd mild surprise, the receptionist wasn't a 'she' after all, but a 'he'. Based on typical knee length white coat worn by the man, it was safe to assume he was one of the doctors operating the veterinary. In fact, he was pretty damn sure the man was the owner of the clinic judging by the amount of red hair rooted on the guy's head just like the signboard suggested. [2]

The second his wine-eyes landed square on the duo, his previous neutral face contorted into what Kidd would take as a mild surprise with additional cheery effect.

"What do we have here today? If it isn't the little guy from the kitty aisle~. I have a feeling we're going to meet again but I certainly don't expect it will be this soon." The scruffy man said with a cheery grin as he folded the newspaper and placed it on the counter.

Kidd blinked, not sure he had heard right. What exactly did he mean by 'meeting again'? When he looked down at Luffy, his brother too, was wearing a stun expression on his face.

"Do you know him?" The older couldn't help but to wonder.

His respond was a tad shocking, at least to Kidd. "Um." Luffy bobbed his head. "He helped me picked Nami's food."

Again, the mechanic blinked and stared at the quirky man before him for a moment. Only when Kidd spotted the scars running across the man's eyes, he felt his heart just stopped thumping for a solid two second.

This was the 'man with scars' that taught Luffy how to pulverize the kitty chows. The small annoying voice inside him began to question regarding his decision in visiting this vet. Also, a pang of jealousy hit the mechanic like a tornado. He had taken like weeks just to get Luffy to talk to him but this man took only perhaps five minutes of his life time to get all friendly with his brother.

What is it he's got? Scars?

Too occupied in traumatizing himself, Kidd didn't realize the doctor too, was openly accessing him, his fingers laced together on the table. "Hmm… Aren't you a little young to be a father?"

At the words 'young' and 'father', the mechanic quickly snapped his attention back into present, focusing entirely on the doctor. He wasn't sure whether it was the question that made him felt uncomfortable or if it was Luffy's confusing frown. "I'm only 23 and Luffy's already 8. Do the math yourself."

As the man rubbed his short scruffy beard, he made a long humming sound. "Wow, that means you had a son at the age of fifteen."

During time like this, the redhead wished he had at least brought one or two wrenches with him so he could fling them to anyone that had a smile that pissed Kidd he most, the teasing one that oozed excitement.

"And wow to you too for the wrong as hell assumption. I'm his brother, genius." Kidd punctuated the last part with a hint of threat.

Much to his frustration, his earlier outburst was followed by yet another ear-to-ear grin. "Right… That's what they all say~"

For the next minute, the mechanic tried to memorize the procedure of replacing the car's compressor as he tried to distract himself from any nasty come back that threatened to escape through his clenching teeth.

The doctor, namely Shanks suppressed the contagious chuckles but the trembling shoulders indicating that he wasn't doing a very good job with it. This young man before him was too fiery and too fun to tease. "Well, let's have a look at your pet then."

With a deep scowl, Kidd inched forward and placed the carrier on the counter. "We don't know what's wrong with her. She was an energetic fur ball yesterday, but this morning, she looks sick and weak… and a lil' twitchy."

Shanks tapped the cage door lightly and indeed, a set of weak mews met his ears. "We'll move to the exam room." The veterinarian stood up only to call for his assistant. "Perona~!" [1]

Less than five seconds, a girl appeared from one of the back room, stomping hard on her way to the receptionist. "What is it? I told you many times not to call me with that singing voice! It's horrendous!"

Of its own violation, Kidd's eyebrows rose up to an impossible height. In contrast with the clinic's warm color scheme and country style, the girl was definitely inspired by gothic Lolita style and she wore it like a shield—a white top with a black mini skirt and striped tights covering her lags. The red buckled boots and her pink colored hair only highlighted her gothic-ness even more.

Ignoring the childish outburst, the animal doctor faced the fuming girl with a nonchalant face. "Get your butt on this chair and answer the phone calls. And don't forget to call Nefertari and tell her she can bring home her duck by this Monday."

"Eehhhh~" Her painted lips pouted as she whined. "But I don't like sitting in front, it's not cu—"

Her big, round eyes went bigger when he saw Luffy sticking close to his brother. "Aaahhhh! A super cute boy! Why didn't you tell me there's an adorable boy here Shanks!"

The assistant jumped and squealed, but her sudden change of mood and actions only made the boy to shrink more against Kidd. He flailed his hand a bit to find his brother's and when he found it, he grasped on the man's index finger, squeezing the digit. The older now know that although Luffy's wall had fall apart, but that doesn't apply to everyone. Perhaps the presence of stranger especially woman could still trigger unpleasant memories.

This could be a problem.

Aware of the child uneasiness, Shanks interrupted the squealing fit. "Stop that screaming. You're scaring him."

Whirling around, the pink haired assistant made an indignant face. "I DO NOT. I'm not like you~~to un-cute and scruffy."

"Hnnn…" It was a simply a universal message that speaks 'whatever'. "Alright you two, this way."

The doctor paid no attention to the whining fit at the receptionist table and made his way toward the exam room, setting a slow pace enough for the brothers to keep up with him. Now that Kidd finally had a full view of the doctor, he couldn't stop but to think that everything about the man before him screamed sloppy. From his untucked shirt to his brown trousers cut just below the knee and collected halfway the shin with some golden buttons down the outer leg. What nagged him the most was the floral pattern on them. A fucking flowery pattern! He wasn't sure if it's a dandelion or chrysanthemum, but it sure was weird as hell. And—and what's up with the sandals? Why choose a pair of sandals that makes a click clack noise against the hardwood floor?

If you ignore the fact that the doctor called Shanks was wearing a white coat, you would think this man just came back from a beach or some sort of summer island, surrounded by sand, nude girls and coconut milk shakes.

Long story to short, the animal doctor in front of him was a total odd ball. Perhaps the word enigma fit the man better. Just how many doctors out there wear this type of lazy attire and walked around like he owned the goddamn clinic?

Zero. Exactly his point.

And he IS the owner of the vet too, stupid Eustass.

As he muttered a string of 'stupid' and 'dumb-damn-ass' under his breath, Kidd settled the carrier on the dark brown exam table. Crimson eyes once again darted all over the room to take in his surroundings. Still upholding the cozy color scheme, the wall for the exam room was splashed with the color of a field of wheat, keeping the room casually comfortable.

Well, at least the man has a good taste in color.

The doctor didn't wait any sign of approval and immediately opened the carrier door. With ease, he scoped the kitten inside and gently transferred her out from the dim, confined space.

"Is this the infamous Nami? And oh, it's a she. But of course, all calicos are she! There isn't any tom-calico out there, right? Dahahahahaha!" Shanks cackled at his own realization.

As soon as the contagious, unique laughter echoed throughout the clinic, series of barks, cat's hiss and thumping noises that came from the other room immediately followed after. Both brothers jolted in surprise at the blood curdling noises the animals creating. On instinct, Kidd tugged Luffy toward him and held the child closer. The mechanic had a wild imagination that all the cats in the clinic room were pushing their ears down, barring their fangs and squinting their slivered eyes while hissing. The sound and body language itself resembled another fearsome animal.

The serpent.

At some point, Kidd could swear the cute felines were practically hissing 'cooobraaa!' although he couldn't see them under his naked eyes.

"Don't worry about that." The veterinarian waved his hand, unconcerned. "They always do that whenever I laugh. The same thing happened when I visited the zoo once. I was laughing hysterically and the next thing I knew all the baby monkeys was screaming, the rhinos bulldozing the cage, even the animals that's not python could hiss at me. And the tigers were all ready to pounce on me like I'm some kind of an enemy. Can you believe that? Dahahahahaha!"

Another set of 'Mrrrooooww' drawn out. This time, it sounded demonic enough as though the noise was emanated from the very bowels of hell itself. And Luffy reacted to the hissing noise by burying his face into his brother's stomach.

Shanks turned to the opened door and let out an offended shout. "Ooohh, come on! I need to let loose once in a while too, you know!" Clearly he was referring to the animals at the recovery room.

Instead of hearing another animals screech, a tall and slim, with short straight cut blond woman suddenly appeared at the doorway, a clipboard in her hand. Dissimilar with the girl called Perona, this one had the decency to wear normal nurse attire, blue in color.

"Dr. Shanks, if you don't stop with the trademark laughter, I will throw all the clipboards in this clinic straight into your head." Free from any smile, the blond woman gave an impassive look with her doll-like eyes.

Somehow, she reminded Kidd of the old Luffy.

The doctor flinched at the cold tone. "Don't get too cranky, Cindry. I was only lightening up the mood."

Always with her rebellious nature, the nurse inched forward until they were nose to nose. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to calm the animals down everytime you let out that unbearable laugh? Some of them who just had an operation had blood burst back from the stitched wound. And who's going to clean the mess up, fix and redressed them all? Me and Perona only, while you sit in front of the porch strumming your annoying banjo and sipping the watermelon juice. Maybe I should open all the cages right now and let all the animals pounce on you. How does that sound?"

By the time the assistant called Cindry finished her venomous speech, Shanks was already cowering against the table. "Alright, alright, I heard you. I'll stop now."

A feeble cry snapped Shanks' attention back at the warm calico in his hand. He hadn't realized throughout Cindry's poisonous speech, he was holding Nami like his own dear life depending on her.

At once, the red haired doctor laid the kitten gently on the exam table. When the cool surface of the table touched her warm body, the small frame quaked slightly and she let another weak mew.

"Shhhh…. It's okay, it's okay." As the man made a hushing sound, he gently prodded all over the calico with his fingers.

"She's warm alright… A little twitchy like you said… and I don't feel any lump or swell on her body." Then he shoved his hand into the front pocket of his white coat only to fish out black rimmed glasses.

After the rimmed lenses safely perched on the nose bridge, Shanks set the earpiece of the stethoscope into his ear canals. The icy cold chest piece was moved a few inches for him to listen to Nami's lungs and heart sounds. "Her heartbeat is quite rapid although she seems weak…"

While the doctor verified the symptoms, Cindry jot down on the clipboard. She glance to her left and sensed the child's extreme interest on whatever Shanks was doing to his cat, but couldn't see much due to his height and the fact that the exam table was taller than the usual for the doctor's convenient. Slowly, she moved to the corner of the room and drew one of the chairs, placing the furniture next to Luffy.

"Here. Stand on the chair so you can see better." The voice was still icy cold but somehow the tone was much more softer than the one she used on the doctor.

Deep inside, Luffy knew the blond lady and even Kidd were silently observing him. The icy cold voice made his inside to churn badly, it was too nostalgic. It wasn't that harsh, but it was far from friendly. Like it was in the middle.

Exactly like his old one. Lack of emotion and distance from everyone. He wondered if something bad… or painful happened to her.

Slowly, Luffy glanced up and made eye contact with her. And she was still gazing down at the boy, waiting. His face adapting a contemplative stare as Luffy mentally reviewed the situation. True that the nurse seemed cold, but little Luffy somehow could sense the cold stare wasn't born from hatred or disgust. Right now, he had to believe the lady in front of him would do no harm. That, and Kidd would always be there for him.

A moment or two passed and the child finally climbed on the chair. But instead of standing on the cushion, the boy opted on kneeling on it so his shoes wouldn't stain the chair. Half of his body was propped on the exam table as he shuffled closer to the calico.

Unseen by the child, a small smile tugged the corner of Cindry's thin lips.

By now, Shanks had finished examining Nami's blood pressure. "Her blood pressure appears to be low as well."

And the blond nurse made another notation on the clipboard.

"It's hard to determine her exact condition. She doesn't cough or sneeze, so flu is out of the chart. I need to do some blood test. It's the quickest and easiest way to determine her sickness and the result is more reliable"

Almost in answer to the doctor murmur, Cindry made her way toward the cabinet behind and pulled open the drawer, second from above. She rummaged the contents inside and once she was done, she returned back and handed to Shanks a thumb sized plastic container and a syringe attached to a thin tube.

"Uhn." Luffy shuddered on the chair, eyes wide in fear that the needle might hurt Nami.

The blond nurse looked at the child, practically oozing with concern but at the same time, it was masked by the doll eyes. "It won't hurt her… it's just like a mosquito bite, without the itchy bump."

"She's right." Shanks murmured as Cindry picked the calico up gently and held her head back, exposing the kitten's head for easy access to the jugular vein. "This will only take a few seconds…"

Then, the veterinarian squirt some alcohol on Nami's fur and skin to make sure that there will not be a risk for infection. He removed the cap from the needle and pulled the plunger back to remove the seal on the syringe, depressing it completely to remove the air. Bending down slightly, Shanks used the thumb of his free hand to place pressure on the kitten's vein. Since Nami is still small, it wasn't easy to locate her vein, so he needed to do this right or he might miss the vein and had to re-stick the calico again and again.

And the kitten definitely wouldn't appreciate that… or even the kid.

Once he confirmed the location of the vein, the doctor inserted the needle into the jugular vein and pulled back on the plunger using the ring and the pinky fingers. Blood slowly appeared in the syringe and Shanks breathed in relieve. At least he didn't miss the calico's vein. He continued filling the syringe, sensing the child was rubbing his own neck nervously.

Satisfied with the amount of blood, the veterinarian removed the pressure on his thumb from the vein and withdrew the needle only to be replaced by Cindry's hand pressed against the same spot, fingers equipped with alcohol-soaked cotton ball. To wrap up the blood drawing procedures, Shanks filled the plastic container with the drawn blood before tossing the used needle into the nearby bin.

After Cindry placed Nami back on the exam table, the animal doctor handed her the blood-filled tube. "Here, take this and run the tests."

Wordlessly, the blond assistant left the room, clipboard and tube in her hand.

Shanks then relocated the calico back into the carrier. "Right now, she might feel a little bit dizzy so let her rest, okay?"

In need for confirmation, Luffy peeked through the holes on the carrier and caught a glimpse of Nami snoozing inside.

"It's going to take a while before Cindry comes back with the result. I'll make some drinks while we wait. Come." Not waiting for any possible declination or second opinion, Shanks strode away and the brothers had no choice but to tag along.

They were led toward the waiting area. Spread across the room was couches, coffee tables, and some high raised chairs with equally high raised table. At the corner of the room laid a cabinet filled with refreshment for the waiting visitors.

The brothers took a sit on the sofa. Perched on the table was a seashell centerpiece. A glass bowl filled with seashells, pearls, starfish, sand and multicolor rocks and pebbles. Next to it, in which Luffy was currently poking on, was a medium size shell box. Similar to its partner, the inside was filled and decorated with sea shells, pearls, pebbles, minus the sand.

These two centerpieces only gave out some sort of costal feel and Kidd couldn't help but think of a warm beach where nude girls running around, smashing the watermelons with a deadly baseball bats.

The redhead quickly shook his head to shoo the gruesome images away.

Before he could completely remove the lingering pictures, Shanks had already arrived, tray in his hand. Taking a sit opposite to the brothers, the doctor set three glasses on the coffee table. "I made some lemonade."

Praise to deities that he didn't give them coconut juice! This sandy, summer theme was starting to drive him mad…

"This place looks more like a beach house in the middle of summer rather than a vet clinic." Kidd commented as he took a sip of the citrusy juice. A VERY big part of him was expecting animal pictures and animal dolls decorating the room, not some seashells and a banjo.

The comment made him to smile behind the glass. "The clinic is attached to the house. So basically everything here is ALSO my home, you know. And yes, I have things for summer and beach."

Then the veterinarian reached for the glass bowl and took out the orange color starfish in between his fingers. To Kidd's horror, Shanks popped the starfish into his mouth casually. Of course, he wasn't the only person who was shaken up at the man's action of eating a dried up starfish. Beside him, Luffy too, let out an 'eep' sound.

Yet, the doctor had the nerve to chuckle at the brothers' horrified expression. "Don't go screaming at me. They're chocolates. The rocks and pebbles are nuggets, the pearls are hard candies and the sand is brown sugar."

Even though the scruffy doctor took another turquoise nugget pebbles and munched on it, Kidd still looked skeptical. "C'mon, have some. But oh! Don't eat the glass and the shell box. They're the only part of the centerpiece that's non-edible."

He pushed the glass bowl toward the child. At first, Luffy was dubious at the so called edible sea shells, but seeing how the doctor was munching happily on the centerpiece, anyone could be tempted. Mimicking the scarred man, the boy chose the snail shell and nibbled on the tip. A smooth and creamy melt-in-your-mouth texture with the additional toasted nuts aroma was more than enough to convince the boy that the seashells were indeed chocolate assortments. He popped the rest of the sweet treat into his mouth hold it with his tongue to savor the milky sweet flavor.

Maybe he should save one or two of these and give them to Killer. He was positive the blond man would be surprised at the rare sweet treats.

"This is the most bizarre centerpiece I've ever seen in my whole life." The mechanic frowned slightly as Luffy dropped 8mm pearl into his opened palm. He tossed it into his mouth and a sweet and tangerine flavor immediately flooded his taste buds.

Rolling the confectionary in his mouth, Kidd scanned the room. "You don't have many workers in here, huh…"

"It's only a small clinic. Those two are more than enough to handle everything here."

"Why not open a bigger clinic? You know, one that doesn't actually attach to your own house." Inquired the redhead. This time, Luffy put a few nugget pebbles into his hand. The twenty three year old rolled the stone looking snacks in between in fingers. It seemed like Luffy was pretty much excited with the chocolate centerpiece idea. And now he practically wanted his brother to taste everything inside the bowl and the box.

Nevertheless, Kidd popped the nuggets and the pebbles were crushed under the pressure from his jaws.

Right leg crossed over the left one, the doctor took a large gulp of his lemonade. "It's for my own convenient. This way, I can do a double duty. Work and looking after my son. Just to make sure he doesn't destroy the house."

"… Your wife?" Kidd asked carefully.

"Hhmm…" The older red haired man smiled lightly, letting the half empty glass to dangle in between his fingers. "She passed away not long after my son was born. She always had a weak body even before she was pregnant. I think my son is about Luffy's age."

Kidd nodded in respond. Wow, this is sort of… awkward. It was one of those moments where you didn't want to give any remark in fear that it might trigger something unpleasant. Sad memories would be a good example.

Saved by the grace, the blond nurse had returned from the lab room. An indication that she had finished with the lab work and holding the life and death result. She gave the result paper to the veterinarian and Shanks didn't waste a second to analyze the findings.

Wine-eyes examined the paper contents starting from top. "Iron level normal… protein level normal… Cholesterol level normal…M-hm" Shanks mumbled, still scanning the results.

"… theobromine… ooh?" The doctor looked intrigued. His finger tapped the side of his chin, deep in thought before searching for the specific term in the paper. "High sugar level…"

From the paper, the veterinarian zeroed in at the chocolates filled glass bowl. There was a long pause in which Kidd interpreted as a bad sign.

"Did you ever give Nami chocolate? Perhaps last night? Or if she accidentally rummaged through your snack cabinet and ate some?" The doctor asked as he gazed at the brothers.

The questions seemed to throw the mechanic off balance, so he decided to answer the doctor with yet another question. "Why do you ask?"

"It says here…" Shanks started as he eyed on the paper back. "The theobromine concentration is quite high as well as the sugar level."

"theobromine?"

"You see chocolate is made from the roasted seeds of Theobroma cacao. It contains certain ingredients… like caffeine and chemical called theobromine. Cats and dogs are very sensitive to these two. And…" A short pause. "Unfortunately, they can be toxic to cats."

Kidd stared at the seashells chocolate, then back at the doctor. "You mean it's a chocolate poisoning?"

"In a simple term, yes." The red haired doctor paused as he waited for Kidd to answer his earlier question.

The thin brows were joined together as the redhead raked his mind through yesterday night. "I'm pretty much sure we don't have chocolates stock except for the drink…" Kidd then turned to his brother. "Luffy, did you give her any…?"

As anticipated, the boy shook his head in denial.

Another few minutes of intense calculation, the mechanic still could come up with trustworthy answer. "We never gave her anything other than the cat food, let alone snack—"

A short hiatus and ever so slowly the brothers looked at each other before a sharp realization slapped them. Almost simultaneously, they both came up with an early hypothesis.

Faster than lighting, Kidd dug into his pocket only to draw out his phone. He scrambled off the sofa and quickly dialed a certain number.

On the third ring, "Hellooo…"

The mechanic scowled at the voice. It sounded groggy enough for him to believe the person on the other end of line, namely Killer had just woken up. "Yo, blondie. Just woke up?"

There was sound made by fabrics shifting together. "Wha—Kidd? What the hell…?" The voice appeared muffled; assuming the blond now was burying his face into the pillow.

"Good question. Last night when you came to my house, what snacks did you bring?"

"What?"

"I said…" The redhead tapped the tip of his shoe against the hardwood floor in impatient manner. "What snacks did you bring?"

"You woke me up because you want to ask about snacks? Kidd, so help me—"

Kidd interrupted before Killer could finish his sentence. "First, it's almost noon so don't act all snappish to me like I'm calling you three in the morning. Second, if you don't answer my question within three second, I'm going to ransack your house and drag your skinny ass to where I'm standing right now."

Sighing loudly, the blond continued. His voice was clearer this time. "Okay, okay. Just give me a sec and let me think first. Last night… snacks… uh, shortbread, some dried plums and uh…"

"… chocolate?" Kidd prompted.

"Yeah, and chocolate. The milky one. Luffy was fond of them. They have bat shape, Dracula head shape, pumpkin, Frankenstein and—"

While his friend was still mumbling all the different shapes of chocolate, the redhead shot a comical look toward his phone. How the hell a person who had just woken up could remember all the chocolate shapes?

"Kill, stop, stop! Just—just stop, alright… That's enough." Wheezing slightly, Kidd pinched his nose bridge. "My next question is, did you give any of these pumpkin, Dracula and leprechaun chocolate to my cat?"

"Nami…? Oh yeah. She wouldn't stop kneading my laps so I gave her some to keep her busy. And for the record, she liked the skull shape."

Tipping his head back, Kidd let out a loud ground. "Kill, you Wubba snack monster… if you're in front of me right now, I'll be pulverizing you to a bloody pulp just like how Luffy pulverizes the kitty chows."

"…"

"No thanks to your gracious deed feeding my cat with your milk chocolate, now she's sick like a dog and got all the energy of slug." Kidd was beginning to get irritated.

"Er… sorry?"

Kidd felt his frustration rise to dangerous level. "I'd really hack your hair for this, but I'm conserving my energy for any violent acts. I'll settle with you on Monday."

The mechanic pushed the end button before Killer could reply.

Emitting a loud sigh, Kidd turned around only to catch two set of open stare. It wasn't Luffy's alarmed look that bothered him, but rather the facial expression plastered on the doctor's face. It was a crossover between glee and fascination. Worse, he didn't have the slightest decency to cover his grin and that only fueled Kidd's irritation to a whole new stage.

"Well, at least we know the culprit." Shanks chortled, earning himself another dagger glare from the mechanic. "What type of chocolate was it? Milk?"

Kidd huffed and sat on the arm rest next to Luffy. "Yeah. Does it matter?"

"Hm-mm. Milk chocolate has only small amount of theobromine, but the toxic effect is still there considering the kitten small size. But if it's a dark chocolate, then it's a code red emergency because this kind of bitter chocolate has the highest concentration."

"But it's treatable, right?" Kidd had to absolutely sure on this aspect of things. If something happens to the calico because of some blond, snack eating fiend that may lead to—gulp—death… there was no telling how Luffy would react to it. He didn't want to be one who bears the guilt—it would definitely be painful and permanent.

"For Nami case, of course." Shanks stood up; brushing away the invisible chocolate crumbs and led the brothers back to the exam room.

By the time they entered the room, the calico had stirred from her short snooze and mewed faintly. Shanks scooped her out and placed her back on the table, this time closer to the edge of the table and near the boy.

"The treatment won't be too intensive. We are going to administer activated charcoal to her to prevent further toxic absorption into the body. And I might give her anticonvulsant if she doesn't stop twitching." The veterinarian explained while looking at Luffy who was nose to nose to the kitten.

When he swapped his attention to the older brother, Shanks adopted a more serious expression. "Also, she needs to be hospitalized, so I can give her IV fluid to completely remove the chemical from her system and it's easier for me to monitor too."

"Oh… How long does she have to stay here?" Kidd nodded, settling his hand on Luffy's shoulder for reassurance. The younger picked out the important details and the expression he taken up was all about care.

"It won't be too long. Just a few days"

At the word 'stay', Luffy could immediately decipher the code that he won't be seeing Nami for a while. The kicked puppy expression was apparent without the boy noticing it as he stroke the calico gently. The way his lips curled downwards in that frown shot an ugly feeling to the doctor. It coiled deep in his gut and burnt with guilt. Anyone who witnesses the expression would definitely coo over the boy and want to hold the child close to ease his sadness. And most probably cry too.

That included Shanks of course.

But before he could squeeze the child and give him a hug of death, the doctor immediately recomposed himself. He bent down and tapped Luffy's cheek to steal his attention, giving a warm smile. "Don't be sad. You can still visit her whenever you want."

Luffy blinked and decided to press his luck. "Everyday?"

It was the first time the child spoke ever since the brothers' arrival at the clinic and Shanks chuckled. Except that, the quiet laugh was far from amusement or satisfaction. They were gentler together with a friendly vibe. In some way, Kidd could almost relate the reason why this scarred man could make his brother drawn to him.

Nevertheless, this man still irked him.

"Sure you can." Shanks straightened up and leaned his back against the cabinet, arms crossed over his chests. "You guys live around here, yes? I mean, I saw you walk passed here like every morning."

Taken back, the mechanic nodded. "Yeah. Grove 22 Apartment."

"Figured. I knew Luffy looks awfully familiar back at the store, but it didn't ring any bell. Do you go to the nearby elementary school, Luffy?" The doctor fiddled at the alcohol solution next to him, eyeing the boy through the corner of his wine-eyes.

Tapping Nami's cold, pink nose with his fingertip, Luffy then turned to the questioner and bobbed his head.

"Then you probably know my son too. He's—"

There was an interruption to the conversation when a dark head poked through the doorway. Cognac-brown orbs silently inspected the room until they landed on the coat-wearing veterinarian.

"Shanks…" The intruder muttered. Although only his head was shown, it was too obvious he, too, was still a boy and Kidd had a rough guess he was around Luffy's age. [3]

The doctor acknowledged the boy's present. "Hm…? You're already back?"

"Um." Slowly he shuffled in, but still standing on the doorway, holding a brown paper bag close to his chest. "They are out of banana bread today, so I bought potato bread instead. And also some cheese croissants, rolls, pumpernickel, monkey bread…"

As the boy rummaged through the selections of breads inside the bag, Kidd silently took in his appearance. Clad in black/white stripped tank top and army style cargo shorts, the boy had a similar built like Luffy, only taller. In fact, the similarity also applied to his hair which was raven-black in color, untamed, but slightly longer and parted in the middle. The freckles that supposed to make his appearance more childish were masked by the small frown on his face.

"It's okay, that'll do." Shanks said after the boy was done with the breads inspection. "And give the monkey bread to Perona so she'd stop sulking. Even the bread name suits her…" The doctor again sniggered under his breath, careful enough not to be heard by the pink haired assistant.

"Okay." Aloof with the presence of unfamiliar persons in the room, the boy spun on his heels and took off. But his adventure didn't go far when the boy walked backward and poke his head back into the room. Only this time, his hooded eyes didn't linger on Shanks, but settled exactly on the other boy next to Kidd, namely Luffy.

Freckled boy stared intently at Luffy. And Luffy too, returned the scrutinizing gaze. No one spoke during the period, not even a single 'meep' sound. Both boys were bluntly ignored the confused adults gawking at them.

"…Luffy?" The freckled boy finally open his mouth as his raised his left eyebrow.

The said boy sucked his lips in and released them after a while only to mutter out, "Ace."

"So you do know my son after all." The doctor didn't sound all that surprise as though he accepted the possibility that the two boys might be acquaintance.

Shocked with the man's revelation, the mechanic looked back at the freckled boy. This is his son?

Dragging his feet into the room, the boy named Ace stood next to the veterinarian. "He's the new transfer kid in my class. I told you before, remember? The quiet one."

Without doubt, to Ace, Luffy was too quiet and always sat alone disregarding the time or place. Sure he spoke when asked, but never once Ace heard him voiced out any unnecessary points. Organized and neat, the smaller boy always seemed to be working hard but never sweated. His expression was bland, never flinched, as if Luffy was incapable of feeling any pain. As a matter of fact, he had never witnessed him showing any feeling. Sad, angry or even happy. Although lately, Luffy did look brightened up, but the fact that he always by himself never changed.

"Oh yes, I remember!" The sudden hit of realization made Shanks to clap his hand together. "The shy one! Ace told me about you. He said you don't talk much in class, but smart, especially in math, right?"

To say that he was surprised was understatement. Luffy was literally shocked. All this time in class, he tried to set himself into stealth mode so he wouldn't attract anyone's attention. If the teacher asked him to bring papers to the office, he complied without voicing out complain. If the boy next to him asked him whether he could borrow his eraser, he would lend it without inquiry. If he was asked to write down the answer on the blackboard, he would definitely put down the correct solution.

All in one, he did everything essential in class, but not enough to draw attention or make himself know, much less being remembered. Yet, the boy called Ace who sat rows away acknowledged him.

It's puzzling.

Everything about Ace could be described by one word. Intimidating. The taller boy was always seen fighting with other boys and it doesn't limit to his own classmate only. It wasn't a serious fight though, just a small brawl but that was more than enough for other kids to keep their distance away. Troublemaker, yes. Bad temper, why not? But one thing for sure, Ace isn't one to torment those who seemed weak and maybe different. In a simplest term, he is not a bully. Rather, he only opted violence when provoked or through insults. It was too easy to be noticed even for someone like Luffy.

Almost all the time, Ace was spotted walking or sitting by himself. His reputation as a troublemaker most probably drove people away.

Back to the reality, the said enigma slowly made his way toward the exam table and crouched down close to the limping calico. "Yours?"

When Luffy realized Ace was referring to Nami, he nodded in confirmation.

Ace bent further down to take a better look on the name tag of the kitten's reflective collar. "Nami…" He softly read the name on the tag. "What's wrong with her?"

Since he never had any conversation with the freckled boy, Luffy had a hard time perceiving his question. "Uh…"

And Shanks intervened. "Chocolate poisoning."

Feeling his mouth forming a pout, Ace turned briskly at the doctor. "Shut up, old man. I'm not asking you, I'm asking Luffy."

The boy's curt remark didn't wilt his cheer. "Well, I'm the doctor here~"

With a small annoyed huff, Ace turned back to his classmate and shot an incredulous look. "You gave her chocolate? You can't do that. It's not good for her."

At what he took as a light scold, Luffy bit his lower lip in guilt. "I didn't. Killer did."

"Oh." Realizing that he just made a mistake, the taller boy nodded, his fingers went to scratch the calico's chin and laughed when Nami licked the digits. "She's cute. How about your other cats? Did they eat chocolates too?"

Luffy shook his head. Inside, he had the difficulty to believe that he was currently talking to Ace normally as though they were good friends. "Nami is my only cat. She's alone when I found her."

"Alone? You mean she was abandoned?" Again, Shanks slipped into their conversation. After his suspicion was confirm by the child simple nod, the doctor continued, "I'm not surprised though. They're a lot of abandoned kittens lately. Some owners are too lazy to get their cats neutered and ends up throwing away the kittens. So this is her first time going to a vet?"

"Huh? Yeah."Kidd replied as he watched the freckled boy wiggled his finger in front of Nami in hope the calico would paw at it.

"I see." The doctor shoved his hands into his coat pockets, ankles crossed. "Since this is her first visit, I might as well give her a vaccine shot."

Kidd held up his hand. "Elaborate."

"First time having a cat, huh?" At Kidd nod, Shanks continued. "To put it in a simple way, kittens are like kids too. They need vaccination series so they wouldn't get sick. The core—or the necessary ones are panleukopenia, herpesvirus, and calicivirus. Yeah, I know, the terms are helluva confusing, so I'll give the pamphlets about these vaccination series later."

"Do that." In agreement, Kidd shook his head. "Because my brain has a tight security system against medical terms."

Shanks smiled at the redhead's humorous attempt. "Anyway, the good news is these three vaccines can be done in one shot. Of course, she needs to visit here again for another two shots and they're going to be given for every three to four weeks. And also, I'll give a medication for deworming and test for feline leukemia. Is that okay?"

"Well, you're the doctor. Anything that you think is good for my cat works well to me." The truth is, Kidd couldn't handle anymore of the baffling medical terms. For now, he had to trust that Nami would be perfectly fine while under his care.

"Then…" Picking up the forgotten clipboard on the countertop, Shanks fished out a ball pen from his pocket to make more notations. "Overall, chocolate poisoning… Vaccinations… deworming and… FIV. .. And Ace? Do you know these guys actually live close to us?"

The taller boy stopped flicking Nami's glow-in-the-dark collar and turned around and then back to Luffy. "Yeah?"

"U-huh." Sliding the pen back into the pocket of his lab coat, the red haired doctor tossed the clipboard to the countertop with a small clatter. "They passed by here everyday."

"No way." Ace mouthed, surprised was all over his face. "How come I never saw them?"

"Becaauuussseee…" As he drawled the word, Shanks chortled. "everytime they passed by, you're still in your La-La land, drooling all over your pillow, my dear narcoleptic pup."

There were a lot of words in Shanks' remarks that made Ace wanted to snarl at. But right now, he'd settle for one. "I don't drool."

The widened grin only pulled a deep scowl from the freckled boy. "Of course you do. I'll take pictures next time and we'll see if I'm right or wrong."

In order to fight the heat the dangerously trying to run up his cheeks, Ace ignored the cackling doctor and pretended that his classmate with his calico were far more interesting than the ridiculous threat. "Cool. We can go to school together."

Irritation started to build up at the series of 'Mrrrooow' from outside the room, which was triggered by his trademark laughter, so Shanks closed the door to minimize the menacing sound. "That's a great idea! You can visit Nami too while you stop by. And probably Ace will get enough motivation to wake up early once in a while. You know, everytime I had to wake him up is worse than dragging a grizzle bear from its cave during hibernation. Just this month, two blankets destroyed because I had to practically rip it off from him."

Ace's mouth fall opened at his father's revelation regarding him. The old man just needed to yap embarrassing stuff in front of other people! Through the corner of his light brown eyes, he noticed the corner of the redhead mechanic's mouth slowly extending upward. To him, it was equivalent to smirk. Even though he had no idea who the man was or his relationship with Luffy, the freckled boy darted an annoyed look to him.

The boy's fiery nature was too… nostalgic if he must say. Ace is like a miniature version of himself, especially with that dagger glares.

Unlike his smirking brother, Luffy sucked his lips in again. Not because he wanted to stifle a laugh like Shanks was currently doing, but for entire different reason. By together, did Ace mean that they would be walking to school side by side while talking about interesting topics? Last night cartoon maybe? Until now, he rarely befriended with anyone. Well, except for the boy from his previous school who offered him half of his Strawberry Swiss Roll. In his book, that was friendship.

But the feeling he was experiencing the moment was so unusual, baffling and mysterious. Something was tingling inside his tummy, his heart thudding all over his chests like some crazy tribal drum. The sensation was the same with that time when Kidd had accidentally made caffe latte for him that got him on caffeine high for the rest of the night.

Luffy wasn't sure the causes for these sensations, but he sort of… liked it. And because of that, he gave vigorous nods to Ace's suggestion.

The freckles on his cheeks seemed to be dancing when Ace grinned at Luffy's sudden enthusiastic nature. At the same time, the muscles near both ends of Kidd's mouth flexed, forming an extremely rare smile.

"Well~" The joyful veterinarian chirped. "Now that it's settled, I think I can start with the little calico's treatment. Ace, could you bring Nami to the empty cage? I think it's on the left. And tell Cindry to prepare the IV. She should be in the lab room right now."

Nodding, Ace went to Shanks only to shove the bag filled with breads to the doctor's chests, startling the man. As he puffed the word 'oooff', Shanks took the behavior as a sort of punishment and also the boy's way to tell him that he was still pissed for the earlier comment.

Without batting an eyelid, Ace then lifted the calico off the table and immediately wrapped his arms around her to support both her front and hind legs as though he had done it many times before. Then, he gestured for Luffy to follow him. "Let's go. I'll show you the other animals we've got in the room."

"Go on, Luffy." Kidd urged, giving the boy a little nudge to encourage him. Now that Luffy was willing to take a chance in building relationship with other people, he needed to give as much support as he could to help his brother overcome his timidity and avoidance. This was also to aid the boy to defeat the fear of rejection and to understand that everything about him was acceptable.

Another ruffled to the head and Luffy finally released his clutch on Kidd's jacket, slowly chasing after the awaiting boy.

"Yesterday, we received a chinchilla and a bunny. And I'll show our cats too. We have one that looks like a leopard, and—"

As the boys went further and further away from the exam room, Ace distinctive chatty voice too, was getting fainter.

Kidd watched the door a bit longer but his reverie was interrupted when Shanks leaned forward against the exam table to support most of his weight. The sudden closeness made the mechanic to frown and the wrinkles on his forehead became more intense once he saw the VERY big conspiratorial smile formed on Shanks' face.

"So…" The veterinarian started. "A love child then?"

Loud, exasperated groans reverberated throughout the room as Kidd massaged his temples furiously. There is no end to this conversation, is there?

-To be Continued-

[1] I had a hard time choosing assistants that suitable enough for a man like Shanks. In the end, I picked Perona since her zombies are all animals, so it sort of suits her. And she has one hell of a mouth too .

[2] I once read this OP doujinshi where Shanks is a vet and Ace and Luffy are his son. Honestly, the idea is too cute and I couldn't help myself from adapting it into the story.

[3] Well, I figure that Ace is a little bit rebellious and it'd be too awkward for him to call Shanks 'dad' or something.

A/N: I hope this chapter meets to your satisfactory, since most of you guys are in love with Shanks and Ace. . and again, thank you for all of you who reviewed the previous chapter. I'm touched, REALLY!