Despite saying he was going to leave, Toshiro wordlessly followed them back onto the Sunny, expression blank and stoic again. He refused to speak to anyone who tried until finally they just left him alone as they left the island, sitting in the library out of everyone's way. Hyorinmaru did not stay with him, but instead followed Trafalgar back into the submarine. He let the doctor be while he talked to Dextra about what happened on the island, but returned to him in the infirmary. His master may have given up, but the dragon was determined to return whole, if only so he could help save his partner from the fate he believed he deserved.

There was the issue of not understanding the Heartless, but thankfully Hyorinmaru was sentient, and fully capable of getting his message across in other ways. One such message was the small sized dragon jumping over to the samples of Stigma – at this point inert and looking a bit gray with the Heartless gone – and pointing at them with his tail, head tilting to suggest a question.

"I've already examined that where I could, it won't help." Law replied. "It's specific to the Heartless we fought since it had mushrooms growing on it, it's not made of the same substance as the Heartless itself."

Lifting a wing, Hyorinmaru let wisps of darkness rise from his form before blowing on it.

"Are you trying to point out it is the same?" The surgeon did his best to understand. The dragon nodded. "Perhaps… but comparing it to the bodies of the Heartless we captured showed it was different, unless the shadows you give off, and by extension those spores, take on a different property than the physical form."

Hyorinmaru turned back to the samples, tail waving slowly in thought. He didn't seem too sure either, so Law decided to just theorize out loud.

"There is definitely something that gives the darkness its shape, allows all of you to keep your sense of self even when hidden in a shadow. So there is the darkness itself, holding onto the heart, and something to hold it together… a malleable skin."

Hyorinmaru looked to the doctor expectantly, alert and attentive.

"If I can copy that 'skin' I might be able to hold onto the heart." Law turned to one of the last few Heartless prisoners from the crews they had captured, a new method in mind, Hyorinmaru leaping over to the table to observe. The normal barrier he kept around organs when removing them with Mes gave the impression that the organ was still part of the body, keeping both it and its owner alive but allowing him to freely manipulate it. However, the Heartless had no true body or organs. Removing its one part, the 'heart', caused it to lose its self and therefore its shape, and with no 'body' to cling to the 'heart' would vanish.

Now, changing the property of the barrier created by Mes was no easy task. It was a natural form it took upon using that technique, which essentially meant he needed to create a new technique to create the same results with a different medium. It was as he told Toshiro before; working with the non-physical was not his strong suit. The only technique he had that did such a thing was switching personalities in a body, as he had done to the Straw Hats. He wasn't switching personalities, however, he was merging them, so that technique alone wouldn't work.

"If I could figure out a way to combine Mes and the Personality Transplant…" Law muttered to himself as he created the Room around him.

While he manipulated his abilities on the Heartless, Hyorinmaru turned to look at the doors. He wanted to go tell his master how close they were… but he had made his choice, and until Toshiro came to his senses again, he would not go. He WAS worried, very worried… just like his instincts were stronger, making him more aggressive, his master seemed to be falling apart into the void of being a Nobody, losing more of himself each day. Hyorinmaru had greatly hoped the cheerful pirates could bring back the soul in his partner… but every time they made progress, something or someone pulled him away again. Toshiro was right about at least one thing; no matter what they tried, someone tried even harder to snuff out his happiness, and his resistance to it was beginning to break. Holding onto happiness as a Nobody was a difficult task when most of your memories held only negative emotions. He could feel joy in the moment, but it did not take much to lose it, and this was causing him to spiral further into despair.

The dragon's head lowered, his concern showing through like a sad puppy, and it caught Law's attention.

"Worried about your other half?" The surgeon guessed correctly.

Hyorinmaru's tail flicking through the air was his only response.

"You're both stubborn." Law said with a sigh, earning a glare from the ice dragon. "You're the only one he depends on, you know, when he first showed up he was desperately hoping to find you. Are you just going to let him sulk?"

Hyorinmaru gave an irritated snort, his spines sticking up in retaliation to the suggestion.

"Don't get huffy with me, you're the one who decided to abandon him." Law returned to his work even as Hyorinmaru growled at him. "It's going to be hard to put you two back together if you're acting like this. I know he's not himself right now, but compared to you he barely knows us, what are we going to do? If Robin couldn't get through to him after gaining his trust as she has, then you're his last hope." He paused as he thought about something. "Or maybe Straw Hat. That kid has a weird way with people."

Hyorinmaru went into thought while Law just shook his head and focused once more, the dragon wondering if he should recruit the bright and extroverted Captain into convincing his master away from his current thought path. Luffy was alarmingly similar to Sora, if a little denser. There was also the two women, Robin having some kind of bond with him, their situations similar, and Nami bearing a resemblance in many ways to Toshiro's ever loyal Lieutenant Rangiku. Dextra, as well, had grown close to him, a troubled soul just like Hinamori who just wanted to help him feel better.

These were all good choices, and now with a mission in mind, the dragon scrambled his way out of the infirmary.

"Hm, hopefully he's not off to cause trouble." Was all Law said before returning to the lesser Heartless.

Since he was on the submarine, Hyorinmaru looked for the young eagle girl first. The Heart Pirates stopped to look at the dragon oddly as he pranced through the halls in his search, ignoring them and sniffing her out. He found her chatting with her siblings in the galley, telling Thursday about their time with Shanks, Book and Daniel adding their bits in with excited faces. Thursday looked a little upset she didn't get to go, having been busy with chores as the oldest.

Their chatter came to a halt as Hyorinmaru jumped up onto the table.

"Hi Maru." Daniel greeted the dragon with a grin expected of a child.

Hyorinmaru still wasn't sure about this nickname of his, but felt there was no gain in reprimanding children, especially pirates. Instead, he plopped down in front of Dextra and motioned with his head towards the door.

"Do you have something to show me?" She questioned, curious.

It wasn't quite correct, but close enough to get her to follow, so he nodded and hopped back off the table. She shrugged in answer to the stares of the other three orphans before following the little dragon through the halls.

He led her outside of the submarine, lifting off and flying over to the Sunny. Confused, Dextra shifted into her wings and followed, returning to normal upon landing.

"Hey Dextra, something up?" Nami asked her, curious about her arrival.

"No idea, Maru wanted me to follow him for some reason, I thought he was showing me something."

"Was he? Oh…" Nami's attention was turned to the dragon himself as he hopped onto her lap in the chair she was lounging in. Once more he motioned with his head for her to follow. "Me too?"

He nodded.

Nami and Dextra shared confused glances. The navigator agreed hesitantly, standing, and the dragon rushed over to where Luffy was playing around with Usopp and Chopper while Brook played music. Seeing the skeleton, Hyorinmaru remembered the power of his music and added another to his list of people to grab.

"Oh, Maru!" Luffy, as always, greeted the dragon with enthusiasm. "Huh? What's up?"

"He says he wants you and Brook to follow him." Chopper spoke up. Hyorinmaru had gladly taken advantage of the reindeer being there to make it easier for them to understand what he wanted. "Oh? Me too? Oh, right, of course I'll translate!"

"What's all this about?" Brook asked curiously, wondering what the dragon was up to gathering specific people together, Usopp scratching at his head in confusion as he tried to understand as well.

"He'll tell us once we get Robin." Chopper answered after the dragon growled out his response.

"Ooh, mystery!" Not at all worried, Luffy cheerfully followed after the dragon in their growing group.

"Is this about Toshiro?" Dextra asked, recognizing the people Hyorinmaru was gathering together.

Hyorinmaru nodded to her but said no more, at least not that they could tell since Chopper didn't add anything.

"I'm going to guess an intervention." Nami sighed, but had a light smile on her face. It was sweet to see the pitch black, rather scary looking Heartless trying so hard to help his partner.

They reached Robin sitting quietly with a book up by her garden. She looked up curiously at their group, then back down to Hyorinmaru sitting proudly on her lap as their leader. With a smile she understood without any need for words, saving her page and setting the book down. Hyorinmaru returned to the ground but took a seat instead, ready to tell them his plan.

"He says he wants us to help his master snap out of it." Chopper, as Hyorinmaru's speaker, stated clearly, standing next to the dragon as they gathered around. "He thinks everyone here has something that reflects important people in his life he trusts and you might be able to get through to him."

"Toshiro knows someone like Luffy?" Nami questioned while said Captain looked excited about the mission. He did pout briefly at her, but his spirit never dampened.

"Someone named Sora is a lot like him, always positive and protecting his friends, he thinks that same energy might get through to Toshiro just like Sora was able to."

"This Sora guy sounds cool." The straw hat wearer grinned. "Do we get to meet him?"

"He says Sora and his friend Riku escaped a place called the dark realms, but he doesn't know where they went after that since he went looking for his master, he just knows they weren't there anymore."

"They're probably looking for him too, but they probably don't have a way to track him like you do." Robin patted the dragons head. Hyorinmaru oddly did not refuse the petting.

"He says he would have helped them, but he lost control of himself not long after and just blindly hunted after his master without remembering why, and since he doesn't know where they went he doesn't want to leave his master to look for them. So he hopes we can help instead since we've made friends with Toshiro."

"Fair enough, how would you like us to do that?" Robin questioned with a smile.

"Don't give up on him." Chopper translated, holding a hoof up as his version of a thumbs up. "Also Brook, he says the lullaby might help him, it's a song from his past life that he made, it might help relax him while everyone talks to him."

"Yoho! I am glad for my music to be of service!" Bringing up his violin, the skeleton set about playing the lullaby he had learned from the music box.

With the uplifting song flowing through the air, the four chosen followed Hyorinmaru over to the library where Toshiro had been hiding out the whole day, Chopper staying behind with Brook as his task was done.

"You don't think he'll get mad and try to freeze us, do you?" Nami asked those with her.

"Why would he do that?" Luffy returned with a question of his own, oblivious to such a possibility.

"Never mind…"

They stepped inside, Hyorinmaru choosing to rest on Dextra's shoulders for now, a bit concerned his master might be mad at him.

Toshiro, as had been usual all day, did not even acknowledge their presence. He stared blankly out the small window, knees up to his chest and barely moving. Since he didn't need to really breathe, he practically looked dead, a sight that made a few of them uncomfortable.

"Hey Snowy!" Luffy, ever the natural ball of sunshine, overlooked Toshiro's current state and greeted him with enthusiasm.

It worked at least, the loud noise spooking the Nobody out of whatever headspace he had been hiding in, oblivious to the world. He pushed himself back against the wall as if to escape, looking at Luffy with a surprised expression. Considering he could sense one's Spirit Energy, he shouldn't have been so easily startled by people right next to him.

"H-hi…" Still looking a bit surprised, this was all Toshiro responded with. It was the first thing he had said in several hours, though, so the group counted this as their first success. Leave it to Luffy.

"Was there something super interesting out the window?" Curious, the rubber man hurried forward and pressed his face to the glass, quickly disappointed when he only saw ocean all the way to the horizon. Toshiro meanwhile had scooted away to have his personal space back. "Aw, there's nothing out here."

"Of course not." Toshiro grumbled.

"Then why were you looking out the window?"

"I… wasn't." Discomfort coming back, Toshiro looked away from the confused rubber man.

"He was lost in thought, Luffy." Nami explained to her Captain.

"Well don't get lost then." This Luffy said to Toshiro with a stern expression, as if trying to be a knowing parent. Toshiro could only look confused. "Nami's a good navigator, she keeps us from getting lost, ask her for directions."

"Why are you all even here?" Deciding Luffy was too much of a nuisance to deal with right now, Toshiro turned to the others for answers. He spotted Hyorinmaru on Dextra's shoulders, coming to a realization before Nami explained it out loud.

"Your dragon asked us to talk to you." She said.

He looked at the dragon accusingly, eyes narrowed. Hyorinmaru stared calmly back, confident in his plan. Brook's music began to flow through the room, more noticeable as Luffy wasn't yelling. The Nobody was surprised, but did not relax just yet.

"You haven't eaten since last night; you should join us for dinner." Dextra stepped forward shyly as she offered her idea.

Toshiro turned away instead, choosing not to answer.

"Oh come on now, don't make us drag you out." Nami crossed her arms with a huff, not liking his attitude. "If Sanji realizes you're not eating he'll stuff it down your throat."

"If you'd like, I can get Chopper to make some more of his watermelon candies for dessert." Robin added on in a nicer tone. Toshiro didn't seem to react to the bribe, though Hyorinmaru looked up at her eagerly.

"Did you get lost again?" Luffy waved his hand in front of the Nobody as he continued to ignore them. This earned him an icy glare, but the rubber man was not one to back down. "Oh! I know! We should go fishing!"

"You just want to out-fish Maru still." Dextra pointed out.

"Then I'd just ask Maru, I'm asking Snowy." Luffy argued back with a pout. "Maru cheats!"

Said dragon stuck his tongue out at the Captain.

"Hey!" Always one to rise to a challenge, Luffy jumped to his feet. "If me, Usopp and Snowy work together we can totally out-fish you!"

Hyorinmaru lifted his head in challenge to that bet, doubting they could ever match his catches since he had far more freedom in the water and could get far bigger to match his prey.

"Luffy, at some point he's going to eat you." Nami snapped at her Captain. "But how about you, Toshiro? Want to challenge your dragon at fishing? I bet you could get more than these idiots with your power over water."

"Or we could race again!" Dextra spoke up excitedly. "I've never gotten to fly so fast before, it was amazing!"

"Yeah, that was awesome! Hey Maru, could I fly on you?" Luffy had an excited glint in his eyes. It was quickly gone as Hyorinmaru gave an indignant snort; as if he would ever let anyone else ride on him. "Aw, come on, don't be so stubborn!"

Though they were asking him questions, the group seemed content to chatter amongst themselves about various ideas to get the Nobody outside and doing something again. Toshiro himself just watched the interactions quietly, the music barely heard over their chatter but still soothing, a welcome relief to his tired mind. As he listened to their conversations, watched Hyorinmaru interact with them like a close friend despite his current nature as a Heartless, saw their eagerness to help him despite everything he had said to them… he couldn't help a small smile. It felt so… homely. That was the only way he could describe it. The light bickering, the acceptance, the personalities, they all reminded him of the rare few times he was content and satisfied with himself, and of the rarer moments of actually feeling like he belonged.

He still wasn't really sure if the mentality he had was his full belief or the darkness still messing with his head. With the way his society was, taking his own life only felt natural if it meant his enemies couldn't get their hands on the power they wanted to destroy everything. To him it just made sense. It was an easy answer.

And yet, it felt so wrong. There was a nagging inside his head that said it wouldn't help, and he once again wasn't sure if it was his own thoughts or was just the feelings from those around him causing him to doubt his convictions. He really did want to live… he wanted to win… but could he? That was his biggest fear, to try his best and work so hard only to play right into their hands. He didn't want to be responsible for any further deaths.

He was brought from his thoughts as a weight landed on his knees. Focusing back on those around him, he realized Hyorinmaru had jumped on him, looking disgruntled, icy spikes ruffled.

'Tell them I don't want any more ridiculous armors or garments, they continue to pester me!' The dragon complained, turning a glare on Nami and Luffy, the pair grinning back.

"What are you two trying to put on him?" Toshiro asked them, confused by his dragon's request.

'They want me to wear ridiculous outfits!' Hyorinmaru reiterated, clearly annoyed.

"We just had some ideas to make him look super awesome for when he flies into a battle!" Luffy gave his version of the answer, eyes gleaming.

"Or maybe something cute." Nami countered with a tone like talking to a pet dog. Hyorinmaru snarled.

"I was thinking something to accent his spikes and teeth to look fiercer." Robin kept the ideas flowing, Dextra just giggling off to the side.

"Obviously you should put him in a samurai style, we're Japanese." Toshiro shot back at them.

'Master!?' The Heartless looked at him in betrayal.

"That's a great idea!" Luffy exclaimed. Without any warning he grabbed the startled dragon and hurried off outside to tell Franky and Usopp of the idea. A startled shout moments later told them he'd gotten frozen before he could make it over, and Hyorinmaru rushed back in to get away, hurrying over to hide behind his master.

"Thought you would have liked my suggestion." Toshiro said to the ruffled dragon with a chuckle. He had picked the samurai style as it wasn't too far off from what Hyorinmaru wore in his human form.

'I am a dragon! I have no need for stifling garments!' The Heartless huffed an icy breath of anger at him.

Since all they saw was the pouting huff, the girls still in the room all laughed.

Thankfully, it seemed their plan had worked, though ending with Hyorinmaru being angry at Luffy for the next few hours, bristling and hissing if the Captain tried to approach. Only Chopper's treats could soothe the Heartless. His master at least was no longer hiding, and spoke no more of leaving in any sense, finally eating with them again. There was still a withdrawn look to his expressions, but he was coming back, and that was the best progress yet.

Some were concerned how long it would last.

Hope everyone was well over the holidays, have some wholesome stuff.