GUYS, PLEASE ACCEPT MY APOLOGIES FOR NOT UPDATING FOR SO LONG! IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN WHY, YOU CAN READ THE NOTES! PLUS, JUST TO LET YOU KNOW, I'M SEARCHING FOR A BETA READER AND FOR SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO HELP ME CORRECT MY GRAMMAR MISTAKES IN CHAPTERS!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! WISH YOU ALL THE BEST!

AGAIN, I'M REALLY SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING FOR SO LONG!


After their chit-chat in the wood-shed, Luffy and Vivi headed for the psychiatry. Outside it was still raining mercilessly but the pair splashed through the wood for a couple of minutes.

Now they were standing in front of the white building and the raven-haired boy had his head slightly tilted back, so he could stare at the imposing construction without having his hoods obstructing his vision. Raindrops were fiercely hitting his pale skin, freely running down his small face.

Luffy's gaze was fixed at the entrance of the hospital. They were standing right at the bottom of the stone, grey staircase. There was a roofed platform before the enormous, double, steel doors. On top of the canopy, there was a board made of big letters, forming the superscription: "PSYCHIATRY - Branch of GolO Corporation's scientific department". The letters were rust-colored and barely standing up. At some point in the past, they were probably meant to be turned on and shine in the dark but the boy seriously doubted their efficiency, having in mind the metal rods and the torn armored cables that were pocking through the plastic surface of the inscription and pointing at the angry sky.

Luffy was like enchanted. It was the same as back then when he first set a foot in front of Ace's house.

The same ominous and menacing energy. The same dark atmosphere.

No, not the same.

Worse than before.

Back then he could feel it all around the place - it wasn't just about his brother's house. It was more about the whole town and especially the forest. But here… He felt as if this place - the building was the center of the ill-boding energy. There was something completely wrong with this place. He could feel it. Here lied something sinister and appalling enough to make the hairs all over his body straighten up.

"We going in?" asked Vivi, staring at the entrance and then shifting her blue eyes towards Luffy.

"Well…"

"What? You gathering courage?" said the ghost-girl with a cheeky smile and a devilish note in her voice.

The raven-haired boy instantly pouted. "O-of course, not. I-I was just, um.." A redness began to spread over the boy's cheeks.

Vivi laughed. "Come on, there is nothing scary."

Luffy nodded slowly. With a sigh, he began climbing the stairs. Vivi followed suit.

When they entered the building, Luffy gave himself a second to examine its interior. Well, there wasn't that much to be examined, though. Aside from the fact that literally, everything was white, there wasn't anything this outstanding.

They were standing at the beginning of an enormous hallway. On the left, less then 5 meters away from the couple, there was an old white desk, behind which was standing a middle-aged woman. Her black hair was securely tied in a painfully tight, steady bun at the back of her head just above the nape of her neck. She was wearing brown glasses and was typing something on a big computer that probably dated as far back as the Stone Age.

The floor consisted of a square, white tales that were cracked here and there or were missing a piece. Or a few. Nurses were hurriedly walking, seemingly not paying any attention to the new visitor. Some of them were scribbling in files cladded in black leather with a strange symbol at their back.

The walls were white too, as well as everyone's attire.

Strangely, no patients were to be seen.

Next to the white desk had been placed few metal chairs the surface of which had likely started to rust 20 years ago. Tetanus wasn't a thing after all. But, of course, not.

Along the hallway, there were few double doors again made of steel. There wasn't an elevator, but a big, stone staircase at the end of it.

Yup, this place was definitely if not from the Stone Age, from World War 2. Vivi had been right that no one gave a shit about those people. At the thought, Luffy felt how something in his stomach painfully clenched.

"Excuse me! The short brat, close the door!" angrily shouted out one of the nurses. Luffy blinked and shifted his eyes to her. The nurse was probably at the end of her 30's, with short, blond hair that looked as if it had been abused too much by curling irons and straighteners. She was staring expectantly at him while fixing her aunt glasses up her hooked nose.

"U-um, s-sorry…" murmured the boy and closed the door behind him. How rude, thought Luffy. He wasn't short.

"And what do you want, if I may ask?" spit the nurse out, eyeing him with annoyance. The boy opened his mouth but closed it, not knowing how to respond. He expected to have some time to think about what was he going to say.

"Are you dumb? I asked you a question!"

"U-um, I-I.."

"Well?" asked the woman, arching one of her grotesquely drawn, square, dark brown, eyebrows.

Luffy had suddenly become really nervous. He was looking down, playing with the hem of his black hoodie. The boy could feel how his back was becoming sweaty and his small, pale hands were starting to shake. The ball in his stomach was tightening up with every second. A drop of sweat rolled down his childish face.

"Hey," whispered Vivi gently in his ear. Luffy jumped up slightly and looked up. The ghost-girl had placed her delicate hand over his shoulder, leaning over it. "There's nothing to be worried about. Just explain to her why we are here, right?"

The boy nodded slightly and took a deep but shaky breath.

"So?" said the woman sharply, crossing her chubby arms over her bulky chest. Her uniform looked ready to split open and probably shoot someone with its middle button. "If you're going to beg for money, just leave right now, before I've called the security guard."

Luffy blinked and looked at her surprised. "What?" asked he, dumbfoundedly.

"Are. You. Here. To. Beg. For. Money!"

"U-um. I-I'm not," stuttered out the raven-haired boy. The nurse lifted her brow even higher and eyed him skeptically from head to toe. Luffy wiggled uncomfortably under her expectant, steely glance.

The boy looked at himself, wondering what was the problem.

Oh, well… He was literally soaked. From his hair, from his shoes, and from his clothes was dripping water, adding to the muddy puddle at his feet. His clothes were ripped at varies places thanks to the prickles from earlier. And let's not start with inadequacy of his choice of attire, having in mind that thin, red shorts were definitely not suited for such weather. Every visible piece of flesh of his body right now was scratched, covered in blood and mostly - in mud. His old trainers were dripping wet and looked ready to fall apart. Plus, there were some leaves and small branches stuck on his clothing.

Or long story short - he looked like a complete mess. And like a mendicant, according to the woman's words.

"U-um, I fell," blurted out the boy.

"You sure?" asked the woman with suspicion clear in her voice. Luffy nodded nervously. After a few agonizing and very awkward seconds, in which the nurse was staring at him with narrowed eyes, the woman turned around, "If you are here for a visit, hurry up. Visiting hours are at their end."

"I-I'm not h-here for a v-visit," said the boy with a shaky voice. The woman turned around harshly and fixed her sharp gaze on him. Luffy jumped up slightly and his eyes widened by the sudden movement.

The nurse opened her mouth and was just about to say something but Luffy decided to interfere before she has had the chance to scold him again, "I-I have a-a school project."

"A school project?"

"Y-yes."

"And what it is about?" asked the woman skeptically.

"W-well…"

"Say it's about the history of the hospital and that you have to make a presentation about one of the patients here," whispered Vivi in his ear. Luffy repeated her words and waited for a response.

"Hn. Well, can't you simply surf the Net for this?"

"I d-did it b-but I-I thought I would b-be able to learn s-s-something more interesting if I come here," answered the raven-haired boy, looking everywhere but in her estimating eyes.

The woman stared at him for a few more seconds, then said, "Interesting? About the patients, you mean?" Luffy nodded at this.

"And do you have someone in mind? Because we can't allow you to meet anyone if you are not a relative and the same goes about the information released about them."

"W-well, I-I was t-thinking about A-Alvida I. Mace," added the boy furtively and looked up to meet the woman's gaze. Something flashed through her eyes. The nurse's body language suddenly changed.

Luffy didn't miss that. Her features hardened and her whole body stiffened, her oiled with bright pink lipstick lips forming a tight and thin line.

Clenching her hands into fists, the blonde woman almost expectorated, "If it's about Alvida, you can go and ask the woman right there." With these words, she pointed at the middle-aged, black-haired woman at the desk. "Say her, Kairen sent you. Have a nice day," said she coldly and unemotionally, but yet, somehow… angrily.

Luffy blinked in surprise at the response and watched her turning swiftly around and walking away, her pink heels rapping over the ceramic tiles. "U-um thanks," mumbled the boy but she was already too far to hear him.

"Okay, this was strange," said Vivi, voicing his own thoughts out loud. Luffy nodded, "It sure was."

"But I guess it doesn't matter if she helped us."

Luffy nodded again and looked at the white desk at which the other nurse was working on. He started walking towards it, thinking of what he was going to say. When the boy reached it, succeeding in leaving wet and muddy stains all over the floor, he fixed his eyes on the woman and cleared his throat a little bit awkwardly.

The woman lifted her brown eyes. "Can I help you with something?" asked she politely and fixed her glasses. Luffy didn't miss the disapproving manner in which she eyed him from head to toe. Great. Everyone thought he looked like a miserable mendicant.

"U-um, y-yeah. Mrs. Kairen sent me to you s-so you c-can help with a-a s-school project of m-mine," answered the raven-haired boy nervously.

The nurse leaned backward in her chair and lifted a defined brow, "Kairen sent you?"

Luffy nodded.

"And what is this school project of yours about?"

The boy explained to her and while he was talking the black-haired woman had leaned forward, resting her pointy chin at the top of her intertwined hands. When Luffy finished, she was looking at him with a raised eyebrow and hummed in disbelief, "It's really not typical for her to be willing to share private information."

Luffy didn't know how to answer to this and just looked at his feet, taking hold of the hem of his raincoat and beginning to fumble with it.

A few seconds passed in which the woman was staring intently at him but in the end, she simply said, "Come with me."

The boy lifted his gaze and watched her standing up from her chair, the piece of furniture creating an awful creaking sound. The woman went past him, giving Luffy a full view of her attire that consisted of perfectly ironed, white shirt with long sleeves, black, knee-length skirt and brown shoes with small heels and round front part.

He followed her down the hallway, wondering if it was okay for her to just leave her work spot like this. They were walking in complete silence and no one spoke until they had climbed to the third floor and were walking slowly down its hallway.

"So what do you want to know?" questioned the black-haired nurse, when she had made sure there was no one around them.

"W-well, I-I wanted to k-know more a-about Alvida I. M-mace," rejoined Luffy hesitatingly in a low voice. The woman looked at him and her eyes were somewhat understanding and softer than before.

She hummed and averted her gaze to the front, "Alvida I. Mace, hm?"

The boy nodded, although the nurse wasn't really paying him much attention.

"How you probably already know she died 4 months ago."

"Y-yeah, s-she ran away from t-the hospital, f-fell from a cliff and b-broke her neck," stuttered Luffy, not feeling really comfortable about talking so openly about her death. The nurse snorted quietly at the last but nodded nevertheless. "That's true and maybe for good. What more do you want to know about her? I believe there was an article in the local newspaper about that story."

"W-well," started the boy nervously, stirring his shoulders and hands ill at ease. "W-what was s-she like when she was h-here?"

"What was she like?" repeated the woman with a bitter and a forced smile. She opened the door, leading to the balcony and stepped out, waiting for Luffy to do the same. When the boy was out, she closed it and went to the metal border.

The terrace was shielded by the concrete floor of the upper floor. It was fairly small and it was facing what seemed to be the hospital's grounds. There were piled up different things such as tables, chairs, some monitors, keyboards and etc. in front of both walls. In front of them was a rusted border on which were hanged up some brown, plastic stands for flowerpots but they were empty.

"She was a monster," said the woman, looking up at the sky. She was leaning forward and had placed her elbows at the top of the metal border.

Luffy shuddered at that and careful not to step over something, he went to stand next to her.

"She was what people would call unscrupulous and bloodthirsty. Everything bad united in one creature."

The raven-haired boy leaned forward too. "D-did she h-hurt anyone while s-she was a p-patient here? A-aside f-from w-when she has t-tried to run away?"

"Oh, yes. She had constant rampages. Every once in a while she would get out of control and would become, simply put, bloodthirsty. Like a wild animal - she would just want to kill everyone and everything that would get in her way," almost whispered the nurse. "You see there?" asked she and pointed at some place in the grounds.

Luffy looked in said direction. Because of the pouring rain, the boy couldn't see much. He narrowed his eyes and the most he could see was some trees with something wooden fixed into the ground. It was a…

"The cross?"

"Yes," answered the woman with a bitter smile. "We buried there one of the watchdogs that Alvida tore to pieces with her teeth."

Luffy stiffened at this. His eyes were wide. His red lips were slightly parted. He felt… numb.

"It was a normal day," started narrating the nurse. Her eyes staring unseeingly at the two wooden sticks that were being mercilessly hit by the raindrops. "A peaceful Thursday. Nothing unusual. Alvida had behaved almost the whole previous month and that's why the doctors decided to let her have a short walk in the grounds with one of the nurses. The nurse was a young girl. A probationer. I don't know how no one doubted there wouldn't be any problems."

"So they went out. Alvida only had handcuffs on, her muzzle was removed. She and the girl were walking close to the enclosure where some of the watchdogs were tied. Presumably one of them started barking at them. And that's when something clicked in Alvida. She hit the girl on the head, knocking her unconscious and charging at the dog. She bit of his head and disemboweled it. When the guards and the doctors arrived, it was already too late. They had to clean the grounds for weeks from pieces of flesh, blood and bones."

Luffy felt how his stomach overturned. He felt sick. The boy could sense the apple he ate earlier this day making its way up his throat. He felt light-headed and as if his legs couldn't hold him up.

The black-haired woman was watching him. "You need to sit down?"

Luffy shook his head slowly, too scared of any sudden movements.

The nurse eyed him from head to toe but in the end, simply let him be and looked forward. "Do you understand now why I said before that maybe her death was for the best?"

The boy didn't respond.

They stayed in silence. But, in reality, there wasn't any need for something to be said. Everything Luffy had heard just now was gruesome. There wasn't a different opinion on the topic.

It was true that he knew from before how she had hurt some of the doctors and the guards when she was trying to escape. But to know that it had been a regular occurrence…

Luffy looked up, fixing his eyes at the grave. He wondered how many people had been killed or maimed by her. Or how many animals of the matter. Then he remembered her estimating eyes. Her menacing smile - a promise for endless, painful tortures.

An angry knock at the glass door of the balcony forced Luffy out of his trance, making him jump up a little. The black-haired woman turned around, fixing her glasses.

A man in white overall opened the door and glared at both of them. "What are you two doing here!?" said he nearly shouting. "And Mrs. Laki, why there is no one at the reception? Do you want to get fired? Because if so, I can easily arrange it!"

"Excuse me, doctor, but I will politely decline your offer," answered Mrs. Laki with devilish notes in her voice and smugly slipped through the open door, making sure to rub her thigh teasingly against the man's leg. This only seemed to infuriate him more because he nearly growled at her, "Mrs. If I was you, I would apologize nicely and lay low from now on, if I want to keep my job."

The woman chuckled slightly, "I sincerely beg your pardon, Mr."

The man murmured something angrily but Luffy wasn't able to hear it.

"And you," hissed he, turning to glare at Luffy. The boy jumped up slightly, blushing scarlet from embarrassment. "What are you doing here? Visitors are not allowed here!"

Luffy opened his mouth to say something but couldn't come up with anything and this made him blush harder than before.

"U-um.."

"The child got lost," interfered Laki. The man shifted his gaze to look at her.

"And you brought him here, because?" questioned he sharply.

"Because I was showing him from where he has to go to reach Loguetown Highway. And then how to reach the first Taxi Stand."

The doctor looked at them and grunted out, "I want the brat out of here in 5."

Then he turned around and stormed off down the long hallway.

Laki chuckled again. "Isn't he a sweetheart?"

Luffy just fumbled with the hem of his hoodie embarrassedly. The woman eyed him from head to toe and smiled a bit.

"Come on," urged him Laki playfully. Aside from his… questionable appearance, she couldn't help but find the boy cute.

While they were walking towards the exit, Luffy murmured softly, "U-um, Mrs. Laki?"

"Hm?" vocalized the woman questioningly and slowed down her pace, glancing over her shoulder at the boy. Luffy looked up timidly to meet her gaze. There was something that had been bugging him from before.

"E-earlier, u-um.. You k-kind of r-reacted strange w-when I, u-um, m-mentioned A-Alvida's d-death." Hearing this, something flashed through Laki's eyes and she turned her head forward. "W-why was t-this?" asked the boy.

"You know… Alvida, she didn't exactly have many friends."