Your brain freezes for a moment as Law's words sink into you. He didn't say you were incurable. He didn't say that they had improved the medication but there would be side effects. He didn't say any of the dreadful news you had expected.

He didn't even come in and say you only had a few months left to live.

You feel Sabo's hand tighten against yours a little, but you can barely feel it.

"Our mother has been doing what?"

Ace has a hand on Sabo's shoulder and Luffy's leaning forward over the bed.

"Why would a mom do that?" He asks.

"... There are a few psychological reasons," Law begins, but he shakes his head. "Without asking her I couldn't say, and considering her status, I cannot ask her."

"You're sure though?" Sabo asks, and you're starting to comprehend the conversation better. The blood's still rushing in your ears, but you're coming out of your shock enough to follow the conversation.

"Absolutely positive?"

Chopper nods. "Both Law's scan and my analysis came to the same conclusion. The medication is both a suppressant and a poison."

"What?" You manage to form the word, but you almost can't hear yourself over the sound of your heart beating in your ears. "Wait. Wait. You're saying... that... I'm not sick?"

You can feel everyone's gazes sinking into you. There's a mix of concern and sorrow that hangs heavy in the air. It's comforting and stifling at the same time, and you can feel panic bubbling up in your chest. "I'm not sick, I was poisoned?"

Your eyes find Law's and he nods curtly. "Correct."

"I spent... all th-that time." Your breath hitches and you're pawing at Sabo as the tears spill down your face. Your panicked emotions are flooding you and you don't know what to feel. In truth, you're feeling so much so fast you can't hold onto any singular emotion. Anger, sorrow, frustration, and grief spill out all at once. "I could've - I cuh-could have duh-done so much!"

"Shhh, shhh little spark, breathe. Breathe, poppet." Sabo says evenly, letting you cry into his chest as he works to soothe you. You're holding onto your brother like you might drown, arms around his neck gripping the back of his shirt harshly. You can feel a warm hand over yours and another, cooler hand, on your back. Even in your current state, you're aware that all three of them are trying to comfort you.

There're a few long moments of silence while you're given time to cry as you need to. When your sobs start to subside, Sabo helps you lay back a little.

"What's next?" Ace questions.

"We're going to do an analysis of the entire pill bottle." Law says. "And provide documents to the nobles in our care per the laws." He looks toward Sabo. "What you do with them will be your call, but it's going to take a couple days for Chopper to do it properly."

"What's next for (Y/N)?" Ace clarifies.

"A long, but hopeful road to recovery." Law says with a tired smile. "I'll be doing in-home visits once a week to monitor your progress, but we have to be careful about how the substance leaves you."

"Can't you just remove it all, Traffy?" Luffy questions. "You pulled all that stuff out of me that one time, can't you do the same again?"

"That had been in your system for a matter of hours." Law grumbles. "We're talking years. It's hard to say how the detoxification will progress. I don't want her going into shock or having other issues arise that would compromise her already weakened immune system."

"Plus," Chopper says, putting a hand over yours. "The addition of a suppressant is concerning. We don't know why it was included."

"There's nothing else wrong with me that it would've been affecting?" You ask weakly. You had already been feeling drained, but the news had sapped what little energy you had left, and your tears had taken more beyond that.

"Aside from the drug, you are healthy." Law says, a grim expression on his face.

"What in the hells was it suppressing then?" Sabo grumbles at no one in particular.

"I... don't know, but I can hazard an educated guess." Law says quietly. He's looking at you for a moment and you look to Sabo when realization starts to dawn on you.

Sabo's eyes go wide as he looks from you to Law. "She's cursed?"

"Possibly." Law answers quietly.

"But -." You start, but Sabo puts a finger against your mouth.

"That's the end of this discussion. Here, at least." He says, and his tone is completely business. This isn't your brother, this is Sabo the lawyer. "Thank you, both of you."

Sabo pulls his business card from his back pocket and pulls a pen from the table and scribbles something on the back of each one before handing them over. "The home address. I am requesting any further conversation occur there, at your earliest convenience. Dr. Chopper, I expect you will be the only one completing the analysis?"

Chopper nods. "All by hand. Nothing is in the system."

"Good. Discretion is the order of the day." Sabo notes. "Is there anything else before we leave?"

Law writes a number on his own card and hands it over to Sabo. "That's your emergency number. Nothing else and no one else. If there are severe withdrawal symptoms or anything else alarming, call it. I've already talked to Crocus and Hongo about providing back up for the next few months."

"Months?" You nearly cried again.

Law nods. "I'm going to do my best to see that it doesn't take any longer than it has to. If you can work, you're welcome to do it. As much activity as you can manage will be best as we progress."

You nod, before turning to Sabo. "I hate to impose, brother dear."

"I was already planning on it." He says, eyes focused on his phone. "You can go back to work Thursday if you're up for it, but I would appreciate you staying at home tomorrow."

"I'll be by Friday." Law says. "We'll see what a couple days has done if I don't hear from you before then."

"Y-yeah." You agree.

The doctors excuse themselves and you and the others quietly gather yourselves up and head back to the car. There's a heavy silence over all of you, even Luffy's quiet and sullen. You're not entirely sure that you're even processing everything. It feels like you teleport from the hospital room to the hall, to the exit, and into the car. You can't place walking through doors or opening anything.

You aren't losing large chunks of time, but you keep going unfocused.

"Distraction." You say randomly and look around to realize you're in the front seat of the car with Sabo driving.

"You want a distraction?" Sabo asks, eyes on the road.

"I don't know if I want one, but I feel like I need one."

"Let's go camping!" Luffy says from the backseat.

"We have work tomorrow, you idiot." Ace admonishes. "We can't go that far from the city right now anyway."

"Right, but we can camp in the backyard." Luffy retorts, sticking his tongue out. "We can show (Y/N) what camping's like tonight, right?"

"... We do have a fire pit." Ace admits after a moment.

"Do we have what we need in the fridge?" Sabo prompts.

"What would we need?" You question, you can feel yourself cheering up just at the prospect.

"We need to make s'mores!" Luffy insists.

"We need actual food too. Hotdogs at least." Sabo adds.

"Spare marshmallows so we can just roast those." Ace pipes up.

"Hmm... we have sausages, and buns. There's graham crackers and chocolate I'm sure of it. I think the only marshmallows we have though are those fancy ones I got from the office." You go over the inventory of the kitchen in your head. "We'll need to stop at the store on the way home."

"We can get some onions and peppers and sauté vegetables to go on the sausages." Ace says in a tone that sounds like he's already eating. "We have the camping flat-plate, so we won't have to cook them in the kitchen and break the experience."

"We can, um, get some sparklers too?" You question uncertainly.

The three of you were looking at Sabo hopefully, as though you had all automatically designated him as the Responsible One™. There's a moment's pause on his part before he sighs.

"I see I am the designated adult for tonight." He grumbles, turning the car into the store's parking lot. "Summer is for sparklers, so sure."

"I'll be the DA for our next outing." Ace promises.

The four of you descend upon the store. You gave Ace and Luffy a short list of things to get and you and Sabo went and picked out some sparklers. It kept you close to the front of the store, and gave Luffy a chance to run around.

"You sure you're up for this?" Sabo questions as you're looking at options.

You yawn before you can answer and give him a sheepish look. "I... may have to request that you let me take a nap while everyone else sets things up."

"I think we can manage that. It's still pretty early in the afternoon anyway." He says with a smile. "Camping is an all day and night event, but if you're going to start with only a part of it, the night is the best part."

"Today's news, Sabo... does it help us?" You question apprehensively.

Sabo makes a noncommittal sound. "It doesn't hurt us." He admits. "But no conversation about it outside of the house."

You nod. If your parents got wind of what was going on then it was hard to say how things would go. You didn't know if your mother was the only one who had known about the pills, or if both your parents did. Your father might've known about the need for a suppressant, for whatever reason, but been unaware of the poison.

You wanted to hope neither of them knew. That some outside force had been aware and had made this whole nightmare possible.

No matter how you rolled it over in your head, though, you knew better. Even your heart knew better. Your parents had nearly killed Sabo for being friends with Ace and Luffy. He still carries the scars from that punishment gone wrong.

The only thing good to come out of it was that Sterry stopped tattling on both of you afterward. It was as close to compassion as you were certain he could get, considering all the animosity between the three of you.

Or maybe he just didn't want to torment a corpse.

You and Sabo bought a few different kinds of sparklers, and met up with Luffy and Ace – who had both grabbed almost twice as much stuff as you had tasked them with. Too much was a better outcome than too little so you didn't admonish them as you went through the checkout without incident.

If only the day could've continued that way.

Sabo pulls into the driveway, and you hear him swear under his breath. Looking over from your conversation with Luffy and Ace, you see what he sees.

"Ichiji." You say tersely. "That's Prince Ichiji Vinsmoke, my, er, coffee date."

"Ace, get the food and Luffy into the house. Don't even look at him." Sabo says in a tone that holds even Luffy's attention.

"Yeah." Ace answers, and you can hear the frustration in the single word.

Sabo pulls up close to the front door, using the car to shield Luffy and Ace. The two take the food and go into the house, Ace catching your eyes for a second as you get out of the car with Sabo's assistance.

"If I had known you were coming today," you say, addressing Ichiji with as much civility as you could muster. "I would've informed you that I was indisposed."

"I haven't been waiting long." He says flatly before turning his eyes toward Sabo. "The brother."

Sabo inclines his head. "Indeed."

"I was hoping I could have a few moments of your time to discuss a second date." Ichiji says, turning toward you. "When you weren't returning my texts I became concerned."

You suppress the urge to call bullshit on his bullshit, but instead shake your head. "Today has been long, and a bit more stressful than I had expected. Perhaps we could talk," you wanted to say next week or next month but knew better. "Tomorrow... Afternoon."

There's a long silence, and you do your best not to look away. Sabo's grip on your hand tightens, and you return it. It wouldn't do either of you any good if he interjected without a cue from you or Ichiji in this situation.

"Tomorrow afternoon then." He agrees. "I hope you are well-recovered from your ordeal today by then."

"I'm sure it will be sufficient for a proper conversation." You reply with a tight smile.

You can feel Ichiji's eyes on you and are relieved when he turns and leaves. He could've asked for your hand in farewell, and you weren't sure you could keep from flinching at this point. You'd simply had too much happen in a single day to keep your composure.

You nearly collapse into Sabo's grip as the unwelcome car and its driver leave the driveway.

"I got you, lil' spark." Sabo says, eyes on the vehicle until it's out of sight. "Let's get you down for a rest. I promise -," he adds quickly before you can say anything. "That I will wake you up for tonight."

"Thank you."