I hope everyone's year has been going good so far. Things are picking up at work, but I'm excited to start the next part of the arc, where the things will start picking up. Except lots of drama, gore & some scary imagery, since you guys seem to love that.
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. I only own my original additions. This story is for entertainment purposes only.
Warnings: Mild Language & Violence, Medical Jargon, Mild Medical Gore
Abel worried pulling her sister up with the massive sword on her back would knock them both over, but luckily the weight of the sword actually acted like a pivot, pulling them both backwards. Abel did nearly fall over backwards in the process, but managed to catch herself before she toppled over, earning a sardonic chuckle from her twin. To which Abel may or may not have tugged a little harder on Caine's arm than necessary, earning a wince as her aching ribs protested.
The sound of excited barking drew Abel's attention away, and toward the streak of excited canine heading her way. It brought a bright smile to her face as Dogmeat carried on as if he hadn't seen her for years. He hopped and yipped, and a few times it sounded like he was scolding her for leaving him, or for making him run back and forth across the island. "Aww, did you miss me, boy?" Abel asked when he was finished, earning a huff and a sneeze. Again, not sure if that was an agreement, or chastisement. Abel settled for saying, "I would pet you, but I'm afraid I'd fall over and crush us both."
"Abel!" Luffy shouting, marching over to the sisters. Said woman raised a brow at his attempt at a stern expression. "I'm mad at you!" Luffy said, waggling his finger. "You got to meet the troll king and didn't tell me!"
Abel snorted, while behind her Caine rolled her eyes. "Time's a-wasting, Boss," Abel retorted. "We've still got work to do before you come before the king."
Losing some of his ire (not that he could hold much to begin with) Luffy cocked his head. "Work?"
Motioning to the full syringe nestled in Nami's arms, Abel replied, "It takes time to make the vaccine."
"Do you think they'll have unblocked the tunnels?" Sanji asked.
"We don't even know where the other exit is," Nami pointed out. "And I'm not about to go back down through that passage!" she added vehemently.
"Perish the thought, Red," Abel assured. "They'll open the tunnels eventually. But now that you mention it…" She turned her head up to face Ahool, who perched awkwardly above them on the rocks. "Gather as much of your kin as you're able and stay in the cave. Once the vaccine is finished, we'll send someone 'round to distribute it. But no biting until then." Ahool made some grumble of a response before eagerly leaping into the sky, anxious to get away from these crazy humans but hoping they kept their word.
On the long walk back to the ship, while they still kept a close eye out for trouble, the mood had shifted dramatically. Whether it was the release of tension that always followed a fight, or the distinct lack of hostility between the sisters, either way the mood had lightened. The looming threat of infection was still in the back of their minds, but faith in Abel's plan and Chopper's ability to follow through helped relieve some of that anxiety. Along the way, Luffy asked many questions about the trolls, and their king in particular. In order to save their sanity and prevent Sanji from kicking him in the head for the barrage of questions, Abel eventually said, "You'll see for yourself soon enough." While that earned her a pout, it seemed enough to at least placate their captain for the time being.
Abel had to hold in a comment about "going into the light" as they neared the ship. With such a literal beacon in the dark, even Zoro couldn't manage to get lost. Shielding her eyes as they maneuvered through the trees, Abel couldn't help thinking the light paled in comparison to the actual sun. Just a few days in and she was already missing it.
Claudine ran up to them anxiously as their silhouettes emerged from the dim. "What happened?" she asked, wringing her hands nervously. "Is everyone all right?"
"Yep!" Luffy answered succinctly.
Of course, Sanji had to throw in, "Your concern for me warms my heart, Lady Claudine!"
Ignoring the outburst, Sir Oliver said, "Your doctor informed us of the situation and is down on your ship making preparations." He eyed the syringe. "I must admit, I'm a bit bumfuzzled you'd be able to make enough for an army of trolls." It certainly was a lot of blood, more than they could've gotten from a single human, but some of the trolls were quite large. Would it be enough?
"It's more of a starter base," Abel advised, offering to take the syringe from Nami. "Doc should be able to introduce my antibodies into the base, which will begin replicating to attack the virus. Those antibodies will then be introduced into the host body, where they will kill off any trace of the disease if it hasn't spread into the brain."
Intrigued, Luffy tilted his head. "You're going to inject everyone with tiny things that will kill the virus?"
"I'm surprised you understood that much," Nami mumbled.
Smirking, Abel replied, "They eat the virus, actually." She chuckled at Luffy's face. So there were some things even he considered too far? Good to know.
With no time to waste, Abel hustled down the ladder, leaving the others to discuss events. Above, Dogmeat whined about being left behind again, and she thought she heard Claudine fussing about Caine's injuries. Stepping through the fog and onto the deck, Abel tossed a glance toward the other ship. Solomon noticed her appearance, standing from where he'd been eyeing the sailors. Before he could open his mouth, Abel said, "You should probably go patch up your wife." Solomon's eyes immediately narrowed in concern, and he swiftly left his post to rush up the ladder. Before heading into the sickbay, Abel made a motion at the remaining men, pointing to her eyes and then back at them, signaling they were still being watched. But the sailors were too busy looking disconcerted about the giant monster-gauge syringe in her grasp.
Abel had to say she was impressed at how easily Chopper had turned the sickbay into a lab, with plenty of petri dishes, vials, and vats all ready to begin processing the donated material. "Abel!" Chopper pipped, jumping down from his stool. "You're back! And you got the blood!"
"Was there ever any doubt?" she asked cheekily, handing the syringe over to the eager deer. Turning to their amused archeologist sitting on the bed, Abel asked, "Have you already been sequestered?"
Robin chuckled. "Our doctor hasn't let me out of his sight since you left. Though I admit, this is probably the happiest I've ever been to see blood."
Setting the blood aside for the moment, Chopper quickly ushered Abel into a chair beside his desk. On said desk sat a familiar sixteen-gauge needle, a tourniquet, and an empty blood bag. Quite familiar with the procedure, Abel already had her sleeve rolled up and arm outstretched toward Chopper, propped on the desk, before he even had to ask. It'd been a long time since she'd donated blood, but she knew the drill. Abel grinned. Poor choice of words.
Wordlessly, Chopper tied the tourniquet around her bicep, restricting the blood flow in her arm to make her veins more visible. The pinch was uncomfortable, and Abel wiggled her fingers to speed up the process before her arm started going numb. Chopper poked at her arm a few times with his cold hooves, a purple line forming in the bend of her elbow.
Nodding in satisfaction, Chopper cleaned the skin with a wipe before picking up the needle. Abel never noticed it before, but Chopper was quite dexterous for someone who lacked fingers in this form. He always managed to handle even the smallest, most delicate equipment with ease. She supposed it was a matter of practice... or perhaps it was a modification of the Human-Human Fruit. He did eat meat, after all, despite deer being herbivores. Abel's mind ceased its useless wanderings as Chopper leaned over her arm. One hoof holding her arm still, Chopper poked the needle into her vein. Even knowing what to expect, Abel still winced as the needle pierced her flesh and into her vein, slowing sucking in a breath through her teeth before letting it out to release her tension. Sixteen-gauge needles were no joke. Perhaps as some form of reverse psychology, the higher the gauge number the thinner the needle's diameter. To put things in perspective, the standard size was twenty-six, and what most people were familiar with for just your standard shot, while the largest size was six. The needle had to be big to allow viscous blood to flow through at a steady pace. And while Abel appreciated this fact, that didn't stop it from feeling like he'd just jammed one of Nami's pens in her arm.
Releasing the tourniquet to let her blood flow freely, Chopper quickly attached the collection bag to the end, tapping the bag down. "Great!" Chopper announced with a smile. "Now we just wait to fill the bag." As he jumped down from the chair, watching as Abel alternated gripping her fist to keep the blood flowing, he asked, "Does Caine also have the antibodies?" Twice the supply would mean getting the vaccine finished in half the time.
Abel hummed in acknowledgement, but quickly added, "I wouldn't recommend it."
"Why?" Chopper asked, head tilting.
Abel gave a secret smile. "Well, I'm not at liberty to discuss the main reason, but she was also injured during the fight, so now wouldn't be a good time to take even more blood than she's already lost."
Chopper's eyes popped open comically wide. "She's hurt! Oh no! Someone call a doctor!"
Both Abel and Robin shared amused grins. "Pretty sure a doctor just jabbed me in the arm," Abel interrupted at length as the deer ran around like— well, a frightened deer.
This snapped him out of his panic. "Oh, you're right!" Quickly throwing supplies into his bag, Chopper huffed out, "I'll be back before the bag fills."
"We'll manage even if you're not," Abel called, but the doctor was already out the door.
"Unless you pass out," Robin helpfully added. Making a slight noise of agreement, Abel leaned her head back against the wall, preparing for a wait.
Silence filled the cabin, with Abel monitoring her body's reaction to the blood loss while flexing her fingers, trying hard not to move her arm and thereby jostle the needle spearing her. Even with her eyes closed, Abel felt the weight of Robin's upon her, as there was little else to watch in the room. Abel wondered if she was thinking about how she might have a deadly disease. Although they could treat it, it was a scary thing to think about. There were some scary diseases out there, and many didn't have a cure. Although she'd never questioned his dream before, Abel felt she now had a better understanding of Chopper's motivation. Viruses didn't fight fair, and only superior knowledge could combat them. Not too different from her own thinking about real monsters, when you got down to it.
She was so wrapped up in her musing that Robin suddenly speaking up startled her. "Thank you." Abel flinched, then flinched again when the first made her arm twitch, poking the needle further. Meeting the other's apologetic gaze, Robin continued, "For doing so much to save me... again."
"Don't start counting now," Abel quipped back, deflecting the moment. It honestly wasn't even something she thought about. Why wouldn't she fix the problem she had the solution for. "In due time I'm sure the shoe will be on the other foot."
Up top, Chopper had taken over fussing over Caine's injuries from Solomon, much to her husband's dismay. Of course, there wasn't much more that could be done for her cracked ribs aside from bandaging them up, which Solomon had already done. Caine found it hard to take Chopper's chastisement seriously, as it was a bit like being scolded by a puppy. But she'd learned a long time ago, from her sister and then from her own spouse that arguing got her nowhere. Best to let them do whatever they wanted to salve their minds. "I'm so glad no one was hurt more seriously," Claudine admitted, having calmed now that (for the moment) everyone was safe and accounted for.
"It'll take more than that to break the old bird here," Sir Oliver retorted, giving Caine a good smack on the back. Caine did not appreciate that.
"Then all that's left is for Chopper to do his thing, and we're golden, right?" Usopp asked, making sure they were all on the same page.
As Chopper began explaining what he planned to do to make the vaccine (rather uselessly as most of those listening wouldn't get it), scuttling attracted Nami's attention. As the sound came from her feet, she glanced down, staring as a rock bounced against her toes. She would've brushed it off and thought nothing about it, had another rock not landed close to her. Then another. Confused, Nami turned to face the forest, frowning into the bright haze.
A cry fell from her lips as a larger rock came their way, landing loudly enough to draw everyone's attention. "Another attack!" Luffy growled, turning to face the intruder.
"No, no!" a voice called from the forest, rain of stones ceasing.
Sanji and Nami immediately recognized the voice. "Boris?" Nami called.
"Aye!" Boris' voice called from the dark, and they saw a figure moving just out of range of the light. "Boris come to find humies. Tell them path opened. But light too big. Too bright. Hurt Boris worse than stamp on feet."
"Usopp, Franky. One of you shut the light off," Nami ordered.
"Are you sure?" Usopp asked. "Isn't that a troll?"
"He's harmless," Sanji said, remembering how he didn't fight back when Sanji stamped on his feet.
"Aye, Boris no bad," Boris whined.
With some reluctance, Usopp shut off the generator, dousing the abandoned camp in darkness once more. Sighing in relief, Boris picked his way through the narrow trees. Both Usopp and Chopper panicked a little upon seeing the hulking form for the first time. But despite his somewhat gruesome visage, Boris showed no hostility. "Found you!" he said, preening a little bit.
Some of the timider members of the crew hid anxiously behind the others; however, most were only cautiously curious. After all, if Nami wasn't afraid, or if Abel was giving them the seal of approval, then there was no reason to be afraid.
"You said the cave's open," Sanji interjected, bringing the conversation back on track.
"Yes! Boris told humies trollses good at dig. Way clear now." Glancing around the damp, Boris noted, "Many new humies now. But where humie who talk nice to Boris?"
"She's on our ship helping make the cure," Nami explained simply.
Boris peered down at the redhead, wide-eyed gaze serious. "What king says truth? Humies know how cure trollses sickness?"
"Kinda," Nami replied. "We can't cure those who're already sick, but we can prevent anyone else from catching it."
Boris seemed to understand, nodding. "Good. Humie big help to trollses. No else get sick and bite family."
Unable to contain himself anymore, Luffy asked, "Can we go see the king?"
Standing a bit taller, Boris stated proudly, "When cure done, Boris escort humies to king." Obviously he felt honored to have such a task.
Before they could celebrate, however, blinding flooded the area, stunning the humans and pulling a pained cry from Boris. "No!" Nami cried. "Who turned on the light!?"
Thinking quickly, Luffy inflated himself. "Gum-Gum Balloon!" Expanding his body, Luffy shielded Boris from the light, holding in as much breath as he could.
"Boris!" Nami shouted, running into the tiny shadow, the only thing keeping Boris from turning instantly into stone. "Are you okay?" she hurriedly asked.
When the light had turned off, Boris had instinctively thrown his arms up to shield his face. Lowering them now that he wasn't being assaulted by light revealed the damage already done. Nami gasped in horror at the chunks of calcification dotting Boris' arms and chest. Running his large hands over the stone bits, Boris assured the worried redhead who smelled nicely like fruit, "Not hurt..." He was telling the truth. Once the light had been blocked, the calcification process had stopped, ceasing the pain that had begun to sprout along his arms and chest.
Scowling at the stark white dotting his previously blue flesh, Nami shouted, "What the hell, Usopp!?"
"It wasn't me!" Usopp shouted in return, too far away from the light. Instead, it was someone else.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Zoro demanded of the sailors who'd finally shown up only to cause trouble, already drawing a sword. If these jokers were trying to mutiny, Zoro would be more than happy to deal with them.
"Can you fools not see the troll standing right in front of you?" the apparent ringleader shouted.
"He's not attacking us, ya' morons!" Sanji growled back, just as eager as Zoro to knock some sense into these sailors who'd been giving them the evil eye since they got here.
"Please, stop!" Claudine shouted, surprising everyone by putting herself between the sailors and pirates. "This flies in the face of the Society's purpose! We're here to study and preserve species!"
Unmoved, the ringleader stubbornly refused to back down or back away from the lights. "You can study a corpse just as easily. And why'd you want ta' preserve monsters? The world's better off without 'em."
Behind him, Luffy was beginning to turn interesting shades of purple as he struggled to hold his breath. "Kick… their butts… already…" he wheezed out between his teeth, fighting not to exhale.
Scowling at the stupidity of a crisis once the crisis was over, Nami shouted from behind Luffy, "Just shoot 'em already, Usopp!"
Said sniper jolted at the order, but prepared to make good on it. However, he never got the chance, as Claudine continued to surprise them when she marched up to the sailors. "No!" she barked sternly, even though her voice quavered. Digging down, Claudine channeled the same courage she'd seen these pirates use, as well as some of her frustration at being overlooked and underestimated within her own field. "I'm in charge of this expedition, and you will comply with my orders! And I'm saying we'll stay here until we've ensured the continued survival of this species, the same as we would for any other! Now you don't have to like it, but I expect you to follow your employer's orders."
As her shouting came to a close, even the sailors stared in dumb awe. But no one was more surprised than Claudine herself. Her body trembled, feeling overwhelmed by the rush of emotions. She almost felt like she wanted to cry, which was very confusing as she wasn't sad. Being the center of attention was nerve-wracking. And yet… she felt a teensy bit liberated, finally trying to make people listen to her.
Perhaps trying to speed this conversation up, or perhaps like her sister being unable to let high-stress moments linger, Caine voiced, "If you idiots want to get paid, get back on the ship and keep your mouths shut."
This snapped the sailors from their stupor, but not to the best results. The ringleader stomped toward the seated swordswoman. Solomon put himself between the two, blocking his approach. Neither party looked impressed by the motion. Glaring at Caine around Solomon's arm (as the man was taller than him), the ringleader snapped, "Stay out of this, mercenary whore!"
It was expected that Sanji would leap to the woman's defense. What was less expected was Solomon beating him to the punch— literally! Solomon sucker punched the ringleader right in the face, breaking the man's nose and splitting his own knuckles. As the ringleader fell back with a cry, hands flying to cover his busted face, the gypsy followed through with a kick to the crotch. The intentional low blow sent the sailor crumpling and whimpering to the ground, a hand to both injured parts.
Using the distraction to her advantage, Claudine dived for the generator switch. One of the other sailors nearby snapped out of his stupor and hauled back like he was going to strike the scientist across the face. Fortunately, he never got the chance, as a face full of blunderbuss was quite the deterrent. "I would reconsider, old chap," Sir Oliver warned. "I may have one eye, but even I can't miss at this range." For once doing the smart thing, the man's hands flew into the air, otherwise remaining motionless lest the crazy old man get an itchy trigger finger.
With no other sailor daring to interfere, Claudine finally doused the lights, and darkness once again descended over the camp.
Luffy let out a massive, relieved exhale, deflating fittingly like a balloon. Franky was quick to remove his precious generators away from the rabble, given they'd already lost one. Leaving Sanji to intimidate the men who'd dare threaten not one, but two women, Zoro sauntered over to where Solomon stood, rubbing his bloody knuckle. "Nice punch. I honestly didn't think you had it in ya."
Behind them, Caine snorted, still seated. "Completely unnecessary." Gazing up at Solomon, she added, "I could've taken him."
Pulling out a handkerchief, Solomon began wrapping his aching hand. "It's a husband's prerogative to punch people in the face for insulting his wife." It didn't help matters that the man had used what was, to Solomon at least, the most insulting thing one could call a woman. Perhaps he was a bit sensitive to the term as many people had whispered (or shouted, in some cases) the same about his own mother. It was rude… not to mention completely untrue for a married woman.
"You didn't have to," Caine tried to dismiss, but Solomon was having none of it.
"I don't have to do anything. I do it all because I want to." Caine tried to look displeased, but the flush on her face said otherwise.
And all the while, Zoro could only watch and wonder.
With crisis once again averted, Chopper rushed over to Boris. "Your arm!" he shouted, panicked about the possibly permanent damage done to a new friend.
Peering oddly down at the strange little beast, Boris said, "'S okay. Boris arm work still. See?" Holding out the calcium-dotted limb, Boris showed he could still move his hand and fingers.
Nami frowned, despite the assurances. "Is there anything you can do to reverse it, Chopper?"
"Unfortunately, no," Chopper replied. Examining the deposits carefully, prodding at the skin surrounding them. Boris didn't give any reaction suggesting he was in pain, but Chopper didn't like how deep the deposits felt. "Sometimes humans can have calcium deposits on their skin or organs that have to be surgically removed. But if what Abel says is true, this is different. These aren't calcium growths, exactly, but flesh turning into it, which can happen to humans in rare circumstances." Addressing the troll directly, Chopper assessed, "I could surgically remove the spots. I'm worried they'll break and spread infection from an open wound. But it shouldn't be enough to stop you from using your arm."
It was difficult to tell if Boris understood everything Chopper was saying. In the end, however, all he said in response was, "Cure other trollses first. Worry about Boris later, maybe."
Back in the hold, the IV bag was now pleasantly full with Abel's blood. Seeing the hunter's tired expression, Robin leaned over her. "You don't mind the risk of cross-contamination by my helping, do you?"
"Long as you don't stab yourself with the needle," was Abel's murmured reply.
Chuckling, Robin grabbed a cotton ball from one of the clear jars on Chopper's desk. Placing it lightly atop where it stuck into Abel, in one swift, smooth movement Robin pulled the needle out. As she did, she pressed harder on the cotton ball, covering up the wound. Using her powers, Robin was able to put a cover on the needle so no blood leaked out while simultaneously taping the cotton ball in place. "There," she said to herself, satisfied.
Abel had to admit, she felt a little bit lightheaded from donating a pint of blood. She'd need to take it easy until her body replaced it. Perhaps it was with this in mind that Robin disappeared into the kitchen. Knowing if she tried to stand now she'd just fall over, Abel stayed in place, bringing her tingling hand off the table to rest in her lap, her opposite hand idly resting on the cotton ball. She wouldn't say she enjoyed the associated symptoms of blood loss — the tingling her in fingers and slight lightheadedness — but she would admit these sensations did act like a sort of physical white noise. As she focused on them, diligently monitoring her own health, Abel found herself being lulled into a state of drowsiness. The inbetween when you're not quite asleep but neither are you fully aware.
That was probably how Chopper managed to sneak up on her, causing Abel to jolt upon hearing her name being barked. "Even you shouldn't be taking out a needle like that on your own!" he chastised, tidying up his station before checking her bandage.
Before Abel could rebut him, Robin said from the door, "I'm afraid that was me, Chopper." She held two large glasses in her hands; one with orange juice (or perhaps tangerine juice) and the other with water. "You weren't back yet, and the bag was full. I didn't think it wise to take any more blood from her."
Chopper looked like he wanted to reprimand them both, but at least acquiesced, "It's true even taking a pint might be too much, given your state. But still!"
Chuckling dryly as she accepted the juice, Abel commented, "Need I remind you, Doc, that you're talking to someone who sliced their own wrists to let out a dangerous quantity of tranquilizer and still fought off a golem. A pint isn't going to kill me, even if I'm recovering from pneumonia."
"Just because you've survived trauma in the past doesn't mean you should keep subjecting yourself to it!"
"Can we get that plastered across the front to remind the guys?" Abel concluded before knocking back the juice. Even expecting tangerines, the pungent, sweet flavor at least shocked Abel's senses back to normal. Juice was standard procedure for recovering from blood donations, as Abel's body would need to replenish the 1/10th of fluid she just lost. Sugar and quick carbs would help stabilize her blood sugar so she didn't pass out as soon as she stood. She'd also need to drink a lot more than usual to return her hydration level to normal.
Mindful not to drink too much too fast and make herself sick, Abel settled back to watch Chopper work. He now had all the raw materials he needed, but turning it into something useful would take time. For starters, you can't just inject any random blood into a person... at least not without serious negative consequences. Giving someone a blood type that didn't match theirs could cause serious effects, as different types have different antigens in the cells which, if the host doesn't already have, will cause allergic reactions as the body reads them as intruders. Due to diligently blood typing everyone on the ship, Chopper's already ruled that Robin was O+, meaning she couldn't accept Abel's B type. In fact, among the crew, only Luffy (who was established to have the same type as Abel) as well as Zoro and Franky (who had AB and thus could accept B) could use her blood.
Fortunately, the immunoglobulin they needed wasn't exactly in Abel's blood cells so much as in the fluid that makes up the blood. Reclining in her chair as she nursed her juice, Abel watched as Chopper fed her blood into numerous empty vials before sticking them in a little centrifuge, a sort of motorized disk. Flicking the fancy new device on, the little motor spun the disk with the vials securely nestled within the holes. The centrifugal force caused all the different fluids that make up "blood" to separate. Satisfied, Chopper turned it off and picked up one of the vials.
Where before the liquid inside the vial was all red, now it had separated into three parts. All the red that people thought of when they think of blood now occupied less than half of the bottom of the vial, where the heavy red blood cells had sunken. Above that rested a thin layer of whitish-clear liquid known funnily as the "buffy coat." Abel never recalled who or why it was named that, but knew it contained her white blood cells and platelets, the cells that fight infections and make blood clot. But above that was the gold they were looking for. Fitting, given the liquid itself was a murky yellowish color. Taking up more than half the vial, this was blood plasma. It was mostly water, but most importantly it had the immunoglobulin they needed.
Retrieving a clean syringe, Chopper stuck the tip in the plasma and pulled on the plunger, sucking it all up, leaving only the heavier layers. Stoppering the now useless blood vial, Chopper transferred the plasma evenly into several new vials, where he diluted it with saline. This not only ensured the dosage of proteins wasn't overpowering, but extended it into more doses. Satisfied with the mixtures, Chopper used another needle to pull in a dose. Holding the much smaller needle up, a more manageable gauge than the one Abel had to endure, Chopper motioned for Robin's arm. "Ready, Robin?" he asked.
Holding gingerly to her arm, Chopper pressed the needle into her shoulder before injecting the post-exposure prophylaxis. "There!" he said, satisfied when the syringe was empty. "Abel's antibodies should start fighting and replicating against the rabies virus - if it's there at all - and give us an edge until we get the vaccine completed."
"Now comes the hard part," Abel advised. Making vaccines wasn't necessarily hard if you knew how, and she had confidence in their little doctor. But it could be time-consuming.
"Um..." Everyone looked toward the door to find Claudine standing awkwardly. Taking a deep breath, she pushed her cracked lenses up before squaring her shoulders. "I can help." This was more her comfort zone.
It took some convincing and cajoling to get Chopper to agree to let Abel help with the process. It was as if he thought sitting down and mixing chemicals was dangerous, for some reason. But eventually reasoning won out, so long as Abel agreed to remain seated and continually drinking.
Despite knowing the general process, Abel had never actually made a vaccine, so it was an interesting learning experience. Chopper carefully explained the process, with Claudine diligently documenting it. The woman seemed to have something on her mind, but wasn't ready to share it. The long-and-short of it was that they'd create batches of the vaccine by introducing Abel's immunoglobulin into Jotunn's blood sample, where the antibodies would begin devouring the virus - assuming it hadn't already begun dying now outside of the host. After letting the virus die, they would repeat the separation process with each batch and extract the plasma, which should now contain not only more immunoglobulin but also dead viruses. When combined with some preservatives to make the medicine last, dead or inactive viruses was essentially what made vaccines work, as they allowed the body to safely build antibodies in case of future contamination. The body was truly a well-tuned marvel.
Chopper set Abel up with a few pints of the troll blood and some pipettes of her own plasma and stationed her out on the grass lawn to work. Abel gave herself over to the simple (in her mind at least) repetitive task, entering the closest to a meditative state she could get. Siphon out enough troll blood to fill the vial, inject a few doses of the plasma into it, stopper, shake to mix, then store it in the vial rack. Rinse and repeat. Just like with monster hunting, once you had the knowledge and tools, science and medicine were easy. Or maybe that was just her. She had grown up immersed in it.
"Should you be handling chemicals right now?"
Abel didn't bother looking up from her task as Zoro clomped over to her, having just climbed down the ladder. "Boy, I can titrate in my sleep," she retorted sharply.
Setting another vial in the rack to process, Abel finally raised her gaze to the swordsman, only to stare in mild confusion. Under one arm he totted Dogmeat, the beast wagging his tail and beginning to wiggle in an effort to get down. Across his other shoulder he'd slung one of the sailors, with a busted-up face. "He was being annoying," Zoro responded to one of her unspoken questions, setting Dogmeat down before he dropped him.
"Which one?" Abel asked back. And how did you get down the ladder with full hands?
"Both." As Abel rubbed Dogmeat's ears with her free hand, Abel watched as Zoro carted the sailor onto his own ship, where he deposited him less than gently.
Turning her gaze back to the dog, Abel mused, "I think I missed something." To which Dogmeat sneezed.
Slowly, the rest of the team trickled down onto the ship, and Abel gathered from the various idle talk what'd gone down above. As it was nearing night, according to Sanji's watch, they'd sent Boris back to update the king about their progress. The troll had been more than welcomed to stay, but he was too big to get up and down the ladder. Not to mention Abel didn't think he'd fit inside any of the doors. He did help Franky and Usopp lower the remaining generators back onto the ship with a pulley system, however. It seemed he took a lot of pride in being useful. And with the end of their visit in sight, there was no need to keep camp. Boris left with a promise to take Luffy to see the king tomorrow. It surprised Abel to hear he wasn't going now, until hearing Sanji announce he was fixing dinner. She guessed even Luffy wouldn't eat fish jam.
Hearing her sister fussing and Solomon's fussing, Abel looked up again from her work. It appeared the stubborn woman was refusing to take it easy despite the cracked ribs. Some things never change, it seemed. Without her armor, the bandages alone weren't enough to stabilize her core. Thus, every step sent her sister trying to cover up her wincing. And like Abel, Solomon wasn't content to just let her suffer in pain for the sake of her pride. "You can wear one of my corsets." They were stable.
"No thank you," Caine quickly dismissed. "Wouldn't fit me anyway." Then she muttered something about why Abel would choose to wear something like that.
But she did have a point. Without the armor on, it was obvious that Caine and Abel had different builds. One of her underbust corsets might work, but if Caine was fundamentally refusing, "I believe there is a weight-training belt in the crow's nest." She didn't know why there was, as she'd never seen Zoro use it. But it was meant to support while lifting heavy weights, so it should suffice.
Not giving his wife time to refuse again, Solomon said, "I'll get it," before scurrying off, leaving Caine awkwardly looking anywhere but at Abel. This time, however, Abel knew it wasn't from their dispute. Caine pulled a face, clearly sensing her sister's amused grin.
Distracting from the awkward silence, Caine focused on looking around the deck. "What did you do with my sword?"
"It is currently making a dent in the floor of the women's quarters." Abel pointed up the stairs to their door. "Where it shall remain until Doc gives you the all clear." She raised a finger as Caine began to protest. "Remember, my ship, my rules."
Caine snorted, but instantly regretted it. She knew Abel's keen eyes didn't miss her wincing. She might not have it in her to admit her sister was right for the second time today, but she would silently relent. Under protest. Instead, she focused on watching her sister diligently working away. In the dreary darkness, Caine could almost ignore the vials.
As she sat on the bench around the main mast, Caine silently observed the goings-ons aboard the ship. Yet unlike last time, she felt more curious than hostile. Now that she wasn't looking for... What had she been looking for before? For some sign that her sister was there unwillingly, or had been tricked or threatened into joining? In retrospect, Caine could admit to herself it was a dumb idea. No one, not even her, could force Abel to do anything she didn't want to. At least not without being nagged to death about it. Caine wouldn't say her sister was the spiteful type, but maybe borderline passive-aggressive, depending on the person she was dealing with.
When Solomon returned, belt draped over his shoulder to keep his hands free, Caine sat up enough to help wrap it around her waist. As she cinched it up, her ribs immediately sighed in relief, her stomach muscles no longer having to strain to hold themselves up in a position that didn't bring pain.
With nothing really to do at the moment, the couple contented themselves with watching the crew and listening to the tide. Perhaps it was the thick blanket of fog that both blocked sound from above while insulating the sounds of the sea in their little bubble that amplified the crashing of waves against hull and rock. Regardless, the alternating crescendoing and diminuendoing (contrary to Abel's assertions, Caine did pay attention to some of their lessons) soothed tired minds and bodies, the rhythm of sounds it created akin to rocking a baby. The waves were analogous to life: bouts of noisy chaos rising from calm, before breaking and dissolving back into peace and serenity, before beginning all over again. The rhythm called to many a-souls, hence the rise of the current pirate era.
Caine watched in a more serene state of mind as the pirates interacted with her sister. The first, unsurprisingly was the dog, who seemed even more reluctant to leave her side than usual. Hobbling over, the dog stood before her sister, watching her intently before giving a growl at the lack of attention. "What?" Abel asked, not looking up. When the dog snorted, Abel finished her work, setting another vial aside before reaching her free hand out to him. Not to pet him, but to grab at the underside of his jaw. The dog played like he was going to bite Abel, trying to crane his neck down to nip at her wrist, rearing up on his hind legs to wrapping his one front leg around her arm. Abel released her barely-there grip to mime snapping at the dog with her hand, earning several playful snaps at the air. Dodging them, Abel changed targets to the dog's head, ruffling his ears affectionately before waving her hand. "Begone with you," she proclaimed before going back to her work.
The dog was not having that, however, and before Abel could get started on the next vial, turned around and backed himself into her, setting down her lap. "Excuse me," Abel chided the beast now cozy in her lap. "Get your bohunkus off of me." Her arms were stretched over her head, holding the medical equipment safely out of the way. The dog merely looked back, tongue hanging out happily as he panted. If a dog could laugh, he was.
"At least get your boney knees out of my crotch," Abel complained, shifting as the pressure became uncomfortable. Apparently willing to relent to that request, the dog turned to lay his entire body in Abel's lap, chin nestled in the nook of her elbow. Despite huffing, Abel didn't make the beast move, resuming her work. "You're making this more difficult than it needs to be," she complained, one arm constrained by the hound head holding it down. When the dog gave a grumbled complaint at being disturbed, the woman retorted, "You want to sit here, you'll just have to put up with it."
The scene probably should have been disturbing. After all, there was a zombie dog in her little sister's lap. But it reminded Caine too much of when they were kids and she'd play fight with Napoleon. Whenever the little dog would get mad and bark at Abel, she'd always retort with, "Don't you sass me," before picking the little dog up and ruffling his fur and squeezing him until he got too wiggly. And when she put him back down she'd always say something like, "Begone with you," or, "Flee from me." She always did love a bit of theatrics.
Perhaps even more surreally was that no one else on the ship batted an eyelash, either at her sister's predicament or to her doing medical work on the deck. She'd get the occasional amused look, and a few of the more intelligent members might come over and ask what she was doing. Scratch that, the captain asked the same thing. More in the curious child kind of way and not the scholarly "really tell me about it" kind of way. And of course, knowing these people better than Caine did, Abel changed the thoroughness of her explanations to each questioner's ability. Somewhat. Caine was pretty sure the captain didn't understand most of Abel's words, so she was either choosing them to amuse herself at his confusion or in hopes of baffling the boy into leaving. Was it sad that Caine couldn't tell which was most likely?
Abel couldn't say how long she sat there, dog in her lap and blood bag at hand, but it was long enough for her butt and legs to go numb (mostly thanks to Dogmeat). Finishing processing the last of the blood, Abel sat the final vial in the holder and sighed as she set her tools down. "Up you get," she said, pushing Dogmeat up so she could move. Abel ignored his grumbled protest in favor of hearing her own knees pop as she pulled them under herself. Chuckling a bit awkwardly at the relief, Abel remained kneeling as the feeling came back to her legs.
As she did, Sanji called from the galley, "Nami-san! Abel-dono! Robin-chan! Caine-chan! Lady Claudine! Dinner is ready!" Less musical and far more hostile, he added, "Hey you jerks, get in here!"
"Perfect timing," Abel said to herself, finally pushing herself to her feet. She expected it, but that didn't stop Abel from swaying a bit as the blood rushed from her head at the movement. Holding a hand to her head as the grey fuzzies swarmed her vision, Abel remained still, not wanting to fall over. The fuzzies passed quickly enough as what blood was left in her system reoriented itself, leaving a hovering, trying-to-not-show-his-concern swordsman in their place. Holding in her amusement at his mother-henning, Abel pointed at the stack of vials. "Why don't you take those to Doc to save me bending down again?" Zoro didn't complain, though he did give Abel a once over to satisfy himself she wasn't about to fall before complying. "Appreciate you," Abel called.
Sensing another mother-hen nearby, Abel interrupted, "Don't you start too."
"You should be more careful," Caine chastised.
"Says the one who got squeezed like the last drop of toothpaste," came Abel's sarcastic reply. "I'm not about to keel over from donating a pint. And we'll all be as right as rain after Bullseye's done catering."
Abel wasn't only referring to Sanji's penchant for spoiling females, either. Because while that was just a given, as predictable as the sun rising and Zoro getting lost going in a straight line, the cook was nothing if not thoughtful and meticulous when it came to seeing to their dietary needs. As such, he'd taken pains to ensure everyone had what they needed to recover from the struggles. To work with Caine's vegetarianism, the main dish was a hearty pasta with thick alfredo sauce, possibly so the milk would heal her cracked bones faster. And for Abel, to boost red blood cell production, he'd cooked a hearty pork loin, which Abel had to eat quickly lest Luffy try to steal the biggest slice away. The cook had appeared nervous that the meat would upset Caine, but the swordswoman waved him off. She wasn't vegetarian out of some moral high road as much as just preference. Sanji's further complimented the meal with a large bowl of some cooked kale and lentils salad. Abel admitted some reluctance with that dish, as she didn't like how wilted and slimy leafy greens became when cooked. But shame on her for doubting Sanji's skills, as he'd somehow managed to keep the hearty crunch to the kale. And of course, she washed it all down with a seemingly bottomless glass of tangerine juice.
As they ate, conversation followed, primarily focusing on the plans for the vaccine. "Now we just wait for the antibodies to do their thing," Chopper was explaining. "We'll check in the morning to see how much of the virus they've killed. If the samples are all free of the active strain, we'll be able to create the actual vaccine and begin administration!"
"Will there be enough?" Usopp asked, before breaking off to yell at Luffy for snatching something off his plate.
"With the size of the blood sample you guys got, estimating that roughly fifty-five percent is usable plasma, we should end up with at least a gallon's worth," Chopper calculated. Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, he added, "And that's before mixing it with the solution to preserve and extend it. So we should have enough. You said a lot of the trolls are smaller than us, right? Then they'd only need a small dosage. And bats would need an even smaller dose."
"Do you think administration will be an issue?" Abel asked.
Chopper frowned. "What do you mean?"
"We've seen that troll skin is very tough. Would a regular needle suffice?"
Chopper's eyes widened. "I hadn't thought of that." That might make things difficult.
"It's usually given intramuscularly, right?" Claudine asked. "In the arm?"
"Any muscle will do, but the larger the better," Chopper replied.
Remembering a conversation from earlier, Sanji asked, "What about their feet?"
"Feet?" Now everyone was lost, except those who'd talked to the trolls.
"Their feet appear to be a weak point," Abel explained. "It's an option, assuming that weakness extends to thinner skin. Otherwise..." Abel rested her chin on the back of her hand, fork dangling loosely below. "We might have to improvise with an interior muscle... like the tongue... or inside of the cheek..."
Pretty much everyone at the table winced at the idea of getting a needle in the tongue or mouth, but it was Caine who vocally protested, "Can we not talk about this when we're eating!?"
Undaunted, Abel grinned cheekily. "Don't complain. They used to inject it into your gut." Placing her fork down, Abel used her fingers to measure a long length. "They had these long, stiletto-like needles, and—"
"SHUT UP!" It was very difficult to laugh at the collective screaming with Zoro's hand over her mouth.
Morning came with promise and a renewed sense of purpose. As Chopper checked the samples, Franky flipped on the generator, dousing the deck in light— the closest thing to a sunrise they were going to get. While some of the crew groaned and grumbled at the rude awakening, Abel was already up and raring to go. Mostly because Chopper gave her the all-clear for light duty. He still prohibited her from carrying anything heavy, but she wasn't planning on doing any heavy lifting today anyway. Claudine joined her as Abel waited by the sickbay door while Chopper checked their work. Randomly taking samples from the blood mixtures, Chopper earnestly counted the active strains of the virus. He made sure to double-check his counts, because the last thing they needed was to accidentally inject someone with a live strain of rabies. But in the end, he gave a wide grin. "The immunoglobulin have done their jobs! The viruses are inactive."
"Halfway there," Abel summarized.
Their work was far from done. And unlike before, they couldn't work in large batches. Instead, the more intellectually-inclined members formed an assembly line of sorts to speed the process along. Chopper worked the centrifuge, and extracted the plasma from the separated blood, collecting it all in sealed vats. Once the vat was filled to a certain point, Abel mixed the appropriate amount of saline and preservative chemicals to create the actual vaccine. She passed that off to Claudine, who divided the large vats into more manageable containers. These glass vials were the ones that the syringes would be injected into to draw the vaccine for administration.
Abel couldn't help thinking that Claudine looked far more in her element working with the chemicals. She wondered if this brush with adventure had cooled her on the concept of exploration. She might not have enjoyed being overlooked and belittled in her previous work, but she couldn't deny the mousy woman looked more at home with a chemistry set than running for her life.
As they worked, they discussed the logistics of carrying out such a large-scale vaccination drive. Vaccinating the trolls wouldn't be too big an issue, aside from long queues. However, "What about the bats?" Chopper asked. "It sounds like there's a lot more of them than the trolls. How are we gonna keep track?"
"I, um... I think I have an idea about that," Claudine hesitantly admitted. She fidgeted nervously as the others turned their attention onto her, but continued nonetheless. "What if we take the spare... blood... as a peace offering and as a way to keep them all still? Then we can use paint to mark the ones we've given the shots to."
The woman looked nervous as the others mulled this over. "A rather inspired idea," Abel mused thoughtfully. "We'd be killing two metaphorical avians with one stone. We wouldn't be wasting vaccines and it answers the question of what to do with the leftover biological product."
"It's worth a shot," Chopper agreed, earning a grin from the hunter at his unintended pun.
By midday, they'd finally completed the work, processing all the blood and leaving them with, hopefully, enough of the rabies vaccine to go around. "Ta-da!" Chopper cheered, standing atop the table with a small needle in hand. Eagerly, he asked, "Are you ready, Robin?"
"Of course," Robin replied, sleeve already pulled up for him.
As Chopper injected the tiny dosage of clear liquid, Zoro muttered, "It's crazy to think that's all it takes to take down such a deadly disease." Could what looked like water really stop something that could turn a monster crazy?
"That's the power of modern medicine," Claudine pointed out. "I've even heard talk about scientists working to understand and replicate the power of Devil Fruits artificially."
Usopp made a face. "You mean they could give people Devil Fruit powers without them having eaten it?" When Claudine nodded, Usopp gave a little shudder. "Scary."
"I think it's pretty cool!" Luffy declared, watching closely as Chopper put a band-aid on Robin's arm over the injection.
"I'm glad you think so, Boss," Abel said, standing suspiciously in the doorway. Holding her hands up, Abel fanned out a group of filled syringes like a deck of playing cards. "Because we've got enough to go around."
This earned her a pout. "You mean we gotta get shots, too?" Luffy asked.
"I understand it goes against your philosophy, Boss, but it generally is better to be safe than sorry."
"We did all sleep outside on this island," Nami added, understanding they might all have been exposed without knowing.
Seeing his continued pout, Sanji chastised, "Don't tell me you're afraid of a little poke, Captain."
"'Course I'm not!" Luffy snapped back, rising to the bait.
With surprisingly little protest, they administered the vaccine among everyone part of the expedition. The only people who didn't need a shot were Abel, Caine and Dogmeat. "I'd happily take your medicine of love any day, Abel-dono!" Sanji crooned, jacket off and sleeve rolled up, arm presented like a prize to the hunter.
Abel barely resisted rolling her eyes as she took his arm, but Zoro couldn't hold his tongue. "Idiot," he snorted.
Sanji whirled around to shout at the swordsman, one arm still stretched awkwardly in Abel's grip. Shaking her head at the duo, Abel stuck the needle in Sanji's arm maybe a little less gently than normal. Or perhaps his flailing around just made it hurt more. Either way, Sanji jolted a bit at the pinch. But by the time he turned back around, Abel had already put the band-aid on his arm and dropped the used needle into a tin. They'd have to sterilize them later, as they didn't have enough for hundreds of individual shots. "It's generally ill-advised to move during a medical procedure... for future reference," Abel commented.
Rubbing at his arm before rolling the sleeve down, Sanji insisted, "I'd suffer any pain by your beautiful hands, Abel-dono!" Said owner of beautiful hands merely shook her head.
Pulling the plunger back on a new needle, Abel motioned for Zoro to come up. Due to his weight and dense muscle mass, he needed a slightly larger dosage than some of the others. "You're up to bat next, Chief."
Surprisingly, Zoro came with little fuss. Abel thought he might protest, like he usually did when Chopper tried to give him medical aid. Then again, this was just a quick shot and then done. It wasn't an intervention that would prevent him from doing stuff. Stoically, he merely watched as Abel went through the routine of rubbing alcohol on his shoulder to clean the surface before she took firm hold of his bicep. The gloves on her hand felt cold and oddly tactile, probably to help keep a grip. The thin needle stuck surprisingly deep into his shoulder, creating a quick, sharp pinch. But Zoro recalled they'd mentioned before it had to go in the muscle, so he supposed that made sense. Then, just as quickly as it started, the shot was over, and Abel was putting a little band-aid on. She gave him a quick smile before calling for the next person.
Abel stared blankly as Franky before her, needle held unsurely aloft. "How is this going to work?" she asked. The man was a cyborg. Did he have muscles?
"Ow!" Abel very much wished she'd never asked that, as Franky swiftly turned and stuck his backside out toward her. "I couldn't reach my back when I was rebuilding myself," Franky explained, pointing to his back with his thumb. "So it's all muscle back there."
"Your scrawny ass says otherwise," Abel retorted blandly. Why did she get stuck with the crazy ones? Well, Chopper did have to deal with Luffy and Usopp, so maybe it was even. And while it was true that the glutes were also a suitable muscle group to carry injections, Abel was not about to touch Franky's butt. Not even with gloves. Instead, she carelessly tossed the hem of his garish shirt up over his head. As he protested, Abel jabbed the needle into his trapezius, near the middle of his back.
When everyone had been vaccinated, Luffy laughed, "We all match!" He held out his arm, wearing the band-aid almost as proudly as he had their X's for Vivi. Eagerly, he asked, "Now can we see the troll king!?"
Having already met the trolls, Abel decided to go with Chopper to the bat cave. The little deer was most eager to reassure Ahool that they were keeping their word. And perhaps as an animal himself, he felt greater empathy for their risk of being exterminated. It would make things easier having someone who could speak directly to the bats. Plus, Chopper trusted that Claudine could handle getting started with the trolls, with the others helping. So everyone aside from Zoro headed for the troll city with their packs. Abel raised a questioning eyebrow as to why the swordsman felt the desire to come with them, especially since he'd probably be bored senseless with nothing but medical procedures going on. At least in the town, he'd have distractions. But no, the man appeared dead-set on going with them. Chopper, of course, didn't think twice about it, happy to have the extra muscle along.
As they stood before the entrance of the cave, Abel couldn't help musing, "It's a lot closer than it seems when you're running for your life."
Shanghaied into playing the pack mule, Zoro readjusted the box of supplies on his shoulders. He made a face before commenting, "It definitely smells like something lives inside." The odor coming from the cave wasn't the worst thing he'd ever encountered, but it definitely smelt like an animal's dwelling.
"Hello?" Chopper called into the cavern, his voice echoing off the rocks. The sounds of chittering answered back, before a figure began to emerge from the darkness, white and ghostly. Ahool sniffed the air as she approached, her body balanced precariously on spindly limbs. Undaunted by the much larger beast, Chopper cheerfully chatted, "We're here, just like we said we'd be." He set down some of his supplies.
As Chopper rummaged around, Ahool made a sharp noise, causing Chopper's ears to perk. "Oh! Okay!" Looking back to his human companions, Chopper explained, "She says she wants to take the first dose to make sure it's safe." As their intentions were honest, Abel had no qualms with that, and carefully set down the box of containers storing the vaccine.
Abel didn't know if bats' eyes were good enough to see what Chopper was doing as he got the syringe ready, but Ahool appeared to be watching him closely. With an odd sense of chipperness for someone about to needle another, Chopper stretched his tiny hooves up to her. "If you can bend down, I'll get it in your back." Ahool awkwardly squatted down, allowing the deer to pinch the skin between her shoulder blades. A little stick later, and it was finished. "There! See, that wasn't bad."
Satisfied that what the humans were doing wasn't going to hurt her kin, Ahool let out a piercing shriek. In response, bats began to fill the air, as if the force of Ahool's call had shaken them from the cavern walls. Beside her, Dogmeat snapped his jaws instinctively at the blurs buzzing around his head. Even Abel had to admit that having a flock of noisy bats swarming around them was a tad unsettling. Zoro sat down the metal container he'd been carrying, pulling the secured lid off, revealing it to be the leftover blood. While it might sound like a bad idea to let the bats ingest blood that had been infected, the virus was now dead. And even if it hadn't been, it was almost impossible for a creature to get rabies from ingesting infected material. The enzymes in the stomach would dissolve it before it got absorbed by the intestines.
Hopefully Ahool had kept her word about not letting the bats feed, because as soon as the fragrance of blood filled the air, bats were bumping into each other to land along the ledge of the container. As their little tongues lapped it up, it was time for the real work to begin.
Before pulling her gloves on, Abel tossed something at Zoro. "Think fast."
Fortunately, Zoro did, feeling something cold and hard in his grasp. The look on the swordsman's face as he stared down at the small bottle of nail polish in his hands was priceless. One would think he had some complicated mechanical device, for how confused he looked. "What am I supposed to do with this?"
"After we administer the vaccine, put a drop on the bat's head so we can identify who has and hasn't received it," Abel explained, snapping her gloves.
Zoro supposed he could do that, even if he felt a bit weird holding nail polish. "Why's it so pink?" he complained, eyeing the bright pastel color. It looked like a color the cook would wear. Wait... "Is this Nami's?"
Abel grinned as she pressed a finger to her lips. "I won't tell if you don't."
"Do you think I want to die?" Zoro retorted back, unscrewing the lid.
It was repetitive work for the little group, but they found a good rhythm. Abel or Chopper would pick one of the bats getting a drink, carefully gather them up in one hand, then stick them in the scruff. Abel, at least, would then rub the spot with her thumb to soothe the pinch before holding the bat out to Zoro, who'd give their head an awkward, unpracticed swipe with the brush, leaving behind a noticeable pink stain on their dark brown fur. Release and repeat. They'd quickly disinfect the needles between bats to reduce the risk of cross-contamination. It wasn't as good as having a bunch of fully sterilized needles, but they were working within their limitations.
While Zoro was glad to be helping in a capacity that was within the scope of his knowledge, he had to admit he was glad it was just the three of them. Some of the others would never let him hear the end of it about him having nail polish. Though it didn't help that Abel always had a smirk straining to come out. "Don't," he warned at one point.
This only made her grin fully. "I'm not laughing at you," she confessed, even if it was ridiculously endearing watching Zoro awkwardly paint the bats, the little bottle patently too small and delicate in his big hands. "It just made me recall a story someone told me once." Abel never ceased her work as she recounted, "I'm certain you've encountered enough people to know that old men love to tell tales. Well, we had this retired steelworker back home that once told me, in the strictest confidence, that after he and his wife were first married, she'd talked him into letting her paint his toenails. And I'm talking about big, burly, testosterone-fueled manly man." Abel flexed her arms, imitating the pose of a bodybuilder before releasing the bat in her grip. "And his wife was the sweetest, most demure little old lady you can imagine." Abel grinned at the memory. "I can just see this big tough guy relenting and letting little wifey paint his toes."
"Guess even the best do crazy things when they're in love," Zoro commented.
He knew what was coming just from the expression on Abel's face. "Speaking from experience, are we?" she asked teasingly, voice too low for Chopper to overhear. "But the funniest part of the story was that after this, he got hurt on the job, and a steel beam landed on his foot. But because he didn't want his coworkers to see his painted nails, he refused to let them check out his obviously broken toes and suffered through the rest of his shift." Just recalling the old man admitting his youthful hubris made Abel laugh. To the day she left, whenever she saw him, she thought about that story.
One wouldn't expect vaccinating small bats to be tiring work, but after hours of bending down to pick them up, switching up her needling hand to avoid carpal tunnel, and holding them aloft, Abel's body began to protest. She didn't know if it was just the repetitive nature messing with her, or her recovering body, but by the time they could no longer see non-painted bats she was ready for a good massage. Stretching her arms and enjoying the popping in her shoulders, Abel scanned the cave. The bucket of blood had been drained, only a bit of red left. Those bats did such a thorough job, it was kind of scary. Snapping her now sweaty gloves off into the bucket, Abel rested her hands atop her head, prolonging the stretch. "Did we get them all?" she asked.
"Looks like it," Chopper replied, counting the bats still flying around. "At the very least we've used up all the vaccines we brought with us."
"Guess we should meet up with the others," Zoro recommended, with no protests.
As the only one who'd seen the troll village, Abel had to lead the way. Not that she'd have trusted the others. There was probably an easier way to reach the cave opening than retracing their steps all the way back to the river and following the mountain base, but Abel didn't feel like cutting across the mountain. While they kept an eye out for more rabid trolls, they felt somewhat confident that the worst was over.
Abel felt very relieved that Boris spoke true and the trolls had been hard at work repairing the avalanche's damage. In fact, two beefy trolls similar to Boris greeted them at the entrance, seemingly reinforcing the broken archway with rough-hewn logs. Not as chatty as Boris, the trolls merely grunted at them and nodded for them to go in. While Chopper and Zoro were a bit suspicious, and Dogmeat paused to sniff at them as they went in, Abel didn't think twice, and ducked beneath their bulky arms.
Abel knew what to expect, and thus she was very eager to see the others' reactions as they rounded the bend and into the village. They did not disappoint, mouths hanging open and stopping dead in their tracks. Chuckling to herself, Abel allowed them a moment to take it in, all the while noting the subtle changes. The village appeared even more lively than before, mainly due to two reasons. For one, many of the trolls were hard at work continuing the repairs from Jotunn's rampage. Trolls big and small bustled overhead, working well together. The larger, stronger trolls did the heavy lifting, carting great rocks and logs around. The smaller, more nimble trolls literally hung around on a primitive scaffolding system, using ropes to reach higher up and span the gaps from the fallen bridge. Watching them work together further solidified the knowledge that their first impressions of the trolls were way off. Off-handedly, Abel wondered if some of the trolls would eventually move out of the caves and back into the forests and mountain peaks when the rabies was dealt with.
The second reason for the increased commotion was their own doing. From their vantage, they could see Claudine and the others had set up a little clinic in the middle of the market. A long line of trolls stretched beyond, queuing up for their shots. The boys shook themselves from their stupor as Abel began to leave them behind, eager for a status update.
It made Abel happy to see Claudine taking charge of their impromptu-clinic, excitedly administering the vaccines to each troll that queued up. Nami and Robin helped as well. Abel's earlier guess turned out to be correct in that they had to inject the vaccine into the trolls' feet. At least the larger trolls. The smaller, more humanoid ones seemed to lack the thick hide, and could get their injections in the arm, though some preferred their thick, lizard-like tails. Sanji was there as well, no surprise, but was actually making himself useful. He'd set up a portable heater to boil water, where the girls would toss the used needles for sterilization. He would then use tongs to pull them out and dry them, his nimble hands expertly avoiding the points.
As they approached, Abel was about to ask where Usopp and Franky were, until she heard a familiar, "Super!" coming from somewhere above, followed by Usopp's, "Watch it!". She could only surmise that they were attempting to help the trolls rebuild the bridges. That only left Luffy absent. Fortunately, rather than being off causing trouble, they discovered the boy entertaining the troll children with his stretchy prowess. Twisting his face and limbs into a myriad of shapes, the little children oohed and aahed, giggling and cheering at his antics. Was he giving them the wrong impression about what normal humans were capable of? Ah, well, at least he was keeping himself occupied.
"Ah, there you are, old bird," Sir Oliver greeted, having been sitting back observing everything. "I take it your end of the work is finished?"
"For now," Chopper answered. "How are things here?"
"They've been going rather swimmingly, actually," Sir Oliver reported. "Thanks to the king'n all. Bit dreary fellow, but can't say I blame him, what with everything that's happened."
Zoro glanced around. "Where is the king? I figured Luffy'd be talking his ear off."
Gaze pointing toward the palace, Sir Oliver answered, "I believe he said something about making preparations. Your friend seems to think it'll be some monetary reward."
Zoro snorted. "'Course she does."
Chopper just then noticed something. "Wasn't Abel here just a second ago?"
Zoro didn't bother looking for the woman. "You expect her to sit still in a troll den?"
An accurate assessment. With confirmation that everything was coming down from the climax, Abel no longer felt the need to be directly involved in things, and took the opportunity to do something she'd wanted before. That being climbing to the top of the village. A few troll construction workers eyed her as she passed, but she faced no interference along the way. The view from the top was just as impressive as she'd hoped, and Abel took up position along the ledge of the cliff, out of the way. There she sat, hashing away at her notebook, preserving the scenery that most would believe only fiction.
As usual, when Abel got to work she quickly lost track of time. She was vaguely aware of the work going on around her, feeling lumbering shapes pass her. She even caught ethereal echoes of her crewmates fixing the bridges, thanks to Franky's enthusiastic nature. But it wasn't until a figure actually took a seat beside her that momentarily pulled from her work... at least mentally. She didn't stop drawing, naturally. "Nice view," Caine said, in an awkward attempt at small talk. Abel merely hummed in acknowledgement, raising a charcoaled thumb to aid in getting the proportions right on a particular troll. Used to such behavior and thus finding some nostalgic comfort in it, Caine snorted in response.
They fell into the familiar silence of two people simply enjoying being in the other's presence. Such things hadn't been uncommon back in the day. The sisters had often sat in silence, lost in their own headspaces. It was one of the things that made traveling with this particular crew so jarring in the beginning. Abel had obviously come to enjoy the predictable chaos and vim, but quiet was a nice change of pace, and Abel appreciated any person who appreciated it.
Eventually, Caine felt the need to break the silence to report, "Claudine's planning on sticking around for while, even though the log pose is set."
"I would conjecture that this incident has become a sort of watershed moment for her," Abel replied. The woman had finally hit her stride.
"Guess we'll be sticking around to guard her, though I don't see much danger now. I doubt you'll be here for that long. Sounds like your captain's already getting antsy."
"He does tend to go where the wind blows."
Another silence fell over them, but this time Abel sensed Caine had something in mind. Like Abel, she wasn't one for meaningless small talk. And she could guess what Caine was thinking; because it was what was on her mind, as well. Setting her book down, Abel turned to her sister and stated bluntly, "If you want to come along, all you have to do is ask." The lack of beating around the bush caught Caine off-guard, and she sputtered a bit, earning a grin from her twin.
Before she could give a coherent answer, however, a voice from behind them called, "Hey, girlies!" Raising a brow at the name, Abel looked over her shoulder at where Franky and Usopp were waving to them. "Work's wrapping up. Let's head back down. Looks like the king's back." Casting her sister a knowing glance, Abel stood to follow.
By the time they reached the main square, the king stood before the clinic. Nami was currently fussing at a pouting Luffy. "Don't be so selfish, Luffy!" she was chastising.
"But I wanted to have a big party in the troll palace," Luffy whined.
"He just said they don't have the supplies for that!" the redhead snapped. "Or did you forget they were trapped in here?"
Smiling ruefully, the king agreed, "I apologize. While there's no doubt that you've done our people a huge service, many are still grieving the death of loved ones. At your advice, those who have begun showing symptoms have been quarantined, and their families are spending their last moments together." It was true, their victory was bittersweet. While they'd saved many, and had given them the tools to remove the scourge from their home, there were many more who'd succumbed before the cause had been identified. It was small comfort to those mourning right now.
Sensing he'd brought the mood down, the king quickly added, "But don't take it to heart. We trolls are a hardy folk, sturdy as this very mountain. We will rebuild and grow. Our children will remember the sacrifices made, as well as the humans who helped us to overcome. Speaking of which..." Waving behind him, a small troll came running up with a woven basket over his head. "Please take this as a sign of gratitude for everything you've done."
Nami's eyes lit up at the idea of a reward, recalling Boris' talk about shiny stones. Her enthusiasm dampened considerably when she saw that the stones weren't quite the sparkling gems she was expecting. Behind her, Abel had to hold in a laugh at how the redhead visibly deflated. "Oooh, pretty!" Luffy said, leaning over. Indeed they were, but hardly as valuable as gems. Abel didn't see any sapphires of diamonds, but there were semi-precious stones like tiger's eyes and pyrite. The highly polished stones might still fetch a price to people who made beadery, but not a fortune by any stretch. Always willing to accept most presents, Luffy grinned at the king despite Nami's ire. "Thanks!"
The acceptance of their gift pleased the king, and for once he looked genuinely happy, if a bit tired. "And please take this as well." Boris set down an old crate filled with pieces of lumber. "I understand wood can be hard to come by at sea, and we have it in abundance."
"Wow, thanks!" Usopp happily accepted. It might not be Adam wood, but they could certainly make use of it.
"What about your arm, Boris?" Chopper asked.
"Boris likes new scars," the big troll announced, holding his dotted arm with pride now. "Me think missus like them, too."
Chopper seemed unsure about leaving the wound be, but, "If you're sure."
"Oh! Boris almost forget! Meant bring jar of fish jam as thanks-you."
"No!" Nami and Usopp shouted together, covering up Luffy's mouth before he could accept.
"We're good!" Nami insisted. "We really should get going before the tide rolls out."
"You're certain you won't stay?" the king asked.
Though still a bit disappointed about the lack of party, Luffy grinned. "Nah! We need to find our next adventure!"
The king gave a small smile. "You'll find no shortage of that on these seas."
Stepping up, Claudine held a small bag in her hands. Based on the jingling, it was full of berries. "Here's your payment, plus a little extra for all the trouble." The woman smiled brightly. "Thank you for everything. And I don't just mean the protection."
"Are you good to stay here, Lady Claudine?" Sanji asked.
Unhesitating, she replied, "Oh, certainly. There's still a bit of vaccine to administer, and I want to show the trolls how to preserve and make more so future generations can be protected as well. Not to mention I can't pass up the chance to get to really live and study among such an amazing species." She bowed deeply. "I can't thank you all enough for your help. Be sure to keep an eye out for my paper when I publish it!"
"You'll have a room here as long as you need," the king assured her. "It's a good chance to foster relations with the outside world." The less people feared them, the safer they were.
With everything seemingly neatly tied up, Luffy adjusted the basket of stones. "Welp, time to head out, crew!"
"Actually," Caine interrupted.