All the way into the ship, standing solidly in the middle of the training room, Toshiro had on an expression of indifference and coldness, a look he had mastered to perfection as a Captain. A look that meant he would not budge one inch on a matter unless he saw fit to do so.

Law's expression was not quite so perfected, as evident by his slight scowl, but he stared stormily back at the smaller figure from the doorway, the metal door closed behind them and the handle turned shut so no one would bother them. The pirate had questions, he was going to get at least few of them answered before either of them left, even if that meant risking a nasty confrontation with what was essentially a Grim Reaper that dealt in death.

"Your children are as nosy as you are." Toshiro spoke finally, tone icy. "I'm aware you're allowing her to pester me in the hopes you will get answers. What you overheard is the most you will get, my private life has nothing to do with getting my condition reversed."

"I want to know about the one you were talking about, the man always a step ahead." Law responded. "If the whole reason you are here in this condition is due to some plan of his, there's every chance you coming to me, someone with the potential to fix you, is another part of the plot."

"I've thought about it…" Toshiro looked away briefly as anger flashed in his eyes. "But I could have gone to any world in my panicked state. The one I mentioned and the one who actually put me in this condition are separate people. Potentially working together, which is unfortunately highly likely, but different nonetheless. The one I told Dextra about is in the highest security lock down my world could possibly have, guarded every second by multiple masters of Kido to keep him where he can't even twitch a finger. That one…already caused far too much damage." Here Toshiro paused in his telling to let out a sigh, his stiff posture slumping a bit. "That man's power nearly destroyed our entire world…but the other man, the one who made me a Nobody…he's a new threat entirely. Supposedly me and two other companions defeated him, but I have my doubts…he's far too aware to have gone down so easily."

"If you saw him defeated, what makes you so sure he's not dead?"

"Call it intuition, I suppose. Or paranoia, either one works. Far too many things have gone wrong for it to be over yet." He paused. "If there's anything I've learned as a Soul Reaper, it's that the fight doesn't end in death."

Law didn't have much of a response to that, since he didn't exactly have any experience with such things. He was alive, after all, and while many a time he wished he wasn't after events in his past, he had come to like living, especially if death was just a new Hell entirely. He could, however, agree that a battle didn't always end as easily as killing the other, because there was always another person to take that spot, and then another and another, or in this being's case the same person having a hand in multiple threats, controlling things even after being taken down.

It did not sound like a fun life to live, that was for sure, and he wasn't sure if he could handle the paranoia and anxiety of knowing your enemy may always be a step ahead, waiting, watching, smiling in the darkness as everything fell perfectly into place and the victory you thought you had was utterly crushed.

After his long feud with Doflamingo, Law felt he could relate a little after all.

"Is there any chance these people could send some of those creatures…Heartless, you called them, could they come here?"

"Let's hope not, they act like a plague. Once they show up, the darkness will latch onto everything it can and spread faster than dust in a tornado until they consume and destroy the heart of the planet itself." Toshiro responded. He had an expression that said he definitely did NOT want to deal with them here.

"They would make good practice though. For figuring out how to fix your problem, in any case." The pirate countered. "I'm sure your dragon would not appreciate me blindly attempting to take his heart out, and I don't often work with souls, there's no telling what may happen upon using my technique on such a creature. I would need something less valuable to try it on until I figure it out, such as one would test drugs on simple animals before attempting to use them on precious humans."

"Heartless are still human lives…but I suppose you have a point." The Nobody was definitely reserved about this choice. He couldn't really argue, many technologies possessed by the soul reapers were tested continuously on other beings – perhaps far crueler than needed to be thanks to Kurotsuchi's sadism – before being allowed for public use. It was just the way things worked. His reservations lay with allowing Heartless to place one step on this world that so far was free of their infestation.

"What about your kind? Would they be sent here either?"

Toshiro snapped a glare at him.

"I'd prefer not to consider myself as 'their kind' if I can help it." He didn't bother containing the growl in his tone. "But no, I doubt you'll see any Nobodies either, be it lesser ones or in human form like me. This world would be quite unlucky to see a single one of either group reach its surface. Even if you were lucky enough to catch it the moment it appeared for study, it would still draw in more, and once they start their work there's little hope stopping them."

Law took to his thoughts for a moment, partly because he did feel a twinge of regret for his earlier words. He never liked being considered inhuman when he had his sickness as a child, ran from the moment they saw the white marks across his skin, treating him as a creature, a plague in human form. He had not meant to do the same to his guest, had just been curious and used the wrong words, but he was too prideful to say sorry now. He was helping the boy, sure, but that didn't mean he trusted him.

"If you're done snooping I'd like to go back to the surface for some air." Toshiro spoke up again, referring to how the tall Captain blocked his way.

His concerns sated for now, the Captain moved to the side, watching the Nobody head out of the room and no doubt to the breeze up above, lips in a frown as he thought about this new information. At least this grand manipulator could not cause harm here, if Toshiro was right, and hopefully this powerful Nobody who trapped the boy in this state was gone, if not for good as Toshiro doubted he was, at least for a long time as he would no doubt need to recover, enough time he could cure his guest and send him away. He could not risk great otherworldly threats to his crew, promises be damned, and he was sure the small figure understood.

Things were a bit tense after that, but seeing Toshiro was under control again the crew didn't mind talking to him again, asking tips and wondering about his expertise, even Book who had snapped at him was demanding more practice along with his siblings. He agreed but kept to his condition of keeping it on the surface, also asking about Dextra's ability. Chest puffed with pride, she gladly transformed. The great figure of the Harpy Eagle was impressive for sure, Toshiro eyeing her talons with wary admiration. Those could definitely cause some serious damage, and those enormous wings could surely carry her far.

"There must definitely be some interesting animal people out there then." He wondered.

"Yeah, though predators usually are considered the strongest, since they make people more aggressive and are made for fighting, but you still see the occasional buffalo or some other big animal out there, I heard one of the big names under the Pirate Emperors is a mammoth." Heinrich explained.

"Aren't those extinct? Or do they still exist here?" Toshiro asked curiously. He had nothing better to do, so figuring out the world around him was something to do, and gave him knowledge to avoid suspicion should he find himself with a different group, more than likely not by choice but best to be prepared.

"Well, the Zoans have a lot more sub categories than the other two. There's normal animals, but then there's also Ancient ones like dinosaurs or mammoths, and then mythical ones like the Phoenix guy I heard about from Whitebeard's crew, heard he took over after his Captain died."

"Could there be a dragon?" This was completely personal curiosity rather than knowledge seeking now, feeling a pang of sadness due to his own dragon still missing.

"I haven't seen if there's a real one, but we knew a kid who ate an artificial Devil Fruit being made by that Caesar guy that made him a dragon. He can't control it well, though we're not sure if it's cause it's a fake fruit or because he's a kid." Thursday answered.

"I wonder if there's a real one out there then…"

"Personally I hope not, that'd be damn scary." Heinrich shuddered. "When we were stuck with Caesar, he had this artificial dragon flying around the flame half of the island as a guard, it could breathe fire and everything. But somehow those Straw Hat pirates took it out, just a few of them did it pretty quick, and I heard they ate it too."

"Definitely not a real dragon then." Toshiro scoffed. "I don't think I like these allies of yours."

"You a fan of dragons, mate?" The older boy snickered, unaware of their guest's connections to such creatures, only Law partial to that knowledge.

"I'm on familiar terms with one if that answers your question." The Nobody responded and the children and nearby crew gaped. "Let's just say I grew up with him, and he trained me, a great ice dragon that definitely wouldn't let a few pirates take him out, not when he is ice itself."

"Damn, that sounds awesome." Penguin ruffled the boy's white hair, to Toshiro's great dislike. "Never seen one, but with everything else we've seen I wouldn't doubt a real dragon existed somewhere. And not like someone with a fruit either, a real one, there's plenty of other crazy monsters around."

"Was that dragon of yours really smart then?" Shachi stepped in to the conversation.

"Definitely so, he'd put many scholars to shame." If someone asked, the Nobody probably couldn't answer whether or not he was talking about himself or Hyorinmaru now, chest puffed with pride as he spoke of his icy partner. He did not feel distressed at his absence now as he had before, talking about him to the others almost made him feel better, as if he could imagine his other self holding his great head high in pride, wings outspread. Dragons of any type still loved to be praised.

"So if he's made of ice how does he eat and all that? You know, living animal stuff."

"Hyorinmaru only needs the water in the air to remain intact, though it does take energy to consistently return to form." Now he felt like he was describing the abilities of his zanpaktou in general, but as they thought he meant a living, separate dragon, he felt this did not compromise his secrecy. "With him being that way, it was easy for him to teach me how to utilize my own powers. I suppose you can say he gifted them to me to begin with. He's a very ancient ice dragon, and very powerful, one of the strongest of his kind. And probably three or four times the size of this vessel if he so chose to be with how much water is to be found."

"That's huge!" Several of the crew gawked. Toshiro once more looked proud of himself. Law observed from his table with a light smirk, understanding more from the conversation than the others did, even already privy to some of it. His guest sure held his other half in high regard, it was no wonder he was desperate to get him back. The Captain returned to his drink and continued to just observe.

A little more practice above deck was accomplished in the afternoon hours before everyone retreated indoors for sleep as the vessel returned under the waters on its journey to the next island, Toshiro now prepared with a bag of ice to press to his head and a lighter change of clothes for less trapped heat. It was a much better night, though he still slept little to none as the darkness clawed at the edges of his mind. At least he could hold it back this time, he would not endanger the children again.