Evasion

Ace sat at the kitchen table in Swift Hunter, idly playing around with a handful of cooler flames he'd finally worked out how to create. They were basically a recreation of the will 'o wisps you saw in graveyards sometimes, pale green and barely hot at all by his standards. On the other side of the table Fox was cutting vegetables for stir fry; they'd left the now barren island in the Calm Belt behind the previous day and were travelling somewhere more populated to restock supplies.

"Fox?"

"Yes, Spadille?"

"Isn't it about time for your next check-up?" Ace had a very good sense of time in spite of his narcolepsy; he was aware of the passing of minutes and hours and could keep track of what day of the week it was as well as what day of the month. His near-death experience had briefly confused his inner clock but he was over that now. Fox on the other hand had an abysmal sense of time and was barely able to keep track of whether it was morning or evening unless outside, let alone remember how many days had passed since a specific event. She plotted things she had to do by the lunar phases and kept meticulous notes on her Log so as not to lose track.

"Technically yes, but my doctor is still in Paradise and we're six hours behind him; so while it's dinner time here where he is it's some ungodly hour of tomorrow morning," Fox said. "I'll be visiting him at what will be first thing after breakfast for him, but very late at night for us."

"Who is your doctor anyway?" Ace asked, letting the flames roll up one arm, over his shoulders and down the other. He was hoping there'd be a tattooist in the port they were visiting; he felt horribly naked without ink.

"Trafalgar Law," Fox said, sweeping the neatly diced vegetables into the pan.

"The Surgeon of Death? That Trafalgar Law?!" The flames remained controlled despite his shock; Ace felt moderately proud of that.

"I don't know of any other Trafalgar Law Kajin, do you?"

"But, but," Ace paused, frowning. "Wait… does this mean it was Law who got Luffy away from Marineford and patched him up? That does not make sense."

"Law's a professional, Kajin," Fox said calmly, "and a lot like me in some ways. He helped Luffy pretty much for the hell of it so far as I can tell, and agreed to be my doctor during my pregnancy because he is curious both about my Devil Fruit and about the Sea Network. My mother is also interested in him, which while not exactly a ringing endorsement means I'm willing to let him near me. Mother has a knack for finding reliable people."

"Reliable rather than trustworthy?" Ace probed. Fox was picky in her wording.

"Law is a doctor and a pirate captain who wants to reach One Piece," Fox said patiently. "Being a doctor, he is rational, intelligent and highly capable. Being a pirate captain, he is used to commanding others, makes unilateral decisions that further his goals and is not above resorting to terror and violence to get his way. Unlike Luffy he likely has a well-thought-out plan to carry him to the top, which probably involves making a name for himself to reduce challengers. Hence his reputation."

Ace ran all that through his own mind and conceded it made sense. "Sounds like something you would do, Kitsune," he commented.

"Which is why I'm letting him be my doctor," Fox agreed. "He's very logical and recognises that helping me could further his own ambitions, though I suspect a certain amount of professional pride is also involved. I believe he wants information off the network as well; if he's anything like me he'll want to be well-informed and my mother knows everything worth knowing on the Grand Line."

"So you trust him to be a good doctor, but you're wary of the pirate aspect?" Ace guessed.

"I know he's a brilliant doctor and both I and the baby will be in excellent hands, so long as treating me remains in his best interests or at least has no negative bearing on his ambitions," Fox clarified. "So I'm going to be moderately helpful and very well-behaved while on board his submarine, but I'm still going to carry my knives every time."

"Gotcha." Ace felt happier about the situation now. "How long until that's ready?" he added plaintively as the smell of her cooking taunted him.

"Another fifteen minutes, you bottomless pit," Fox said fondly. "The meat in the oven will be ready now though, so serve yourself."

Ace bounced to his feet, around the table and opened the oven door, removing the metal tray loaded with several large joints of Sea King meat without bothering with the oven mitt. He plonked the tray down on the table, shut the oven and started eating before he'd even sat down again. His appetite had grown immensely since his growth spurt and he was still putting on muscle mass, so Fox augmented every single meal with Sea King meat; Swift Hunter lived up to her name despite being rather small by Sea King standards.

"Now you've got your flames under control you can work on your physical abilities for a while," Fox said as she stirred the pan. "I've got a safe house on this island so we can stick around for a bit."

"Whose territory is it?" Ace asked.

"Shanks; most of my safe-houses are on his turf," Fox admitted, "or else totally off the beaten track altogether, on the islands that Log Poses can't find. I'm not going near the ones in what used to be Whitebeard's territory until I know for sure who's claimed what, I never trusted Kaido enough to set up shop on any of his islands and Big Mom is too greedy for living under her protection to be worth it."

"So I'll be seeing a lot of places I haven't been to very much, if at all," Ace mused; "should be fun."

Law was eating breakfast and steadily making inroads on his first cup of coffee when his nose tingled, making him sneeze. On opening his eyes he found the enigmatic Fox sitting opposite him, elbows propped up on the table as around them the Heart Pirates exploded into muffled speculation and moderate panic. They were in the middle of nowhere and a good way below the sea's surface, so the panic was perhaps legitimate.

"Fox-ya," he drawled, sipping his coffee with a bland smile.

"Doctor Law," she responded, inclining her head politely. "I trust you meant twenty-eight days when you specified I should come back in a month's time?"

"I did; will I be sneezing every time you show up?"

"Quite possibly," she conceded, her expression bland and thoughtful; "is that a serious inconvenience?"

Law waved a hand dismissively as he finished his coffee; Fox was interesting, more interesting than her captain. Luffy was a D and therefore a catalyst of change, but Straw-Hat's assassin was more personally intriguing. Her deadpan humour and bland mockery were rather entertaining; it had been a while since he'd met someone who responded to him with humour rather than terror.

"Why breakfast time?" he asked.

"It is a little past midnight by my count, Doctor Law," his patient said sweetly; "I felt an early visit would be more convenient for you, but if you prefer that I come back later…"

"Now is fine," Law said, pushing the remains of his meal away and standing up. "I will be setting a proper date and time for your next appointment though; I don't want you dropping in when I'm busy." He really should have thought of that before letting her leave last time; she could have arrived in the middle of a fight, or while he was working on someone.

"You are the doctor," Fox said, getting up and walking around the table. Law narrowed his eyes at her.

"Fox-ya, are you armed?"

She dipped her chin and peeked up at him from under her lashes. "Doctor Law, I am isolated from my comrades and on a strange pirate ship; of course I am armed."

"You weren't armed last time," Law noted as he led the way out of the galley and up a floor to the theatre.

"I was doing the laundry when I was called away and my captain was to hand, as was Grandpa Ray," Fox pointed out, reminding Law of her kinship to the Dark King. "I'm not sure what would have happened if you'd tried to harm me but it wouldn't have been pretty."

Law conceded she had a point there. "So you don't trust me?"

"I trust your professionalism, but I too am a professional," Fox said pleasantly. "Weapons mean I do not feel the need to use my Devil Fruit when threatened, and I've been informed that pregnancy has made more aggressive in the defence of my personal space. I'm sure you don't want me to paint the walls of your ship with brains just because someone jostled me in the corridor; knife wounds are less final."

What a lovely threat: graphic, matter-of-fact and utterly believable. Law was impressed. He opened the door for her and ushered her inside. "How many knives?" he asked blandly.

Fox eyed him. "You're going to make me undress, so why ask?"

Law shrugged. "I'd like to know if I've missed noticing any."

She raised an eyebrow, sitting on the edge of the operating table. "Eighteen knives; I refuse to comment on what else I'm carrying."

Law nodded, accepting the challenge. "You'll have to take them all off so I can weigh you again," he pointed out mildly; "now take your shirt off please."

By the end of her check-up Law had seen twelve of the eighteen knives –he suspected the remaining six were hidden in her boots– four of which were definitely made of Kairoseki, several lengths of garrotte wire incorporated in her belt, a few small explosives that might either be smoke bombs or firecrackers and a number of needles dipped in sealed packets of what was probably poison. He'd also determined there was nothing wrong with her or the baby and that his patient could probably deceive you into believing that up was down and black was white without ever uttering a single lie.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're utterly frustrating?" he asked as she got dressed again, slotting the various weapons back into their places with brisk professionalism.

"I'll take that as a compliment," she said dryly. "Now what do you really want this time?"

Law paused; she'd noticed?

"I'm well trained," she quipped, pulling her boots on. "Ask."

"I want you to flay the Hoof of the Dragon from my most recently acquired member of my crew," Law said bluntly, "and I want to watch."

Fox looked him in the eye. "Deal," she said coolly. "Now?"

"Now," Law agreed, smiling. Getting to watch her work would tell him much more than trying to extract the information out of her.

"Fine. Can I borrow one of your scalpels? I could do it with my knives but a scalpel is more suited to the task."

"Go ahead, Fox-ya; use what you like," Law said, waving a hand to encompass the room. "I'll fetch your patient."

As he left the theatre he heard her mutter, "Why can't I find even one doctor I don't feel the urge to stab at least once a visit?" which made him pause on the threshold.

"How many of your doctors have you stabbed, Fox-ya?"

"All of them so far except you," she said frankly. "Kajiki I only occasionally stabbed through the hands and once in the leg; all the other stabbings were fatal. I don't like doctors much: you all feel like assassins to me and it makes me twitchy. You at least don't make a secret of the fact that you kill people, Doctor Law."

An interesting attitude. "If you do stab me, try to avoid anything important," he called over his shoulder as he left to find Jean Bart, "or I won't let you come back."

Life goes on and Fox has her second appointment.