Sorry for not updating in so long. With Thanksgiving and other plans, I didn't have time to sit down and write. But all that is over now! Which means I will be going back to my normal schedule of Sunday updates.

On with the story!

Despite Captain Bear's apparent friendliness, the crew was still tense. And who could blame them? They were pirates on a Marine ship. For all they knew, Bear was lying through his teeth and they were on their way to a cell.

But as they descended flights of stairs into the inner hold of the ship, they noticed something strange. None of Bear's men were even stopping to stare at them. There wasn't even an armed escort around them to make sure they didn't escape. This meant one of two things. Either Bear was that confident of his abilities…or he was telling the truth.

They passed what sounded like the kitchen. There was banging of pots and shouting of orders accompanied by the aroma of cooking food. They must be preparing for dinner. Maya glanced inside to see what they were making. She scrunched her nose in disgust. It didn't look like they had a dedicated cook, more like they just happened to have someone who knew how to not burn anything. But even so, she couldn't imagine it was going to taste good.

Going on their way, they passed even more rooms including an armory and a very large dining room. It looked big enough to seat the entire ship's crew. "Here we are!" Bear suddenly announced. They reached a set of large double doors. They were made of wood and had elegant carvings etched onto them. The left door was engraved with a skull wearing a crown. It looked down at them and seemed to laugh at them and their mortality. The right door was fit with a beautiful angel with wings and a halo. In her hands was the rod Asclepius, the single snake twined around the staff. It was baring its fangs towards the skull, as if warning it to leave them alone. The two gave the whole crew a sense of foreboding mixed with ease. Sickness could come to them at any moment, but the hope and skills of a doctor would keep them well. It made them all the more thankful for Doc.

Bear caught them admiring the doors. "Pretty fancy, ain't it? See, a long time ago, when this ship was first built, it was meant to be a mobile hospital. That creepy ass skull door represents the sickness and death that all those who travel the sea face every day. The Asclepius is a sacred symbol to doctors all around the world, representing health and longevity. Course you already knew that, Doc." He said with a grin. "These bad boys used to be the doors to the Captain's Quarters. But this boat ain't no hospital anymore. There's been a bunch of remodeling and repairs since then, leaving only the Sick Bay in its original form. So I thought it fitting to have them moved here."

With that, he pushed both doors open wide. They were met with the smell of antiseptic. It was huge. They could have easily fit two of their ship inside this one room. There were different areas, each separated from the others by curtains. All around were cots and beds and nurses administering treatments. Not far from them, Isaac was sleeping off his surgery in a cot. But all over were men being taken care of. Some had broken bones or fractures. Others were holding their stomachs and groaning softly. But the vast majority were ashen pale and eerily still. All of them were gathered in one section of the room.

When Doc saw them, he immediately ran to them. Pulling out his bag, he started checking those men. "Oh god." He said softly. "Bear, what happened to these men?"

Rook and the others went to join Doc. Oddly enough, Bishop alone stepped away, preferring to stand by the unconscious Isaac. He wanted to sink back into Rook's shadow but he didn't want to reveal his skills to the Marines. Whether they were friendly or not, he still didn't want to give them all his secrets. So for now, he would stay out of the way and not draw attention to himself.

Bear scowled. "We had a run in with some pirates a few days back. Normal sweep, normal routine. None of them had any serious bounties." He gnashed his teeth together in a fit of frustration and self-loathing. "I let my men get slack. We didn't take the bunch seriously. And because of that, I didn't realize they had coated their weapons with poison." He ran a hand over his face in shame. "I was negligent and now my men are paying the price. We don't have the necessary antidote. Neither do the neighboring towns. And the nearest hospital that would have it is too far away." Then this man, this large towering man, a Rear Admiral of the Marines, bowed his head to a pirate. He was on all fours, bowing his head nearly to the floor. "These men are my family. And they are dying because of me. Please doctor. Please help them." He begged. "I can't force you to do it. But I have nowhere else to turn. You were once known for your compassion in the old days. I beg you to use it now."

Doc was taken aback by the sudden deluge of pleas. But he soon knelt down and smiled. "Captain…I am, and always will be, a doctor first and foremost. Being a pirate comes afterwards." Standing, he looked at him kindly before becoming serious. "This looks like Bone Eater poison. It stiffens the muscles as it deteriorates the bones. They may seem calm, but I can't imagine the agony they are feeling right now. If they could, they'd be screaming." He turned to his crew. "I only have a small dose of the antidote. Maya, I want you to retrieve it." Pulling a notepad and a pen out of his bag, he wrote down two copies of list. "Then I want Rook and Alec to get these ingredients out of storage." He handed the other paper to Bear, who was looking up at Doc with awe on his features. "Up and at 'em. Scour your inventory too. You've got a lot of sick patients." He smiled a reassuring smile as he turned to poisoned men. "If we're going to help them all, we're going to need a lot of hands."

His confidence boosted everyone into action. The warmth of his conviction had every man and woman who wasn't in bed on their feet helping. Bear sprang to his feet and bellowed, "You heard the man! Get hoppin'! If I see so much as one ass in a chair you'll be on latrine duty!"

Maya, Rook, and Alec ran back to the ship to get everything Doc needed. It was for events like this that they kept so many ingredients on their ship. It was for saving lives like these that Doc carried medicine instead of cannons.

Soon every available hand had a mortar and pestle as they ground ingredients together. Those that weren't doing that were mixing the powder into a solution that Doc made. Some of the Navy doctors were astounded as they studied the ingredients that were being used. One of them went to Doc and asked, "How did you come up with this antidote? Aside from one, none of these items were used in the original antidote recipe."

Doc looked up from the patient he just administered the antidote to. "Well, if you look at my bounty, it says that I stole research. Believe it or not, some scientists were studying different poisons and their reactions to prisoner test subjects." While he spoke, he moved to the next patient. "I stole that research and used it to concoct antidotes for all the poisons they were studying. Luckily for us, Bone Eater was one of them. The chemicals in these ingredients react more strongly than the previous ones." He scratched his head a little awkwardly. "Although it'll cure the poison, it won't reverse the damage. They're going to need a lot of physical therapy before they're at one hundred percent again."

All the hustle and excitement roused Isaac. He blearily opened his eyes and sat up in bed only to quickly fall back down from the pain. "The hell am I?" he asked through gritted teeth.

Bishop, who was still nearby but had his own mortar and pestle. "Relax." He said softly. "It is a long story, but you aren't in any danger here."

Isaac looked down at the bandages covering his torso. "You the one that helped me?" He asked gruffly.

The navigator shook his head then nodded at Doc. "Not me, my Captain. He's a doctor. When you came crashing onto our ship, he patched you up." Crossing his legs, he shifted his chair so that he was near the head of Isaac's head, giving him a better view of what was happening while continuing his own work.

Isaac studied everything carefully. The pain had dulled some, but he knew that he was going anywhere soon. Pushing through the pain, he managed to sit up. "Guess I owe you." He admitted. He gestured at all the activity. "So what's going on here? Some sort of accident or something?"

Bishop shook his head and paused his grinding to point at the men. "Those soldiers got poisoned." He lifted his mortar to show him the powder. "We're all making an antidote to save them." Then an idea formed in his mind…well more of a plan really. Leaning in, he whispered, "We're on a Marine ship, you know. Sorry to say this after your near death experience, but we've been good and caught."

Isaac swore loudly enough that some nearby nurses retreated a few steps. They had been conversing quietly, glancing at Bishop every few seconds. They had probably been interested in the mysterious masked man but Isaac's roughness chased them away.

"First bounty hunters and now Marines? Can my luck get any worse?" He sighed. Leaning back in his bed, he muttered swear words and cursed his own fate. He knew that there wasn't any way of escape as banged up as he was. It was Impel Down for him.

Good. That look of frustration and hopelessness had been exactly what Bishop had been waiting for. With a sinister smile, he said, "Don't count yourself out just yet. The Vice Admiral over there has a soft spot for my Captain. Play your cards right an you might be able to get out of this with us."

"Wait. You're not a Marine?"

"I'm a pirate. We got captured same as you." With a dark aura about him, Bishop told him his plan. "But after we're done saving his men, Bear might let us go." Time to put his plan into action. "So tell me…for the sake of your freedom are you willing to become a pirate?"

After three hours of grueling work, everyone was finally resting. The soldiers were slowly regaining color in their cheeks and their muscles were starting to relax. Knowing that they had deserved a good break, they all went to the Mess Hall for dinner. The food was a tasteless gruel, but after the work they just did none of them cared. Aside from Maya that is. She ate it but she was frowning the entire time.

Isaac joined them. Feeling too much like an invalid, he didn't want to eat his dinner in a bed while everyone else ate at the table. He had shaved in the interim. Using a razor, he lost the beard leaving only stubble behind. The beard had made him look older than he actually was. Without it, he looked in his mid to younger twenties. He'd wanted to bathe too but he couldn't afford to get his stitches wet. He had a very thoughtful, almost perturbed look all through the meal.

As they ate, Captain Captain Bear regaled them with stories of his adventures as a Captain. Unlike the rest of the crew, he had a whole ham with the bone still in it. He was holding the bone and took bites out of it all through the story.

"So there I was," he was saying, "all around me, my fallen men were gasping for breath." Said men were either smiling nostalgically or rolling their eyes. They had either been there or had heard the story so many times that they could quote it by heart. "The enemy crew was all but defeated but the sea wasn't finished with us. Each breath took in more water than air from the rain pouring from the sky. The only light we had came from the flashes of lightning that arced across the sky. And then there it was, towering over us. A Sea King! The likes of which I had never seen!" Rook, Alec, and Doc were entranced by the story. Isaac soon joined them, the tale rousing him from his thoughts. Maya was too busy judging the food. Bishop was listening closely but he'll never admit that to the others. Instead he observed the storytelling with feigned impartialness.

"Just as we thought we were victorious, this brute came, attracted by the smell of blood and battle. Oh I can still remember the look in his eyes!" Standing up, Bear waved his ham around, envisioning the creature still looking down on him. "He was licking his chops, ready to feast on us. But I wasn't going to let him take as much as one bite out of my crew." He suddenly jumped onto the table, brandishing the ham and shouted, "So what I did was, I jumped into the air, my men shouting all around me. And the moment my feet left the ground, lightning struck me. I could feel it in my very bones! But I wasn't going to let that stop me. Pushing through, I leapt across the ship and PUNCHED it with ma fist!"

The four listeners gasped in awe. Next to him, Bishop heard someone whisper, "Believe it or not, the good Captain truly didshout that as he fought the beast." The masked pirate turned to see the gentleman from before sitting next to him sipping a cup of aromatic tea. He had an amused look as he lowered his cup. "During the incident, he shouted, and I'm quoting, 'and I punched it with ma fist' as he landed the finishing blow."

Hearing him, Bear turned and pointed his ham at the gentleman. "And look how great of a story it became because I did. I was right to do it, wasn't I Winston?"

The gentleman, Winston, smiled politely at his Captain. "Of course, sir. Very much so." Bishop chuckled quietly. It seemed Winston had to put up with a very rowdy captain.

Jumping down from the table, Bear bit a large chunk out of the ham and said while chewing, "Well enough of my exploits." He swallowed and turned dead serious. "I'd like to hear one of yours, Pirate Doctor. Specifically on how you became a pirate."

Doc and Maya shared a glance. Which wasn't lost on Bear. He grinned. "Oooooooh. I should have known it would involve a woman!" He clapped the doctor on the back playfully. But playfully for him was painful for Doc. "Might want to avoid making this forbidden love public though. There are laws and all that."

Doc choked and Maya, who had been holding a glass of water, suddenly crushed that glass in her hand. Rook and Alec were glancing between the two, waiting for a reaction. Doc was the first one to respond. "N-No! Nothing like that." He panicked. "We, we aren't like that! I mean, yeah she was involved but, uh…"

There was the sound of breaking glass as Maya loosened her grip, causing pieces of her cup fell to the table. The look she gave Doc lowered the room temperature by twenty degrees. Rook and the Marines who had been sitting next to her backed away out of fear for their wellbeing.

Doc swallowed a frog. Bear was watching like it was the best entertainment he had ever seen. He sat stock still, waiting to see what would happen next. Clearing his throat, Doc stated, "It started when I saved Maya's life." He remembered it clearly. How could he ever forget? "I'd been a Marine for about four years at that point. And like you said, I'd gained some fame. But one year…I was forced to leave. You could almost say I was fired." He leaned back in his chair as he remembered. "I was deployed on a ship that was patrolling around Sabaody Archipelago. The captain of the ship had a few…prejudices. We were on our way back to base. Our supplies were low and tensions were high. To make matters worse, we were at least three days away from the nearest island. Some of the men were trying their hand at fishing, anything to get some food on the table." His eyes went to Maya. "But what they snagged wasn't a fish. It was a mermaid." Like Doc, all eyes went to Maya, who hugged her arms close to herself and avoided their gazes.

"I was on the run." Maya explain. Her normal temper was subdued by the recounting of the tale. "There were some slavers chasing me. I was hurt. And exhausted. If his crewmates hadn't fished me up, I would probably be dead."

There was a pause until Doc realized that was all Maya was going to say on the subject. He could understand. The specifics of her running away weren't something everyone should know. Especially strangers. So he picked up where he left off. "I insisted on treating her immediately. Her condition was serious…but my captain wouldn't allow it." He was filled with sadness as he looked at Bear. "You know what that area is like. Humans hate Merfolk there. And it turns out the captain was born in the area. The moment he saw Maya, he ordered us to throw her back into the sea." His grip tightened to the point that his nails broke skin and he bled. "He wanted us to abandon her. Because she wasn't human! She needed our help but he cared so little for the lives of others that he wasn't willing to as much as let her be on our ship." He shook his head. "I wouldn't allow it. I told him that I wasn't just going to let her die. He ordered me to do just that. The Navy was going to turn its back on someone in need because of a barbaric prejudice…so when his men threw her back into the sea, I jumped in after her." The room was deadly quiet. In the heat of his story, Doc had forgotten the vast majority here were employed by said Navy. If he was insulting the organization, it was likely that they would turn on him

The awkward silence was broken by Bear. "You jumped in?" He asked. He looked thoughtful. "But you said you were three days away from land by ship. And if her condition was so critical, she wouldn't have survived the swim."

"We aren't sure how we lived." Maya spoke up. "I passed out from blood loss not long after he tried saving me. But when I woke up, we washed up on a beach somewhere."

"I'm not sure either." Doc explained. "I swam for I don't know how many hours before exhaustion overtook me. And like she said, when I came too we were beached. And lucky we were too because that island had a hospital." He adjusted his hat in embarrassment. "None of the doctors knew much about Mermaid anatomy though. Or so they said. So I had to operate on her on my own." He sighed, a tiredness creeping into his voice. "The Navy hunted me down a few days later. They offered to give me my job back if I were willing to give them Maya. Well we all know what that meant. Someone had their palms greased by someone who wanted to enslave Maya. Mermaids are precious in the slave trade. Frankly I'm surprised nobody tried to kidnap her while she was still recuperating. But I had had enough of the military at that point. I turned them down. The Marines who came to me must have known my reputation because they didn't press the issue. They just left without another word."

"It was after that that we started traveling together." Maya explained. "Doc here has no backbone so he needed someone with a firm hand. Cause he wouldn't last on his own."

Doc laughed lightly. "Well she's right. It wasn't too long after that that I was branded a pirate. I can only imagine that my old Captain was the one that pushed for that. I'd openly defied him. It must have damaged both his ego and reputation…Want to know what the last thing he said to me was? Just before I jumped into the ocean, he looked me in the eye and told me 'That good heart of yours will be your death.' Well I couldn't resist the irony of it all. When we became a pirate crew, there could only be one name for us. The 'Good Heart' Pirates."

I hope this longer chapter will make up for me not updating in a while. But again, rest assured that the schedule will be normal again.

I hope you all liked it and I'll see you next time!