Operation

Characters: Heart Pirates, Law. Rating: T. Warnings: blood, injury, surgery

To survive on the Grand Line, you needed luck. Skill was of course important, and strength imperative, but sometimes it didn't matter how skilled you were, or how strong you were. A single lucky break for your opponent could spell the end for you.

This was the situation the Heart Pirates found themselves in at the end of a gruelling battle with the Marines. They had been more skilled, stronger, and emerged bloody yet victorious and ready to celebrate, if only their captain hadn't stumbled to his knees after the last Marine fell.

"Captain!" Bepo was the first one to his side, crouching down to support him as Law swayed alarmingly, one hand pressed to his abdomen. Blood oozed from between his fingers as the crew gathered around him worriedly, each voicing their own concern. Penguin was the one to reach out and coax the fingers away so they could see the wound, tearing at Law's hoodie when it refused to give access. Law made a small noise of complaint which went entirely ignored.

It appeared as though a Marine had got lucky. A deep gash from a swipe of a blade ran for a couple of inches along his abdomen, bleeding profusely.

"Infirmary," Penguin decreed sharply, biting back a curse because there wasn't time for that. Law didn't argue, attempting to return his hand to its position over the wound and scramble to his feet. Bepo swept him into his arms, carrying him gently as Shachi bustled through the crowd to press his own hands to the wound. The procession headed awkwardly to the infirmary, where their captain was laid gently on a bed.

"Stitches?" Clione suggested, but Penguin and Shachi both shook their heads as they gestured for their nakama to prop Law up so that he wasn't lying flat on his back but slightly angled so the wound was above the level of the heart. Law echoed their movement, raising his left hand to try and summon a Room. It petered out almost instantly, the fight and the wound sapping too much of his energy.

"Too deep," Penguin ground out, finding a knife and ruthlessly cutting away the rest of Law's hoodie.

"Can anyone except Captain do anything else, though?" Clione continued, stepping forwards to help wash the blood away to clean the area around the injury.

"We don't have a choice," Shachi said bluntly, heading for the cabinets to locate anaesthetic.

"I can… talk you through it," Law gasped, gritting his teeth. "Local anaesthetic, Shachi." The ginger put back the equipment for general anaesthetic he'd been gathering and obeyed without question. "Ikkaku, blood. S (RH+)." She scrambled to obey as Shachi administered the anaesthetic. Law noticeably relaxed as the pain eased.

Pulling on gloves, Penguin began to disinfect the area around the wound without waiting for orders and the rest of the crew present followed suit, barring Bepo who positioned himself by his captain's head and gently removed the hat. Law acknowledged him with a smile before his attention returned to his crew.

As far as surgeries went, it was a simple one for a professional like Law, and he managed to guide his crew through the steps to locate and repair the severed artery responsible for the major blood loss. The steady-handed Uni handled the intricate work, supported by Penguin, while Shachi stayed back with the anaesthetic, judging whether or not Law required a higher dose as the surgery continued. Ikkaku remained with the blood bags, setting up a transfusion line when Law's skin got too white and his breathing too laboured. Clione was utilised as a secondary assistant, and Bepo remained steadfastly by his captain, gentle paws on his shoulders.

Once the surgery was completed, the blood cleared from where it had been pooling inside Law's abdomen and the external wound sewn shut by Penguin, the crew slipped back into the more familiar post-operation routine. Law left them to it, exhausted by the surgery and the mental focus required to instruct them whilst dealing with symptoms of blood loss. Once Ikkaku reported that his blood levels had returned to a safe threshold, he let himself fall asleep.

The crew double-checked he was in no danger of further complications before leaving him be, a blanket pulled up snugly to his chin with a limited selection of wires connecting him to machines that could monitor what they could not.

"We need to learn more," Shachi commented, finally turning his attention to the minor cuts he and his nakama had also accrued in the fight. "We can't rely on Law every time someone gets hurt." Everyone nodded in agreement, well aware that if Law had been slightly worse off and unable to give them instructions they wouldn't have been able to save him.

The Heart Pirates refused to lose their captain to something so simple.

Law gets injured too, and sometimes his abilities aren't enough (we see this in Dressrosa, of course), so his crew get to try to perform surgeries every so often.

As for his blood type, it's complete guesswork. I basically went with the idea that different Blues have different predominant blood types, and all the North Blue characters (that I recall) have S bloodtype. Sanji and his siblings are RH- but that's specified to be really rare, so I went with RH+ instead for Law. Admittedly, from the Straw Hats' blood types there doesn't seem to be much of a pattern, but the Straw Hats also have medical miracles like growing back teeth by drinking milk, which is abnormal even in-universe.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari