Chapter 2

His phone was ringing.

Law looked at the unknown caller I.D. and thought about throwing it out the window. "To throw or not to throw," he mused. It could be that evil red haired customer… But at the same time, it could be Bepo, who tends to lose his phone a lot. Or Zoro, who doesn't own a phone for more than two months before either losing it or accidentally destroying it. Not to mention that phones cost a lot these days, and he'd have to save as much as he possibly can to be able to afford medical school. Hoping for the best, he pressed the answer button and carefully held the device to his ear, taking a deep breath before speaking. "Hello?"

"Knew you'd pick up the phone! You owe me ten grand, Killer!" A loud booming voice screeched through the speaker. Law groaned. It was him.

"And to what do I owe this honor?"

"You feel fucking honored? Ha! You should be! The great Eustace Kidd is giving you a personal call!"

"Yeah sure whatever, I'm hanging up."

"What? Hey! You don't fucking hang up on me you son of a bi—"

"Too late," Law hung up and tossed the phone over to his bed. When it started to ring again, he promptly ignored it and went to the bathroom for a nice hot bath.

He settled in the tub and sighed as the warm water caressed his skin. Stupid bakery. Stupid dead aunt. Stupid bread. Stupid red haired freak and his stupid masked companion. Remembering the masked man, Law touched his throat and winced slightly. The wound was still there. He'd almost died that day.

All because of some red haired freak who was seemingly flirting with him. He remembered how those cat like eyes seem to just see into his soul. And he actually liked it? Law abruptly stood from the tub in embarrassment. "Fuck. Did I just think that?" He sighed and sat back down, eyebrows creased in frustration.

Law closed his eyes and leaned back. "There's no fucking way I'm fascinated or in any way even amused by that bastard."

—

When Law arrived at the bakery the next day, he found Sanji already baking. The smell was unbearably foul. In his opinion anyway. But he came prepared for that. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out a face mask and put it on, earning a frown from Sanji.

"You'll scare the customers away."

"I hate the smell of bread."

"I'll make you onigiri if you put the mask away," Sanji offered.

"Nice try, but I'm not hungry," as if on cue, his stomach rumbled loudly. The traitorous bastard.

"Says the man with the growling stomach."

"Well technically, stomach growling doesn't always mean you're hungry. Actually, medically speaking, it doesn't mean that you're hungry at all. The digestive system is, in essence a long tube that starts at the mouth and ends at the anus. This tube connects with the various organs and passages that play important roles in digestion." Law said excitedly through his mask.

"Law, not now please," Sanji made a face and took a container from his bag and dumped its contents on the plate and started adding seasonings and meat. "I'm trying to cook here without barfing, thank you very much."

"I'll promise to never wear a mask here again and be more friendlier if you agree that I can talk medical stuff with you or anyone for that matter, any time, any place," Law offered.

"Ugh, fine, but try not to scare the customers away with your medical talk?"

"Sure! Now where was I? Oh yes, So like, one of the most important things to know about the digestive system is the manner in which it propels food. Waves of muscle contractions move and push the contents continually downward. And in addition to moving your meal along its digestive path, these contractions also help churn food, liquid and digestive juices together, rendering them into a gooey mixture!" Law took the mask off and shoved it back inside his bag.

"I don't see why you have to go through the process when you can just tell me that food moves downward and becomes shit."

"It ruins the fun. Now, you may be wondering. If your stomach is empty, why are the muscle contractions that digest food happening to begin with?"

"No I'm not wondering." Sanji retorted. "All I know is that when the stomach growls, you feed it food by eating, hence satisfying your gluttonous desires and why the heck am I starting to talk complicatedly like you?!"

"It's contagious." Law smirked as he pulled a chair and sat. "So anyway, the reason has to do with hunger and appetite. About two hours after your stomach empties itself, it begins to produce hormones that stimulate local nerves to send a message to the brain. The brain replies by signalling for the digestive muscles to restart the process of peristalsis. Two results occur: First, the contractions sweep up any remaining food that was missed the first time around. Second, the vibrations of an empty stomach make you hungry. Muscle contractions will come and go about every hour, generally lasting 10 to 20 minutes, until you eat again."

"So you told me all these things you've memorized from some textbook JUST so you can tell me that it's because the brain sends… Whatever I didn't even understood half of what you just said! And don't you DARE try to make me understand that complicated stuff! I just want to be a first class chef!" Sanji exclaimed, shoving a plate of onigiris at Law's face before disappearing into the kitchen. Law followed him with his plate of onigiri.

"But that's just my introduction! See, the point is, in some cases, gurgling and grumbling may be a sign of an upset stomach or a medical condition like irritable bowel syndrome. In these cases, there are usually a number of additional gastrointestinal complaints accompanying a growling stomach." Law finished, happily munching on his breakfast.

"Ugh, LAW! I didn't need to know that shit!"

"Well, I would usually take offence to your saying my medical knowledge is shit, but technically speaking, it is kinda shitty."

"There is just no winning with you, is there?" Sanji grabbed a tray of steaming bread and stormed out of the kitchen. Law follows him, grinning maniacally.

"Nope!"

Sanji shot him a glare and grabbed his bag and gave him the finger. "Well I hope you have a miserable day at work today."

"I love you too."

The door slammed shut and Law leaned back at the counter contentedly. Mentally scarring people was one of his hobbies. Though he wouldn't call this experience mentally scarring. Sanji probably just has a weak stomach. As if Sanji's curse had already taken effect, the door burst open and the man Law wanted to escape from the most just stormed in the bakery.

"So you thought you could hang up on me, huh?!" he bellowed and grabbing Law by the waist, hoisted him up and threw him over his shoulder with ease. "Oi Killer, take of that damn mask of yours and man the shop while I teach this bitch a lesson. No one hangs up on Eustace Kidd!"

"Are you fucking crazy?"

"I know you are for hanging up on me!" Kidd laughed maniacally and threw Law inside a black limousine. Kidd slid in with ease and pulled the door shut. "Take us home."

"NO FUCKING WAY! This is illegal! You're kidnapping me!" Law looked at him incredulously. "You're crazy!"

"Well you hung up on me," Kidd said as a matter of factly. "I told you there would be consequences."

"You're such a brat!"

"Well you're such a bitch. Shut up will you?"

Law sat in shock. Was Sanji's curse really that bad? One thing's for sure, he was going to have a shitty day. Not literally, he hoped. But certainly worse than what Sanji had cursed for him to have.

—

A/N:

Sorry for the late update. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter! :D

Btw, I'm sure some of you may or may have not noticed, but this was actually set a few years before Project Cinderella (my ZoSan fic). Well, the more you know. - v -