The doors to the infirmary opened quickly, Law looking up with a frown to whoever burst inside. He was busy, who managed to hurt themselves this time?
He was quite surprised to see the white-haired child, unconscious and panting heavily with a heated look to his skin, being carried in Heinrich's arms with Dextra beside him.
"What happened?" He questioned.
"He's overheating." Dextra answered quickly.
"Impossible, it hasn't even gotten that hot in here." Law countered. He was aware of how the ship rose in temperature while submerged, it tended to make him uncomfortable as well, but he'd never had anyone overheat.
"He was complaining about it earlier, too." Heinrich added. He obliged when their Captain motioned for the boy to be set down on the bed. "His fever doesn't even feel all that high."
Law grabbed a thermometer and placed it in the boy's mouth just to be sure. Once it beeped he removed it and frowned. Barely high enough to be called a fever, he'd still have his men working if that's what it was at. Yet, here was this child, unconscious and breath coming short and hard as if he was burning up with something bad. However he looked at it, Toshiro was dangerously close to a heat stroke, but except for his reaction there was no indication it should be there, nor was there any reason for it.
"Dextra, get to the bathroom and fill the tub with ice water." He ordered, working off a theory. The boy wasn't a Devil Fruit user, but he had a power over ice. Could that be affecting his body?
"Are you sure, Papa?" The young girl asked, a little worried.
"He'll be fine, go." He put some ice from the little freezer in the infirmary in a small bag before placing it on Toshiro's forehead, not putting a towel around it as one would for others. The boy moved towards it almost eagerly, seeking out the cold.
That was all the evidence Dextra needed as she rushed off to do as ordered. Not sure what he could do, Heinrich just went with her to help. Now alone in the infirmary with the odd child, Law examined him a little closer. The huge scar was quickly noticed. It was deep, very deep, just barely missing the heart and any other vitals. Straight down through the left shoulder and ending just above the left hip. Curious, Law moved to that side and carefully lifted the small frame to look at his back. His eyes widened.
The scar went all the way through.
Toshiro should for all intents and purposes be missing his entire arm and part of his side. There were actually lots of scars across the tanned skin, not so bad as that one but still ones a child shouldn't possess. Plus, his body was built like that of a seasoned fighter; it almost reminded him of Pirate Hunter Zoro except leaner. There was something definitely odd about this boy.
"Just what are you…" The surgeon muttered to himself.
Toshiro stiffened suddenly, jaw clenched, a fear reaction. Nightmare? Well with a scar like this one there had to be something horrifying behind it, Law couldn't really blame him.
"Papa, it's ready." Dextra poked her head in.
Law nodded and picked up the small figure, trying to ignore the hoarse whimper and attempt to squirm away, carrying him towards the bathroom. Inside he set the overheating body into the icy water, watching carefully to see what would happen.
The ice darkened and more of the water started to freeze, frost climbing up the walls in a blackish tint. Law took a step back, keeping Dextra and Heinrich behind him. The temperature of the room itself had suddenly dropped dramatically and the children shivered, dressed for the heat of the submerged sub and not this sudden iciness. Toshiro was still panting, but it didn't look like it was the heat anymore. The frozen darkness was continuing to spread, shadows beginning to lift off the boy's skin. The more darkness there was, the more panicked in his sleep Toshiro looked.
"Wh-what's happening?" Heinrich gaped. He'd never seen anything like this.
Neither had Law, who could only to continue to watch with wide eyes.
There was a struggle within the boy's mind. Once unconscious, the darkness was quick to seep in, surround him, whisper quietly to him with the intent to drown him into the nothingness. He resisted, but the fear kept it reaching, made it continue to follow him. He screamed at it, wanting it to go away, refusing to fall. He would not give in!
A comforting cold settled in around him, calming him down. Slowly the darkness retreated, as did the darkness on his body and in the ice, and he felt like he could breathe again, returning to consciousness to get away from it for sure. The cold turned out to be the water around him, and for a moment he relished in the comfort. Slowly he opened his eyes, vision a little blurry still, seeing unfamiliar surroundings. The panic started to rise again, making him tense, prepared to use the water around him to attack.
Unaware of this, Law moved forward again and cautiously nudged the smaller figure on the shoulder with his hand.
Toshiro snapped to alertness, the water sloshing as he shifted away from the touch as quickly as possible, the temperature going deathly chilly and the frost spreading further. Dextra gave a squeak as the ground became slippery and caused her to stumble, Heinrich catching her and backing them both up. Law had to put a hand on the wall to keep his own balance, never letting his gaze leave the child as teal eyes zeroed in on him dangerously, prepared to kill if needed. That instinct came from a life of constant danger, the doctor was well aware of that, had a personal experience with it. That's why he knew not to look away even for a moment until the boy came to his senses.
A thick silence stretched on. It took a while for Toshiro to recognize the tall figure he was staring at, Law not wearing his hat right now and the coat he had before gone, the short-sleeved shirt showing more tattoos. He started to relax, the frost dispersing and the temperature going back up.
"Any lower and you could have given us hypothermia." Law commented, seeing the boy start to calm down.
"You're lucky I didn't freeze you completely." Toshiro shot back. Considering the amount of ice in the room he clearly had another episode, he wondered what all happened while he was out and being threatened by the nothingness in his mind. The two children that he noticed were still in there with them were staring at him in awe and an equal amount of fear. He thought he'd be used to it, as his childhood had been full of those stares, but he still flinched and shrunk away from their gazes. He hated being feared, he hated being seen as a freak.
"Just what are you?" Law broke him out of his bad memories, tone suspicious.
"A lost traveler with a very odd power." The boy answered evasively.
"Now is not the time for lying." Golden eyes narrowed dangerously.
"I'm not lying." And that was truth, if very general and leaving out a lot. His gaze never left the other's, firm and unyielding. "I apologize for my actions."
"How come you overheated so quickly?" Law asked instead, understanding he wouldn't get anything from direct questioning. The boy was clever.
"My powers give me a naturally lower body temperature so that I'm accustomed to the chill. As a result I'm very sensitive to heat." Toshiro answered easily. No point hiding that little detail now, he'd planned to tell the man before when his body had beat him to it and knocked him out. Luckily the surgeon knew what to do, the ice bath was very comforting.
"I would say you should have told us, but you clearly had no idea the submarine would heat up while submerged."
"I have never been on one before so yes. Otherwise I would have mentioned it."
The two now in agreement, the tension eased up a bit. Law was still suspicious, but he felt asking about the darkness he saw was not a good idea with the children here. Toshiro looked uncomfortable with them right now, probably due to their fearful looks.
"You two, head back to bed, I'll keep an eye on him for now." He told them.
They didn't argue, shuffling out, though Dextra did throw back a worried glance. For which one of them, they weren't sure. Once the door closed the surgeon turned back to Toshiro, watching for a moment as the boy picked up a few pieces of the blackened ice with a frown.
"You said your power used water in the atmosphere and turned it to ice." Law spoke up, catching his attention.
"Yes." Teal eyes looked up warily at the tall figure, wondering what he was getting at.
"Then why was darkness coming off of you as well?"
The boy's eyes widened, both in surprise and fear – the latter made Law frown – before cursing under his breath.
"That's…complicated." Toshiro said, putting a hand up to his chest, over his heart. Or, well, where his heart was supposed to be. "I'm in a bit of a situation…if I'm not careful the darkness will consume me and I will cease to be myself."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Law questioned. "Is it a sickness?"
"Not a normal one, and it won't spread, so don't worry. Though…I definitely shouldn't stay long, it's hard to control it."
"Is there a way to get rid of it?"
"Not anymore…" The boy gave a little huff, his gaze turning sad as he looked back at the dark ice. "I lost that chance recently."
Law went silent for a moment, thinking. Just what happened to this kid?
"I'll be out of your way at the next island, I promise." Toshiro finally moved to get out of the water, sufficiently cooled off for now. "Though if it's not too much trouble, I'd like to ask if you could keep ice ready until then, should the heat get to me again."
"You'll be hard pressed to find anyone else willing to carry you around the New World." Law pointed out, mirroring what the children had earlier told Toshiro.
"I'll take my chances." He was eager to get away, already knowing the other would make attempts to keep him around, figure him out. Toshiro couldn't let that happen.
"How exactly did you get here in the first place?" Law asked instead.
The Nobody flinched a bit, though he hid it well. This area was clearly a very dangerous place, full of murderers and violent weather, nearly impossible to travel. Yet here he was, right in the middle, with absolutely no clue about his surroundings, unaware of the danger and how hard people worked to even make it this far. A big red flag to anyone smart enough that Toshiro didn't belong, and this Captain was very smart.
"I took chances." Toshiro replied vaguely.
"Somehow coming all the way here without a single bit of knowledge of how?" Law crossed his arms, already on track to cornering the boy.
"When you're running away you don't particularly pay attention to where you're going at first."
"And what are you running from that you'd run blindly into the most dangerous part of the world?"
A thick pause settled between them, Toshiro's back to the taller figure, clearly tense, perhaps even irritated if the slight chill was anything to go by, a warning. After a moment the temperature settled down again to normal and the Nobody's shoulders fell a bit in resignation. Law waited, interested.
"I'm running from the only people who could help me…because I may end up killing them instead."
The doctor asked no more, letting the white and black haired figure walk away this time, silent. The words were heavy with depression, Law didn't need to be a genius to notice that, and pushing any more than that may just get him frozen, so he wisely stopped there. That was plenty for now anyway. He still hadn't really confirmed anything, but he found something useful about the boy's character, something he may be able to use.
Toshiro wasn't the only one afraid to hurt the people who wanted to help him.
The small figure decided to keep away from the other children for now. When he thought about the fearful glances the two had cast him…he bit his lip; he was sure he'd gotten over it by now, but even in his emotionally lacking state it hurt, hurt to be seen as a monster, a freak. The darkness whispered sweetly to him, promised freedom from his torment if he did as it asked, but he shut it away forcefully, refusing to listen. He could not give in, could not lose himself, because then he really would be nothing.
He let his Spiritual Pressure out a little more than normal, trying to keep the area around him moderately cool to avoid another collapse. With the heat countering his cold, he didn't have to worry about freezing anything, and that meant he didn't have to try and hold it all in, an action that could render him immobilized as his body was wracked with intense pain from the pressure building inside. He'd seen such a thing happen once, had almost done it to himself, and it was something he would prefer to avoid around the living.
He wandered the halls, trying to find a place empty of people, a place no one would stumble upon him should his ice spread in his sleep despite the heat. If he hurt anyone on this ship, they would either try to kill him or dump him in the ocean, and while he felt certain he could survive both cases, he didn't want to deal with that so soon after escaping a battle for his life and many others.
Eventually he came across the galley, long since emptied of people. Well, it would be left alone until morning, whenever that came underwater, so he settled in by one of the windows up against the wall. He'd slept against worse, so it wasn't terribly hard to go to sleep. He managed to dive into his Inner World to avoid the claws of darkness, and while it wasn't a true sleep, may leave him tired through the next day, it gave him peace for the night. A lonely, silent peace that so easily could be shattered.
His odd sleep was just deep enough he didn't wake when a small pair of feet shuffled up to him and the figure they belonged to settled him more comfortably on the floor, giving him a pillow but forgoing a blanket since they knew he wouldn't want it, he was already sweating just a bit despite how the room was colder than everywhere else. Then they left him to sleep, returning to their own room with the others, hoping he didn't notice.
"Where was he?" A voice whispered as the figure returned to their bed.
"In the galley, far away from everybody." She whispered back. Dextra had been the one to go check on their guest, and it was Heinrich still up asking about him. The other three were still asleep, having barely stirred when everything was happening. They would be told in the morning when they woke and realized their guest wasn't among them, leaving just his coat with them. Dextra had wanted to take that to him, too, but with his body temperature he wouldn't want it right now.
"Shouldn't we bring him back?" The eldest continued.
"I don't think he would like that, let's just give him space. Papa let him leave so we probably shouldn't bother him."
"But what if he overheats again?"
"He made the room colder just being in it, I think he'll be fine now."
The older boy gave a hum as if not convinced, but settled down and let it be anyway. The odd child was definitely going to need to be watched, there was something about him unlike anything they had ever seen, dangerous and powerful, but currently not completely controlled. Forcing answers could end with bad results.
Dextra felt bad, bad for reacting the way she had, of fearing him the way she had. She could tell Heinrich felt the same due to his concerned questioning. When Toshiro hadn't returned soon after she left with Heinrich, she knew he probably wouldn't and so had sought him out, pillow in hand. She felt a little better after helping him, but there was still that guilt, feeling like she had been the one to drive him away from the room, to seek isolation from everyone. Was he always like that? Did he always avoid others once they knew of his powers? Where did he come from to bear such horrifying scars and stiff expression, to seem so empty? There was so much to ask, but it clearly pained him to think about it, making it hard.
For instance, what was the darkness clinging so tightly to him? That was what she had been afraid of, not him. There was something desperately clawing away at him, probably driving him insane, a constant nightmare. That darkness was a scary force she definitely had no wish to mess with, but she felt bad for him…she knew what it felt like to be plagued with horrors night after night, far away from safety. That brief moment of fear in his eyes when Papa had touched him was something she understood, the half-awake state that covered reality for a moment with terror. She wished she could help him, could give him an anchor as her family had done for her when they rescued her. Perhaps then he would trust her and tell her what happened, tell her what curse was torturing him so.
Tonight, though, she would leave him alone. He didn't know them, hardly, and the help of a stranger wasn't always welcome. Something like this needed time. She'd seen many broken people, was one of them, her and her 'siblings', her and her 'Papa'. But this one…this one was going to be hard to fix.
Because even she could tell there was an outside force that was right now, every second, trying with all its might to break him until nothing was left behind of the person he was.
"Poor guy…"