A/N: Hey everyone, I had really not expected to upload so soon, hope none of you mind ^-^.
Anyway, I own nothing of this fic, except maybe possibly the way the plot is turning out, aside from the cannon references. Enjoy! - Leafy
"Get your fucking hands off of me! ACE!" The boy continued to shout desperately as no doubt the staff was doing everything they could to keep the boy from rushing out of his room.
"I said get off!"
Law could distinctly hear the anger, the misdirected loathing, and pure anguish in the voice. The deceased man's name left the younger's again and again, each time the hoarse call becoming more strained, more pained, and each shout lead the surgeon closet to it's origin.
Law knew not what was drawing him to the agonized cry of the teen, soon finding himself standing in the doorway to room 207.
Steel gray eyes took in the scene before him, a flurry of movements clearly registering in the older man's head as he watched for a moment as the teen managed to reclaim his right arm, quickly drawing back a tightly clenched fist and releasing it to the closet jaw, which so happened to be Penguin. The latter grunted releasing his hold on his other arm, leaving only one male nurse restraining his legs now.
Taking advantage of the situation the desperate boy pulled both free arms back and readied another round of blows.
"Enough!" the command left Law in a harsh voice as he caught both fists before they had a chance to collide with the pale nurse.
Coal eyes redirected in his direction, the pain clearly displayed as they met unmoving steel gray eyes. Clenching his teeth the teen released what could only be described as a growl, his form visibly shaking from the vast amount of adrenaline his brain must have been producing.
"Where is Ace." the vicious whisper hissed past clenched teeth.
'Dead…' the thought whispered in Law's mind as he continued to look at the younger man. Years in the field had taught Law that that no matter how much doctors tried to sugar coat the truth, the impact was still the same. Blunt honesty was the best method in this circumstance in Law's opinion.
Calmly he looked into the dark gaze of the teen, however instead of stating what was on his mind, something else rolled off his tongue. "I think you know where your friend is."
The teen's forehead furrowed as he took in the surgeon's words. "Ace.. isn't my friend." he breathed out almost as if to assure himself of that very fact. His gaze suddenly flicked from Law's steel gray eyes to everything else. "Ace… Ace is my brother! Where is he!"
The strength returned to his limbs as he thrashed against his captors. He strained against Law's hold, kicking and twisting his body as much as he possibly could. The tantrum the teen was displaying began to eat away at what little patience he had. The repeated name of his lost patient only reminding Law that he was the one unable to help the other, and in some way he was indirectly responsible for the pain that was in the soul of the teen.
The previous anger that had rushed over Law, accompanied with guilt and his new founded irritation towards the inconsolable teen caused him to snap.
"No matter who he was, Ace is dead!" the harsh words left Law's lips before he could stop himself. Immediately he regretted his confession. Of course he had delivered the passing of someone's loved one before, but never in such a insensitive manner. Law distinctly heard both the nurse and Penguin take a hissing breath.
The boy under his hold flinched back as if Law had physically backhanded him.
The thrashing stopped, and the boy went limp as his eyes fell, disoriented and lost. "No… no" the single syllable word was the only thing that the boy could mutter.
Law felt the soft hands he held in his own steadily go cold, as the trembling returned to the boy's body.
"No.. y-you're wrong. Ace… Ace can't be" the teen's voice cracked with emotion as he gave off a humorless laugh suddenly clutching onto Law's hands. The lost gaze looking up at him as tears welled up in the distraught gaze.
"Ace is strong you hear me. Ace is the strongest man there is!" The teen searched for any sign of reassurance in the stoic man before him as the horrible sense of what he had been trying to keep at bay began to rise again. The dark sensation of fear, helplessness, loss consumed him rapidly. "He isn't…" a chocked sob left his lips as the boy held onto Law tightly, enough so that the surgeon scowled momentarily from the added pressure of the other.
At that moment the boy… broke.
His hands pulled away from Law as they buried themselves into his disheveled dark hair tearing at it from the roots as the most primal and pain filled cries left him.
Law visibly flinched at the scene, the budding sense of concern and sympathy rising before he shoved the feelings deep down.
"He's going into shock. Penguin get the sedative!" Law ordered as he held his hand out to the pediatrician, who immediately followed the order heading to the row of cabinets and flinging open the door, fishing out a sanitized needle pre-marked with the instructions to use as only a means of calming a patient.
And boy did they need this at this moment.
Tearing the plastic from the syringe Law readied the sedative. "Hold him down."
Ridding the liquid of any lingering air Law wasted no time in plunging the needle into the teen's bared neck as Penguin held him firmly in place.
The strangled cries grew more and more faint each time as the sedative quickly spread throughout the teen's body mostly due to the rapidly beating heart.
The teen fought against the unwanted pull of the drug. Accusingly glaring up at Law. A single word leaving his lips before he fell under the drugs influence. "You…"
The ragged breath of the boy began to regulate as Law sighed and looked away from the unconscious boy.
"Secure him to the bed, we cant trust he will be fine when he wakes up." the surgeon ordered one last time before he turned and left the room once more.
And for the second time that night, Trafalgar Law hated his job.
Hours later the surgeon sat at his desk reclining in his seat, his chin resting against the back of his hands as they were propped up before him. Law was currently looking over the reports of the two new found patients. Portgas D. Ace and Monkey D. Luffy.
Normally such information wouldn't be in the surgeon's hands, nor would he have snooped into the personal lives of his patients, former or not, and hell Luffy wasn't even under his care. Yet, he had somehow been left in charge of that man's last will.
Law groaned under his breath, it wasn't unheard of for the doctors of Heart Community to do all they could to ease the emotional pain of their patients even if it included a few lies of comfort here and there. And even though Law didn't in any way indicate to Ace that he would follow through with relaying his message to Luffy, he felt as though he owed it to the man to complete his last will, to not let his last few moments of life become wasted.
And thus Law called in a few favors and was able to get the personal history on the two in a matter of a few hours. To say that Trafalgar Law was well connected was an understatement, Law was very well connected to many high ranked officials even if he didn't entirely liked to admit he knew some of them.
Interestingly enough, the two weren't related as Luffy had lead on, though they had both been raised in the same orphanage.
Ace's mother had died right after birth, his father's name never once mentioned in the reports, and Law didn't question it any further. With no other relatives to speak of the infant was sent to Dadan's Home for Children.
Skimming over the records Law read on about the man, it was clear he enjoyed getting in trouble, even had a few scuffles with the Law. There were a few visits to the juvenile hall, most of the incidents strangely enough linked to food in one way or another, dining and dashing, shoplifting and similar situations.
The was one detail that stood out to the surgeon, though, a picture taken of the man's back clearly displayed the symbol widely recognized in the underground community.
The pieces were starting to fall into place for Law of how the man had possibly met his end, he had angered someone one way or another and the other had retaliated, harshly according to the autopsy.
Law sneered, whatever trouble Ace had gotten into was huge to earn him a thorough beating, broken ribs, punctured organs, and most notably the crater in his chest. A flare gun had been pointed at him at point blank range and fired.
"Why are you getting so worked up about this Law, you know this doesn't concern you!" he whispered onto his steepled fingers boring holes into the paperwork before him.
"Leave the matter be. Let the authorities handle it." was what he said to himself, yet he found himself looking over the second file now.
Monkey D. Luffy, unlike Ace, the boy was willingly placed into the system by his grandfather at the age of seven. No mention of either his mother or father are given, not their whereabouts or if they remained amongst the living.
This information didn't sit well with the surgeon, though it was in no way his place to voice an opinion, he didn't approve of the decision of the boy's relative to so callously hand him over to the system.
Ignoring the budding irritation, Law continued to read the file. It seemed the only two connections Luffy and Ace had were the orphanage that they both grew up in and getting caught skipping out on paying meals, however, Luffy had never received any time for it, only Ace had.
It seemed the older of the two was taking care of the younger one even back then.
This lead to a new question to rise in Law's mind, was what happened to Ace a result of the younger's mischief?
Frowning Law closed the files and reclined in his chair closing his exhausted gaze.
His moment of relaxation didn't last, however, as his phone rang. Pressing his lips together he glared at the device, picking up the cordless object as it automatically answered the call. "Yes?"
"Ah, Law. Good you're in your office." the female on the other end spoke up before crunching sounds resounded in the receiver. "The men in suits are here." she finished after a few more crunches.
Law sighed as his forefinger and thumb gently pushed over his closed eyes. "Thank you, Bonney. Now please stop eating chips during your shift." the surgeon drawled out hoping against hope the reports she would handle would be stain free.
Her incoherent response was cut off as Law ended the call and picked up the autopsy report, heading out to meet the investigators that were there to look into the mess he was sure.
The two investigators stood out in front the main reception desk, where Bonney reclined back in her chair carelessly stiffing more chips into her mouth. Grimacing Law continued to the two officers, before offering a nod of acknowledgement.
Quite a pair they were, the male of the two was a rather large built man, twice the width of Law himself, a permanent scowl etched into his rugged features, his white hued hair shaved from both sides though longer and slicked back on the crown of his head. 'A shame', Law thought distantly as he looked at the muscled man, 'he's not doing himself any favors with that frown.'
Then there was his partner, she was every bit his opposite as it could get, the girl stood a foot or so smaller than the man beside her, nearly as thin as a twig if you didn't count the excessive curves to her frame.
Where the man screamed muscles and aggression, she seemed like the one to possess most of the brains.
Trafalgar was rarely interested in the appearances of others, much less women, though he supposed she could be considered attractive, even with her rectangular spectacles, they only added more to his assumption that she was the intelligent one of the two.
"Trafalgar Law, I presume, I am Agent Tashigi, and this is Agent Smoker. I believe you know why we are here." the female officer said with a clear authority she had adopted in her time in the field while presenting her state authorized badge as well as the needed paperwork to receive the copies of the autopsy report.
"I can only assume it has to so with the passing of Portgas D. Ace." the young surgeon states dryly as he looked over the documents, exchanging them over the death report. A small smirk given as he had guessed correctly, she did the talking, and the other was there for intimidation.
"Is the body identifiable?" Smoker gruffed out earning the complete gaze of the surgeon.
"I suppose to those that know him by sight. His severe burns are mainly in the upper torso, though there was damage of first degree burn over much of his body, his hair as the report lets you know was singed, though, still in tact, it was his organs that suffered the most. He died only moments after arriving. All of the examiner's photos and notes are within the file should you need them. Do you still want to see the body?"
Tashigi grimaced as she glanced over the photos that were provided and slipped the file into Smoker's hands. "That is Ace, I'm positive." she confirmed and fixed her glasses over the bridge of her nose.
"One last thing, we also got a report that there was a kid with Ace at the time of the incident, is the kid here as well?"
Law hesitated for a moment before he nodded. "A boy was brought in with Portgas, his palms suffered from first degree burn as well, though that is the extent of his wounds. At least physically." the surgeon confirmed leading the way down the hall and towards room 207.
"And what do you mean 'at least physically'?" Agent Tashigi inquired keeping pace with the surgeon.
"We believe the boy has suffered a mental breakdown upon learning of the passing of his friend. We had to sedate him to treat his wounds and here he is." Law nodded in the direction of the sleeping teen.
"How long will he be out?" she asked after a single pause.
"Hard to say, the dosage we gave him lasts a few hours, the effect should be wearing off soon. His brain, however, may not be ready to face the harsh reality he will be forced into upon waking and in his defense will remain shut down until it feels he could handle the situation."
"I thought you were a surgeon, not a shrink." the white haired agent rumbled next to Law, once again earning a glare from the surgeon. "I minored in Psychology, as well as a few other subjects."
The burly man simply let put a grunt in response, while Tashigi sighed, "We need to take this report back to Headquarters, we can't around here until the kid wakes up." she stated rather flustered as she glanced at her watch before reaching into her pocket and pulled out a business card. "We will take our leave now, but when he wakes up, please give us a call."
"Sure" the surgeon muttered taking the card in hand, nodding once more as the pair took their leave.
A dismissive gaze looked the small card over before tucking it into his pocket and entering the room of the teen. Steel gray eyes looked over to the sleeping boy restrained on the hospital bed his eyes roaming the still figure before his eyes settled on his face in time to see a tear slip past his closed lids and into his hair.
"I'm truly sorry for your loss, Luffy-ya." Law whispered under his breath reaching out to wipe away the stray tear away unsure himself of why he felt the need to comfort the boy, yet here he was.
A/N: I'm sorry for the lack of Luffy x Law fluff, I promise that is going to start building up in the following chapters. I would really like to know what you guys think ^-^ or if you have any ideas that could fit in here? Feel free to let me know! Thank you for reading - Leafy