Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. Any original characters in this story belongs to me.

It was almost noon when Sera and Reggie finally made it the forest on the outskirts of town. It had taken a while to find directions to the traveler's home and for Sera to recover from her hangover. (She had vomited in an alley and proceeded to take a nap in a park bench, giving up her share of frittata to Reggie, who had taken it as his job to make sure his sister didn't embarrass herself even more.) Sera took another half hour to muster up the courage to enter the seemingly peaceful forest.

She should have taken the long way around instead of the straightforward path.

Most organisms in a forest were relatively safe to handle. Squirrels were cute and harmless. Bugs weren't a problem since they were tiny and could be squished under her foot. Lizards were typically small in these types of forest, which wasn't that big nor thick. Even wild dogs and potential bandits weren't a problem; she had her hammers strapped to her back to defend against any attackers.

However, there was one animal that Sera couldn't stand. And one of them was meowing with a mischievous tone, as if casting a spell to make that branch Sera was perching on to break so she would fall and break her skull.

Sera wasn't sure why cats were even labeled as animals when they were demons sent to the surface to make her life hell. The black cat was the worst. They were bad luck and everybody knew it. There was a collar around that cat's neck, too. She pitied whoever owned that damn black cat, for that person would have a short life.

Why did it seem like that cat's eyes were digging right into her skull? Her headache seemed to have gotten worse from the stare. Sera refused to look down and continued hugging the tree trunk like a koala. The rough bark was scratching the palms of her hands, her knuckles turning pale. There were some ants crawling in front of her face and she had to be careful not to inhale them with how heavily she was breathing.

"Sis, the cat won't do anything!" Reggie called out. "Get down from there!"

"No," she said in a strained voice. "This tree is actually pretty friendly and the ants are quite fun to watch."

She heard Reggie sigh. Various types of material clashed—candy wrappers and paper crumbling, metal clinking, fabric rustling. Reggie had always worn giant pockets to keep his junk in. Sera wasn't sure why he kept a lot of junk in his pockets. It was usually her that had to clean them out during laundry day and it wasn't fun.

There was a rustle of a plastic bag being opened and Reggie began talking in a playful tone. "Come here. Look, I have some tuna-flavored cat treats…. Go and catch it!"

Small footsteps dashed away until it was out of earshot. Sera slowly looked down and saw Reggie glaring up at her. "Is it gone?" Sera asked, her cheeks turning pink.

Reggie nodded. Sera sighed out in relief and came down from the tree. She swatted the ants off her clothes, although it felt as if ants were still crawling up her spine. Her throat was dry and her body shook. What would happen? She'd trip and fall on her face or maybe hit her head on a rock? Or maybe she would fall into a cold lake. Or break her arm. Or Reggie would find out that she had stolen a few cans of beer from the inn and kept it safely hidden in her bag for the near future.

A sharp slap to the arm snapped her back to reality. It didn't hurt, but Sera cradled her hand to her chest and frowned.

"Nothing bad is going to happen," Reggie said. He stuffed the cat food into one of his jacket's many pockets. "Sis, don't you think you should have agreed to those therapy sessions that Doc had offered before? It's annoying having to always carry cat food. It takes too much space in my pockets."

Her eyebrow twitched. "How about you throw away the junk instead? Ninety-nine percent of the stuff inside is trash anyways." She paused and then yelled, "I don't need therapy! My fear of cats is reasonable!"

Sera wasn't sure why she and her brother were having this conversation in the first place. They had it dozens of times already. Reggie seemed to realize this, for he just sighed and shook his head as if he was the older sibling lecturing the younger. That only irked Sera even more.

She didn't say anything, though, and continued down the trail that the townsfolk had said will lead up to Ralph's home. Something was going to go wrong, because something always does after a cat comes by. That thought almost made her want to turn back.

They were resorted to hunting. After finishing breakfast and taking a nap, Law had Bepo drag Shachi and Penguin back to the submarine. The rest of his crew were getting through brunch with whatever food they had left and by the looks of it, it was the food supplies that they had brought the day before. That itself wasn't much.

Law should have gone to his room for a nap to ease his hangover, but he doubted he would be able to sleep in the silence and with caffeine in his system. Not to say that the galley was any better, although he knew his crew was trying to keep the volume down. Shachi and Penguin were talking about the drinking contest from the night before. Bepo even pitched in at the end and mentioned the woman's cooking. This, of course, led to shouts of dismay towards Law from his two mechanics.

Lowering his coffee mug from his lips, Law raised an eyebrow at the two mechanics who decided to lean into his personal bubble. Shachi and Penguin were sporting giant frowns and Law could imagine the attempt of kicked-puppy look in their eyes…if he could see their eyes.

"It was good," Law said with a shrug, knowing that they were wondering why he didn't save any food for them. "You know the rules."

They sighed in unison and shrank back to their seats. "First come, first serve," Shachi grumbled.

"But that's just cruel, Captain, having such a cutie-chan cook for you," Penguin said as he stabbed a piece of scrambled egg. "Must be better than this tasteless crap. Dominick mistook sugar for the salt again."

Shachi nodded. He looked ready to hurl. "Captain is too lucky."

Law sighed and shook his head. "You remember the face of that girl, but you don't remember anything else."

They shrugged. "She was hot."

"You think every woman is hot," Bepo said bluntly, sending the two an accusing look. The two mechanics glared at him and Bepo immediately turned sorrowful. "I'm sorry."

Law honestly didn't want to continue talking about the woman. There was no point. He stood up and Bepo followed his lead, grabbing Law's nodachi. Shachi and Penguin got up as well to toss their breakfast in the trash, which was already overflowing with rotting failures.

"Man, I don't feel like hunting," Penguin said as he rubbed his temple.

"Oh, suck it up. It's better than going hungry," Shachi said. He grabbed some rope and sacks to carry any of their game. "I wonder if we'll get lucky and find some deer?"

"Does it matter? It will all taste like crap with the way these people cook." Penguin jabbed a thumb behind him at the people in the galley. Immediately, a large spoon was smashed into the back of his head, sending him face-first onto the tabletop.

"Like you can cook any better! At least I don't burn the food!" shouted Dominick, one of the mechanics of the submarine. He lit his cigarette as he glared down at Penguin.

"It's a miracle you haven't, you damn pyromaniac!" Penguin shouted as he nursed the growing bump on the back of his head.

"What does that mean?"

The rest of the Heart Pirates began crowding around, anticipating the growing fight. If his crew was acting like this around their captain, then there was no doubt that his crew was a bit restless from the lack of action following their recent stunt that gave Law his bounty. The shouting was becoming louder and the crew started to cheer. Law's head was starting to ache again from the noise.

Slowly, Law grabbed his nodachi and walked up right beside the wresting mechanics. Before they even realized him there, Law knocked their heads with the butt of his sword's hilt, sending them to the floor. His crew snapped back to their places, acting as if they haven't been encouraging a fight.

Law sighed again. He tolerated them far too much.

"Come on," he said as he walked away from the two figures on the floor. "We don't have time to deal with this childish nonsense unless you want to confront the Marines on empty stomachs."

"We're sorry," Penguin and Dominick muttered as they nursed their wounds. Shachi snickered at them.

"Everybody." His crew sat up in attention. "Don't slack off."

"Aye, Captain!"

The house was big, to put it quite simply. An elegant mansion stood at the base of the mountain with a tall iron gate painted gold surrounding the house about a fifth of a mile around. Within, the wildlife had been cut down and replaced with topiary and a waterfall pond. Different grass from the wild was planted and flowered vines wrapped around stone statues. It was like the owner tried to separate his house from the wild as much as possible.

Sera placed a hand on the gate and scratched off a piece of the golden paint. Was the gate necessary? From what she had seen, there were hardly any beasts that someone would have to worry about attacking, unless he wanted to protect his foliage. These types of gates weren't even good enough to keep thieves away, with how it barely reached above Sera's head and the gaps between each bar wide enough for Reggie to slip through.

There were no guards or an intercom to speak into. Sera pushed the gate and it slid open without even the slightest of creaks. She and Reggie shared a glance. What was the point of a gate if it was unlocked?

"I guess he's welcoming?" Reggie said with a shrug.

It took five minutes to get to the front door. No traps popped up at them from the topiaries nor did any cats show up. The porch was decorated with antique-looking wall hangings and odd little statues of people and beasts. One in particular was of a human with downward-pointing wings and antenna hair, her arms carrying shells. Sera narrowed her eyes. She had never been to the sky islands, but from what she had been told, that statue was inaccurate. Birkan wings on a Skypeian?

Sera grasped the doorknocker and slammed it against the mahogany three times. It was a deep, resounding sound, followed by a long moment of silence. A bird chirped from its perch on a tree and Sera knocked again.

This time, there was the sound of sliding of wood and the siblings looked up to see a pair of eyes looking down at them through a sliding peephole. The peephole was almost a foot above them, very close to the top of the door, and Sera wondered if the man can even see them.

"Step back so I can see you," he said in a deep, gruff voice.

They stepped back, although not without hesitation. The man, possibly middle-aged with the signs of wrinkles around his beady eyes, stared at them like a hawk. After a minute, he spoke again.

"You are here to see Master Geronimo?"

Sera nodded. "Yes. Is he here by any chance?"

He hummed. His eyes darted up and down her figure. "You don't seem like a thief. If you are here to join Master's harem, then you have a lot of competition. We don't keep kids, either."

…

What?

Reggie choked while Sera's eyes slightly widened. Did Sera hear correctly? Already, she can imagine the type of guy she was going to have to meet and her mouth turned bitter.

"I think you misunderstood," Sera said in an attempt to be polite. "I did not come here to join your master's...harem. I merely want to talk to him about his adventures."

"Oh, I see. You are a fan of Master Geronimo's travels! Come in. Master had just finished eating lunch and he loves talking to his fans."

The peephole was then shut. Reggie muttered, "This better be worth three years of labor, Sis."

As if he needed to say that.

The door swung open. Sera and Reggie's eyes stayed on the level of the peephole, but then trailed down when they didn't see the man. Their eyes continued trailing down until they had to bend their heads and they barely managed to hold back the surprise from showing on their faces.

The old man had a giant block head that was highly disproportionate to his tiny stature, shorter than even Reggie who barely reached Sera's waist. His chin was low enough to reach his chest.

"Come in," he said, his gruff voice contrasting heavily with his appearance. His face scrunched up as if he was constipating. "Master Geronimo does not like to be kept waiting."

He led them inside, where he had instructed Sera to leave her weapons and bag near the door before grabbing her jacket and hanging it on a coat hanger. Reggie shook his head when the man offered to take his jacket, which the man just sneered at, no doubt thinking that the jacket was too unfit to be inside the house.

At least, Sera thought that was the case with how expensive the place looked. The entrance alone was enough to make her feel shabby in her ripped jeans, long sleeve, and vest. The mansion seemed bigger in the inside than it did outside, with smooth tile floors and white platforms holding sculptures and ceramic art, like an art museum. Paintings and other items decorated the walls and Sera spotted a few masks here and there. The block-headed man led them to a living room that smelled like chamomile tea and cheap perfume. The first thing she noticed when they entered was the stuffed head of a sea king on top of a glass door facing a garden and the mural of a world map on that same wall. Her eyes followed the strip of ocean in the center and how it connected to the twin strips of land that separated the four seas. There wasn't room for another ocean with that map.

That was what many said, anyways.

Reggie stepped a bit closer to Sera and sneezed. Giggles made her turn her attention away from the map and towards a bright red love-seat where a man was sitting at with six women surrounding him. The man was blonde and had bright blue eyes that studied Sera's figure. He was dressed in only silk pants, showing off his toned torso. He was handsome, almost like a prince, which only meant that he was probably a snob. Already, the doubt she had been harboring about the credibility of the alleged traveler grew. How could a man, who was not much older than her, been to so many places in the Grand Line during his young adult years?

The six women were eyeing her warily, although a few gave her smug looks, as if saying, "This girl doesn't stand a chance." They were in scanty dresses of different colors, faces coated in makeup, and long hair that probably took hours to curl. One woman was feeding the man grapes, the other messaging his shoulders, while the rest laid either at his feet or sitting on any free spot on the couch.

The block-head really wasn't kidding about the harem.

"Who is this young woman, Gregory?" said the man, voice smooth but higher than what Sera would have thought.

"She is a fan of your adventures, Master," the block-head said. "She came to hear your stories in person."

A wide smirk erupted on the man's face and he tilted his head back to laugh. "Is that so? It's been a long time since someone had come to hear my great tales. Well, sit down and have some tea…?"

"My name's Sera. And this is my brother, Reggie," Sera said.

"And I am Geronimo Ralph, but please call me Ralph." He then eyed Reggie with a blank look. "Gregory, how about you show this young boy the garden? You know my policy with kids."

Sera and Reggie glanced at each other. Ralph waved a hand and said, "Little kids cannot fully comprehend my magnificent stories and they can't sit still long enough to try."

"Hey!" Reggie shouted. Sera narrowed her eyes at the blonde.

"Oh, such a nasty look, Sera-chan," Ralph said. He started running his fingers in the hair of the woman massaging him. "I'm only joking. I don't feel comfortable talking about my stories to a child. Not all of my stories are kid appropriate."

Sera didn't trust leaving Reggie alone with the block-head, but she ruffled his hair in assurance. Reggie nodded and followed Gregory out to the backyard, passing through the glass doors under the Sea King's head. She watched them leave until they were hidden by the tall, flowering plants and décor.

Ralph gestured on the cream-colored coach across from him. Sera sat down lazily, leaning her torso back so she could put her hands inside the pockets of her vest where she kept her backup meteor hammer in the pocket in case of emergencies. She crossed her leg over the other and opened her mouth to ask her long-awaited question when he started speaking.

"Where should I start? You've heard of my stories from the biographies, yes? They don't do my stories justice! Which is your favorite one?" Ralph paused for barely a second before he continued. "Oh, how about the story of how I entered the Calm Belt? A marvelous story of my heroics! My crew and I were enjoying the weather when suddenly, a gale flung us away from our track and into the Calm Belt!"

His women gasped as if this was the first time they had heard of this tale, which Sera doubted. Ralph proceeded to tell how sea kings attempted to eat his crew, how he fought the strongest sea king off with his sword, and blah, blah, blah. It was like he tried to make the story exciting, but with the way he presented it made the story unrealistic and boring.

"That head that you were staring at when you came in is the head of the king of sea kings!" he finished proudly after three minutes of pointless adjectives.

Sera blinked and looked at the sea king head. It was a big head, but far too small to be of a sea king from the Calm Belt. Those sea kings were gigantic. The stuffed head would have been eaten alive if it had the luck to be born there. If anything, it would be one of those that inhabited the Four Seas. And was there even a king among the sea king species?

Ralph was looking at her expectantly, eyebrow raised. Sera realized she hadn't reacted at all.

"Oh…my…god," Sera said, acting breathless. She sat upright and clasped her hands together in front of her chest. "That was so cool! So heroic…you must be the strongest man alive!"

Ralph laughed and tossed his head back to move his bangs out of the way. "Ah, yes! You can expect it. How often do you hear a man who defeated a sea king from the Calm Belt?"

"…Never!"

"Exactly. And then there was the time I—"

"I heard rumors that you know secrets regarding the All Blue."

Silence. One of the women tried to stifle a laugh. Ralph sent her a look and she turned away, cheeks red.

Ralph tapped his chin. "Hm…All Blue, the legendary sea where the Four Seas meet. I've never been there myself, but my grandfather wrote in his travel log about it. Many people come here to try to take it, but they never succeeded. It is valuable treasure." He looked at her with a small smile. "Are you a chef, Sera-chan?"

Sera nodded.

His smile seemed to widen. "Marvelous! But you know, I can't just give you my grandfather's log. Like I said, it is valuable. But, for such a cute fan of mine, I will consider it. Now, how about I continue with another story? There was a time when my crew was invaded by a fleet of pirates—"

Don't punch the guy, don't punch the guy, don't punch the guy…

Law sat on a rock under a tree, wiping off the blood on his nodachi. At his feet were three carcasses of deer that had been grazing peacefully before their heads were cut off. Bepo had snagged a couple of rabbits while Penguin and Shachi had yet to return. It was almost two hours since they had separated to catch food and while Law knew his two mechanics can take care of themselves, he couldn't help worrying that they would bring trouble that he had to deal with.

"Would this be enough, Captain?" Bepo asked as he stared down at the carcasses.

Law sighed. "Maybe for two days, if we reduce our portions."

Bepo frowned and he sniffed the air. "I smell the animals, but I think they all went to hide. Or there wasn't a lot of animals to begin with." He wrinkled his nose and plopped down on the ground beside Law. "Captain, we're nearing the Grand Line and we still don't have a chef. All the ones we hired don't stay long."

Law finished cleaning his nodachi and he sheathed, leaning it on a tree beside him. He leaned back on the tree and closed his eyes. He and his crew had been traveling the North Blue for nearly five months and they were all becoming impatient, including Law. He had planned his journey carefully for years, delicately chose his crew members, collected as much information as possible about the Grand Line, and trained for the obstacles that the sea would throw at him. However, there were some things that he couldn't control, like how his crew couldn't find a permanent chef. Eight chefs had gone by and the last one quit a month ago, because he apparently couldn't handle the work.

(Law had warned every single one of them that the position was the hardest. It was their faults for not believing it and not having the endurance.)

"Captain!" two voices said in sync. Law opened his eyes and turned to where Penguin and Shachi were running from, wide smiles on their faces.

"Couldn't find anything?" he said with a blank face.

"We didn't find any animals, but we found something better!" Penguin said as he buried the hilt of his spear into the dirt, making it stand upright.

"There's a mansion up near the mountains," Shachi said. He smirked and rubbed his hands together. "Whoever lives in that house must be loaded."

A smirk made its way on Law's face. He chuckled. "Good job. Should we get the rest of the crew?"

"There weren't any guards or anything, so it should be an easy job."

The owner must be an idiot, Law thought, although he didn't complain. His luck was finally rising. They were in need of money and food and now they could get both at one go.

And he had been itching for some action.

Gregory left Reggie outside in the garden soon after he was brought out and he had been wandering the garden for nearly an hour. Reggie didn't mind at all—the block-head was weird and it was becoming painful to hold back his laugh at the constipated face he made whenever he spoke. The garden was nice, too, and he thought that Sera would have liked to see it. She had always had some fascination with plants.

Reggie went from plant to plant, trying to name the ones that seemed familiar. It was easy to name the herbs located inside a small greenhouse, because those were used a lot in cooking and medicine and he made sure to remember them. He spent a great deal of time in that greenhouse before he forced himself to move on. There were the flowers, which he was surprised to see growing outside in the cold. He thought flowers didn't grow in areas as cold as the North Blue.

The backyard was huge and disorganized, but the mansion was tall enough to see, so he didn't get lost. He found a wooden trellis wrapped in some weird plant he had never seen before. It had dark green vines with sharp-looking thorns and giant leaves. There were bunches of purple flowers and a few green buds the size of his fists, similar in appearance to Venus Fly Traps.

He came close, stepping warily on the dead grass and vines near the trellis. The vines were thick and tightly wounded to the trellis. The flowers were soft and bright, but there was a bit of a stink coming from it, like something rotten. His eyes moved to the green buds.

"Hey, kid! Get away from there!"

Reggie jumped and looked at Gregory, but then there was a sharp, prickling sensation in his arm. He screamed and pulled his arm back, causing the green bud to unhinge and snap back to the trellis, its spikes dripping with a colored substance and blood.

Th effect was quick. His heart ran into his chest. His throat constricted, leaving him in gasps. His head spun and become dotted with spots until he couldn't see. Even as he passed out, he could feel the pain.

It was understandably difficult to keep the charade of a fangirl with the nonsense the alleged traveler was spouting out. It was almost an hour since Sera arrived and all Ralph had done was talk, talk, and talk. She even praised the women of his harem for enduring him this long. Or maybe they were just so stupid that once a story was over, they completely forgot it and didn't mind having it retold. Over and over again. They kept gasping at the boring suspense, tearing up at any moments that were probably supposed to be heartbreaking, and swooning at any of the cliché heroism. They did it in sync, too, as if they share one brain!

Still, they were better to watch and judge than the fake traveler. Sera was considering using violence to have him give his grandfather's logbook to her. Her body was becoming sluggish from the junk going into her head and her patience was running thin.

Ralph finally finished his story about him meeting some dwarves and Sera interjected before he could start another.

"Ralph-sama, have you considered sharing your grandfather's logbook with me?" she asked, almost sneering at the prefix she had to use. She leaned forward and tilted her head to give a pleading look. "I love your stories, but I really want to hear about the All Blue. Please?"

He thought for a moment. "I don't know. You seem like a good lady, but I don't know if you're worthy enough. Not even my lovers or Gregory had seen my grandfather's logbook. But, if you work hard enough to change my mind, then maybe I can let you take a peek. I have been wanting someone new."

The comment and his lecherous look was her break point.

Sera got up, took a deep breath, and then said, "I'm giving you one more chance, Geronimo. Tell me what your grandfather had said about the All Blue."

Ralph raised an eyebrow. "Are you threatening me, Sera-chan? That's not very ladylike—"

Sera punched him in the face, hard enough to send the couch tipping backwards. The girls screamed and ran off to a corner in the room.

"R-Ralph-sama!" they shouted.

Ralph clutched his bloody cheek and stared wide-eyed at Sera. He crawled back from her, shoulders trembling. "L-L-Look! Let's t-talk this out! Y-You want t-to know about the A-All B-Blue, r-right? Um…my g-grandfather s-said that…that"—his eyes darted back and forth as he continued crawling away from her— "…that it's located under the Red Line! That's right! It's under the Red Line!"

Sera's eyebrow twitched. "THAT THEORY HAD BEEN DEBUNKED EVER SINCE THE WORLD GOVERNMENT DID UNDERWATER EXPEDITIONS, YOU DAMN FRAUD! Rumors said that your grandfather had clues that nobody had ever found before, so tell me what it is!"

"I…I don't know! My g-grandfather never went out to sea! I made it all up!"

…

For some reason, Sera wasn't as upset as she thought she would have been. It didn't stop her from crushing his cheekbone.

"Damn it!" Sera clutched her head and screamed. "Three years of my life!"

While Sera screamed imprecations in the air, Ralph started to crawl away towards his front door, bits of blood dripping onto the floor from him busted cheek. His women followed him, but before he can even grasp the front door's handle, Gregory came in carrying Reggie on his back.

"Master Geronimo!" Gregory gasped out as he took in the scene in front of him.

Eyes turned to him. Sera immediately silenced and her mouth opened in a silent gasp. "Reggie!"

Gregory set him down on the couch and stepped away. Sera kneeled down and grasped Reggie's cheeks, feeling how hot his skin was. His right arm was bleeding and secreting something sickly white from large, punctured holes. Sweat was dampening his hair and clothes. His breath was labored, as if he was having an asthma attack.

She doubted his inhaler would help now, though.

"What did you do?" she shouted at Gregory. She grabbed his shirt and shook him violently.

He screamed. "L-Let go of me! It was his fault!"

"What?" Sera stopped shaking him so he could speak properly.

Gregory gulped. "The Poison Molly bit him!"

It took a moment for Sera to recognize the name. Her grasp on his shirt tightened and her eyes darkened. "You have an illegal plant that the World Government forbade anyone to domesticate? What idiot does that? They're predatory and its poison can kill within an hour!" Sera's eyes widened. "Shit. Where's the antidote?"

"We don't have any! Master Geronimo got it from an underground transaction along with most of his stuff in this house!" he shouted out in fear.

Ralph made a strangled sound in his throat and he cowered when Sera sent her death glare at him. Sera pushed Gregory back onto his rump and he scrambled away.

Reggie's skin was turning pale and he started to writhe and cry. Sera's insides were doing the same. She ran a hand through his hair, hushing him to calm down, even though it was futile. The antidote for the Poison Molly was rarer than the poisonous plant and she doubted she could find it in North Blue's cold climate.

Hospital.

That was the only choice, even if they can't do anything. Sera picked up Reggie and was about to run out when the door was forced open and a familiar polar bear crashed into the room in a kung-Fu pose and cry. Her jaw dropped open at the sudden, unexpected entrance that was just too...random.

"Bepo?"

The ferocious look disappeared from the bear's face. "Oh, it's you. There was a lot of screaming coming from here. Are you okay?" Then his eyes fell on Reggie and his jaw dropped. "What happened to him?"

Three men strolled in, one being the fuzzy-hatted captain. The other was a ginger and the third was a man whose face was covered by the brim of his hat. "We were supposed to sneak in, Bepo, not crash inside like some madman," said the ginger.

Law raised an eyebrow at Ralph and his women. Then he turned to Sera and his smirk dropped. His eyes were almost unblinking as he studied Reggie and Sera thought he looked like a scientist studying some specimen. What were they doing here in the first place?

Her brother convulsed and let out a silent scream, causing Sera to almost drop him in shock. How much time did she stupidly waste standing there? "Where's the hospital?" she asked Gregory.

"The hospital wouldn't have the antidote for that poison, Miss," Law said.

Sera faltered, knowing it was true, but... "They have to do something!" she snapped, glaring up at him with clenched teeth. She started to run, but he shot an arm out in front of her. She glared at him. What was the deal with this jackass?

Law smirked at her. "I might have some blue-ringed flower extraction left. I could spare some to cure your brother"—her eyes widened— "but it wouldn't be cheap with how rare it is."

"I don't care what the price is! Just save my brother! Please!" Sera hated how desperate she sounded, but that was what she was at the moment. The question of how he had gotten the antidote didn't stick long in her mind.

The pirate seemed amused for some reason. Law turned to his crew members and said, "Take everything you can and head back to the ship as soon as possible."

They looked taken aback at their captain's command, but saluted and began raiding the house. Ralph and his people screamed and stayed back in a huddle.

Law gestured for the girl to follow him. "I suggest we run if we want to make it to my submarine in time."

She hesitated. Reggie's words about the pirate rookie played in her mind. "How should I trust you? You're a pirate."

Law sighed. "I'm a doctor," he said, staring her right in the eyes with determination and passion that looked so painfully familiar that she felt almost guilty for doubting him. Then he gave a cold, challenging smirk. "Unless you want your brother to die?"

Damn jerk.

Sorry it took so long and the quality might not be worth the wait. I don't know, but I hoped you enjoyed it regardless.

And a note on the Poison Molly and the Blue-Ringed flower, they're both made up. I couldn't find a poisonous flower that would force Sera to let a pirate cure Reggie when a hospital would probably have a cure. And most poisonous plants have to be digested to cause such lethal results, I think.

Thank you for those who reviewed, followed, or added this story to your favorites list! Like always, feel free to tell me what you think or give any advice!