Hello! Thanks for clicking on my story (and hopefully reading ^^)
This story was written for Share-the-love-month, an event hosted by Myladyday and Aerle on Tumblr!
A very big thank you goes to Aerle for beta'ing! I estimate she added almost 70% of all the comma's in this fic. Thank you for making it more readable! XD
I dedicate this fic to Viv-heart for (inadvertently?) forcing me to write and Myladyday because she is awesome and really nice.
This story is set in the world of OP, at the very beginning of the timeskip.
Law cursed to himself. How had he let it get this far? He hadn't had a decent night's sleep for a week. Not that he slept all that much normally, but now? He'd gotten two hours each night at most. Even for him that wasn't enough by far. All because of that one annoying prick. Why couldn't he act like a decent, well behaved sick person and sleep twenty-four-seven? And stop annoying his doctor? If only he hadn't sent his crew away. He could've sent Bepo to him, that would be a suitable... no. It wasn't Bepo's fault either. Law sighed and started again grinding herbs into a fine powder. He had used so much of the herbs he brought with him he was getting dangerously low on stock. Luckily this god awful rocky island did grow some small plants, among them some usable herbs. Who would ever come here willingly? There was nothing. Rocks, sand, a few plants, a few trees and that was it? Maybe the others would find something, the other side was supposed to be inhabited, but who knew where those annoying bastards went.
When the grinding was done and the herbs powdered fine enough he put the powder in a glass jar he had in his bag. This would have been so much easier on his ship. But he couldn't risk his ship, his metal submarine, to get damaged because someone couldn't control his devil fruit powers right now, although the outbursts had ceased a few days ago. Where Kid had caught this disease he didn't know. For now, it didn't seem contagious. Unless it only affected fruit-users, in that case he himself was screwed sooner or later.
Speaking of Kid, why was he being so quiet all of a sudden? Normally he'd have yelled, cursed, banged around by now. He was such a kid, it was infuriating how a grown man could be so annoying. Never taking anything seriously. With this bug, he was lucky Law really needed him right now. If only he healed faster!
Law left the makeshift infirmary of the Kid pirates' ship. They hadn't had a real infirmary either, he had to make do in a storage room. Which had been remarkably clean. Who would've thought that with a brutish crew as them? Now where was his patient?
The black haired man walked outside onto the deck where he was greeted by that rather amusing skull carved into the bow of the ship and facing inward. With the railing next to it like that, it almost seemed like the skull had wings. Which was an interesting image, to be honest.
Law hadn't been able at all to keep Kid inside, so he'd been on deck most of the time, reading. The fact that Kid could read had been stunning in itself. Kid was, however, definitely not on deck right now. Where had this selfish asshole gone off to now?! Law went to the railing and looked at the shore. Some of the material Kid had smuggled outside yesterday was still lying on the shore where he'd dropped it. Not on purpose. Kid had just fallen unconscious while carrying the stuff. It had been a funny sight. He had half hung over his anvil, practically hugging it. Law had felt entitled to laugh, he had warned Kid about temporary loss of consciousness, after all. He should be glad he hadn't dropped the anvil on his own foot.
But where was he now? He couldn't have gotten that far. Physical exertion triggered the attacks, after all. And with that red hair, Law should have been able to spot him immediately. What was with that red hair anyway? It was hot, Law could admit that much, but did he dye it? It looked very soft, so maybe not?
Law turned around, Kid was probably inside one of his workshops. What man needed two workshops on his ship? Kid, apparently. How his crew put up with him, Law didn't know. The doctor walked into the belly of the ship. In the first workshop Law saw nothing but tools and work benches and what seemed like half finished projects. The second workshop held a small furnace, a second anvil, lots of crucibles and hammers. But was equally lacking in an Eustass Kid. Where the hell was that pain in the ass?
Could he have listened to his doctor and stayed in bed? It seemed very unlikely. It would be best for him, sleep was good for recovery and laying down would prevent him from hurting himself while dropping unconscious. Law walked to the Captain's cabin. He opened the door softly, it was dark in the cabin. The curtains were drawn and no lamps were lit. In the dim light Law could make out a shape on the bed. So for once the idiot was doing what was good for him? Trafalgar walked a bit closer, to see if the man was awake. The blankets were all draped around the form lying on the bed. Nothing stirred.
Law was about to leave the room when he noticed this. The blankets were not moving, nor were there any breathing sounds. Law spun on his heels, lurched forwards and grabbed the blankets, pulling them onto the floor. The bed was empty besides some more blankets and some tools.
Law sighed and stared at the bed for a moment. What the hell?! He was supposed to be in bed! Why did the idiot not do as the doctor said? How did he ever expect to get better if he never did as he was told?! He should have been in that bed, breathing, sleeping. Not lying somewhere probably half passed out waiting for rescue. He better be breathing! He still needed to keep his end of their bargain!
Law ran out of the room. In the hallway, he yelled: "Kid! Kid, where are you, you idiot? Come out, now!" Law pushed open the doors to the bathroom, kitchen, storage room, random cabins, anywhere he could think of really, but Kid was nowhere to be found.
Law started breathing hard and sweating. What if Eustass-ya was lying passed out somewhere under the hot sun on the island? In his weakened state he could easily die from the heat. He was his responsibility, dammit!
Law grabbed his emergency medical kit, a bottle of water and ran off the ship onto the island. It was the only other option he could think of.
Law had searched for a while when he ran out of obvious places to look on the island. Eustass-ya hadn't been behind the closest rock formations or inside some of the caves. The island was extremely flat so he should have seen Kid if he was anywhere close. Yet, he'd seen nothing.
Currently, he was heading to a depression in the land he remembered seeing on the map. He had no idea why Kid would go there, but it was the only other place he could think of that Kid might, really might reach in his current state. When he approached the depression, he heard the sound of metal colliding with metal. Law ran. Kid wasn't in any state to use his fruit abilities. They weren't stable, but it must also be extremely exhausting in his current condition. When he reached the depression, he saw the redhead lying on the ground with metal rings and other metal objects around him. Law stopped and looked at the guy. He was definitely breathing...
"God fucking dammit!"
As well as swearing. Should he really help a guy that clearly waved away almost all of his warnings? Passing out during a walk was utter idiocy, which was to be expected from a guy whose name is 'Kid', but this was beyond that. This was the epitome of moronic things an idiot could do. Law had told him almost every day that using his ability was stupid in his state. It wouldn't work well. Ahhh, but he still needed the guy.
Law sauntered into the pit. "Hey. Are you still alive?" Eustass-ya didn't move.
"Go away, Trafalgar. I'm busy."
"Busy with what? Staying sick longer? I know your name is Kid, but I didn't really believe you would live up to it to this degree."
Law was walking towards the red head when he noticed something. The closer he got, the hotter the temperature became. The centre of the depression was burningly hot. It was so warm, it had to be unnatural, this couldn't just come from the sun. The heat seemed to radiate from... Kid? No, it wasn't Kid, he'd be dead if he had this temperature. Law held a hand above one of the metal bits lying around. It was like holding his hand in a hot oven, just warmer. Even the air above it was scorching.
"Kid" Law said in a low, controlled voice. "What were you doing here? If you want to kill yourself, I must say that I have better and faster ways for that. I would also prefer if you did it after you kept to your end of our deal." Kid just kept laying on his back on the ground and didn't say a word. Law sighed, he was going to be stuck as the baboon's nurse for the next decade if the other kept this up. Law dropped the bottle of water on Kid's face.
"Wha-!"
"Drink it you ape. If you must kill yourself with heat, at least do it hydrated."
Kid raised an eyebrow at that but started opening the bottle.
"What are you doing with these metal things anyway, why are they so hot?"
"Doesn't matter. Stop asking."
"Eustass-ya, you have several bits of half-molten metal lying around you and you are in no condition to safely use your fruit ability. You could have lost consciousness at any point while handling these and they would have burned right through any part of your body. I guarantee that the feeling of molten metal getting in contact with your skeleton won't be pleasant, so why did you decide to ignore my warnings, Eustass-ya?"
Kid stopped drinking from the bottle. "It doesn't matter, I'm fine and you can go back to the ship."
Law knew what would happen if he left, Kid would continue using his abilities on that extremely hot metal which would result in him either losing consciousness or his abilities going out of control. Both had a very likely chance of causing severe injury. Law didn't care if anyone hurt himself through their own extreme stupidity, but he had some ethical code of not letting patients under his care get hurt... badly. A bit was their own damn fault after all, even this would be Kid's own damn fault, but there would be consequences he'd rather not deal with, the man's crew for example. And sick people should just stay in bed. That is where their place is. This man had no idea how to be a proper sick person. He was so impossible to deal with!
"Eustass-ya, if you want to lose a few limbs I can certainly help with that. Or you go back to the ship on your own strength or I take you there one limb at a time."
Kid's eyes locked onto his and went even paler. The man was already a bit pale from his illness and he already had a very light complexion of his own so in truth, this was quite a feat.
"Alright, alright, don't get your panties in a twist." Kid stood up. Law looked him over, Kid stood relatively steady on his feet, but he was shivering, considering the environment that could hardly be from cold. He must be exhausted. He wouldn't make the trip back to the ship on his own. But the sooner they left, the closer Kid would get to the ship and the less Law would have to carry him.
Law gave Kid a mocking smile. "So you managed to get up? We'll see if you can get back to the ship on your own, let's go." And Law took off.
"You bastard, who the hell do you think you are?! Treating people like they're your own puppets! I don't listen to your fucking condescending bullshit. I'll fucking get to the ship on my own!" Kid started walking.
Now we'll find out how far he gets.
It turned out Kid got pretty far. He only passed out on the gangplank, boarding the ship. Law had to carry the bigger guy just the last few meters into the cabin. Normally, he wouldn't have bothered by carrying any patient, but this was a bit different. Law was actually impressed that Kid had made it this far. He had expected that Kid would have passed out halfway to the ship.
A few moments later, Kid was lying peacefully in his bed, like good patients are supposed to do, and Law felt his exhaustion again. He really could do with a nap, unfortunately, when Kid woke up he would be needing sustenance. He'd be very hungry. Law groaned and walked to the kitchen. How he wished Kid's crew was here so they could cook. He had enough on his plate already. Kid had send his crew away shortly after Law had agreed to take care of their captain. It had something to do with not risking spreading his disease. The idiot hadn't listened to this illness probably not being infectious. He just wanted to torture Law some more. Law started to make rice gruel. Eustass-ya's stomach should be able to handle this and it was nutritious enough.
Law scooped some onto a plate, ready to put it in Kid's room. The guy didn't care if his food was hot or cold anyway, the barbarian.
Law put the plate and Kid's medicine next to the redhead's bed and dragged himself to the sofa in the room. He was way too tired to walk to his makeshift bed in the infirmary. The sofa would do. Law was asleep within seconds.
Law woke up from the sun shining directly into his face. Struggling to open his eyes, he turned on his side to look at his patient. After a few internal curses and blinking a few times, Law managed to focus his eyes enough to look at the bed. It was empty.
What the hell? Ugh, not again! Law groaned and got up. Where was that bastard now? He should be sleeping. Law yawned, sat up and looked outside, the sun was already high in the sky. He really hadn't meant to sleep this long. He'd better go look for and feed Eustass-ya again and eat something himself.
A quick look inside the different rooms of the ship revealed once again that Kid was not on the ship. Law really hoped that he was not out in the pit playing with hot metal again. But once an idiot, always an idiot he supposed. Why couldn't Kid just stick to -surprisingly- reading books like he had done the first few days Law was here?
Law ate some leftover rice gruel, took his medicine bag, some water and biscuits with him and took off towards the place he found Kid yesterday. The walk was slightly more pleasant than yesterday's. He didn't know why he really had been so worried then. Kid placing himself in danger was his own choice, he may need the man for his metal working skills right now, but he could just look for another worker. It would take a while to find someone else who could work with medical grade titanium, but Bepo would feel even worse if fixing his scalpels would take even longer. It was the bear's fault that most of his scalpels were ruined, broken in half and some handles were lost too. He had felt so guilty about it that Law had been happy to have run into Eustass-ya. He knew Kid was a skilled metal worker, just looking at him could tell you that. Kid had seemed hesitant about Law's request to fix his scalpels, but proposed a deal mere hours later when he became sick. He really wasn't as tough as he seemed or he wasn't as good a metal worker as he liked to present himself. Law would pulverize him if the latter was the case, maybe he'd cut off the bastards head and use it as a living punching ball. He could hang it on his wall and hit it whenever he got frustrated. That got him out of his gloomy thoughts, something good would come out of this in any case.
A few minutes later, Law reached the depression where he'd found Kid yesterday. Sure enough, there he was again. The redhead was holding up some metal coil with his ability and dropping other pieces of metal into it with pincers. Law walked into the pit. "Eustass-ya, what are you doing? Didn't I tell you to stay in bed?"
Kid looked up and saw the packet of biscuits poking out of Law's bag. "You brought biscuits!" Kid pretty much dropped what he was doing and attacked the bag Law was carrying. "I was so hungry."
"You should have just stayed on the ship." Law glared at Kid. "You really aren't worth taking care of!"
Kid laughed and spit out some crumbs. "You're so contradictory, Law."
"I'm not contradictory."
"Please, you constantly threaten to maim or abandon me, but you still come to find me, bring me food and make medicine." Kid bit into another biscuit.
"I'm just doing my job and making sure you can do yours. I really need those scalpels," Law bit back. "Hmm, good to hear you're so concerned about me."
They argued some more. Mostly about whether Kid was or wasn't an idiot. He totally was. Who disobeyed a doctor as good as Law was? This wasn't healthy. After a while Law had to give up and went back to the ship. He returned in the afternoon with dinner and dragged Kid back with him.
The same scenario repeated itself for some days afterwards. Kid's health was constantly getting better too. On the fifth day, when Kid was almost completely healed, Law was bringing dinner to Kid when he heard Eustass-ya cheering. The redhead was standing by his metal stuff and laughing.
"What's going on?"
Kid turned to look at Law. "I did it, it works." The red head had a huge smile on his face that was both happy and frightening.
"Good for you, Eustass-ya. Does that mean you will finally listen to my orders and stay on the ship?"
His smile fell a bit. " I've recovered and you know it, Law. I feel good and haven't had an attack in four days."
"You still shouldn't be doing stuff like this. It hasn't happened for a while, but you can still lose control over your devil fruit or drop unconscious. It isn't over that soon."
"Fuck you."
Law sighed and let it slide. "What have you been doing here these past few days, anyway? What did you manage to do?"
Kid looked at Law. "Just a new technique for working metal." When he said that some crumbs fell out of his mouth. Law was disgusted. Kid really was like a baboon.
"I'm going back to the ship. Try not to pass out here if you're not coming too."
Kid snorted. "Figures."
Law pretended not to hear him and left.
When he reached the ship he noticed that something had happened. There was an empty cart next to the ship, he didn't recognize. Were there visitors? Or maybe the ship was being robbed? Law couldn't see anyone on deck, they must have gone inside. He quickly jogged to the side of the ship. Law wasn't exactly in an ideal position right now to deal with robbers, if a robbery was happening. He'd left his nodachi on the ship. This part of the island was completely deserted, so he hadn't seen other people for a long time and assumed he wouldn't need it, but if there was a robbery happening...
Damn that sense of comfort, he couldn't let Kid's ship be robbed, he needed to do something. His nodachi was in his infirmary which was located in the ship, but close to his position. "Room." He stretched the field pretty wide so it would surely reach the infirmary. Then he switched his desk for himself and was standing in the infirmary. It looked undisturbed, which was a bit odd. He grabbed and unsheathed his nodachi, and then he walked to the door and pressed his ear against it. He heard nothing, so he slowly opened the door and peeked into the hallway, it was empty. Law stepped out of the infirmary and saw that all of the doors exiting on it were closed. Which was a rather odd thing for thieves to do, but made things easier for him. He carefully walked past every door and listened if the intruders were behind it. When he got to the door of the galley he heard voices coming from inside.
"Where do you think the captain and the Heart's captain are? Shouldn't they have been here?" Another voice cut in, "Ugh, the stores are almost empty, good thing we brought supplies, but we might need to make a second trip."
And then there was a third voice who answered the previous ones, "I don't know, they may have just gone outside, if they're not back by tonight we'll go look. Kid needs to know that we found what he asked for, a bit overpriced, but well... We'll also stay here for a few more days, we'd need to make that trip anyway."
Law relaxed, he hadn't been around Kid's crew much, but he was pretty sure these people were them. So no burglars, that was something at least. Law rose and opened the door. Immediately, three pairs of eyes were on him.
"Trafalgar," the blond one, Killer, Law supposed acknowledged him. "We were wondering where you and our captain were."
"Eustass-ya is a little ways east of here, working n some metal things, he should be here shortly."
"So master Kid's better?" the blue haired one asked.
"If he doesn't overexert himself, he will be. I don't know what he's been doing, but it's not good for him, he should stay inside and rest." He played it up a bit. If he could get some cooperation from the crew it might be a bit easier to control his unruly patient. "It would be good if one of you could try to convince him to rest. Then we could both get what we want and be on our own way. Your captain doesn't seem to understand that notion."
"The captain can decide that well for himself, even if his decisions seem very unwise. I will talk to him when he's back," the masked blond replied.
Law may have found an ally in him. "Thank you, Killer-ya. I will retreat to the infirmary for now." Law stepped out of the room and closed the door. He still had some herbs to powder and medicines to mix in the infirmary and it was time that he started packing anyway. Kid was almost better, so he could almost go back to his own crew and ship. They shouldn't be too far, he'd sent them to a nearby island to gather herbs while they waited for his call. He really hoped that Kid could fix his scalpels soon. It were only the handles that needed to be repaired. The problem with is was, only titanium could be used for it and the few metalworkers he'd found before bumping into the Kid pirates hadn't even recognized the metal, which was absurd and Law absolutely refused to let any of those uneducated morons work on his precious equipment. Kid had been a godsend really. Law didn't want to search any longer. What if any of his crew got hurt and he couldn't use his sterilized titanium scalpels? What would he need to use then? One of the kitchen knives? Law shuddered at the mere thought.
A few hours later around dinner time, Law heard a disturbance outside. Kid had probably arrived. A few minutes after, the blue haired Heat called him out for dinner. The meal was a bit more lively than when it had just been him and Kid. It tasted better too, he really wasn't much of a cook, anyway. Yet that had also been nice. Kid was in a good mood too, he smiled a lot and seemed a bit euphoric.
Now that all the Kid pirates had returned, it seemed there would be a watch again. Law hadn't bothered when it had just been Kid and him. He hadn't slept much the first few days, preparing medicines for Kid and the redhead had needed to sleep anyway. The few hours that Law had managed to scratch up, he had slept. Now, Law was given the second watch, right after Killer. Which was annoying, but fine.
Law decided to stay up until it was his watch. He didn't like to have his sleep cut in half, better no sleep than a disturbed one. After checking up on Kid and making sure he drank his medicine, he took a book and settled himself on deck to read by a small oil lamp.
"If you wanted two watches, you could have just said so." Law looked up and saw Killer standing there.
"I'm not on watch right now, mister Killer, I'm reading."
"It's almost the same thing."
"It's not, my attention is on the book and not the surroundings of the ship. Being on watch means observing the environment. Don't tell me the massacre soldier would slack off on the job?" Law smiled at the blond man.
Killer gave him a look, well, Law thought he did, it was difficult to tell with that mask, and took off.
Law continued his reading on different amputation methods. A few hours passed and Killer's watch ended and his began. Law extinguished his oil lamp and walked up to the ship's railing, he made a tour of the ship but everything was quiet. Until... drip, drip, drip It started raining.
His book! Law picked it up and went back inside. He put it back in the infirmary and looked around for his raincoat.
"Law."
Law stopped moving, he had definitely heard his name. He looked into the hallway, Kid's door was open on a crack. What could Kid be saying about him? And with who? They were discussing him, so listening in was fine by him. Law took a look at the nearby cabin doors, all were closed. He walked up to Kid's door.
"He can say whatever he wants, I'm not staying in bed for entire days."
"You need all your strength if you're serious about doing this, Kid, and you've been overexerting yourself." That was definitely Killer's voice.
"He's done all we asked and more."
"We're also talking about three hundred thousand Belli! Doctors make a lot of money, but not that much! He's also an ass."
They were talking about him! But what money? Law had never asked for any money or things while on the ship? He'd eaten their food, sure, but nothing else. Law heard Kid's rumbling laugh.
"It was part of the deal, even if he didn't know. And yeah, he's an ass, but we're all pirates. I will fix his darn knives tomorrow and we can all be on our way."
"You're a darn idiot, Kid, at least tell him."
"Go to sleep, Killer."
"...Yes, captain"
Law hurriedly got up and went back onto the deck. It was raining harder now. He wasn't sure what had just taken place between Kid and the first mate. What money? What was Killer so concerned about? The work on his scalpels? Kid made bigger and more complicated things. He'd seen some of his work, he'd made small watches from scratch as well as big weaponry. Making and reattaching the handles on some scalpels should be nothing. Nothing made sense, especially not the three hundred thousand Belli. His watch passed by very slowly and without further incidents.
The next morning during breakfast, Kid announced that he would fix Law's scalpels after lunch, they'd need the morning to set everything up for the workshop.
"Well, that was about time, I've been your nurse for about two weeks. I thought you'd keep me here forever."
"You better be grateful they'll get fixed so soon. Who would want you here, anyway?"
Heat, Wire and Killer stood up. "We'll set everything up outside," Killer said and they left in silence.
Law wanted to question Kid about what he overheard, but how do you bring something you don't understand up when it was from a conversation you weren't supposed to have heard?
"So you can call your crew, they can pick you up tomorrow. They're close, right?"
"Yeah, it shouldn't take them more than a day to get here."
"Good, I'm tired of looking at your face."
"Is that why you're having Killer wear a mask?"
"Killer wears a mask because he wants to and he isn't half as mothering as you are."
They bickered for a little while longer and Law didn't find a way to bring it up by the time they left the galley.
Law rang his crew's den den mushi and told them to come pick him up. They should arrive tomorrow evening. The rest of the morning passed by rather quickly. All his stuff was packed, except a few basic items he'd still need by the time it was lunch. They all ate their meal in silence on deck. Law was used to silence, but this was feeling decidedly uncomfortable. He would be glad to leave, he'd had his doubts, but since Kid's crew was back, he was pretty unwelcome.
After lunch, Law walked onto the island. Kid's crew had evened a piece of the rocky island and set up a small smithy that really missed one important thing. There was no furnace or other heating equipment to be found. Law wasn't an expert on these things, but those were a given right?
"Law! Good! Come here."
Law walked up to Kid. "Aren't you missing something?"
"Huh? What?"
"The furnace? Or welding equipment or something? Don't tell me I know more about metal work than you?"
Kid Laughed, hard. Law was taken aback and looked at Killer, Heat and Wire. All of them were staring back at Law. They weren't smiling, but there expression seemed a bit more relaxed than this morning. They still made him uncomfortable, though.
Kid looked back at Law. "Using a mobile furnace or normal welding equipment is impossible with medical grade titanium Law. It's melting temperature is too high. I'm going to use inductive heating, I will generate the needed warmth using my fruit ability."
He could do that? So was that what Kid had been practicing? Yet, would that work? "Inductive heating works through magnetism, I know. But titanium isn't magnetic, it won't work."
"The scalpel doesn't need to be magnetic. I'm going to heat up a crucible we made for your scalpels which will transfer the heat to them. Using this method, I can also target the specific place to heat, this way the edge of the scalpels shouldn't be blunted from the heat."(*)
Law stared at Kid, this baboon could do that? Such a thing existed?
"Today we will make them all whole and tomorrow we will reshape them. Let's get started."
Kid sat himself down before the metal coil Law had seen in the pit before. He put a scalpel in a metal object, probably the mentioned crucible and put that inside the metal coil. It didn't take long for it to start glowing from heat. They seemed to start with scalpels that still had their handles. They were just melting a bit of metal from the two pieces and reattaching them. Then Killer opened a box and pulled out some pieces of metal. Probably the rough material for the new handles. Kid took it and kept working. Law kept watching, fascinated. Once in a while, Kid looked up and smiled at him. He was probably mocking him. Law didn't really care right now.
Heat and Wire had left a while ago and right when they were done remaking the handles they came to tell dinner was ready.
Kid walked to the ship besides Law. "Impressed, Surgeon?"
"It really is a novel way of doing things, I haven't seen it before."
"It's not that easy to implement for others. I can do it because of my abilities, I don't know if it would be possible for regular smithies. It has various advantages..." Kid kept explaining it enthusiastically to Law who could do nothing but nod and stare, he didn't know Kid could be this enthusiastic about something other than fighting and killing.
The next day went as planned. All the scalpels were shaped, cleaned and even sharpened before the arrival of the Heart pirates' crewmembers.
Law was waiting for them on the beach, while the Kid pirates took their last preparations to sail off. Kid had joined him for a while, but had to leave to take care of his ship and crew. Not much later the submarine emerged and soon a raft carrying Penguin and Bepo was coming to the shore.
"Captain!" Soon Law was crushed underneath a polar bear. "I'm so sorry! We really tried! We will find them. We will make it up to you. We're so sorry!"
"Whaffff? Bfo? Geth off!" Law spat out the polar bear hair he'd gotten in his mouth."What?"
Penguin spoke up "We're sorry, we couldn't get it. We will search again, maybe Captain Kid will be willing to wait for a while?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Penguin looked confused. "The titanium. It is extremely hard to find in the Red Line. It all has to be imported from the Blues. There are a few mines in the Grand Line too, but none in the Red Line. We asked many people. There were a few pieces for sale on the black market, but we couldn't find the vendor fast enough. They were gone before we knew it. We'll look again, we don't need to go back all the way to East Blue, I'm sure."
"We just need a bit more time! I'm sorry!" the bear blubbered.
Law was stunned. What had happened? Titanium was that rare on the Red Line? The Kid pirates had done all of that for him? Why?
Bepo was still wailing on his shoulder. "It's ok, Bepo, they're already fixed."
"What?" Pengiun reacted.
"Here," Law unfolded the bundle with his scalpels, all blinking as if new. Suddenly, a little piece of paper moved out from under the scalpels. Law caught it.
"What's that?" Bepo asked.
"A vivre card I think." There was something written on it.
How about a date? Rumsyt Island 3 weeks from now? 5pm, don't be late, doctor!
Law tore his eyes off it and looked to the Kid pirates' ship. It had already cleared the island and set out to sea.
(*) Titanium's melting point is actually not that high for a metal, about 1670°C/3040°F. My explanation on inductive heating may also be off, I'm sorry, but it is possible to use it for melting titanium. Titanium really is non-magnetic, this is one of the reasons why it is used for medical equipment.
I didn't really get where I wanted to go with this fic, so there is a chance that I'll write a sequel. I'm not very sure, at this point. I'm mostly lacking in time. ;-)
I hope that you enjoyed my little fic, considering this is the first thing I've written in a very long time, I would love it if you could leave a review for me. Are there things you liked/didn't like? Did it flow well? Was it IC? (Are there still some comma's missing?) XD
Thank you for reading! Have a nice day.