Alasse-m: little by little, Sanji's part is being revealed. ;) Don't believe anything Law says -he's a known liar.

DedicatedFan: It could be a combo of both, but who is causing it? Haha the tension deepens with this chapter!

: 7 :

Luffy shuffled in place, growing agitated. He didn't understand why Ace was yelling so passionately from his room, forcibly restrained while a couple of male nurses hurried by with sedatives. The presence of policemen and a body clean-up crew did nothing to soothe their current anxiety. The patients had been roused by Ace's shouts and gathered together in the break-room while their newest head psychiatrist went over their files in front of them. Dr Hina was quiet and her eyes looked listless. The orderlies at attention were rigid and silent, and every time one of the detectives came in to ask a question, Dr Akainu would cite a 'no comment' remark for the patients standing there. He had then demanded an answer as to why 'freakshow' mutants were relied upon for any sort of coherent information when they were all clearly mental patients that couldn't even take care of themselves. The head detective had fumbled for an answer, and couldn't get one out, facing against the much taller man. He'd looked at the row of men with frustration and left Dr Akainu to his own devices.

Ace was screaming out unintelligibly, now, fighting the sedatives, and his words brought on a world of confusion to those remaining.

"Where's Ussop?" Luffy whispered, looking for his friend with wide eyes. "Is he sleeping in?"

"He was released last night," Zoro answered gently. "He was allowed to go home."

"Wow, that's nice! Good job, Dr Hina!" Luffy said brightly, struggling to be happy for Ussop. "He got to go home!"

Dr Hina shook her head, moving to correct him when Dr Akainu cut in with, "Cut the horseshit. Patient 04 was murdered and left behind in the medical ward with grievous neck and skull injuries. He was not in any way or form 'released'. I'll not have you lie to these men, Dr Hina, and you. Roronoa. If you've got nothing truthful to say, shut it."

All of them looked startled at being addressed so directly, without an ounce of compassion. Zoro looked confused, unsure of what he'd done wrong, brow furrowing as he looked at the floor. Luffy stared at Dr Akainu with a stark expression of horror, Dr Hina's face screwing up with slight distress at the sight of it. But she also watched as Sanji struggled to fight off a reactive face, as Law looked bored, and Penguin was staring off to the side, his features blank. After Ace's accusations that it had been Law and Sanji wandering the hallways last night, detailing what staff had only been able to find upon examination, both of them looked bothered. Law had the bewildered shrug down, and Sanji just looked confused, unable to understand why his name was being dragged into the fury. Both of them had looked at each other with doubt, unable to understand why anyone would lump them together.

Dr Akainu set down the last file and stood up, giving all of them a hard onceover. They were all standing abreast of one another, Luffy bent slightly under the weight of his night vest, so they all looked up at him with drawing doubt. Dr Hina watched the older man cautiously as he looked at Zoro, the man looking up at him with a puzzled expression.

"Out of all of you here, you were here first, making you the longest surviving resident here. You're a schizophrenic found wandering townsquare; you don't have any clue where you come from, or how you got here. Your incoherent drabbling has done nothing to provide previous staff with any sort of direction to take you. Therefore, if Dr Smoker hadn't figured anything out for your future case plan, you have a mild skull drill to your left frontal lobe coming to you. That should lessen the tension in your mind, relax you a bit to release more information. If you can't give us anything else, then I'll proceed with a full drilling to lessen the tension on the other lobe. If that gives me nothing, I'll release you back into town, where you can drain your own resources on the streets, or until the herd takes you down themselves. Whichever is first. The fact that this mansion can only provide so much care for so many people tells me that if nothing is working, then we must move on," Dr Akainu said grimly, Dr Hina wincing as Zoro squinted at him, struggling to understand what he was saying. Sanji looked over with a horrified expression, Luffy's face twisting with doubt.

Dr Akainu moved onto Luffy, looking down at him with a frown. "Your hyperactivity and constant self-damaging actions are costing the medical ward far more in expenses to keep you repaired, Monkey D. Luffy. You have proven to Smoker that you can be coaxed into a direction of action, but the experimental dosages that we've been giving you have done nothing to slow you down. Either they're not working, or you're not taking them correctly. Because I have an interest in this disorder, I will continue feeding you with these drugs until you show sign of improvement. You either learn to function as a normal human being, or you overdose on a heavy swallow of improperly mixed pills. You have family that does not give a damn what we do to you, here. You were abandoned. No one can seem to handle your hyperactivity any more than staff can, here. This weighted vest theory does not seem to be working – your physical frame tells me that you've only adapted to it – not a good sign. You will not have to wear it, anymore. But you will be dosed after breakfast on the first round of medication that I had been using on patients with stories similar to yours. You cannot give consent – you belong to me, now. Is this understood?"

"I don't like pills," Luffy mumbled. "I don't like feeling sleepy all the time. I don't want them. I'll just give them to Sanji."

"That won't happen. You will take them, and I'll personally make sure of it. If they don't get swallowed via mouth, you will take them up the ass. This has been a proven favorable treatment for faster results. You want something up your ass? Then continue to defy me."

"I don't want anything up my ass, sir."

Dr Akainu then walked onto Sanji, who was attempting to make eye contact with him, but he was too nervous to do so. So he focused on the collar of his shirt, instead, and Dr Akainu stared down at him with judgment. "Your file details visits in and out of jail, an unwillingness to cooperate with your father, who signed you over with the thought that Smoker's practice in coaxing you to eat again would somehow 'cure' you. It hasn't worked, has it? You weigh less than Luffy does, and somehow, you're in charge of the menu? This is unacceptable. You were addicted to barbiturates, and Monkey here just confessed that he's been giving you his pills, instead. That sort of thing won't fly with me. If your family truly cared about you, they wouldn't give a shit if you don't eat. The fact that you try so hard to gain male favor has me thinking that you're not doing it for the thought of perfectionism or attaining 'approval'. If you think you can win his favor by representing yourself as a full-on lady boy – "

"Fuck you."

"What did you say to me? That mouth can get verbal, but it won't accept food? You willingly starve yourself for attention, Vinsmoke, and the only attention you bring is more humiliation to your family and yourself. Take that jacket off. Remove those shoes. You're a part of this group, you might as well as look like it. Take it off him," Dr Akainu said with disgust, gesturing at the nearby orderlies. As they moved to follow his command, Sanji struggled to hide his overwhelmed emotions, shattering easily under the verbal attack.

Dr Akainu looked at Law, who looked smugly back at him. "And you. You piece of trash. Your file's bible thick, and there's no point to treatment with you. Once a psychopath, always a psychopath. There is no curing you. Your hands are clean, you've told Smoker, but men like you have more than one pair of hands on you. You come from a rich family that funds this place, that's why you were kept here. You might not have God on your side, but you were useful for one thing. Tomorrow morning, I've ordered a skull drill for you. I'm putting it off today because I want a few more notes on you. Perhaps if I can find a way to identify personalities like yours, we might have a faster advantage to taking you creeps off the street."

"This is not a good idea," Law told him, Dr Hina frowning at him as she realized just how easily he was speaking with the wrap holding his jaw in place. "It's probably best for you right now to get rid of me. If not, there will come a moment where I will have your guts spilled in front of you, and you'll regret every moment you let me breathe."

"I somehow doubt it," Dr Akainu told him, unbothered by the threat. "Men already labeled with an illness are nothing but pigs to me. You're all just science experiments. There are more of you out there that will take your place. While I've made it my mission to attempt to understand and end most illnesses, I could care less for the mind that went missing in the process. Once I've lessened the pressure on your frontal lobes, I will release you back to your family in one piece, where you can live the rest of your life out as a vegetable. So I hope those warm and cozy memories of killing and dismemberment stay with you. You can relieve them, sitting in your diaper close to the fire, hearing my words echoing right back onto you."

"And you," Dr Akainu continued, looking at Penguin. "Your file gives me nothing. No background, no case plan, no reach. Therefore, you are nothing. You are a waste of my time and resources. Place this man in his room. Don't bother him with meals. If he's truly gone, he'll waste away on his own, and we can use the funding allotted to him to start repairs to the sanatorium. For now, I'll need attention on Monkey and Roronoa, here. Vinsmoke, you're excused. I'll notify your family to come retrieve you. I'll spend no more time on your supposed 'illness'. If you don't want to go home, kill yourself while the crew is still here, so they can remove your useless body from the grounds. You've all got your orders, let's move."

Dr Hina fiddled with her hands as she watched him go. Luffy looked enraged while Sanji strode out of the room, hand to his face. Law shrugged and retreated to one of the chairs while Penguin was led away. Zoro looked confused, mumbling to himself as he struggled to understand what Dr Akainu had just ordered. Swallowing tightly, she said stiffly, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I knew – I knew what he's like, I just never thought he was capable of being so…"

"He spoke the truth," Law told her, sitting carefully. "He said everything everyone only thought of."

"Most of you are still human! Most!" she hissed. "These guys don't deserve to be spoken to in that manner! Every one of you, almost, are human beings! Not science experiments, or failures! All of you were granted life by God, and to have it taken away because you are different – under his terms? It's not right. Telling Vinsmoke to kill himself because he's a waste has most likely undone everything Smoker had tried to rebuild in him! Giving the order to allow Penguin to waste away? That is not a humane thing to do!"

"In the end, I'm going to have my head drilled – doesn't that make you happy? Plus, he's guaranteed care for the little ones, over there. And he's right about Penguin. If he can't pull anything from the man, how is he expected to help him? As for Vinsmoke-ya – he wants attention, but he's going about it in such a way that no one will give it to him. I wish Ace-ya were here, so I could hear what Akainu-ya has to say about him."

After the loud accusations he was throwing this morning, Dr Hina was sure Ace would be sedated for most of the day. He'd heard – witnessed – Ussop murdered. Supposedly at Law's hands. But that was impossible – when Law was investigated, he was still handcuffed to the bed, waking up disoriented to the sudden attention and activity around him. Ussop had been found in the medical ward on Law's wheelchair, neck broken in a few places, jaw set aside. He looked as if he'd seen something so terrible, his expression carried the sight long after death. Sengoku was found in the hall, missing his head. Still missing it, from the looks of the crew moving around the sanatorium. His blood stained the floor, and the journal he had been reading was missing several pages. Those were found atop of Smoker's desk, where Dr Akainu had tossed them away, much to the investigator's horror.

She looked at Law once more. The man did not look bothered by Dr Akainu – only amused by the challenge. She saw one of the orderlies removing Luffy's vest from him, another coaxing Zoro to stand near the window, his usual spot. Luffy made a beeline towards Sanji's room, calling his name impatiently. Dr Hina felt her eyes water a little – but she could not show Dr Akainu this emotion. She had to restrain herself and trust in his judgment. After all, there was a reason why he held such a tough position for so long.

Maybe he could stop the killer – or killers – that haunted this sanatorium.

Amidst the sound of men maneuvering the bodies towards the stairway, she thought she heard a boy call out with surprise. More interesting was Law leaving the chair suddenly, wandering off in the direction it had come from. Her skin rippled with awareness as she watched him leave. She didn't trust him, but she could trust him not to act out at this moment.

: :

The day progressed with more difficulties. Dr Akainu had Zoro strapped to a table in the medical ward, to administer some medication that had worked previously on people like him. He claimed it restored some clarity to their thoughts, and allowed them to hold a coherent conversation. Because the medical ward still smelled like death, the faint buzz of flies audible, Zoro shouted and raged within the straps. Dr Akainu left him there while he dealt with staffing matters.

Night shift was approaching, and most of the workers quit right after hearing of the deaths. The police force had found the bodies of their fellow colleagues in the elevator with the word 'Rapists' carved into their faces, so most of them were feeling animosity towards Law, refusing to find reason to spend another night in the mansion for 'some crazies'. The police captain was arguing with Dr Akainu on allowing his men to stay another night – Dr Akainu was getting closer and closer to agreeing to allow the patients to stay on their own. Whoever survived, he'd work with. Dr Hina volunteered to stay, but he refused to let her. He had her escorted home, a policeman stationed outside so that she wouldn't return after hours.

From the dinner table, Luffy listened to the activity. Zoro was still strapped to the table in the medical ward, so hearing him plead for help caused him much distress. Sanji hadn't left his room. Law was wandering around freely, looking smug. Penguin stood at the end of the hall, staring at nothing; essentially ignored by staff on Dr Akainu's orders. Luffy couldn't eat with his stomach in knots. But his mind was moving too fast for him to settle on a decision. The pills Dr Akainu had given him felt as if they had given him an entirely opposite effect – everything was moving too fast, he was too hot, and even if he willed his limbs to work properly, they weren't moving fast enough to keep up. Every movement he made was jerky and uncoordinated, and he fumbled with eating. All he wanted to do was beat someone up. Maybe with some effort, he could help everyone escape. Maybe they would last a little longer outside of these walls than inside.

He felt intensely sorry for Ussop. Ace had said that he'd screamed, shouted, made a racket – but Luffy heard nothing. Ace himself was still locked in his room, sedated hard enough to sleep through meal times, through Zoro shouting, through the sounds of police activity.

Luffy peeled pieces of pork from the bone, wrapping slivers of meat around carefully cut pieces of vegetables. It took him several tries to accomplish this, his fingers were so jittery. Once he had five of them, he dumped and wrapped them into a napkin, then abandoned his chair, heading for Sanji's room. He stumbled all the way there, having a hard time keeping himself aloft. He either wasn't used to the lack of the weight vest, or just moving too fast for even himself to keep up, with. He gave Penguin a sad expression as the man stood there, receiving no guidance from staff to do anything. Strolling into Sanji's room, Luffy found him curled up in bed, staring into space. His eyes were red and swollen, and he seemed to be wearing a defeated expression.

"Here," Luffy said, falling down to sit next to him, unwrapping the contents of his napkin. Sanji roused himself up to a seated position and stared at the mixture. He turned away with a shake of his head, and Luffy looked at him with worry. "Eat. Prove him wrong. That goddamn bastard said some really mean, terrible things, but they weren't the right things."

"No, he's right," Sanji said low. "He's right. Hearing it come from another person was just…something I needed to hear."

"Means nothing. He means nothing! He doesn't know you! You try really hard to be someone that means somebody, and - !"

"That's the thing, idiot. A person shouldn't have to try hard to be meaningful to anyone. A person should be accepted 'as is'. All these years I wanted my fucking family's approval. But here I am, wasting someone else's funds and time all the same…"

"Eat this. Please. Just eat it. You'll feel better," Luffy insisted, thrusting the napkin at him. "Just a bite. You're just tired and upset. We're all sad over things that happened, today. Not having anything in your tummy might be making you think different things you normally wouldn't. So…eat."

Sanji stared at the pieces for a few moments, then reached over and took a vegetable. With some effort, he placed that between teeth and cheek, then looked out his door. He nodded in that direction. "Go feed him. He needs care. He can't be ignored like that."

"Right."

Luffy quickly left the bed and went to Penguin, prompting him to eat from his hand. The man did so upon contact, looking sightlessly over Luffy's head. Luffy waited until the food was gone, then quickly returned to the dinner table. He grabbed his plate and ran back to them, prompting him to eat again. By this time both of them cleaned the plate, the orderlies were advancing on him. He went with them, their reluctant expressions showing exactly what they thought of their new orders, and while they weren't gentle, they were understanding. They let him wander off while they checked in on Sanji, then on Ace. Dr Akainu called for Luffy's presence in the medical ward, and Luffy went to him reluctantly.

Law watched him leave, the orderlies guiding the boy in that direction. The kitchen workers cleared the dining room table, giving him nervous looks as they did so. He didn't care to eat, either, but it wasn't because he was upset – he didn't trust Dr Akainu. He figured the man would tamper with their food. He wasn't ready for that sort of destruction, just yet. He still had things to do.

He rose up from the chair, noting the time. Night had fallen, so candles were lit. The police department had left a while ago – Dr Akainu would leave after he was finished with Luffy and Zoro for the night. Dr Hina's absence was surprisingly apparent – he didn't think he'd actually miss the woman, but only because he knew she slipped out of his fingers. It was too bad, really.

He wandered down the hall, looking at Penguin with an expression of mirth. He tapped on the floor near the man's slipper-covered feet, and watched him shift with clumsy movement – needing physical action to make a physical move. So Law directed him towards his room, and watched him waddle away. Then he turned and wandered into Sanji's room.

"You're still alive?" he asked, disappointed as he walked up to the side of the bed. "He's giving you permission to kill yourself, and you're still here. Why are you not taking advantage of this opportunity?"

Sanji glared at him, uncovering his face only slightly so he could. "Fuck off, turd jumper."

"Did you manage to eat the slop Luffy brought you? He licked it all, I hope you know. That might be extra calories. Will you be running, tonight? I often wonder what you picture as you run in place – are you running to home? Or away?"

"Fuck off, cunt-head."

"But before I do, what should I do with these?" Law asked curiously, drawing Sanji's attention to his fingers. He opened them to reveal the white pills Sanji had been looking for, and Sanji sat up, immediately interested. "I get a favor in return, you know. These aren't for free."

Sanji looked at him warily. "What."

"Kitchen keys."

"There's nothing for you in the kitchen."

"I plan on stretching my legs, tonight."

Sanji studied him for a few moments, then said pensively, "As long as you're looking over the roasted chicken, like I'd asked you to the last time."

Law frowned at him haughtily. "Food is not my area of expertise."

Sanji frowned at him peevishly. "Then I'm sure Akainu would love to have these back."

"Two pills, and you give me the keys. Plus," Law lifted his other hand, showing him a couple of beige, oblong pills that caused Sanji to frown with concentration, "Zoro's mid-afternoon treat. He spit them out when I told him I had seen flies walking around them. He didn't have enough time to get them wet."

Sanji gave him a skeptical expression. "Akainu gave you too much freedom to wander."

"He's testing me. But he's already sentenced himself, so I'm not worried about what he thinks."

Sanji considered the offer. He felt so low that nothing looked positive for him. But those pills, added to his current collection, would help so much. He swallowed tightly. "What's the extra cost?"

"A map of the First Floor."

"You've been down there enough to know what it looks like."

"Not this side."

Sanji considered his options, then nodded. "Fine. Give me twenty minutes."

Law slipped the pills into his pocket, lips pulling into a frown. "You're not even going to ask what I'm going to do with those things? Most normal people would refuse, knowing I'm a psychopath and most likely plotting everyone's deaths with your assistance."

"I don't care what you do. I really don't," Sanji snapped at him, turning away to look at the collection of things he had sitting nearby. "Just clean those knives properly after you're done. I can't hide that if I can't access the kitchen, anymore. Or was it your plan all along to blame me for your shit?"

"You're such a whiner, Vinsmoke-ya. Ugh, these hands weren't made for menial labor," Law complained dramatically before leaving his room, Sanji frowning at the shadows that shifted restlessly ahead of him. He watched them unfurl from the floor, like light wisps of smoke before resettling. The air felt hot and stale again, a faint buzzing noise appearing from everywhere and nowhere at once. It made the hairs on his arms rise straight up, as if something invisible were touching them.

He understood what he was doing; he made no excuses for it.

"Why did you give him that information?" he heard from behind him, the voice incredulous. He hadn't heard that voice in a long while. It made him wonder what finally prompted the man to speak out. If it were Akainu's presence that prompted it, or Law's bold activity. "Hasn't it occurred to you that you're just as guilty as he is?"

"I don't care," Sanji replied stubbornly.

"When will you start?"

"Probably never."

"You're just as bad a man as he is," he was accused by a boy, Sanji feeling his lips tighten up as his shoulders tensed. "There's a certain place for people like that, and you're going to it."

"I'm already in it!" he shouted impatiently, whirling around to look back. "I'm already there! What the fuck do I care what happens in here?"

"There's no need to yell out so randomly, Vinsmoke-ya," he heard Law chide from the hallway. "Everyone knows you're crazy already."

Sanji picked up his pillow and threw it out from his room with a curse, then stood up and kicked his bed, the metal screeching heavily over the floor. An orderly quickly came in and looked at him, frowning at the state he was in. It took a few moments to rein in the tears that threatened to spill again, breathing heavily to draw in his rising frustration, but Sanji clenched his fists at his side and calmed himself as best as he could before sitting back down on his bed, looking off at nothing.