Remnants of the White City

by Watermelon24

When gloomy baby doctor meets spoiled merchant's daughter it's not exactly love at first sight. But Law is going to find out that taking care of his first patient is harder than expected... What if Law isn't the only one to survive the Flevance tragedy? And what if one day they run into each other again? A Law x OC story.

16. Unlikely Roommates

It's been ages since I last updated and I'm so so so so so sorry!
Life's been punching me in the gut for the last few months and I'm just starting to catch my breath...

Beautiful readers, if you are still here, thank you soooo much for the incredible reviews on the last chapter! I kept reading and rereading them while trying to get my brain back on track... I'm so sorry it took me so long to write this.
Sarge1130, thank you so much for sticking around for so many chapters - I hope it's not too late to say how much this means.
ClosetCase, I remember switching on my computer and reading your review and I was so overwhelmed I literally started crying. It didn't only make my day, but pretty much the entire month... Thank you so much for your lovely, encouraging words. I wish I could have replied sooner...

Thank you all for your patience and I hope you will still enjoy what comes next...

---

"You sure know how to make people feel at home, Mushroom Head." Savenna didn't bother concealing her disappointment as she stood in the door of her a cabin-to-be. "Not even my luggage will fit into this broom closet."

"I see you still haven't learned to travel light," Law remarked. The pirate was leaning against the door frame, arms crossed in front of his chest, observing his new guest with polite alertness. During all the time after they had entered the sub, she hadn't complained or tried to pick a fight with anyone. He was almost impressed.

"This is light!" Naturally, Savenna pointed at the ten suitcases piling up on Penguin and Shachi's shoulders.

"Right… Last time you brought your own furniture."

"I've never heard you complain about those pillows."

She anticipated the dismissive glance he shot her and caught it with a playful smile. Underneath however, Savenna still struggled with his presence. This was the first time they found themselves inside a room without iron bars securing the limits of the other's personal space. On their way to the cabin, they had kept bumping into one another, occasionally stepping on the other one's foot while trying and failing to maintain a casual distance.

Stiffly, Law cleared his throat. "Anyway, there are a few things you need to know: every cabin is equipped with an oxygen mask and a first aid kit. And as long as you stick to the rules of the sub, everything should be fine…" Savenna wasn't sure who he was trying to convince of the latter. "First, always carry a map and a bottle of disinfectant with you. Guests can easily get hurt or lost on the Tang." Law deliberately ignored her arching a doubtful eye-brow at the word guest, while she wondered how many people got on board in one piece. "Second, no surgeries outside the operating room."

"Wouldn't have occurred to me, but now that you mention it…"

"And third," he went on. "My cabin is off limits."

"Fair enough," Savenna replied casually. As the third rule would be the easiest to break, she put it on top of her of future entertainment list. But for now, it was best to play along.

"Alright, I accept your little weird set of terms. Now let's move on to business, shall we?" she suggested before pulling a piece of paper and a Log Pose out of her pocket. "These are the coordinates of our destination. The island is about seven hundred sea miles north and one Log Pose charge away. The trip shouldn't take longer than ten days, twelve should the weather turn sour."

Law accepted the paper dispassionately. His eyes lit up as he studied the numbers and his

expression hardened. "A winter island?"

"A belt, actually. An oddity of that particular part of Grand Line. The weather will shift halfway through the trip," Savenna clarified. That information didn't chase the shadows off his face. "What are you looking for up there?" he asked instead.

Savenna had pictured this moment time and again. When he asked her about her plan, the unlikely scenario where she was free to tell him. When he approved of her mission and maybe even offered to help. But now, in the bleak light of reality, Law's voice had a resolute edge to it, his eyes revealing nothing but contempt.

Swallowing the disappointment she had no right to feel, Savenna reminded herself that this was the only answer she could give. "That information wasn't part of our deal," she said. "But stay assured, my plans do not involve you or your crew."

Law hesitated for a painfully long moment, then his features relaxed. "Of course. A deal is a deal."

Savenna didn't know whether she should feel relieved or yield to her desire to punch something. She decided to get hold of herself instead. "Perfect. Now I have to talk to the navigator. This isn't the New World but those waters can be quite tricky. There are some nasty currents waiting for us up north."

The pirate's eyes flared up. After the show he had put on during their escape, she still didn't consider him a decent enough captain to travel from one island to the next! Law fought the rising urge to drive the sub through a rip current just to shake some of that smugness out of her. "My crew is perfectly capable of handling Grand Line, thank you," Law reminded her, trying to conceal his offense. "Bepo knows exactly what he's doing."

"The murderous polar bear?"

"The correct term is Mink. And yes, he's a very experienced navigator." Law folded the paper in two and headed back into the hallway. Savenna wasn't particularly happy with that development.

"Seriously? You are really leaving me in this dungeon?" she called after him. "What if I get crushed by my own bags?"

Law smiled at the irony. "Don't make a mess and you'll survive."

"Kidnapped marines are usually chained up in the cargo room. This is rather glamorous in comparison," Nell pointed out in the vague hope of toning down Savenna's cursing. She'd heard little else after entering their new home. "Futon or hammock?"

"Whichever makes it easier to kill Law without waking you."

"Futon it is."

While Nell was busy unpacking Savenna took a woeful look around. The air inside cabin was hot and laced with dated dampness. Sunlight fell in through a bull's eye in the rear end. The lock wheel on the door, as well as the iron ceiling, reminded her of visiting Impel Down as a marine recruit. And just like the inside of the high security prison, large steal bolts designed to withstand high water pressure faithfully induced claustrophobia. And apart from a few maps on the wall, a couple of anatomy drawings and a worn-out carpet, not much suggested that the room had ever been inhabited by something other than perpetual hopelessness. How fitting for their situation…

Nonetheless, it wasn't what Savenna had expected. After spending so much time contributing to Rayleigh's self-multiplying chaos, she couldn't imagine a pirate ship being any different from their old scrap heap on sails. Even though Law had always had a somber attitude toward everything alive, being around him had never felt so dark and confining before.

Savenna gave it a last try. "Are you sure there's no cargo room you could chain us up in?"

After fighting their way out from under the white luggage, Shachi and Penguin exchanged questioning glances. Savenna would have carried the bags herself but the two crew mates had insisted.

A pretty lady like you shouldn't be carrying her own things! Have you never heard of the famous Heart Pirate hospitality? But impressing her was easier said than done. The hearts in the pirates' eyes had dimmed just as fast as the years of undercover equipment started piling up on their shoulders.

"I'm not sure the captain would allow that," Shachi panted, sunglasses teetering on his nose. "He said that since we've struck a deal, you will be treated like part of our crew. And I don't think he'll be happy if we chained up one of our own…"

Well, that was news to her. But before Savenna could find another way to talk herself out of their housing situation, Penguin handed Nell a bundle of clothes. "You will be needing these. Bepo is usually pretty good with sizes, so I think they should fit."

The words got stuck in Savenna's throat. Her face paled gradually as she watched Nell unfold two gray boiler suits. Never! Not even Nell's abilities could make up for that monstrosity. "He can't be serious…"

"Oh, don't worry. They are very comfortable and don't have to be washed too often," Shachi said proudly.

"That is exactly the point," Savenna argued. "I would rather walk around naked."

"That's a bit dramatic, don't you think?" Nell remarked, quite satisfied with her new attire.

"So is Mushroom Head's ego. Who does he think he is, ordering me around like that?" Savenna blurted out. Obeying some stupid rules was one thing, but walking around dressed like a member of a traveling circus was beyond her taste for experimentation.

The enthusiasm froze on the pirates' faces. Not only hadn't they gotten used to their captain's new nickname yet, they also had little experience with people openly disobeying his orders. Speechless, they stared at Savenna with something between horror and awe. For her part, she couldn't care less for Law's whims. That ship had officially sailed. "Don't stare at me like that! What is he going to do? Hide the snacks and steal my organs?"

"That's just Law, you have to go easy on him," Shachi said after snapping out of the collective trance. "Remember when Ikkaku jointed the crew and he spend the whole night throwing up because he had made a new friend?"

Penguin nodded. "That's just the way he is. We weren't always in for the uniforms either. But he believes a crew should be run like a hospital. All members should be treated equally. Nobody's life is more important than another's. I guess that's what the dress code is for… To remind us that we are equal members of the group."

Savenna couldn't agree less. There was always a hierarchy, a food chain she was forced to climb until she was the only predator left to fear. Everyone who thought differently was either an idiot or an optimist. Neither tended to live very long. Even as she tried piecing together an appropriate answer, she felt like laughing out loud.

Law couldn't have made it clearer. He wanted nothing to do with her, let alone make her part of his crew. He was convinced she was going to betray them on the first possible occasion. No, the overall wasn't a welcoming gift. It was a reminder of who was in charge.

"You…you are going to put it on, right?" Penguin had lost some of said optimism listening to Savenna's silence. "They are not very fashionable, but maybe we can find some cute buttons or a nice bag to go with it?"

Confused she looked the pirates up and down, unable to figure out why she was feeling bad. They followed the Surgeon of Death, a man who had rejected her and whom she had still busted out of prison. It may mean nothing to him if she refused to follow the dress code, but Penguin and Shachi would think they had failed their captain. And Savenna didn't want them to feel as disappointed as she was.

However, their feelings and Nell's judgmental stare weren't the only reason Savenna decided to place nice. She and Nell might have escaped the marines but they had just gone from the frying pan into the fire: Amber Lead was still real, the Flevance royals still alive and Law still not the old friend to count on. They needed to keep a low profile. Giving Law a taste of her attitude was one thing, but rocking the boat because of a stupid overall, was antagonizing an entire crew - an enemy Savenna didn't have the strength to fight. "Fine. Give me that thing..." she muttered.

Three faces lit up around her. But she knew better than to admit defeat. Carelessly, she put her hair up and popped the first button of her marine shirt. With round eyes and fiercely bleeding noses, the pirates stared as she stepped out of her kidnapping clothes. A wonder what a simple costume change could do to people, she thought, lips curling up into a mischievous grin. Once the suit was hugging her hips, she tiptoed over to Penguin and pointed at her back. "Would you mind…?"

The pirate had trouble standing upright. "No…I mean… Yes…" he stammered, glaring helplessly at the zipper as if he'd forgotten what it was for. It took him five minutes to pull it up.

"Oh, and thank you so much for the suitcases!" Savenna beamed, clasping her hands together as the now lightheaded pirates dragged her luggage inside. "I hope the second round won't be as heavy…"

"The second round?"

"Well, yes," Savenna chuckled, feigning surprise. "The weather will be turning soon after all!"

When the sun started to set, she dumped the rest of her clothes on the futon and decided to do a little exploring. Her enthusiasm didn't last long. The submarine turned out to be moving maze. Every hallway either led to an identical corridor, a dead end or brought her back to where she'd left off. After the fifth wrong turn, Savenna began to ask herself if the walls weren't shifting. At times she heard footsteps, but when she turned the corner all she found was another row of locked doors and round windows watching her like dark, bulging eyes. Squinting through the dim corridor light, she couldn't see or hear anything but the humming of the propellers shooting them forward.

Fine, maybe she should have brought along that stupid map…

After stumbling over the threshold of another door, hitting her head on a steam pipe and hurting her foot after angrily kicking that same pipe, Savenna had nominated submarines for the worst means of transportation on Grand Line. When she finally managed to find her way to the upper deck and discovered the kitchen and living room, another surprise awaited her.

The rooms that had been put to shambles by the marines trying to enter the ship, had not just been tidied up. They were pristine.

The wide windows had been washed, the floors swept and disinfected with what smelled like three different chemicals. The titled pictures on the walls now hung straight in their frames, and the medical literature within the yellow bookshelves was sorted in alphabetical order. Someone had even vacuumed under the rug. But Law's obsessive tidiness didn't make up for his obvious lack of taste. Who on earth would paint their entire ship yellow and be crazy enough to buy matching furniture?

On a closer look Savenna wondered if the upper rooms had ever been used at all. The décor looked brand new and the floor panels didn't show a single scratch. No junk, no traces of dried blood or past combat. Fighting the urge to spill something over the spotless couch pillows, Savenna lumbered into the kitchen.

With wooden cupboards and disturbingly yellow tiles, the room was large enough to accommodate a Rayleigh-style five course meal involving four frying pans, a dozen plates, three uninvited guests and an occasional kitchen fire. But just as Savenna grew excited, she was welcomed by a sign crushing her new-found hopes:

NO BREAD

NO WASTING FOOD

NO EATING ON THE COUCH

FOOD TO BE CONSUMED ONLY DURING MEALTIME

"Oh, come on…" she hissed, opening the door of the fridge. Her smile froze quickly at the sight of the sad-looking, carefully labeled vegetables sorted according to name and expiration date. This must be a joke… They had made one grocery stop on the way and this was all Law had got? Where was the real food? The fish and the meat? With a certain degree of desperation, she found that there were also no sweets, and not matter how many cupboards she turned inside out, no booze.

"This trip is going to be a disaster!"

Savenna had planned to live out her last days dead drunk, but in the short time they had spent with each other, Law had also managed to ruin that for her. For a moment she wondered if he was doing this on purpose. For the sake of consistency, Savenna also kicked the kitchen counter. Despondently, she cowered next to the fridge.

All of this felt obnoxiously familiar any yet nothing really was. Law had managed to grow into a surprisingly decent-looking but certainly more annoying version of himself. Over the years, imagination and loneliness must have rectified all that she couldn't stand about him. How come they hadn't killed each other in that hospital basement? For a while Savenna watched the fridge with conflicted emotions.

"You know what? Screw this." Wallowing in spite and self-pity, she flung the door open and found an onigiri with Law's scrawled handwriting on it. She might still not have believed him to be a doctor, but he sure wrote like one… Her fingers unwrapped the rice ball with childish excitement. Then she took a bite and chewed until the image of his outrage made her smile. "What are you going to do about that, Surgeon of Death, ha?"

---

"I bet you're the only pirate who knows the meaning of inventory." A cigarette tucked behind his ear, Corazon was lying on a stretcher and sent a weightless blood bag floating in Law's direction. The doctor caught it without looking up from his notebook.

The meticulous order Law maintained on his ship had been considerably tampered with. While Bepo had taken care of the upper decks, the infirmary still lay in chaos. Not only had most of the equipment moved to the opposite side of the operating room, but the carefully arranged instruments had scattered all over the place. Law had roomed the mess up in the air to see what could be salvaged.

Annoyed, he gave the needles another spin.

Getting the submarine back had supposed to be a relief. But since he had set foot on the ship, the tiniest cogs in every machine seemed to irritate him. The pipes made too much noise and the air reeked of flowers even though there was no land in sight. Law gritted his teeth and made the mistake of looking out through the bull's eye. The good weather made him nauseous. "Don't you have family relations to haunt?" the doctor asked the ghost.

"Not really…That's one good thing about being dead. No one is waiting for you anymore," Corazon replied.

Yet, Law was passionately waiting for him to leave. It had been a while since he had deliberately tried to get rid of his ghostly companion. But since they had left the marine base, he kept finding Corazon everywhere he went, hovering in the hallway or jumping on the bed to convey his obnoxiously cheerful mood. Nothing seemed to inspire him to return wherever he came from. When Rosinante popped a few pills flying by, Law wondered whether he should consider exorcism.

"Oh, don't be so grumpy," the ghost moaned. "Didn't I teach you to smile more often?"

Law's face turned blank. Yes, but that was before he had found out how tiresome life would be. Had he known that death would change its mind on a daily basis, he would have thought twice before grinning at it like an idiot. "Why exactly are you here?" Law wanted to know, an uncomplete set of scalpels circling above his head.

"I would never miss your trip down memory lane."

"What on earth are you talking about?"

The ghost made a show of scratching his chin and rustled his feathers. "Did you happen to forget about a certain someone you took on board? I've already heard someone cry in the hallway. She must be making herself at home."

Law inhaled sharply. The room stopped spinning. Just as he had managed to forget about Savenna for full ten minutes, Corazon insisted on reminding him about the disastrous situation he had brought upon himself. And why hadn't Penguin and Shachi reported back yet? How long could it take to carry a few bags? Or had she already done something to them? No, she was probably just complaining about the bed not being soft enough… Law growled to himself.

"So how will you do it?"

"Do what?"

Corazon grinned, his sharp teeth flashing in the half-dark. "Use her to your benefit, apologize to her, declare your undying love - whatever you had in mind when agreeing to this. Trafalgar Law always has a plan, doesn't he? So what's it going to be?"

Regardless of how much Law refused to admit it, this time Rosinante had a point. Now that the blades were tucked away, it was the moment to decide what the captain of the Heart Pirates would do with his enemy guest. Should he keep up his end of the deal? Dump her on a desert island? Put her under anesthesia until he figured it out? Bargaining with Savenna was making a deal with the devil. There was no guarantee she wasn't leading them to certain death just because she felt like it. And not sharing her motives made her even more suspicious.

"That is a little harsh, don't you think?" Rosinante objected.

"You don't know her like I do, Cora-san," he insisted. "She's never cared for moral boundaries. She once stole food rations from a dying patient. And when he passed away, she smeared blood over her face until she looked so miserable, his family pitied her and handed over the rest of their dinner."

"And since when you do you care about morals? You stabbed me, remember?"

Law turned away. "That's different… I might not care about many people but I do care about my crew." How could Corazon be so cool, no, so happy with all of this? Law needed to know what precautions to take, not what jokes to crack. Why couldn't he take anything seriously?

"Because that's your unhealthy obsession," the ghost replied fishing for his lighter. "Do you know what our princess is looking for in the north?"

Law cracked a dismissive laugh. "As if. She's keeping everything to herself. She doesn't trust me."

"Do you blame her after what you said in that cell?"

"That has nothing to do with that." Briskly, Law pulled out the piece of paper. It felt like it had been burning a hole in his pocket. Law never got around his old distaste for sailing north. Coordinates were enough to make him run. However, he had looked up Savenna's mystery island: a tiny patch of land called Blizzard Rock. Nothing particularly deadly or even remotely interesting. If their destination was a trap it wasn't an obvious one. He couldn't imagine what Savenna wanted there, but he had seven hundred sea miles and one Log Pose charge to find out.

"Maybe it's time you found out what happened…" the ghost suggested carefully.

Law considered it.

"You are right," he said then. "We need to see the bigger picture here. She's a marine who likes to play dirty and obviously, she's not telling us everything." His voice grew in determination. "And I'm not going to risk my crew and my ship before I know exactly what we're walking into. Think, Cora-san. There is only one reason a marine would ask a pirate for help. She's desperate. And I need to know why."

"That's not at all what I am saying…" Corazon objected but Law wasn't listening. "And I know exactly how to do it! She won't talk to me but there might be another way of getting the information out of her." Eagerly he leaned toward the intercom. "Ikkaku! Would you mind coming down to the infirmary? I have just the job for you."

When he looked back at the stretcher, Corazon was gone.

"You want me to spy on your girlfriend?" Ikkaku watched her captain with a mix of amusement and disbelief. Law wasn't exactly happy with that reformulation of his request, but no one seemed to listen when he corrected them so he let it slide. "That's one way to put it."

"But she kept up her end of the bargain. Do you still think she could be a threat?" the woman asked.

"Better safe than sorry."

First, Ikkaku wanted to tell him she had better things to do, but the thought of her captain having to hire a spy instead of simply talking to an old friend, was simply too amusing. It didn't really surprise her, coming from someone who needed to leave the room whenever the word friendship was pronounced. In the last two days the crew had seen him go through so many awkward phases, that maybe there was still hope. "I'll try my best," she said.

"Good. One last thing," Law replied. "If you have anything on her past, bring it to me. Not a word to the others." Although the order seemed strange to Ikkaku, she ended up nodding. There must be more to this story than he let on.

"Thank you. Tell everyone to get ready. We submerge in an hour."

While finishing his inventory, Law kept going over his plan and concluded that it wasn't such a bad plan. The Heart Pirates would go on with their daily routine and keep Savenna busy until Ikkaku got the information he needed. At last, he wanted to ask Corazon's advice but the ghost hadn't returned. Something must have put him off, but Law didn't complain.

Instead he took Corazon's place on the stretcher and wondered what Ikkaku would find out. He had boasted about knowing Savenna, but now he wasn't so sure what to expect from sharing a roof with her again. So many things didn't add up about the woman with the painfully familiar smile. Had the fierce, pirate-obsessed girl really become a deadly government asset?

There was something else that didn't make sense. She had been a stranger to fear. That's why he couldn't get their escape out of his head. The old Savenna had been a sucker for Devil Fruits and would have begged from another round of Op-Op-induced free fall. But this woman had been a pawn in his hand; trapped inside his room, her fingers buried in his arm like a little girl… The sphere would have protected them both and once inside, he could have easily let go of her. But sensing her powerless and terrified had filled him with such an intoxicating mix of fear and fascination, Law couldn't help himself.

Therefore, more than just her loyalties must have changed in the last eight years. On whose ship had she left the Flevance peninsula, Law wondered. Where were the burns and frost bite marks, he himself had to hide under the lines of his tattoos? Silvers wasn't her family name, so whose name had she taken on? How much did she remember from that last day, and could she still stand the sight of snow…?

---

Savenna woke when the motors stopped and disgruntledly peered outside. After a night underwater, the Polar Tang had finally resurfaced. On the other side of the bull's eye the ocean glittered light blue, sprinkled with sunshine. A part from a solitary cloud travelling west, the sky announced a bright, clear day.

Groggy, Savenna brushed the hair out of her face and reached for the morphine shot next to her pillow. It had been a long night, tossing and turning in a new set of sheets, swallowing one of Pulmon's pills every hour in the hope of calming the heart, that had savagely punched inside her chest. The episode had left Savenna's head ringing like a beehive.

Above her, Nell's hammock was empty, the clothes folded and the bags unpacked. Giving the drug time to send comforting numbness through her limbs, Savenna rolled over to the nightstand and frowned at the face of the clock.

She had almost slept until noon. That started out well… If she wanted her cover to remain intact, she would have to change her medication hours and get up with the rest of the crew. In spite of her impulsive attack on the fridge, she hadn't forgotten her priorities: Leave no clues of Amber Lead poisoning – trick a genius doctor into believing she was the healthiest person on the ship.

With the new uniform buttoned dangerously low, her hair brushed up to a high ponytail and a slight overdose of morphine in her bloodstream, Savenna left her cabin a few minutes later, looking as dashing as one possibly could in a bulky boiler suit.

The sub was empty when she climbed up to the first deck. Savenna pinched her cheeks one last time before stepping through the airlock. Outside, damp spring heat swallowed her whole. Slightly disorientated, she lifted a hand to shield her eyes from the sun.

"Good morning, Captain Silvers!"

In the habit of having knives flying her way, Savenna didn't know how to respond to a group of friendly waving hands. The entire crew was scattered on the outer deck, exuding an almost unhealthy amount of enthusiasm. Frozen in strangely twisted stances, Shachi and Penguin greeted her with newly lit stars in their eyes, while Ikkaku smiled in a stretch. Savenna couldn't understand why they were so happy to see her. Confused, she returned a shaky greeting. "Morning, guys…"

"You're late." That's more like it…

Law stepped out from behind the airlock. If it weren't for the usual scowl, her medicated brain would have needed another moment to identify him. With the blood and the prison dust gone, he looked astonishingly normal. The mushroom hat was having a day off, leaving the charcoal hair to fall freely onto his forehead. The yellow sweater had switched places with a washed-out shirt, revealing the dark ink lines snaking up to his shoulders.

As if sun struck, Savenna stood there examining the skin stretching over the lean, muscular arms. How many tattoos had he got in the meantime, she wondered, eyes zigzagging from the word DEATH spelled out on his knuckles to the twisting hearts on his upper arms.

"Are you alright?" Law asked, his brow furrowed. Crap. Drugs really didn't improve her subtlety. He must have been wondering if she were having a seizure. Immediately Savenna took a casual look at the Log Pose. "We are still on course. I'm flattered."

"Only because you haven't tried to take over the ship. But then it's only 11AM," he said with a voice that made it impossible to tell whether he was joking.

"I'm afraid I was too busy counting my limbs this morning," she taunted.

"Anything missing?"

"You'd be the first to know."

She was aware of the shaky foundation of their agreement but just as she was building up her guard, Law's lips curled into a distant smirk. "I see you haven't lost your excellent fashion sense."

Looking down on herself, Savenna snorted. "Don't flatter yourself. This thing is one unfortunate accident away from becoming a kitchen rag. And just so you know, I'm only wearing this because poor Penguin was about to cry."

Mechanically Law turned around to where Penguin and Shachi were climbing on each other's shoulders to attract their attention. "About that," Law said. "Yesterday I had to treat two cases of excessive nose bleeding. And as this can become a serious medical issue, I have to ask. Do you plan on stripping in front of all my crew members?"

Savenna laughed out loud. Only he could remain dead-serious when talking about pervy nosebleeds. "Only the cute ones," she assured. "Don't worry, you have nothing to fear, Mushroom Head."

Law dismissed her provocation with a particularly somber glare before lifting Kikoku onto his shoulder. "We should get going. Everybody has been waiting for you to start training. You should read your schedule more carefully next time."

"My what?"

"Schedule. The paper that tells you where to go and what to do?"

"I have Nell for that," Savenna stated matter-of-factly. "By the way, have you seen her?"

Wordlessly, Law pointed across the deck, where Nell and the murderous polar bear were mirroring each other's Kungfu stances. Savenna's mouth fell open. "How are you on time…?"

"Schedule," Nell panted.

"You've got to be kidding me…"

Savenna couldn't believe it. What kind of pirates wanted to throw knives with marines and not at them? And what pirate ship had a day schedule? Law must have mixed something up in his line of work… Nonetheless, training kicked off with a run through the ship, then ten sprints around deck, followed by the same parkour, this time with a crew member strapped to another one's back. "Are you trying to kill us?" Savenna moaned with Nell's arms around her neck. Her heart might sustain the extra charge but her motivation was facing a few hurdles.

"On the contrary, having enough stamina to carry an injured crew member can save lives," Law explained.

"But what if the guy's four times my size and I die instead?" Savenna argued. But his unflinching gaze told her that the exercise wasn't up for debate.

Sweating and cursing, Savenna admitted she had underestimated Law. His training resembled Rayleigh's occasional torture, so much that even the other Heart Pirates soon grew out of breath. It was clear what he was doing.

Law went from ignoring and avoiding Savenna to being everywhere she went. Waiting at the finish line to give her her time and ordering her to do better. His skewed glance counting how fast she got up from a sit-up, and checking how she whet her blades while his undertaker voice reprimanded her when she sneaked off to take a break. Law went to impressive lengths to find out how strong she was.

Sensible, Savenna thought. She would have done the same. Only this couldn't have come at a more inconvenient time. Under his observing eyes, hiding her condition became more difficult.

But Law's assessment wasn't Savenna's only problem. On the marine base, she had known everybody's schedules, daily predilections and occasional habits by heart. On the pirate sub, however, things proved to be more complicated.

It was impossible to know when someone was to walk through the bathroom door, where soap bubbles were the only things hiding Savenna's snowy skin. Therefore, Nell's working hours increased as from the first day on board. Begrudgingly, she had to accompany Savenna, lying bored on the bathroom rug while maintaining her Devil Fruit powers, and waving at everyone who accidentally barged in. While Law walked in once and immediately retreated on a tide of hidden embarrassment, Shachi and Penguin always kept an eye on the door, picturing what kind of excitingly indecent things were going on on the other side.

Sparring however, took a lot more effort to get through. "How's that pervy nose doing?" Savenna asked Penguin during the schedule's combat slot.

"Never better!"

"Are you sure? I don't want your captain accusing me of being a medical hazard again."

"Nah, he's just jealous," Penguin laughed. Savenna doubted that but whatever made Law's routine sway out of balance was fine with her. "Alright then, show me what you've got."

Savenna's eyes narrowed when she took her stance. She had to be careful. She couldn't take the risk of get beaten up and couldn't be using any Armament Haki either, if she didn't want to risk running out of strength right under Law's eyes.

Legs apart and shoulders wide, Penguin placed himself in front of her. Stiff with concentration from the boots to the top of his hat, he made his she just stood there, his blow could have inflicted serious damage. But instead of meeting him head-on, Savenna slid to the side in the last moment. Penguin could still sense her perfume when his fist slashed through thin air.

The missed punch almost made the pirate topple over, while Savenna remained steadfast, watching him catch his balance. As much as she despised Observation Haki, it was the only power lending herself to an occasional spar.

"How do you move so fast?" Penguin panted. Savenna winked at him, swiping first sweat beads off her forehead. "Just a trick I picked up."

On the upper deck, Law's grip fastened around the yellow railing. Training hadn't been as informative as he had hoped, and sparring had been a total failing since she always managed to talk herself out of facing him in combat.

Savenna might be able to take him but she was no idiot. Law would be too focused on her, too close. What if he caught her staggering heart beat? Cut off a limb and weakened Nell's powers? What if her organs had turned white in the meantime? As much as she wanted to punch him, she couldn't risk it.

Therefore, Law had no choice but to follow Penguin and Savenna's every move, unsure whether he should be annoyed or impressed. The sleeves of the boiler suit rolled up in the midday heat, Savenna evaded the swings as if she knew exactly where the blade would hit. How what this possible? At no point during their escape had Savenna displayed any special abilities. But nobody could move this quickly. Not without help. Frustrated, Law kept watching.

"Ehm…Captain?"

Scowling, Law turned around. "What?"

"Could you put me back together now?" Shachi's mouth pleaded from above. Law cursed silently when he realized, he had left his crew mate hovering in a dozen pieces for the last five minutes. "Sorry…"

How could this be so difficult, Law moaned to himself. No matter how many times he tried to back her into a corner, Savenna managed to weasel herself out of it. If he wanted to find out what she was planning, he needed to pin her down. Put her in a situation where she'd have no other choice but to reveal her true nature. The idea came to him like a slap on the forehead. How hadn't he thought of it sooner? Savenna was good with the living, queen of talks and excuses. It was time he turned the tables around.

---

"How exactly is this Crew Quality Time?" Savenna was about to toss the schedule into the trash. "Last time I checked he wasn't part of the crew," she yelped pointing at the dead body on the exam table. "And why do the other corpses look fresher than ours?" She sniffled over Shachi's shoulder and made a face. "Our guy definitively smells worse…"

Dressed in a lab coat, Nell forced the contents of her stomach back down where they belonged. With almost no sunlight piercing through the mass of green-blue seawater, the room was flooded bright by white ceiling lamps. The operating room was surprisingly well-furnished. Such a complete set of medical equipment was rare outside of a port hospital. The adjacent infirmary could hold six patients and the dimensions of the supply room suggested, that Law's underwater pharmacy could provide for more.

The atmosphere underwater was ironically cheerful.

Penguin and Ikkaku were discussing who would be preparing Law's favorite dissection set, while heart-eyed Shachi kept trying to persuade Savenna to share a corpse with him. For some obscure reason nobody seemed to object to the idea of bonding over decaying body parts.

When the doctor entered the room, Savenna was taken back in time. In the long, white coat and the dark-rimmed glasses, Law resembled his father. Only on second glance was he taller, leaner, his movements so quick his entire presence could be a trick of the light. And as he strode across the room, clipboard in his slender hands and the serious-going-on-scary concentration on his face, Savenna's heart made a leap. When he passed by, her steady poker face switched back on. "What on earth is this?" she demanded to know.

"Medical training," he said matter-of-factly.

Savenna gave an uneasy laugh. "But the schedule says Crew Quality Time. Where are the fun group activities?"

Casually, Law gestured at the corpses as if the view was self-explanatory. "I'm sure one of them liked to play volleyball."

A satisfied smile danced on his lips, when he left her standing with an flicker of outrage on her face. Not only was he eager to see how she fared outside of her comfort zone, but Law was ready to finally have some fun on her account. Bones and intestines had never been her specialty. A part of him couldn't wait for her to freak out just as she had over that squirrel.

"Alright, select your instruments and follow the dissection protocol as thoroughly as possible," he instructed. "I will be here if you have any questions."

Immediately, the pleasant clanking of surgical instruments filled the room. Law strode in between the exam tables, waiting for the first shriek from Savenna's direction. But everything remained quiet. And when he turned around, Savenna, her hair pinned to the back of her head, had already reached for the scalpel.

Savenna had never really gotten over the first time she'd used a surgical blade. Occasionally the moments of madness and spurting blood returned to her at night, and she was still waking up glad to know it wasn't real. She had tried to train off the fear, even learned to use Pulmon's material, but the feeling had never really gone away.

But with Nell's face paling to Amber Lead standards, she was left to her own devices. First Savenna thought of blackmailing the bear into helping her. His guilt was leverage enough. But the First Mate had been sneaking around her, pretending to be a much smaller animal, still looking for the courage to apologize. When Savenna found him, he was busy hiding inside a body bag. Desperate, she'd considered making a scene, feigning a dizzy spell or inflicting a stab wound on herself, but decided against it.

She knew exactly what Law was doing. This was no different from the rest of the training. He was only waiting for her to find out what weakness she was hiding. Stubborn, she refused to give him that satisfaction and halfheartedly started the dissection from what she remembered.

Even though she was regularly brushing up on her own medical skills, she had only studied the human body in relation to her own disease. Her knowledge of general anatomy was laughable and it had been years since she'd observed one of Pulmon's autopsies. It was hard, a lot harder than she'd expected. She had barely touched the corpse when there was suddenly blood everywhere. Just like that first time…

With two clams sticking out of the corpse's chest, Savenna was so focused on extracting the lung tissue she needed, she hadn't even heard Law approach. Listening to her muffled cursing, he tried to hide his astonishment when her forceps pulled out the tissue and placed it into the scales hanging above the table. When the weight didn't match the estimation, Savenna hissed and slammed the instruments back on the table.

"Shame…That was quite a decent sample," he objected.

Savenna's head jolted up. The sight of him added fuel to her simmering anger. "This is not the right time to make fun of me, Mushroom Head. I made a mess of the inner organs. I can't remember what that one stupid bone is called and there's blood all over the paperwork." Had she spent more time around exam tables than on them, she might have gotten it right.

"I didn't know you've studied medicine," Law said quietly, reading over her documentation.

"I didn't."

"Then how did you know how to perform a dissection?"

"I like staying alive, that's all."

Law didn't understand how his provocation had backfired. Savenna had always given his passion a skewed look, and now she suddenly knew the difference between antigens and antibodies. Her performance was almost as good as Shachi's whom he had been training himself. Only one glance at her tense shoulders and the hard look in her eyes sufficed to tell, that she wasn't doing this for fun.

But why was she? How had a spoiled little girl learned how to use a surgical clam? The more he watched her, the less Savenna made sense. Eager to see what else he would find out, he went on with the session as planned.

"Alright, enough anatomy for today!" he called and put aside his clip-board. "Let's move on to something with more practical use in combat. First aid and basic medic skills."

Chattering, the crew started teaming up again and Savenna about to walk over to the infirmary, when Law appeared at her side. "Do you have any more medical talents I need to know about?"

"Not that I'm aware of," she grunted and pushed herself through the door. She could barely conceal her bewilderment when Law sat down on the hospital bed in front of her. "Let's start with a basic exam of heart and lungs. Do you know how to do that?"

"What? You want me to do this on you?" she blurted out.

"What's wrong with me?" Law sounded more annoyed that he intended to.

Savenna chuckled weakly. "Magda would be laughing her ass off if she could see this. She'd probably think I'll end up killing you. But fine… I'll need that thing," she said before pushing him down on a pillow and snatching the stethoscope off his neck.

Without warning she yanked up his shirt. Law jerked at the sudden cold against his chest. "So what are you in for? Did someone shoot you? No, I know, how about you got attacked by a Logia user and your bones are slowly melting from the inside?"

It had been a while since someone had taken so much pleasure in his imaginary torment. Before he could tell her to concentrate, however, she tilted her head to the side, the fabric of his shirt still between her fingers. "So that's where all those lines go… When did you get these?"

Color drained from Law's face, when he realized she was looking at his tattoos. He could feel her eyes following the ink lines, inspecting and counting them.

"Three…years ago."

"Must have hurt…"

"It was alright," he said, realizing he was holding his breath.

At least, Law had been right not to let her loose on his crew. Savenna's patients would have lived, but her methods weren't exactly delicate. Her examination was like a fist fight. Fast, painful and efficient. She had almost cut off his circulation while taking his blood pressure, and left both of his arms bruised by taking one blood sample. "Did you feel that or do I have to hit you with the hammer thing again?" she asked, checking his reflexes.

Law nodded through the pain shooting up from his knee. He sincerely hoped he'd never fall sick with her within earshot. He wasn't one to wince, but Savenna's tolerance for pain was something else. "Alright, a last one. Patient isn't breathing," he ordered.

"Easy. I start with chest compressions."

"Right. The breastbone is quite resistant, so don't forget to put enough force…" he was cut off when she climbed on top of the bed, one leg on each side, and threw a punch at his chest. Unsure if this was enough force, Savenna considered letting some Haki flow into her hands but reconsidered at the sight of Law's suffering expression. Conscientiously she did the required number of compressions and took a deep breath. "Well, let's hope you brushed your teeth this morning, Mushroom Head."

"What…?"

Law was struck by instant paralysis when Savenna swept his hair back and pressed her mouth onto his. Painfully aware of her weight pushing down on him, he forced himself to stay calm. But instantly he forgot the iron grip around his nose, overwhelmed by the touch of her hair on his cheek and the warm sensation of her lips. Her breath still smelled the same, clenching something inside his chest and knocking sense out of him.

"Mushroom Head? Are you dead?" Savenna asked, when he didn't move. He might as well have been. Magda would have been right, as always. Nothing had ever mortified him more than her closeness.

"Perfectly fine…" he coughed, shooting up. Law recoiled and rolled himself off the bed. "Enough training for today." The rest of the crew observed with more than mild interest how he almost walked into an IV pole, needed two attempts to put his coat back on and forgot his glasses on the way out.

"Are you sure? You look like you need stitches…" Penguin remarked when he walked by.

"Crew Quality Time for sure," Shachi snickered. "Bet you did that on purpose, sneaky bastard."

Law decided to ignore everybody, as he limped lightheaded out of the door and back to the operating room. He had spent way too much time in the presence of the living, and reminded himself to keep his curiosity at bay.

---

"I didn't know you liked to play doctor."

Savenna almost cut her finger, and after shooting an annoyed glance at Nell, she spilled the rest of the green onions onto the chopping board. "Wasn't your head supposed to be in a bucket?"

"I pulled it out for the interesting part."

Savenna rolled her eyes and went on cutting.

With Law vanishing somewhere in the depths of his lab and Bepo still too shy to come forward, they had been put on kitchen duty. The food aside, cooking on the Tang turned out to be a nice change from the sterile colors and acid smell of the infirmary.

Dutifully, Ikkaku had informed both guests of the nutritional values of eggs, green vegetables and an endless stack of grotesque-looking mushrooms. While Nell had been listening with polite interest, Savenna searched for anything containing chocolate in the cupboard behind her back and Penguin and Shachi were dragging out all dangerous kitchen equipment, in the hope that the use of scalding iron and rotating blades would increase the chances of Savenna repeating her first aid treatment on them. And after a more or less combined effort, two pots were now simmering on the stove.

Carefully, Savenna lifted the lid and added the last vegetables to what Penguin intended to transform into a stew. Nell's comment shot through her mind and she stilfed a smile. Back when they had been little, Savenna had imagined breathing Law awake in case she found him dead one morning. Of course, she'd never had a chance to try. Maybe a childish part of her had enjoyed today just a little bit…

However, she still didn't understand what had made him freak out like that. Her breath smelled fine enough and she was almost certain she hadn't damaged any of his vital organs. And still, he hadn't even looked at her when he rushed out of the room, as if afraid to catch an infection. Savenna was glad when the food was ready and she could finally think of something else.

"Aren't we waiting for the others?" Nell asked when the Penguin and Shachi started to dig in.

Penguin shook his head and swallowed. "Nah. Bepo caught a portion when Savenna wasn't looking and Captain never eats dinner."

"What? Why?"

"He isn't much of a food person… Apart from those rice balls. We take turns force-feeding him. But he basically lives off coffee and concern." Savenna shook her head at the signs plastered all over the kitchen. Apparently, she wasn't the only one with a talent for talking herself out of her obligations. Nerdy Mushroom Head forced his entire crew in that stupid healthy diet, but wouldn't take a bite of it himself. How annoying, Savenna thought. But at least, her first aid wasn't the only thing he was running away from…

---

"You look strangely alive for a Tuesday." Corazon winked at Law before his attention went back to the colored fish on the other side of the one giant bull's eye illuminating the doctor's cabin. Remembering the many reasons why he tended to keep the curtains shut, Law stepped inside and closed the door. "Good evening to you too, Cora-san."

"What happened? Did you finally figure out how to kill my megalomaniac brother?"

"Unfortunately, no."

The ghosted turned around and floated lazily toward the desk overflowing with stacks of reports, textbooks and medical records. "Then did our new houseguest manage to lighten the mood?"

"Not exactly," Law grumbled, considering he had to complete two autopsies until his brain had been ready to go back to normal. A numbing feeling had spread over Law's face leaving him with a screeching headache and a burning sensation on his lips.

Seeing Savenna wearing the Heart Pirate uniform had been manageable. Even imagining how Penguin and Shachi had gotten their epic nosebleed was something Law could reason himself out of. But today, with her breath in his lungs and her scent all over him, the two worlds he had sworn to keep separate had finally collided. How had he let her get so terrifyingly close…?

"Was it like you expected it to be?" Corazon called down from the ceiling lamp, his legs dangling in the air.

"Get out of my head," Law growled, hanging his lab coat over the chair. "I have work to do."

"What? Did your spy report get in?"

"Actually, yes."

"Finally, some proper stalking!" Corazon cheered, before Law shot him a dark glance and picked up the file, eager to get his head in order with some useful information.

Ikkaku didn't have much time but the master key opening all doors except his, had come in handy. She had managed to get her hands on some of Savenna's bags, and smuggled out a small pile of papers that been hidden underneath her clothes, and therefore must be of great importance. Law opened the first envelop and looked at the content.

Fifteen different Wanted posters of Dracule Mihawk.

"What the hell…?" Law hissed while going through five years of the sword man's most gruesome and ridiculously photogenic moments. Remembering Savenna's obsession with everything involving blood and muscles, he rolled his eyes. "That guy? Seriously?"

"Is this the moment where you say he's too old for her?" the ghost commented. "Oh look, his beard is different from when I last saw him!"

"You've been dead for eight years, Cora-san," Law reminded him snappishly. The ghost raised his hands in defense and watched with interest when Law dug up a bunch of old letters. He was about to ask who they were from, when the question answered itself.

"That bastard Smoker?" Law called out. "Is she officially out of her mind?" Skipping through Savenna's snappy conversations with her fellow marine, he stumbled on another pile of letters, this time from someone named Ray, constantly inquiring about her health.

"Who do you think is that?"

"Ray? No idea…Could be short for something." Although the letters were written in a personal tone, they didn't give anything specific away. Ray must have suspected them to be intercepted. No names except for Nell's and a guy named Pulmon were mention and no exact locations revealed.

But there were two things Law got from Ikkaku's report. The first information concerned their destination: The island lay in fact not just on one but on two magnetic routes. The one they were travelling on and one that led all the way to Mary Joa, but hadn't been used by the World Government in years. Law didn't know what to make of that. What could Savenna possibly want in the capital? She might be a captain, but not even she had clearance for the Red Line port.

The other concerned Savenna's career in the marines. Apparently, she had entered the navy only two years ago and moved up through the ranks faster than anyone in her year, and that without Devil Fruit abilities. But where she had been and what she had done before that, the records didn't tell.

"Who are you…" Law muttered, going through the papers over and over again. Unlike what he had believed, she hadn't been trained or healed by the marines. But if not by them, then by whom? In the hope of finding answers, the only thing Law got were more questions. Corazon had been watching him quietly from the corner of the room, a knowing smile on his painted lips. "And then you go saying she doesn't matter to you."

"She doesn't..."

"I know you, Law. You hate making friends but when you do, you never really forget about them. I mean look at me…" he said pointing at his ghostly self. "So, humor me for a second here." Law didn't consider doing such a thing but Rosinante insisted. "You two share the same memories, you have both lost people who mattered to you. She could actually understand. Don't you think she's the person who can help you…?"

"Cora-san, no." Law turned away, but the ghost reappeared in front of him, his smile gone.

"I am just the tip of the ice berg, you are aware of that, right?" The warning was pronounced in a low, dark voice unlike Corazon's. "Who is going to haunt you next? You father? Your sister? What happens when you forget to draw the line between what's real and what's not? Unlike Amber Lead, these flashbacks aren't something you can get rid of by yourself."

Law closed his eyes and shut the ghost out before he could say any more. He wasn't a little boy anymore. He was a captain now. There was nothing he couldn't handle by himself. He didn't need any help from anyone. Neither from the dead, nor from the ones who came back.

---

After three rounds of Logue Town Joker with the crew, an extensive planning session with Nell and a generous dose of morphine, Savenna was sleeping soundly when Nell's hammock crashed on top of her in the middle of the night. She just got the time to push the other girl's elbow out of her face, when the Polar Tang veered to the right and sent them skidding across the room.

"Did we hit a storm?" Savenna ducked when two suitcases came flying their way.

"Below the surface…?"

The content of her stomach churning dangerously, Savenna stared at the map on the wall. Nell was right, it wasn't a storm. "It's the currents," she growled with realization. "Those idiots! I told them to be careful! Why doesn't Mushroom Head ever listen?"

With the entire ship shaking, it took them half an eternity to get out of their cabin and into the control room. Furniture had slid across the deck, where dishes were gliding out of the cupboards and shattered on the floor. A book hit Savenna on the forehead and Nell slipped on the pool of milk leaking out of the fridge.

The control room that had ticked like a clockwork only two hours before, was now governed by chaos. Under flickering yellow lights, the crew was struggling to stay on their feet. Paws desperately pushing against the quivering wheel, Bepo wouldn't even look up as they stormed in, and neither did Shachi and Ikkaku, who were trying to shut down the siren howling in their ears.

Law stood stranded the middle of the room, Kikoku clutched in his hand, tired eyes glued to the shifting water mass on the other side of the glass. "What are you doing here? Go back to your cabin right now!" he ordered when they barged in.

Savenna ignored him and ushered Nell through the door before cranking it shut. "When did we hit the current?" Immediately the crew turned around, relieved to have another pair of hands on deck. But nothing in Law's demeanor changed. He looked exhausted. "You can't stay here. It's not safe!" he repeated.

"Neither is the broom closet." Cautiously, Savenna made her way over the shaking floor until finding a chair to hold on to. "If we aren't careful, the current is going to fold the ship in half."

"What?!" Savenna swallowed when all eyes turned to her.

"What do you mean?" Law's voice remained calm while the rest of the crew started crying and talking at the same time.

"This is what I tried warning you about the other day," Savenna explained. "This area is a web of rip currents, moving and changing directions as the weather goes. They are ridiculously strong for Paradise standards. Sailing ships usually get sucked under water, where the pressure pulverizes the wreck. We should have never driven into the area in the first place."

"Why didn't you tell me that sooner?" Law called out, first cracks fissuring his armor of composure. Savenna's eyes narrowed in his direction. "I would have if you hadn't been so stubborn! I wanted to brief your navigator but no, great Captain Mushroom has everything under control!"

"Guys, we have no time for this," Nell interrupted before they started pulling at each other's hair.

A giant whirlpool of dark, heavy water opened up in front of them. Bepo had navigated the sub around an underwater cliff and right into the stream heading for the center. Immediately an outside force tugged at the ship, throwing everyone to the floor. The bear tried to scramble on his feet but failed, leaving the wheel aimlessly spinning and hurling the passengers across the room.

Law was the only one who managed to keep a foothold. "Everybody, remain calm and let go of everything around you!"

"What…?" With her cheek slammed to the floor, Savenna saw him open his palm and send the blue sphere across the room until it encapsulated them all. When the next shock hit the sub, Law twisted his fingers and caught Ikkaku in mid-air. Then he moved the chair right where Penguin was about to hit the floor. Bepo was transported back to the wheel and Shachi was left quietly throwing up in the trash can. Holding everyone in their place, Law rushed to the control panel.

"What are you doing?" Savenna wanted to know.

"Cutting the engine. If we can't control the rudder, it will keep pulling us in every direction until the ship is ripped apart."

"And then what?"

"We go deeper and circle the center from below."

Savenna leaped forward but lost her balance. He caught her by the shoulders and navigated her to another chair. Underneath his usual layer of collectedness, she could sense the tension in his body. She didn't like what she was about to tell him. "That won't work."

"Why's that?"

"The whirl goes all the way down to the sea bed. Even if the Tang could go that deep, we would be sucked in just as much as we would be on the surface."

Law's brow grew darker. Holding the Room above their heads seemed to demand more concentration than he could conceal. "Then what are you suggesting?"

"Through is the only way out."

"Are you insane?" Law called out. "Driving through that thing is suicide!"

"Not if we use the force of the whirl current to rocket us back out. We'd just have to gather enough speed and start the motors at the right moment," Savenna insisted. It's what Rayleigh would do. Meet your enemy head on and hope your power was the stronger one. Law held her pleading gaze for a while. Then he sighed and turned to Bepo.

"What do you think? How high are the chances the Tang survives this?"

"Half-half if we're lucky, Captain," he said, shyness suddenly replaced by steady resolve. Wordlessly, Law looked from Bepo to Savenna, his mind racing. It was a crazy idea but he didn't have a better one. And if they didn't act fast, they would end up fish food. "You better be right about this…" he conceded, meeting Savenna's anxious glance. "Okay, everyone back to their posts!"

As soon as the order was pronounced, the crew moved simultaneously inside the sphere. There was no discussion, no debate and no questions asked. Savenna watched them in silent awe. There was no fear on their faces. Instantly, she understood that the Heart Pirates didn't follow Law because he threatened to chop them up into little pieces. They obeyed because they trusted his judgement.

With everyone in position, Law put another blue safety-dome over their heads. "I need a full report before we do this. How are we on fuel?"

"Tank's half full," Penguin checked.

"Cabin pressure?"

"Stable," Ikkaku confirmed.

"Any damage on propellers and rudder planks?" Various buttons were pushed before a collective negative filled the room. Law leaned closer to the dark frontal window. "Airlocks?"

"Secure."

"Oxygen?"

"We're good for about three more hours," Bepo replied. Law nodded with hesitant approval.

"Alright, Bepo, try to bring us straight into the whirl. Slow and steady…" He paused, studying the current twisting itself around the ship. "Once we're halfway through, Silvers and I will start the motors and hope we've gathered enough momentum to catapult us out of here. Got it?"

"Aye!"

Despite the terror creeping up on her, a corner of Savenna's mouth twisted. Up until now Law had just been a morbid doctor with hellishly upgraded surgery skills. She had seen the ship, the Devil Fruit and the Jolly Roger, but the idea that Law could be an actual captain had seemed outlandish to her. But when she saw him command his crew, she realized that he was exactly where he belonged.

Savenna had no time to dwell in her revelation. When the Tang plunged deeper into the blackish water of the current, hell broke loose. Before Bepo could assess the force of the pull, the sub was already turned upside down. Only thanks to Law's circling sphere, Penguin and Shachi could bring the ship back into a level position.

Nell was hanging on Ikkaku's arm, while Savenna was holding on to the motor lever. Law had his back pressed to the other side of the cabin, barely flinching next to his controls. She fought the urge to leech herself onto him to absorb some of his collectedness. "We'll have kick off both motors at once after we completed half a turn," he announced as the sub gained speed.

"Alright..."

"Do you see the red needle on the controls?" he asked and she nodded. "We wait until it shifts to the left and then we launch. Got it?"

Savenna squinted outside where despite the ship's powerful headlights, she could barely make out the size of the giant whirlpool. Her eyes were set on the instruments, pulse hammering in her ears.

It was a shot in the dark but they had no other choice. "Got it."

Law didn't let the dashboard out of his sight. "Bepo set the course north. Everybody else hold on tight. This is going to be rough." Then his free hand got hold of the lever. "We launch on five." Savenna braced herself." Four, three, two, one…" The two side-motors of the Tang howled and for a moment the sub stood still, being pulled in two directions at once. Everybody in the room held their breath until the balance shifted and they veered off to the right.

But then, suddenly free from the major forces of the current, the ship shot forward. Gravity seized them and sent them flying backward. Law didn't lose a second and caught everybody before they got pancaked against wall. But too late he realized, he hadn't added Savenna or himself to the equation. When her body came crushing into his, it was too late. They had already been ripped outside of the Room.

Cursing, Law reached out for her with one hand and twisted the other. Savenna's head was yanked against his chest, then the control room door was sliced open and couch pillows moved to softened their impact as they landed on the living room floor.

Her head ringing, Savenna tried to look up at the ceiling only to recognize the same blue sphere shimmering above them. "I didn't know it could cover so much space…" she marveled stupidly.

"Neither did I." Law's voice was close. When she turned her head, her nose touched his neck and she realized his fingers were still buried into her side. Before their eyes met, another tremor hit the sub. Instantly, their hands shot to the pipe running along the floor, grips fastening as the ship flipped again.

"The minor currents will keep hitting us until we're out of the big one's range," Law observed, flinching at the screams of the crew. "I don't know how much longer I can use the Op-Op at this scale…"

Savenna pressed her lips together. He'd been using his abilities non-stop for almost a half-hour. He needed to lower his charge. She had an idea. "I'll hold us and you use the blue thing to protect the crew." But at the sight of her lanky arms, Law's face filled with doubt. "There's no way you can hold us both. We're too heavy."

"Trust me, I still have some strength left," she insisted. "Just make sure nobody is hurt, okay?" Law wanted to object but then he remembered the speed with which she had moved while sparring with Penguin. He had waited so long to figure out her powers, so maybe this was the moment where he should let her use them.

Begrudgingly, he agreed but stiffened when she moved closer. Pressing her chest against his, Savenna slid an arm around him. "Can you move your arms?"

"Yes…" That might have been a lie, since suddenly Law was unable to move any part of his body. But he was shaken out of his paralysis, when something resembling a weightless black armor engulfed Savenna's arms and shoulders.

"I'll explain later," she said, catching his wondering stare. "Hold on!" The sub twisted another hundred eighty degrees and their legs were flung in the air. She could feel him flinch when the Armament Haki locked around him. Then slowly he relaxed, pushing his knees into hers and she sensed his hands move behind her back, catching Bepo who was about to fly through the door right after them.

While she kept them tethered to the pipe, Law moved chairs, pillows and people from one corner of the control room to the next. He was too distracted to see her cringe at the pain slowly invading her chest. Dodging furniture, anticipating shifts in gravity and trying to keep their dinners down was harder than she'd thought. She barely realized when she unpretzeled her arms from Law's. Once the Polar Tang reached calmer waters, both of them were on the edge of exhaustion.

"That's one hell of an armor… What is it made of?" he panted, looking at the debris of the flying couch table Savenna had smashed.

"Stubbornness," Savenna moaned before raising a quivering hand to her mouth. "Could you put my stomach somewhere else so I don't puke all over the place?"

"No, that wouldn't work. If I took the head off, however…"

Savenna chuckled weakly. "Maybe you don't make such a bad pirate after all, Mushroom Head… "

"Am I seriously hearing a compliment here?"

"Take it before I regret it." A content silence settled between them. "Thank you…" he said then. "For the crew. I couldn't have done it without you." She caught the sincerity in his voice. Did he really mean that? It felt almost like old times when she heard his serious voice next to her. "Are you sure you are alright?"

"Of course." Savenna smiled dreamily.

"Then why is your face covered in blood?"

"What?" She almost jumped. Law was watching her, the frown on his forehead growing darker, his eyes alert. He watched her lift her hand to her nose. It must have started bleeding a few minutes ago.

The chest pain. The Armament Haki…

Savenna had overdone it. How had she not sensed it coming? Instantly she remembered the shot of morphine she had taken before bed. She would have never injected so much, had she known this would happen. Panicked dots started dancing in front of her eyes. "Don't worry," she stammered, sending him the most carefree smile she could conjure up. "It's probably just the dry air in here."

"It's not just the nose, Savenna," he pointed out flatly before turning her toward her own reflection in the window. Blood was quietly trickling out of her ears and both corners of her mouth, sending an iron taste up her tongue.

"I need to take you to the infirmary," Law announced, before pulling her on her feet. It was a soft gesture but she knew it wasn't a suggestion. "We have to make sure you didn't suffer a brain hemorrhage."

"I'm fine, really," she insisted, gently pushing him away. "That happens sometimes."

"This happens sometimes? Bruises and paper cuts happen sometimes. This," he pointed at the blood staining the collar of her uniform. "isn't normal!" He looked upset, almost angry. Savenna hadn't seen him like this since they'd been little, accusing her of being careless and stupid. She didn't know what to say when he came closer, eyes wide with worry. "We might not be on the same side right now, but these are serious symptoms. Please let me help you."

For a moment she wanted to. The temptation was so great, she could almost grasp it. To speak of her illness to the only person who would understand. The words were already on her lips, when she remembered the scorn in his voice. You don't matter to me anymore… Aching, she made a step back.

"Please. Just let this go, okay?" she said, struggling. She knew he wouldn't, but she didn't give him a choice. Before he could say anything else, she turned around and disappeared down a dark corridor.

---

"Nell! Nell, where are you?" Savenna had rushed back to her cabin as fast as her shaky legs permitted. Inside she stumbled and fell on her knees between pieces of broken glass and overturned suitcases. A pool of blood gathered where she lowered her head, panting raggedly.

"What is it…? Holy Roger!" Nell drew in a sharp breath, as she walked in after her and saw the bloody overall. "I was looking for you upstairs but you just disappeared," the girl winced. "What happened?"

Savenna wiped the blood from her lips with her sleeve. "He knows I'm sick."

"What?"

"He saw me!" she turned around briskly, revealing the mess on her face. "I used Haki to help him keep everyone from getting mashed into pulp. And I might have used a little bit too much…" Trembling, Savenna cradled her head in her arms. "How could I be so stupid?" A million thoughts somersaulted in her mind. How much could Law find out just from blood? Could she go in for an exam and let it pass for a brain hemorrhage that had miraculously cured itself? How was she to get out of this?

Against all odds, Nell remained calm, rummaged in one of the suitcases and returned with a towel and a small dosage of Pulmon's inhibitor pills. She made Savenna swallow them before closing the cabin door that had suffered a few dents. "Maybe you should tell him about Amber Lead."

Savenna looked up as if slapped. "Are you out of your mind?"

Nell shook her head, her expression sharp. "He's out there looking for you. I didn't understand why he was dragging half of the infirmary along while everyone one is trying to assess the damage of the ship, but now it makes sense."

"He won't find out. I'll be more careful…" Savenna replied, almost pleading. Nell sighed. "That's not what I'm talking about. You two made a pretty good team today. Of course, for a moment we thought you were going to murder each other, but you did make it work. Everyone survived and nobody was hurt."

"We didn't really have a choice," Savenna reminded her, wondering why she was suddenly defending Law.

"Still, would it be such a bad idea to tell him? Maybe he can help."

Savenna's voice rang deep with resentment. "You want to risk everything for a maybe? He might be a good doctor, but what happens when he has to choose one side? It's not risk we can take."

Nell shook her head. "I'm afraid we have to."

"What?"

With an eerie calm, Nell reached into one of the jumbled suitcases and pulled out a piece of paper. It carried a blue seal – a marine directive. Savenna read it in a heartbeat. "It arrived yesterday evening, sent by one of Rayleigh's sources," Nell explained. "The royal convoy is doubling their marine escort. Word goes they are even bringing an admiral along. We could have managed if we gathered enough ammunition during our Log Pose layover, but not like this…" As if to smoothen the severity in her voice, she lifted her palm to Savenna's bloody cheek. "With you in this state this is going to be a suicide mission. We can only take them down with you and your Haki in full swing."

Savenna gritted her teeth. "What are you saying?"

"That we need Law and his cure, if we want to get out of this alive."

The cure.

Savenna didn't remember when exactly she had given up on finding it. She had come such a long way, and every time there had been hope it turned out to be a false one. Old Trafalgar and Pulmon had been more than clear – there was no cure. And yet, Law was there, stubbornly calling her name in the hallway with the only substance under this skin being blackish ink.

What if he could help her? What if a second cure could be made and what if Law knew how? The sudden desire to tell him everything rolled over her again. Please, let me help you… The words echoed in Savenna's ears with the intensity of an incantation.

For the first time, Savenna wanted to choke the firm Haki-tinged voice that had saved her life countless times, and that was slowly stirring in the back of her mind:

Why trust a man over a few words? Had she forgotten the rest of them, back on the marine base? Even in the line of a bullet, Law had only thought of saving himself and his crew. And he would do it again. There was no place for her in his life. His eyes might have been on her since they had boarded the ship, but it was for the wrong reasons. Savenna had been naïve once and there would be no one else to blame, if she made the same mistake again.

Savenna took a deep breath, convincing herself she was making the right choice. "If the cure is anywhere on this ship then I will find it."

Nell didn't understand. "How? What about Law?"

Savenna was staring blankly at the wall. "I will use him to get my hands on it."

She would do what she did best. Good old manipulation. Deceit had always come easy to her and her mother had been right to despise her for it.

"Please, think about it," Nell asked with a thick voice, refusing to give up on the very realistic option of trust. "Are you sure this is what you really want?"

"There is no other way." With trembling lips, Savenna turned away and reached for what was left the morphine, hungry to feel nothing at all.

---

When Law pulled the operating curtain aside the next morning, he almost spilled his coffee. Instead of a partially dissected corpse, he found Savenna sitting cross-legged on the cot, completely blood-free, chewing on a candy bar.

She'd let her hair down and gave him one of that radiant smiles he never knew how to respond to. Then he remembered he was a doctor and very much annoyed with her until ten seconds ago. "Where the hell have you been? You can't just bleed over my floor and walk away. I've been looking all over for you!"

That Savenna had been very much aware of. After deciding over her course of action, she had spent her night hiding in Penguin and Shachi's bathroom reading their pervy magazines, until Law had finally given up and gone to bed. In the first hours of dawn, she had returned to her cabin and forced herself to think about how she was to find the cure. She needed to get into Law's head, and since she had been there before, she quickly came up with a new way in: dead people.

Seeing him in a white lab coat made her recall the interest he'd always had trouble sharing with others. It was devious but Savenna knew it could work. Trying not to look at the long scar on her stomach, she had pulled up the zipper of her boiler suit that morning and embarked on her personal mission.

Law cleared his throat. "So did you finally come to your senses and come in for an exam?"

"Nope."

"Then why are you here?" he asked suspiciously. An hour from now, the Heart Pirates woud start the repairs on the underwater damages and Savenna wasn't someone to lose sleep. In addition to that, morning was his personal practice time. Even among the Heart Pirates, nobody but him was really fond of the scent of death before breakfast.

"I thought we'd play a round Logue Town Joker and the loser does the other's chores. How about it, Mushroom Head?" Savenna suggested with a crooked smile. "Or are you afraid I'll thrash you again?"

"I don't have time," he replied immediately and stepped away. Also, as if she could ever win against him…

"Is it because of the dead guy?" Savenna wondered. "He can play too. Just stick a hand of cards between his fingers and we take turns playing him. The more the merrier."

"Please don't tell me you actually did that before."

"I thought about it…" she admitted. "A dead opponent is less likely to cheat."

"There's something seriously wrong with you," he concluded.

For reason's that were beyond him, there was no way of getting rid of her that morning. Like Corazon she played with the two skeletons on the wall, plastered her face shut with surgical masks and mimicked a talking skull when he wasn't looking.

Amid all the curses and frowns, a thought crossed Law's mind. He still remembered the day she'd had almost fainted at the sight of a training skeleton. And now she was administering first aid and insisted on hanging out in his operating room. His old self had tried so hard to impress her, he would probably be losing his mind right now. Law smiled secretly, before he felt her eyes on him again. "What?

She was lying belly-down on the cot, watching him. "What's behind those tattoos of yours?"

The new levity fled from Law's face. "That's…personal."

"Oh, come on," she insisted. "It's not like you don't want people to see them – they're huge and pretty edgy, if you ask me."

"I didn't," he specified. Savenna rolled on her back with a resigned growl. "Fine. No cards, no talking… How about we cut someone open?"

Law almost smashed down a row of Erlenmeyer flasks. "What?"

Savenna shrugged nonchalantly and sat back up. "After our last training session I figured I need to step up my game. You now, if someone requires more than rescue breathing," she said, savouring the flush creeping on his cheeks. "What do you say? Wanna be my dissection partner?"

Many times Law had asked himself how their relationship would have unfolded, if their town hadn't been struck by an epidemic before they could graduate middle school. But even if this was the opportunity to show off some biology skills, Law needed to remain professional. "Not until you get that exam," he replied coolly and chuckled when she left with a scowl on her face.

---

While the rest of the crew spent the day checking the sub for motor damages, Law could hardly concentrate on dents and leaks. Thoughts of his first patient were occupying his mind, while he stored away blades and needles for a second time.

He had been looking for the reason she was desperate enough to ask a pirate for help. He hadn't considered it before, but could she be seriously ill? But if that was true, why didn't she go to a marine doctor? Then he remembered them hanging on the pipe. She had helped him and put his crew first. What kind of marine would do that?

Just as he was about to tackle the textbooks, a voice crackled through the intercom.

"Crap…How does this work?" More crackle, some cursing and a cough. "This is Kitchen calling Mushroom Head. Over." Law froze in his tracks. "I repeat, this is kitchen calling the future Mushroom King. Do you copy?" That woman had some nerve…

"I repeat…"

"This isn't a radiofrequency, you idiot!" he called. "What is it? Don't tell me you're bleeding all over the place again."

The other end stayed silent. Then a hesitant voice returned. "Well, there is some serious bleeding going on in the kitchen, if that makes you feel better…."

Breathless, Law started at the intercom. "What…? Who?"

"You'll have to come up here to find out," she said. "Over." Trying to ignore how much of his energy Savenna had already consumed, Law immediately packed his first aid kit, rushed, through the infirmary and to the upper deck where stormed into the kitchen.

To his surprise there was no massacre waiting for him and he was greeted by the usual bickering instead. Unable to detect blood, screams or missing fingers, Law frowned at Penguin who was casually putting on his apron. "What's going on?" Law wanted to know.

Cheerfully Savenna stepped out from behind the counter. "Oh, good you're finally here!" Critically, Law looked her up and down. "Where's the emergency?"

"Right here," she said, guiding him behind the counter, where she pointed at a chopping board supporting a fish almost twice Bepo's size.

To celebrate the Tang surviving the dangerous waters, and also to fill the fridge with something other than tofu, Savenna had awoken her inner Rayleigh and gone fishing as soon as the sub had resurfaced. It had taken her and Shachi one hour to get a big one to bite and another one to struggle him on board. Silently, she had been hoping that after a long-overdue dinner, Law would forget what he saw, and be more inclined to indulge her request.

Yet, the monster catch wasn't exactly sparking joy. "This is why you called me here? To cut a fish?"

"It's a really big fish," Savenna insisted. "And it technically is bleeding, since Penguin tried to cut off a fin…But the knives are too small so we hoped you could help us with that creep surgery fruit of yours."

What conflicting mechanism was launched inside Law's head, Savenna couldn't say. Though his ears started growing red like a steam cooker ready to blow off the lid. "Am I a joke to you?"

"Not most of the time?" she replied, rising her shoulders in defense. "What's the big deal anyway? It's just a few Devil Fruit cuts here and one sword slice there…"

"I'm not using Kikoku for cooking! It's a weapon to kill people. You can't just go around making sashimi with a cursed sword!"

"Well, it has a blade, doesn't it?"

Law moaned with frustration. "This is killing me…"

Moments later, Penguin had seven pans of fish on the stove, Savenna was grimacing at the taste of the grape juice she had filled in a sake bottle in a desperate attempt to make booze, and Law was slouching at the table, sending her deadly glances in defeat.

Stupid fish, Law thought, secretly hoping it would give everyone indigestion for at least a week. Who did Savenna think she was, refusing his exam and bossing him around on his own ship? But Law was ripped out of his thoughts, when the steaming plates were put on the table and the smell of food reached his nose.

He gave Penguin's dish a sidelong glance, then sniffed suspiciously at it before slowly lifting the chopsticks to his lips. His first thought was that it tasted nothing like onigiri. But it wasn't exactly bad either. He took a second bite out of curiosity, and five minutes later he was staring down at an empty plate.

Slightly horrified by what he had done, Law considered sneaking out of the room but it was too late. The entire crew was watching him from across the table. He so seldomly entered the kitchen that at first, they observed him like a piece of new furniture that still looked kind of odd amid its surroundings. More importantly, nobody had seen him finish a dish in months. "Would you like some more…?" Penguin offered with rising optimism.

Law swallowed. "I'm good, thank you." When he looked back on his plate, a heap of spinach had appeared. Instantly his eyes moved to Savenna.

"I saw that," he said. Savenna kept shoveling fish into her mouth like there was no tomorrow.

"What's that?"

"Put the vegetables back on your plate."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Irritated, Law pointed at the green leaves. "Vegetables contain vitamins and are necessary to maintain a stable immune system. And last time I checked, you were in the market for one of those."

Savenna stopped eating. Slowly, she looked up and stubbornly held his gaze. "I hate spinach."

Law believed he wasn't hearing right. "What are you? Five?" he blurted out. "How many times do I have to tell you to take your health more seriously?"

"Says the guy who sleeps in a morgue."

"She kinda has a point there…" Shachi said but stopped after another one of Law's glances of death. "You can't live off self-made booze and candy bars, so grow up and eat the spinach," he insisted. Savenna was about to tell him she could easily live off only one of those things, but figured she could use the negotiation to her advantage. "Alright, I'll eat the mushy green stuff if you become my lab partner."

Law rolled his eyes. "Fine…"

"You're the best, Mushroom Head!"

The crew turned their heads in surprise. Secretly Ikkaku stretched out her hand under the table, and collected three hundred berries from Penguin. Even after receiving her orders, she had placed a bet that the two captains would end up on friendly terms again. And Penguin who couldn't say no to a gamble, regretted his decision.

Law barely blinked twice before he realized Savenna's chair was empty and worse, the vegetables hadn't moved. Ready to catch her this time, he got up just to remember his own kitchen rules. No wasting food.

"I hate dinner…" he muttered. Cursing under his breath, Law sat back down and begrudgingly finished Savenna's spinach.

Hiding inside of the yellow cupboards, Savenna celebrated her first victory with another candy bar. With Law in the loop, the cure would be hers soon. When the plates started clinking and chairs were moved aside, Savenna pushed the door open and peered outside. Law was still sitting at the table, his expression growing darker with every bite, but she could swear some color was flowing back into his pale cheeks.

In spite of everything, Savenna smiled.

---

"On a scale from one to Shachi, how excited are you about your new lab partner?" Even though Law loved Corazon, the ghost rarely missed an opportunity to gloat. Law responded with a scowl after pulling a fresh body out of the morgue. Their first session was scheduled for this morning and of course, Savenna should have been there already fifteen minutes ago.

Law didn't even want to think about how she'd tricked him into this. He focused on something else instead. "Laugh as much as you like," he said. "This is a good way to finding out what she's hiding."

"Of course. Why ask a simple question if you can get blood and entrails instead?" Rosinante said and disappeared just in time for a knock on the door.

Without bothering to get permission, Savenna let herself in. "You're late again," Law said. She didn't even acknowledge him, as she dragged herself through the door. Her hair fixed up in a messy pony tail and the operating gown buttoned up the wrong way, she grumpily rummaged his desk for leftover coffee. Law made a face when she emptied the bitter liquid on the bottom of an old mug. "Even I would touch that…"

"Really?" she yawned. "What's your leftover deadline of disgust?"

"Two days."

"This tastes like three."

"Four, actually…"

Savenna shrugged. "Everything to cope with the graveyard shift. So where do we start?" Law sighed at the slightly manic smile the stale coffee planted on her face. At least he had the equipment to pump her stomach if it finally decided to reject her questionable diet.

They might have been a good team in matters of life and death, but their relationship didn't exactly excel in everyday situations. Law and Savenna started out by arguing about the body they were going to use. Once they settled on a man dead from a gunshot wound, they argued who would stand on which side, until they finally made the first incision.

Both tried to use their morning to their advantage: Savenna attempted to try out all instruments in hope to find something efficient against Amber Lead, meanwhile Law shot a bunch of medical questions at her, which Pulmon's textbooks had taught her how to dodge. After she had tested all the blades on the poor corpse and Law had given up his attempts to steal her blood when she wasn't looking, they grew tired enough to disgruntledly proceed to the actual dissection.

"So I was wondering…" Law said, with both hands buried in the man's stomach. "How old is Dracule Mihawk?"

As casually as possible, Savenna exchanged a scalpel for another. "Why do you ask?" Small talk had never been Law's strong point, but the Shichibukai was a very bizarre conversation topic, even for him.

"Because I will have to…fight him." Law replied, though it sounded more like a question. "He's a swordsman too, so I have to be prepared. And since you're a marine I thought you might know some of his weak spots."

"Really?" Savenna chuckled. "Do you have a death wish?"

Law snorted. "Please, he's must be ancient by now."

Through the surgical mask, her growl didn't sound as threatening. "Who're you calling ancient? He just turned thirty-five a few months ago!"

"Oh, I'm sorry…" Law stifled a grin, wondering if she needed a hand with her delayed fan mail. At least now he knew the information Ikkaku had delivered was genuine. Savenna slowly reddening face was prove of that.

Despite the false pretenses, the training session actually turned out useful. Law showed Savenna how to place more precise cuts and to detect organ damage in spite of interior bleeding. "You have to be careful where you place the suction tube so it won't get in the way of your stitches," he explained, and she watched, how his gloved fingers sutured the ragged tissue around the impact of the bullet.

How fast he had become, she marveled. Back in the day, the one line of stitches on her stomach had taken him a breathless hour. Now his hands were calm, so steady that it was hard to believe he was moving them at wonder it took more than a few sea currents to put him off his game.

"Are you okay?" Law inquired, snapping her back into the present. "You're making the seizure-face again."

"Oh, it's nothing…"

And to Law's surprise, he got to learn something too. While he relied on his instruments and Devil Fruit powers to operate, Savenna swore on everyday items in cases of emergency. He just stared bewildered when she performed an intubation with a pen and an empty bag of rice. "It's just like the straw-IV you used in my kitchen," she said. "Pretty helpful when there's no hospital close by." Law tried not to look impressed. "Did the marine medics teach you that?"

"More like bandits."

"Bandits?!"

"I lived with a gang for a couple of years. With a butchery for a practice you pick up a few tricks," Savenna chuckled. Behind her back, Law's eyes widened with astonishment. How had someone like her survived with a group of low-life criminals? But then again, that would explain her rather rustic methods.

When the time came to return on deck for training, they stripped off the bloody gowns, cleaned the operating table and stepped outside. With the excuse of having to stop by her cabin, Savenna left and hid behind the next corner until the doctor was out of sight. Then she tiptoed back in the OR, where she continued her search for the cure. Now that she knew where he stashed his substances, it couldn't take much longer.

But sadly, the snooping didn't amount to much. Law's pharmacy was ridiculously complete, but there were no mysterious pills, no secret instruments, in short nothing out of the ordinary. While she put a painstaking effort in returning everything to its exact place, Savenna wrecked her brain as to where else she could look, but in vain. At least she had succeeded in showing Law, that she could hold her own with her hands covered in blood. It was a small victory, but enough to put the shadow of a smile back on her face.

---

While Law was anything but an open book, the crew happily obliged. After the first turbulent days on board, the Heart Pirates began involving Savenna and Nell in all activities on the ship. Savenna had helped save their lives and managed to get their captain to eat like a normal person, which was more than they needed to trust newcomers. The fact that they had boarded the sub as marines seemed perfectly irrelevant now.

Quickly Savenna learned how the founding members of the Heart Pirates met. How Law had beaten them up for bullying Bepo and got the two older boys to follow him. Shachi finally told her about that secret liquor stash and how he produced his own sake, and Savenna found out that Ikkaku, not unlike herself, had eked out a living as a thief before joining the crew. In return, she answered all of the questions about the New World, told Penguin where to find the best food and the prettiest girls and talked abundantly about the marines, since she wasn't planning on assuming the role of Captain Silvers any time soon.

But all the while, Savenna couldn't shake a queasy feeling spreading in her stomach. Espionage and betrayal had defined her existence since she'd left Flevance, but for the first time she took barely any pleasure in it. She had come to like the crew, and sometimes when she forgot about her mission, she didn't feel like she was playing a role at all. Her jokes weren't premeditated and her stories didn't feel like lies. Only when Law's intent eyes found hers, it felt like a bubble bursting.

She forced herself not to think about it. The faster she got what she needed, the faster this would be over.

"If you could choose, what level of Impel Down would you like to be imprisoned on?" Savenna was lying on the bathroom floor with a pen in her hand. A frantic movement behind the shower curtain suggested that Law hadn't been aware of that.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" he yelled over the sound of running water. "And what kind of question is that?"

"I thought you wanted me to come early!" she retorted sipping on her own freshly-brewed coffee. "And the question is from a magazine that came in the mail this morning. Shachi must have subscribed to the wrong one."

Desperate times called for drastic measures. At night, Savenna had extended her search to other parts of the ship and had again returned empty handed. That's why she had decided to think outside the box. If completed correctly, the questionnaire should help determine Law's pirate personality, thus might help learn his secrets. Or so it claimed. Between the first-time fighting marines Q&A and a report on what drunk/sober ratio to respect when robbing a middle-sized coastal town. Unfortunately, she'd have to wait another week to for the special on treachery and deceit.

"So? How do you prefer to be tortured?"

On the other side of the curtain Law considered the present situation torture enough. Unsure what was more outrageous, Savenna's question or her breach of privacy, he couldn't understand how she always managed to turn up at the wrong time in the wrong place. They had occasionally shared a bathtub during the water shortage in Flevance, and back then his biggest issue had been her using up all the soap. But now her voice sent confusing shivers down his spine.

"In case you forgot, there's Freezing Hell, Starvation Hell, Crimson Hell…Where did Magda's brother end up again? I don't remember…"

The expression on her face froze between amusement and curiosity, when he stuck his head out of the shower. He didn't look pleased. "How about anywhere but here?"

Savenna, however, couldn't resist watching the water run down his neck. In a fleeting thought she wondered how his skin would feel like under her fingers. Before Law could realize she was staring at him, she resorted to the customary eye-roll. "You really have no imagination whatsoever, Mushroom Head."

"And you need to look up the definition of personal space."

"So, you're not going to help me with this?"

"Leave before I shamble you out of here."

"Fine…"

---

The second morning passed in a flight – Law taught her the basics of amputation and she showed off what she could do with a razor blade, duct tape and a pair of knitting needles. And as long as everyone was dressed, Law had stopped feeling the need to keep his powers close by whenever she entered the room. He even came to observe her moves with more interest then suspicion.

Her surgical skills were pretty sloppy, but Law had underestimated the amount of medical theory that fitted into her head. For some reason she had a weakness for genetics, a field he hadn't done much research in since the old days.

And Savenna looked nice in white. Perched on an operating table, Law didn't believe he'd just admitted that to himself. He usually disliked the color to the point where he'd choose to work alone so he wouldn't have to look at other people's lab coats. He could tell how it still looked so natural on her. Slightly disturbed, Law realized he'd been staring at her instead of the body she was working on and quickly rectified the situation. "So according to your expertise, pairing him up with Boa Hancock wouldn't save their children from that giant nose of his?" he asked.

"No, he'd need at least three Hancocks in his direct lineage to counter that dominant gene," Savenna giggled. "Although I don't think she'd be happy if her kids inherited his cholesterol levels…"

In the beginning, she had looked like she was forcing herself to stick her hands into someone's gut, but it didn't seem to bother her now. Whether she had come to learn or to give him a hard time, Law began to suspect she actually started enjoying herself.

When putting away the bodies, he realized Corazon had been right: He was curious. Not just about her plans and allegiances, but about the rest. Since the almost-catastrophe of the rip current she'd been leaving a breadcrumb trail of hints for him to find, from her powers to her medical experience... And did she really got up early just to annoy him with ridiculous questions? Or could she be curious about him too?

Just as they were about to leave the operating room, Law looked up from the floor and seized the opportunity. "Hey… Do you still want to play that game?"

"Really? You wanna play?" Savenna turned around with mocking triumph in her eyes "I would love to swipe this shiny floor with your face, but I don't remember seeing a free slot on the schedule."

Awkwardly, Law shrugged. "I guess the crew could manage without us for a little while…" Eyes wide and shining, Savenna strode back into the room. "Game on, Mushroom Head," she said. "But I do have one condition."

Ten minutes later Law was sitting between two corpses, while Savenna was positioning them in a circle like in primary school, twisting their mortally stiff fingers to hold up the cards. Law could barely believe what he was seeing. And he had thought he was the morbid one… Slightly amused, he decided to make the best of it. "Then I have a condition too."

"And what's that?"

"The one who wins get to ask a question and the other has to answer. No cheating."

"You just read my mind." Savenna secretly marveled at how he was playing right into her hand. This would be fun…

But too late did she remember what a good player he was. Even in the early days, she had gone to great lengths to beat him at her favorite game. It was like his head counted faster than she could lay down a card, predicting and countering her every move while saying nothing at all. And he spotted it right away, when her fingers reached into her sleeve to retrieve a better card, so cheating really wasn't an option. To her irritation, the first round went to Law. "Unbelievable…" she muttered.

With a smug, calculating smile he put down the cards. "Ready for the first question?"

"If I have to…"

"How long did you stay with the gang?" Savenna stared at him, startled. Why did he care to know about that? It was the perfect opportunity to extract intel on marine strategy. Why was he wasting his time on personal questions?

Not sure what he wanted to hear, she said, "For about two years or three years. Their grave robbers recovered me from the mountain pass, brought me over to Fort Esperance and made me work off the money and medicine they'd spent on my recovery." She told him about Louise, how she'd helped them raid their home town and how she'd learned to make money. She left out every mention of Fetch and Doflamingo.

She knew she shouldn't care about Law's reaction, but she couldn't stop wonder what he thought behind those cool, unblinking eyes. Somehow, she expected him to be shocked or disappointed, but then caught a shadow of a smile on his face. "From Flevance merchant to thief and marine captain… That's one hell of a career."

Stiffly, Savenna shrugged. "I really didn't have much of a choice." The smile vanished from his face. Savenna tried not to dwell on it and launched herself into the next round. Again, she lost. Only this time there was no triumph in Law's voice.

"What exactly is that black armor of yours?" he asked and dispelled all hopes she had for him having forgotten the underwater nightmare. She sighed. It would have come out anyone and maybe there was no harm in telling him.

"Stubbornness is actually a good way to put it," she replied, half-heartedly. "It's a power that draws its strength from a person's will. It channels life force and transform it into a power you can use in a fight. There are different types, some you can learn, others you have to be born with."

"Wait…so that was Haki?" Law's eyes suddenly flared up.

Savenna squinted in his direction. "How do you know about Haki?"

Law tried his best to hide his excitement. "I've only read about it but I never thought I'd meet someone who could use it…"

"Of course, you read about it..." Savenna sighed. If anyone picked up those boring old books, it would be him. Rayleigh had some of them lying around but she'd never gotten to finish any of them. "But trust me, there are a lot most interesting Haki users than me. I won't be able to teach you anything," she said.

The existence of Haki wasn't exactly a secret but as it was invisible and immune to Sea Stone, still only few people grasped its nature. Not sure if it had been smart to reveal her abilities to him, Savenna went on playing. At this time, she managed to use his distraction against him and kill his valet with an ace. She sensed that he'd rather talk about all the possible uses of her mysterious power, but she remained firm. She had her own answers to find.

"What's the most complicated surgery you've ever performed?" she asked. Bringing up Amber Lead right away, would have been too risky.

Law seemed disappointed. "A Craniectomy – one of the less fun and more complicated brain surgeries. My Devil Fruit wasn't much help in that case," he replied flatly. Savenna gave her best not to show her own frustration. How was she supposed to squeeze what she needed out of him at this rate?

When she landed a second win, she reconsidered her move. After the smart question had proven useless, she picked a personal one. "I told you some of my story and now it's your turn. What's the meaning of those ink hearts?"

For a moment, Savenna thought he didn't hear her until the blankness in his face pointed to the contrary. He'd known the question was coming and still, his eyes ran cold as if he was about to put something to shambles. here was no way Law would escape his own rules, but his voice sounded hoarse, when he spoke. "They stand for who… - how I survived after we got separated."

Savenna almost jumped. Did that mean what she thought it did? She needed more. "And what about the DEATHs? Why two of them?"

Law stiffened. "One question at a time," he admonished. The childish excitement from before was gone. But patience wasn't one of Savenna's virtues. "Really?" she moaned. "You kept asking about Haki and I told you!"

"Then you shouldn't have. Rules are rules."

"Are you really playing that card?" she called out. "How are you so anal?"

"How are you so childish? You can't always get what you want!"

"Then I'll just play with corpses next time!"

"Fine."

"Fine!"

---

Law slapped his palm against his forehead after he'd listened to her walk away. For someone so smart, he had been spectacularly stupid. Fleeting ideas like this always backfired. Of course, Savenna would try scratch the skin off of old wounds.

To avoid any further confrontation, he waited a few safety minutes before venturing into the hallway. On the second deck, he was surprise by a furry ball crouching in a corner. "Bepo?" the doctor frowned at the bear who was surrounded by a pile of battered old books. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for a proper way to apologize to Captain Silvers," Bepo replied, eyes glued to the yellowed pages. "Shachi told me she liked to read, so I thought I might find some ideas in here..."

Law rolled his eyes with hidden frustration. His First Mate's chronic shyness and obsession with proper apologies was definitely getting out of hand. But no matter how many times Law told him to let it go, Bepo insisted on the importance of manners. There was no cure for stubbornness and Bepo was too immersed in his reading to take the hint. "Captain, shouldn't the Tang have a dungeon?" he asked.

"What do you want a prison for?"

"According to this book, you haven't been following the proper kidnapping protocol. Maybe that's why you and Captain Silvers don't get along," Bepo suggested.

"What are you talking about?" Law frowned. Neither of them was an expert on human behavior, but Law hoped he'd still have a little bit of a winning margin.

Bepo cleared his throat like he did during a medical exam. "Well, here the pirate captain puts the kidnapped female in a prison cell after she disobeys his orders. Their relationship seems to improve when she reminds him that a proper punishment also requires handcuffs. And they don't seem to be wearing any uniforms. Later in the book, they actually don't wear anything at all… But you can't do any of that without a dungeon."

The last remaining color drained from Law's face. "What on earth are you reading?" Immediately, he snatched the book out of Bepo's paws and looked at the title.

Sails of Desire.

The doctor struggled to keep a straight face when he recognized one of Savenna's old steamy novels. It must have fallen out of her suitcases when the ship had been thrashing through the current. Law was surprised that stuff hadn't gone out of print by now. Couldn't she at least have dropped the prequel? The romance was a lot more convincing if the hero's backstory was taken into account.

"You know this isn't a documentary, right?" Law said, turning back to Bepo.

After explaining to his First Mate the concept of fiction and convincing him to not to get any inspiration from books with lively covers, he trudged off to find Savenna. She needed to pay attention where she left her smut. Law couldn't possibly have her compromise his crew's morals. Well, maybe it was too late for Penguin and Shachi, but still…

With every step down the hall, the image of Savenna reading her smutty books implanted itself in Law's mind. Was it just for a good laugh or was she actually enjoying what happened on Bepo's pages? He knew she had a lively imagination, so how exactly did she picture it while reading alone at night… Desperately, Law tried to shake off the thought when reaching the airlock.

Ready to confront her, he walked up to the outside wall Savenna was supposed to be painting at this hour, and stopped. The yellow pots stood abandoned on deck, with the brushes still dunked inside. But instead of balancing on top of a ladder, Savenna was leaning with her back against the steps, her laughter ringing over deck and in her hands the sixth volume of Sora, Warrior of the Sea.

Until now, his guilty passion had been safe from prying eyes. Unsure whether to be horrified that she'd found one of his old comic books or to ask what page she was on, Law loosened the angry grip around the novel.

Although they had never stopped making fun of each other's tastes, they had spent countless hours reading the books they'd managed to save from decrepit Flevance houses. By the time the government had shut the border, Law had read through all of Savenna's smutty adventure novels while watching over her at night. And even though she'd stuck up her nose at the old comic strip, she insisted on playing Sora whenever they'd put on a live-action spectacle for Lamie.

Was this what Corazon had wanted him so see? That they were more alike than they were ready to admit? For the first time in his adult life, he wanted nothing more than to read a book, knees pressed to his chest, with someone who wouldn't stop arguing as to when to flip the pages. It felt like immersion in cold water, when Law realized he'd never really stopped missing her.

Then he remembered the desolate tone in Savenna's voice. I really didn't have much of a choice… Bandits, gangs, marines. Despite the laughing and teasing, the old symptoms of Savenna's indestructible self, her story sounded pretty grim. Nothing like the carefree time he'd imagined… It wouldn't be the first time she let him think things were perfectly fine, when they were everything but. Law had refused to talk about his old wounds, but how hard had it been for her? Had she had someone to look after her while growing up? Law gritted his teeth. Had she needed him when he wasn't there?

Suddenly he wanted to go over all diseases there were and make a list of everyone she wanted dead. But knowing his words would fail him if he approached her now, he went back inside to looked for Sora's volume seven.

---

Law was on the way to fetch the book, his heart pumping fast, when a figure stepped out of the shadows. Ikkaku had a way of moving that was so silent, that at times even Bepo's fine ear couldn't detect her. Law did his best not to flinch. "Is everything all right?" the captain asked as the woman ventured into the light.

Her alert expression was tinged with hesitation. "It's about the order you gave me."

Law felt his mouth curl with bitterness. He'd almost forgotten about it by now. When her captain remained silent, Ikkaku went on. "I wanted to let you know that I found another document. It was inside their cabin, crumpled under the pillow of the futon. Someone must have gotten careless…"

When Law still didn't respond, she walked up to him. Like everyone else on board she had noticed him spending more time with the person he had made her spy on. "It may be nothing at all. Or she might have told you already…" she said. "Would you like to know what it says?"

Despite her efforts, he could read between the lines. Ikkaku wanted to know whether he was still willing to go behind Savenna's back.

Again, Law watched helplessly as his old and new lives collided. No matter how often they ended up barking at each other, Savenna had already told him more about herself than he'd figured out on his own. Was distrust so ingrained in his nature, that he still believed she would betray him?

But then there was Ikkaku, standing in front of him and waiting to receive orders regardless if she agreed with them or not. And Bepo, who went out of his way to fix a relationship just because he believed it would make his captain happy. Didn't he owe them more than blind trust? Wasn't it his job to make sure they were safe, no matter what? With his crew in mind, Law didn't have a choice. It felt wrong, when he nodded.

Ikkaku lowered her eyes and handed him the piece of crumpled paper. Law forced himself to read it and immediately regretted that he did.

Marine Directive n°54

Subject: Marine escort reinforcement for government convoy.

Hereby the Marine HQ orders the reinforcement of 500 marine recruits to be dispatched to Blizzard Rock, winter island located in the first half of Grand Line, to protect a convoy of two royal subjects from Mary Joa to an undisclosed location. It is the admiral's orders that the passage is to be cleared of pirates before the royal ship leaves the island.

This directive is to be transferred to all captains and commanders stationed between Banaro Island and Water Seven...

With his mind astray, Law fished in his pocket for Savenna's coordinates. He compared them three times until he was ready to admit it that was the same island. It couldn't be true. Savenna couldn't possibly be sending them into a marine-infested territory, just to protect some royal. It would also mean delivering the Heart Pirates on a silver platter to a marine admiral they had not enough power to fight. She couldn't have be planning this all along, could she? But as he read over the directive again and again, it seemed like it was exactly what she'd been doing.

Law balled up the paper in his hand and barely even looked at Ikkaku as he rushed past.

---

They stand for who… how I survived. While going about her chores, Savenna's thoughts were circling around the who. Not even her favorite old comic had been able to get her mind off it. Could it be that someone else had cured Law? If so, who was that mystery person? But no matter how hard she deployed her imagination, she could forget the pain flaring up in Law's face. Suddenly she regretted pushing him. She hadn't need to hear more, to know there was more to the story than Amber Lead.

Luckily, after she was done with the paint, Penguin had come ask for her help with some repairs and took her mind off it.

"What's the deal with all the yellow? It's not very discreet for a submarine," Savenna remarked, her head inside the Tang's left motor. Outside, Penguin was still fixing the flashlight on his forehead.

"Well, it was white when Law first got his hands on it," he said, sliding under the engine. "But for some reason he couldn't stand it. Wouldn't spend a night inside the thing and wouldn't say why. He wanted to paint it the color of intestines first thing in the morning, but luckily Bepo managed to talk him into something more cheerful." The crew mate shrugged. "Since then we got everything in yellow. Just to be on the safe side."

At the mention of the color white, Savenna's hands stiffened. Slowly she lowered the tools and slid out from under the engine. "What's wrong?" Penguin's muffled voice asked, but she didn't reply.

No one repainted an entire ship on a whim. Law remembered all right, she realized. But why had he denied it when she confronted him on the base? And more importantly, what else had he lied about? And moreover, there was something strange about Penguin's answer. She understood why Law resented the color but he didn' is possible that Law had never told his crew about his past?

"When exactly did you meet your captain?" she asked carefully. Confused, Penguin stuck his head out from under the motor. "About six years ago. Why?"

Savenna hesitated. Before, she'd avoided actively questioning the crew, but now she had to know. "Do you remember something strange about his appearance back then?"

"Not particularly. He seemed a bit weak. Coughed a lot, couldn't run very fast or eat much. But he grew out of it."

Savenna pondered. So, Law must have healed himself before meeting his crew – during the years marine intelligence knew nothing about. What had happened back then and why hadn't he told anyone? Penguin had to repeat his question until it got through to her. "What about you? How exactly did you meet him?"

Savenna thought about lying, but decided against it. "I was his first patient." She could feel Penguin staring at her. "You were sick? With what?"

"An earth-borne poison. Law treated me before he even knew how dangerous it was." Then she stopped. Any information on Amber Lead was a risk and it wasn't her story to tell. But Penguin didn't insist. "I didn't know he started out so young," he mused instead. "All before the Op-Op… It must have been hard for both of you. But he could help you, right…?"

"You just can't stop, can you?" Penguin's questions went unanswered. Law was glaring down on Savenna from the lower deck, a crumpled piece of paper in his hand. Neither of them had heard him come.

"I should have known something wasn't right when you started to play nice," the captain said, a dark mirthless smile on his lips. His body was tense like a bow-string ready to be let loose. "Just out of curiosity - if we had played another round, would have told me you were going to sell me out or would that have ruined the surprise?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You shouldn't leave your stuff lying around," he hissed. Savenna managed to break away from his gaze and recognized the blue seal on the document in his hand. He had found the directive and it made the Devil Fruit flicker in his eyes.

She inhaled sharply. "Law, please…it's not what it looks like."

Nothing in his face suggested he was listening. Frantically, she waited for him to say something but he was already gone.

---

Unable to recall what he'd done in the last hours, the cold forced Law into his cabin after dark.

The temperatures were dropping fast. With every step, Law could feel the air grow colder. The furry hats and coats in his closet weren't just a fashion whim. Law was never warm. No matter how hot the Grand Line sun was burning, his hands remained freezing to the point of growing numb. With the crisp rays of moonlight cutting through the sky that night, Law felt like breath clouds were about to rise from his mouth. Thankfully, the lower levels of the sub had gone quiet, and Law could slip through his door unnoticed and pull the curtains shut.

You were sick? With what?... But he could help you, right? Penguin's voice hummed through his head, mingled with Savenna's laughter, shrill and deafening, every familiarity gone. His hands balled into fists, he forced himself to sit down.

He should never have listened to Corazon. In his solitude, Law would have never survived without his voice following him. But Rosinante was dead. He knew that better than anybody. He told him only what he already knew, or what didn't admit he wanted to hear.

Law had been spectacularly stupid. He'd missed Savenna so much that despite the spying and the petty games, he had never really prepared for the obvious. That Savenna was a marine. That she was the enemy who sooner or later would act like one.

Who was she working for? Who would order her to smoke out his crew? And whoever ordered it, had they told her to spend time with him? Had their medical training been a lie too? A terrifying thought rushed through his mind. Maybe she was working for Doflamingo. Her Haki did look suspiciously similar to Vergo's, after all…

With a sinking heart, Law realized it was pointless. He wouldn't find out now. Had this been her plan from the very beginning? Did she really only get him out of jail just to sell him out? The thought of it hurt more than he was prepared for. Slowly, he figured he had never shown enough appreciation for enemies who blasted their strongest attack right into his face – none of them cut as deep as Savenna's.

With a bitter taste in his mouth, Law recalled her conversation with Penguin. He'd accused Corazon of forgetting his place, but he had been the one who was lost. Hovering there like a ghost above a bottomless pit, not knowing what to think before anger had finally filtered through. He'd hated the look on Penguin's face. There was nothing worse than sadness and pity. What would his crew think, when they found out the truth? What would they say if they knew that the government had killed everyone he loved and that even with the Op-Op, he hadn't been able to avenge them? How could they follow someone so weak?

He wanted to nurture his anger toward Savenna but he couldn't. It was so cold…

Flevance had buried thousands, but it took a single face to bring it back. Law shivered and mechanically sunk to the floor where he pressed his knees to his chin. Rubbing his hands together didn't help against the chill. The pressure of the ship didn't allow the temperature to fall under a certain point. He knew he was the only one feeling it.

It was always there, lurking underneath the surface, waiting for the faintest chance to remind him where he came from. Forgetting was the only remedy, but like painkillers its effects were only temporary.

Sharp, white cold. He still felt it in Lamie's stiff hands, in the ground under Magdalena's corpse and in Savenna's voice when she chased him away. It was in the water splashing onto the burning bodies drifting off Fort Esperance, in the wind on the lonely shore and in the snow that fell the day Corazon died. Making him hold his head down, because that's what he was good at. Running and hiding. Warming himself at the flimsy heat of last breaths.

Law knew what was coming, but he didn't have the power to stop it. Whether he had crawled underneath the desk, or if the room had shrunken around him, he couldn't tell. The walls were too close. He could barely breathe. The bottomless pit was just a trunk now and he was in it. The sound of motors had grown so loud it made the floor shake. The outside world was reduced to flashes of blinding fire, flaring through a red, starless sky.

Inside, the air was slowly freezing solid, pinching like a thousand needles. Law's face burned. When he finally dared to open his eyes, it was all white. His hands, his arms and legs. The color of snow. He knew he needed to use his powers, but he was too weak. His fingers too heavy to move and the air too cold to spin.

He needed Corazon, ghosts being the only one able to chase their own kind. But the black feathers fluttered anxiously in the corner of his eye, before disappearing in a storm of white. There was another figure standing on top of the hill, but when Law reached out to her, she turned around and walked away. Then the box shut tight, and Law realized there was nobody left to break him out.

His teeth were chattering in a perfectly temperate room, when Law stumbled over the limit of exhaustion and passed out.

---

Savenna had messed up. She could see Fetch rolling his eyes at her when she searched all levels of the Tang for Law. How could the marine letter have slipped out of her cabin? She read over it every night before falling asleep, but not even Nell knew about that. So how did Law get his hands on it?

But deep down she didn't really care about that. Nor that her mission had failed. Law had walked away believing she was going to betray him. That she had been playing him from the beginning. While the latter wasn't completely false, the thought of the first made her want to throw up. She had never wanted to hurt him. She knew he wouldn't listen when she explained the truth, but she wouldn't give up before she could try.

However, the longer Savenna looked, the more it seemed that the captain of the Heart Pirates had vanished. She searched everywhere, the lab and operating room, the infirmary, even the kitchen but he was nowhere to be found. Savenna gave it a thought and figured there was only one place he could be.

The off-limits cabin.

It hadn't been very hard to find. The last door at the end of the longest corridor on the lowest deck of the ship. Hardly anything else would have suited Law's somber tastes. She waited a full hour in front of the gray metal door, calling for Law and receiving silence in return. Many times she thought of breaking the lock and forcing him to hear her out, but she decided to stick to the rules. At least something he wouldn't be disappointed in…

Her legs had almost fallen asleep, when there was a bump on the other side of the door. Immediately, she was wide awake. "Are you in there, Mushroom Head?" she called. Silence. "Please, open up! I can explain!"

More silence. Then there it was again, a dull, hollow sound of something hitting the ground and not getting up. The next moment Savenna was on her feet and fishing for the hairpin in her pocket. Screw the rules! What if something had happened? Haunted by the picture of asphyxiating death behind closed doors, Savenna wriggled the pin until the lock snapped and the door clashed against the wall.

"Law? Are you okay?"

Her shrill voice was absorbed by the darkness of a large, stifling room. In the light cone of the corridor lamp, Savenna stepped inside and stumbled over a dried-up potted plant. Compared to the tidiness of the rest of the ship, Law's cabin was an indisputable mess: on the right-side shaky bookshelves were overflowing with books, while on the left a chair was buried under a stack of medical literature. Whether her feet were tiptoeing over a carpet or a layer of discarded clothes, Savenna didn't check, busy avoiding the tower of mugs piling up next to the bed no one had slept in. Had chaos not been her natural habitat, she would have long since broken a leg.

On the far side of the room, the doors of a heavy wardrobe stood open, as if someone had pulled out a bunch of coats in a hurry to leave the ship. Only there was no suitcase and no land in sight.

With a deepening frown, Savenna waded on toward the pinboard taking up half the wall. The light hardly reached inside, so she had to lean in closer to identify newspaper clippings, names, routes and calculations. She scanned the information twice before acknowledging it for what it was: an incomplete offensive strategy.

The red dots all stemmed from one tiny place in the North Blue. An island marked as Spider Miles. The star-like landmass was surrounded by snap-shots of people, some of which she had her own files on: pirates, upper-rank marines and government officials. Next to them she recognized a burned bit of an old Wanted poster showing a man in a wine-red cap and a black feathered coat. A smoking cigarette was pressed between his lips. Rosinante, she read. The rest of the paper was scalded. The name didn't ring a bell, but the pirate crew that had claimed the island, sent her alarms howling.

Donquixote Pirates. Savenna felt her heart hammering. What did Law know about Doflamingo's crew? More importantly, why was their name written all over his cabin wall?

Numbed, she moved on to the cramped adjacent desk, where she was delivered another blow:

She didn't need to light the desk lamp to know that none of the things she found, belonged in here. Organized into different folders, were her personal marine files, stolen from her cabin along with Nell's letter. Some were dog-eared, others marked with red. Underneath was her beloved Mihawk collection. Savenna's lips trembled with anger and embarrassment. Of course, Law's question hadn't come out of nowhere. He had been spying on her this entire time.

But only when she leafed through the papers and found Rayleigh's letters, did she press her eyes shut. How could she have let herself be manipulated like that? She had been such an idiot. Law hadn't trusted her for a second.

Then her eyes fell on an old iron med kit, sitting underneath the marine chart. Without thinking, she reached for it. She didn't care for what it was. It was something of Law's and she felt a burning need to violate his privacy, just as he had hers.

Shaking with anger, Savenna flipped the lid open.

Instead of the bandages and painkillers she expected to find, the box was practically empty. Judging by the dust swirling into the air, it must have stayed shut for a long time. Carelessly, Savenna reached inside and fished out what once must have been a stuffed animal. With the two button-eyes and the left ear gone, it was hard to tell more. She put it back and pulled her hand out with a painful hiss.

Her index finger was bleeding. After a bit of blind rummaging, she found the thing to blame. A piece of ripped fabric. She cursed silently at the blood stain in the middle, before realizing the rust-brown mark was already dated. Then she saw, that tiny, almost invisible pieces of metal were hiding inside the tissue that gave off a ghostly shimmer when held to the light.

What was this junk?

The last item of the collection revealed itself to be a crumpled photograph of two strangers – a woman and a child. Persuaded there was something wrong with the picture, Savenna kept staring at it. The photographer must have messed up the lighting. While parts of the image were composed of darker hues, the rest of it was whitened out. But then she identified the outline of a staircase and everything moved into place.

The picture had been taken in Flevance. She had forgotten how bright everything had been. However, Savenna didn't dare look at the people again. She knew exactly who they were. The woman who raised her and herself. Savenna forced herself to breathe, when the puzzle pieces snapped together.

That wasn't just a bloody tissue. It was her old dress. Or what was left of it. The Amber Lead inside had not only stung her finger but protected her from two deadly bullets eight years ago. No doubt some of it had come off while creeping on top of the Flevance mountain pass. Light-headed, she didn't have to look at the stuffed animal again to recognize the white bear they had snatched from the hands of a corpse that day…Why did Law keep all these things?

Suddenly something moved under the desk and Savenna almost dropped the keepsakes. Immediately she recognized the figure slumped in the darkness. "Law?" she yelped. "What are you doing down here?"

He didn't answer. His face was hot and sallow, bearing the marks of insomnia. As if trying to fit in a box himself, he kept his limbs tightly pressed to his body, his shoulders wrapped in clumsy layers of clothes. When she tried to shake him awake, he was shivering, bloodshot eyes staring at something in the distance.

Feverish Amber Lead nights shot through Savenna's mind, and in a surge of panic she peeled him out of the coats and sweaters and repeated the exam she had practiced. But there was no sign of injury, stroke or heart attack. "What…what is happening?" she muttered.

Feeling utterly powerless, she pulled him closer. Like picking up a bird fallen out of a nest, she cupped his head with her hands and stroked the strands of damp hair from his forehead. The tension on his face remained, his eyes blinking emptily.

Savenna's hands froze.

She knew that emptiness. She had heard it in Fetch's voice when he'd speak about his daughter and seen in her own eyes when she had looked into Louise's mirror, realizing she was surrounded by ghosts. Only in Law's it had clustered and multiplied, sprouting into every fiber of his body.

Had Flevance left behind more than one kind of poison?

Savenna's might be sitting inoperable inside her body cells, but Law's seemed to have oozed in so deep it had become invisible. He may have produced a cure for Amber Lead, but it looked like he had never found one for memory. And if left untreated, both were just as deadly. A wave of dread washed over her. Law was a doctor who knew about cures. But how was she supposed to help him?

Her heart leaped when Law slowly stirred awake. His voice was weak when he recognized her face in the half-dark. "You…what are you doing…?"

With awkward resolve Savenna's fingers searched for his hand. "Don't worry, you are going to be alright," she stammered. "I will… I will fix this." Her voice was almost as soundless as his. Law stared at her, waves of shock subsiding into realization. "I told you not to come in here."

"I thought you were in trouble."

At that his lips twisted into a sharp, painful smile. He moved away from her and got back on his feet, as fast as his dizzy head allowed. "You just do whatever you want, do you?" he snorted.

Savenna didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry, okay?" she blurted out. "You may be mad at me right now but I'm glad I came. Hell knows how long you would have stayed like this! You could have hurt yourself or done something equally stupid."

His third rule finally made sense to her. Law might be able to control everyone's body parts, but he couldn't control his own mind. Of course, he didn't want anyone to see him this way. But he was a doctor and a captain, he needed to realize how dangerous traumatic flashbacks could be. However, the fatigue on his face hardened into resentment. "Last time I checked, I wasn't the one planning on delivering us to the marines on a silver platter."

She stiffened at the mention of the letter, but decided to ignore it. "How long have you had these episodes?"

Law chuckled darkly. "What? Are you a doctor now?"

"No, but I want to help you," she insisted, only to hear him bark out a laugh. "You've been here for five minutes and now you think you know what's wrong with me?" he snapped. "Don't be a hypocrite, Savenna. If you really wanted to help me, you wouldn't have sent my crew into a trap. Or pretended to care just so could squeeze information out of me and earn a promotion!"

Flustered, Savenna shook her head, trying to keep her agitation in check. "Is that really what you think I am doing?"

"That's what the letter says."

"No, it's what you read into it," she hissed. She wanted to be patient with him, find a way to understand. To help. But how could she if he didn't even give her the benefit of the doubt? "And had you bothered to ask, I would have told you that it wasn't what it looked like!"

"Please, we both know you wouldn't tell me the truth," Law scoffed. Too late Savenna realized her eyes were brimming with tears. "You are an idiot…"

For a moment, Law didn't know what to say. Then he shot her a dismissive glance. "Right. I would be an idiot to believe anything you told me since day one." His voice was hoarse, quavering. "You come back from the dead, get rid of an incurable disease, lose a shit load of blood and shrug it off as if it's nothing. How do you expect me to buy any of that?"

"Because I knew you would react like this if I told you the whole truth," she admitted, a scream of frustration building up in her throat. "And just so you know, things haven't exactly been easy for me either. But I'm here for you now!"

She expected the old, mirthless smile to appear on his lips, but instead he retreated, as if terrified. "How can you help me if you are the problem?" he asked feebly. "I had everything under control until you came along. None of it was real before you strode back into my life, like you were late for some tea party." The words came spluttering out of his mouth, his voice almost pleading. "You put on that ridiculous coat, let your books lying around and play those stupid card games… Can't you see it makes everything worse?"

Savenna frowned through the tears. "How…Are you blaming me for this?"

"Who else would take so much pleasure in driving me mad?" he spat.

For a second, Savenna considered using the Conqueror's Haki and wreaking havoc on the ship. It was obvious that Law didn't trust her, but accusing her of something so hurtful went too far. He might be sick, hurt and confused, but so was she and her strength was running dry.

She closed the distance between, forcing him to look at her. "If you can't stand the sight of me, then why did you bother going behind my back? Why put so much effort into finding out who I am, if it's so painful to you?" she seethed. "You better look into the mirror before calling me a hypocrite."

"I don't know what you're talking about…"

"Please, as if you'd just happened to stumble over the marine letter. Or all the other letters," she said, pointing at the folder on his desk, making him flinch. "It's time you got off your high horse, Trafalgar Law. You were just as honest with me as I was with you."

A loaded silence settled between them. Neither of them could look at the other. After what felt like an eternity, Savenna forced herself to speak. "Ask me why I'm going to Blizzard Rock."

"What royals you protect is none of my concern," Law pressed through his teeth.

Whatever this was, he wasn't ready for it. He didn't want to know. He kept telling himself that what he had done, he'd done for the right reasons, but he couldn't stop the fissures cracking through his composure.

Meanwhile, she knew he wouldn't listen. But she had to make sure he knew. It was the only way he would believe she was innocent and keep the ship on course. "I'm not helping anyone," she said curtly. "I'm going to kill them."

Law's tall figure froze in the dark. It was now or never. Savenna seized her chance. "And they are not just any royals. They are ours." That was a hard enough blow to make him face her, his expression twisted with bewilderment.

"Yes, they are alive," she confirmed. "Two of them at least. They fled before the borders closed. It was all arranged."

"That's impossible…"

Savenna nodded decisively. "It took me years to track them down. And now they're here, outside the protection of Mary Joa," she said. "And I only learned about the extra marine force two days ago. I would have never put your crew in danger had I known."

She could see him waver. His anger falling off. In the tired lines on his face, she saw he wanted to believe her. But when she expected a row of questions, Law just shook his head. "You have made me believe in fairy tales before, but this one is a little bit over the top."

"What...?"

Law shrugged. "Maybe they have gotten out. Let's say they even survived. But the mines ran under the entire city. There's absolutely no way someone sick with Amber Lead poisoning could have survived until today and then be healthy enough to travel." His expression was sour, almost painful. "I know you, Savenna. You poison everything and everyone that stand in the way of what you want. Including people you love. So spare yourself the stories and excuses. You won't fool me again."

His words hit Savenna with unexpected gravity. He was supposed to be on her side. To be proud of her. Be glad revenge could still be taken. Instead all there was left, was Amber Lead. Was that really what he believed? Was there so little hope left for her?

Savenna knew she needed to argue her case, convince him that what she said was the pure truth. But she couldn't. Not when he looked at her with accusation and disbelief. There was a fractured hollowness in her voice, when she spoke, raising her eyes to his.

"If you really think that I'm the enemy, maybe it's time you throw these away." She placed the iron med kit into his hands and saw Law paling in front of her. Then, disoriented and untethered like a newborn ghost, she walked away.

---

Bepo pressed two anxious paws over his ears. In another attempt to apologize he had followed Savenna down from the kitchen, only to find his captain's door open, her inside and them yelling at each other.

Defensive, Bepo nudged closer to the wall.

Like the rest of the Heart Pirates, the First Mate had ever been allowed to enter Law's cabin. Many times they had imagined what would happen if one of them broke the third rule of the Polar Tang, and today Bepo found the answer.

Complete mayhem. It wasn't the words they exchanged, but the tone of their voices that made the bear's ears ring. Had Savenna and Law used bullets on one another, it would have been the same.

Between the arguments, the First Mate had managed to get a look at his captain and shuddered. He had been sick again with that mysterious illness that no one knew the cure for or the origin of. Bepo remembered the episodes Law used to have a boy, and knew that he refused to come out whenever they returned. Judging from the haggard look on his captain's face, it hadn't been this bad in years.

Bepo wanted to reveal himself and drag Law into the infirmary, but then Law's sudden temper lashed out like thunder and the bear cowered back against the wall. Bepo had seen him do terrible things; skin, behead, and torture marines, execute bounty hunters and not even blink. He hadn't enjoyed being a witness to any of that, but he respected Law for doing what he thought was right. But Law wasn't supposed to havea temper.

He never argued with anybody. He was impossible to fight with, indifferent to praise or complaint, and diligently walking away whenever an argument was billowing up in the same room. And yet here he was, arguing with Captain Silvers. How was that possible?

The last time he'd seen Law worked up to this point, was when the Tang had crossed paths with one of Doflamingo's ships. In a terrifying fit of rage, he had smashed the ship into pieces and severed the heads of everyone on board, before disappearing into his cabin for three days. It had been the first and the last time the crew had learned something about their captain's past. Law avoided the topic to the point of pretending he had always been eighteen years old.

Savenna Silvers was the only other lead they had on his childhood. For long, the bear had wondered if she was linked to the Donquixote Pirates but dropped the thought; there was too much grief and heartache hanging in the sweetish scent of her body.

Something else must have happened. Before his encounter with Doflamingo. Something hard and very sad. Bepo felt both a sting of jealousy and relief that someone else knew what they had been trying to piece together for five years. But if they shared the same memories, why did they both still seem so lost? The bear pressed his back against the wall, when shaking footsteps receded and a door took several attempts to fall shut.

---

Nell woke sometime after midnight and peered out of her hammock: Savenna's futon was empty. Her lanky shape stood at the open bull's eye window, motionless. The room around was flooded with moonlight, glittering on the water, smooth like a table cloth, irradiating the spectral white of her skin. Her fingers pretended to brush through the night breeze before pressing the Tang's oxygen mask over her nose and mouth.

"What are you doing?" Nell muttered.

"You were right about Law," Savenna said without turning around. "I messed up…"

"What happened?" she asked with a hopeful edge to her voice. "Did you tell him?"

"He told me, in a way."

Savenna didn't hear Nell's other questions. Her voice drifted further and further away. All she could do was listen to the soft waves rippling against the sub. Her mind was loose, fragmentary. She barely acknowledged Nell climbing down and feeling her temperature. Her panic went past her. That she had been sick for two hours was barely relevant now. Only when Nell kept shaking her, repeating the same sentence over and over, did Savenna catch the words. "What did you do to your Haki…?"

Nell had lived with her friend for so long, she had grown accustomed to the tireless invisible power clinging to Savenna like an armor. Only it wasn't here now. She had let it slip. Just for a little while… After tugging Law's delirious body out from under the table, she realized its protection had come for a high price.

Law was right. He had no reason to trust her. She raged at him for blaming and not believing her, but was she any better? She'd had more than enough time to tell him the truth, but she hadn't. All she cared about was survival and revenge. Her plan and her disease. The Haki's resolve had blinded her to everything else.

In the only photo that remained, she hadn't recognized herself and the woman who had died so she could live. She hadn't seen Law's illness, even though he's been struggling right in front of her eyes. The avoiding her and pushing her away, wasn't because he didn't like her. Just like the scalpel, her presence was a trigger; nothing more, nothing less.

And now that she let go of the Haki which helped keep her ghosts at bay, she realized that of her own memories remained nothing but blurry colors: She couldn't recall the day she had pulled her governess in front of the camera, or when her father had gotten her that deadly shimmering dress, or frightening flicker in Law's eyes, when he watched the hospital and everyone in it turn to ashes.

Was there anything left in her but spite and determination? Or was she indeed just poisoning everything in her wake? Savenna had spent so much time convincing Amber Lead that she was invincible, that like Law, she had never learned how to care for her weaknesses. When Savenna's heart began to stagger and Nell called for help, she didn't care enough to stop her.

---

Nell had no idea where the murderous polar bear came from, but willingly stepped aside when he rushed past, medical supplies clutched in his paws. Despite his amazing size, Bepo crossed the room in a flowing motion, like a soft cloud on eager, slightly panicked feet. He was already kneeling beside the futon when Nell caught up with him.

"What's wrong?" he wanted to know right away. Law really had indeed trained him well.

"It's her heart…" Nell managed to say, considering giving him a heads-up for what he was about to see. He didn't notice it at first. The blue twilight falling in from the bull's eye was blurring the colors in the room. Only as the bear approached, lines of concern twisted his face.

"Is…is that really her?"

Nell opened her mouth before she realized she didn't know how to explain. Without the disguise of her Devil Fruit, Savenna had lost at least two dress sizes. For days it had been concealing a pointy nose, blue-tinged lips and chalk-white skin, all parts of a now frail and bird-like body. Savenna had kept losing weight in the last few days so that even her underwear hardly fitted her shape.

Had it not been for the polar bear's fine sense of smell, it would have taken him too long to recognize the familiar outlines of the girl's face. After examining her like he would a child, afraid of crushing a bone in her body with every touch of his paw, Bepo began the emergency treatment. Skilled and precise, he took her blood pressure, hooked her on an IV. After a few injections, Savenna's breaths finally grew deeper and her face relaxed under the oxygen mask.

"How is she?" Nell asked, watching restlessly from across the room.

"She was minutes away from cardiac arrest," Bepo said. "A severe case of cardiac arrhythmia, though I can't say what caused it. Luckily she's reacting well to the electrolyte treatment." Then he read through the list Nell had handed to him. They had been running low on Amber Lead blockers and since Savenna would be most likely needing higher dosages from now on, Nell hadn't missed the opportunity to ask.

"These are very specific meds. Are you sure that's right?" he asked skeptically before turning back to his patient. "These are very unusual symptoms for someone as healthy and strong as her. And her skin… Did something happen? Did somebody attack her…?" He swallowed and all color fled from his face. "Or could this be my fault? Is this because of the bullet?"

"What? No, of course not…"

"But there's a smell of old metal all around her," Bepo insisted, giving Savenna another sniff. "As if there are many tiny bullets sitting under her skin…It's just like when Captain was young. He had the same metallic smell about him before he got stronger…"

A few days earlier, Nell would have tried anything to get the First Mate off her back but now she remained silent, while Bepo reread the list of Pulmon's prescribed medication. "Wait a minute… These ingredients are used to dispel lead-based toxins." Something in the bear's face shifted. Then as if scared of what he would discover, his eyes wandered back to Savenna. "Poison."

His eyes grew so wide, Nell was afraid they would fall out. "Is this what they were arguing about?" Bepo's voice turned shrill. "Is she still sick with Amber Lead poisoning?!"

Nell knew this was the last moment to deny everything. Instead she gave a disarmed nod.

"But Captain was her doctor, I heard it from Penguin. He must have been able to help…" Nell shook her head and couldn't hide her disappointment when watching as Bepo try to solve the puzzle they had been working on for years. The First Mate didn't know anything about a cure.

This pushed Nell over the edge. The game had been going on for too long. She had no idea what had happened that night. The only thing she knew, was that something had made Savenna let go of her will to fight, and that without that she couldn't help her anymore. They needed more than a few shots and pills. She was aware that the bear could easily throw them off the ship, but she hardly cared anymore. Eyes set on her friend, Nell told Bepo everything.

Instead of growing upset, the bear listened attentively. At times he tried to hide his surprise, but didn't voice any outrage or accusation. Finally, he asked, "So you aren't real marines after all?"

"No. It's just a cover. We're pirates – at least we were raised by one."

Bepo pondered her words for a while. "Now I understand what that fight was about… Captain and she really want to trust each other but don't know how to do that," he observed before telling her about the argument.

So she did try honesty, Nell thought, remembering the look of utter regret in Savenna's eyes. And she had failed. Suddenly her annoyance for Savenna and her wariness of Law were dispelled by how sorry she felt for them. Wanting nothing more than the other's comfort and approval, they were too scared to ask for either.

Bepo had made two more runs to the infirmary and was silently watching over Savenna, who had fallen in an agitated sleep. "Why are you helping us?" Curled up in her hammock, Nell finally dared to ask. "We're just strangers and I guess at this point Law would have us walk the plank."

The bear hesitated, looking for the right words. "You aren't strangers. You helped us when we needed it. And then there's Captain. His past has been haunting him for a long time and there's nothing one of us could do about it. But Captain Silvers actually might…" He paused. "So maybe if we help her get better, he could finally heal too…"