Doctor

Characters: Heart Pirates, Law. Rating: K+. Warnings: None

Their captain was many things, it was just often hard to see them past the exterior he showed to the world. Outside of the Polar Tang, he was the feared Surgeon of Death, supernova and member of the Worst Generation. His greeting, regardless of the other's status, always comprised of a mocking grin, frequently accompanied by a raised middle finger and verbal jab, carefully constructed to deflect the conversation wherever he wanted it. It wasn't surprising, then, that most civilians ran at the sight of him.

Hidden away on the Polar Tang, under the water where no-one else could see or hear, the walls relaxed. It was rare for them to fall all together, and in the past year since the Whitebeard War it hadn't fallen once, but it was enough for his crew to see the real man behind the titles.

Trafalgar Law was a gentle man. It was almost entirely due to his early upbringing and later occupation as a doctor, and definitely helped by his abilities, which allowed him to treat them without any pain. It didn't always seem it, as he slashed away with a scalpel (Kikoku, despite his weapon of choice, was not his surgical tool of choice) to separate their bodies and forcibly eliminate any virus that took hold of a crew member, but the careful way he handled their parts betrayed his feelings.

The event of illness on the ship, while rare due to the meticulous precautions Law had taken, would draw him like a worried mother. Due to the shared accommodation, and the sheer superiority of the infirmary as opposed to a bunk room, any ill crew members were immediately transferred. While slight, Law was strong, and there were few members that he could not carry if it came to it (regrettably, Bepo and Jean Bart would always require a Shambles, as much as Law hated to use it to transport the sick).

Cradled against his chest, it was the closest the crew tended to get to an embrace from their captain, although it was usually accompanied by protests that they weren't so sick they couldn't walk by themselves. Law always ignored such comments, gently settling them down on a bed in the infirmary before Scanning his patient and rummaging his cupboards for the appropriate treatment.

If they thought he was bad when someone was ill, he was far worse when it came to the more common occurrence: injuries. Bepo was the one with the nose for blood, but Law was the one with the uncanny sense for even something as insignificant as a paper cut. Any and all protests were ignored or cut off (Clione had once attempted to claim it was "just a scratch"; Law's response had been a vividly detailed description of the worst-case scenario in the case of a severe infection. The words 'just a scratch' were never heard again, except from Law's own mouth – the hypocrite).

Battle injuries were always accompanied by a lecture on recklessness, Law's nimble fingers and Room working to heal even as he berated them. After a particularly horrid scare, where the blow had been near-fatal and even Law's considerable knowledge and experience had only barely been enough, their captain had resorted to hoarding their vital organs before an expected battle, reasoning that if he couldn't cure them of their stupidity, he could at least try to make it so that it didn't kill them.

A knife through the empty space where Penguin's heart should have been the first battle he did that convinced him that it was a very good idea – a week earlier, or a different decision on Law's part, and he'd have lost one of his oldest nakama to some relatively minor rival crew, whose captain's bounty didn't even peak 50 million. Even knowing that the heart wasn't there, wasn't stabbed, Penguin still gained a fretting captain the moment they were back in the Polar Tang.

Law didn't do casual hugs, or use words; the crew weren't sure he knew how to verbally demonstrate his feelings. As their captain, he kept them in line and safe.

As their doctor, he reminded them over and over again how precious they were to him.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari