Chapter 16

~

"Kanpai!" The Hearts all cheered and drank from their glasses, a celebration under way.

All twenty of the Hearts were gathered in the lobby for celebrating Shachi's first heart transplant operation, and successful at that. He wasn't a bystander and assistant but the leading surgeon and the patient had recovered and been discharged not more than a week ago. So Law decided this was a milestone for celebration and gathered everyone for it.

"Good job Shachi. Keep it up." Law raised his glass to his friend, a small smile lighting his features.

"Captain!!" The redhead cried and hugged his grumpy friend.

"You aren't really drinking alcohol, are you Law?" Penguin reminded the younger.

"Controlled consumption won't hurt anybody." Law answered and downed his glass in one go causing a few of the Hearts to whistle, impressed.

Penguin, Shachi and Bepo all cleared their exams and got to choose their desired practices, excelling among their peers. Law was proud of them all.

The Hearts had all different timing and schedules now that everyone was professional one way or another, they rarely hung out like this so Law made sure to stay for as long as he possibly could and talk to his group. The party would only die down when they start passing out from drinking.

"Don't drink so much if you can't hold it, idiots." Law mumbled when Jean Bart, a relatively new addition to their group, passed out. The surgeon decided it was time to take his leave.

"Going to talk to Luffy huh?" Penguin asked, a goofy drunk grin on his face.

"I have better things to do." Law answered rolling his eyes.

"Like calling Luffy yourself this time?" Shachi joined in.

"Don't make me maim you on a good day."

"So if we barge in your room, unannounced, you won't hide your phone under your pillow and pretend to sleep, again?" Penguin laughed as Shachi recalled the happening of a few months ago.

"That happened once!!" Law screamed, embarrassed. He had no idea why his brain decided hiding his phone like a teenage girl getting caught doing something bad, was a good idea back then.

"It's ok Law, you're allowed happiness too man." Penguin swayed and took Shachi with him to the ground, passing out drunk.

"Not while I'm still in my senses." Law muttered and left for his room. He immediately immersed himself in writing and rewriting his research reports and going through new research journals that had popped up over the internet over the time he hadn't logged in the research portal.

Law's research was going great, there were more cases of success than failure and the latter was only in those people that had a fuck load of diseases to begin with so they were too weak to save but Law was working on that too. His underworld business was going as well as it could but he wasn't getting the information he required so that was frustrating the surgeon a little bit.

He had been going to Goa for procedures a lot and now that Luffy had his phone number, Law relented to his fate and told the younger whenever he was there. They would hang out, talk - that was mainly Luffy, and Luffy would show Law around places in Goa that Law hadn't been to. He also showed Law his ship, Going Merry. Apparently Luffy and friends had proper licenses and went sailing on short vacations. It concerned Law a little that people that young went to sea unsupervised but he himself wasn't any better, sailing in his sub in the depths of the sea no less. It had been six months since then, of having met Luffy again and something was starting to stir in the surgeon's heart.

Law's eyes ached reading the articles off the laptop screen but he couldn't bring himself to stop for the night. Even if he did stop, he would need a lot of time to unwind before he would be able to sleep and he had no idea how that would happen. He was going through a really badly written article when his phone rang.

"Hello." Law answered without looking at the ID again.

"Yo! Torao!" Came Luffy's greeting and Law found himself shutting his laptop down and placing it away. This would unwind him just right. Law didn't know how Luffy did that but talking to him left Law feeling cathartic and so the older was able to sleep better, on the good days.

"Hey."

"What're you doing?"

"I was reading some articles but not anymore." Law tried sounding annoyed but it came out tired.

"Awh you made time for me?" And Luffy had to say that.

"It's not like that!!"

"Nishishi." Luffy grinned on the other end. "How was the party?"

"They're all drunk and passed out." Law rolled his eyes and made to get into bed, turning off the lights.

"Not you?"

"I don't drink much."

"Why not?"

"Bad things happen when I am drunk." Luffy laughed heartily and Law felt himself smile a little too. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing. I was bored so I called you."

"Are you sure it isn't something else?" Law asked when Luffy took a moment to reply. The younger had been calling Law a lot and by that it meant all the time. Law first thought it was just the teenager being annoying but then one day Luffy told him he had a fight with his friend, that was a week ago.

"Yapp!"

"I don't know who you think you are fooling and how stupid you think I am-"

"I don't think you're stupid."

"Alright then, tell me, did you make up with your friend?" Luffy went quiet. "Mugiwara-ya?"

"No..." Came a sheepish reply.

"Don't call me until you have done so." Law said strictly and felt Luffy pout on the other end of the phone.

"But..." Luffy had been skirting around the issue for a week and Law could tell but this ended now. "Usopp was the one who said he wanted to leave."

"Did you try and think of possible reasons for that?"

"He doesn't like it that Merry can't be fixed-" Luffy had told him that his ship, the Going Merry had sustained some damage and their shipwrights had all given the unanimous answer that the ship couldn't be fixed and to get a new one.

"So abandonment huh..."

"What?" Luffy stopped because it seemed like Law hit the nail in one go.

"That's a real concern for some people." Law voiced, sighing.

"Come on, explainnnnnnnn."

"He might be feeling that now that like the ship's not of any use anymore, you might abandon him the same way some day-"

"That's bullshit!!"

"You can't tell people their insecurities are invalid. Didn't his father up and leave one day too? Go talk to him." Law pinched the bridge of his nose, already annoyed by Luffy's weak thought process. This was why he didn't like people. They never understood another person's trauma.

"But Zoro said..."

"Then why did you call me and not listen to Zoro?" Law was mildly angry now and it showed in his tone. Luffy was quiet. "You wanted to be a mafia boss right? You're going to let an argument like this get between you and you friend? Then you're going to listen to others and not make a decision for yourself? Nobody great ruled like this. Think for yourself and decide what kind of a leader you want to be."

"Hmm.." Luffy was impressed on the other end because this was the longest Torao had spoken in a while and it was to correct Luffy in his ways. Luffy liked that. But Luffy also felt scolded and that he had disappointed Torao and he didn't want to feel like that because it was heavy in his chest and not nice.

"But don't let your friend wallow in that feeling for too long. It's not nice to be alone with that particular thought process." Law clarified.

"...ok..."

"Good luck." Luffy was quiet again after that and Law wondered if he had scared the younger off by letting out a little of his anger and annoyance.

"When are you coming to Goa again?" Luffy asked in a small voice, clearly having been affected by Law's tone earlier.

"Not for a while."

"Can I come to Flevance then?" Law sat up at the question.

"...why?"

"I wanna meet Torao."

"Don't you have school?"

"We have some vacations coming and we can't go sailing this time because Merry... so can I come to Flevance instead?"

"No."

"Torao!!" Luffy whined and Law sighed.

"I won't be here, I have to go to Drum for a client." Law explained.

"Then I can come there!!"

"You will do no such thing."

"Ok I am meeting you in Drum! Tell me the day ok? Ok!!" Luffy decided by himself and Law groaned.

"Will your brothers even let you go?"

"Yeah, they're being really weird and not crowding me like before so they won't have a problem."

"Fine." They were both quiet for a while then Law remembered Luffy had his exams coming up, maybe the vacations were after those. "How prepared are you for your exams?"

"About that..."

"What happened?"

"I think I might be failing a few subjects..." Luffy trailed.

"Which ones?"

"A lot of them."

"Do you need help with them?" Law found himself offering.

"Yeah. Robin helps me a lot but sometimes I don't get things easily and Usopp... he helped me too."

"Ok, send me all the topics you want covered, I'll see what I can do but I won't hand over anything until you have talked to this Usopp."

"Alright." Then Luffy remembered something. "How do you know everything though? You didn't even go to school."

"I am a nerd." Law said seriously.

"Nobody calls themselves a nerd Torao." Luffy laughed.

"Hello, I am Law and I am a nerd. Pleased to make your acquaintance." Law joked, feeling very good and very light talking to Luffy. "Not kidding though. I might not have gone through the motions of schools but I have all the knowledge and definitely more than what they teach in those factories."

"Yeah! I don't think I will ever use that PythonHorses thing in real life!"

"Pythagoras. It's not about using it but learning how to think and get to conclusions the correct way." Then Law thought a little more and continued. "How about we make a deal?"

"Hmm?"

"How about, if you pass every subject and clear through highschool, I treat you to an all-you-can-eat for every A you get, sounds good? A guaranteed one for graduating, and one for every A on your report card."

"Deal!" Luffy agreed before Law had even finished speaking. He probably just heard food and said yes.

"Work hard then."

"You bet!"

Law wondered if he was getting too involved with Luffy, indulging him a bit too much but brushed it off as Luffy being overbearing so he had to do all this to get him to stay back. When Law would think about all of this in retrospect, he would notice how wrong he was.

"Sleep well Torao!" Luffy announced.

"You too." Law reciprocated and the call ended.

~

"Accceeee! Sabooooo!" Luffy called for his brothers descending the stairs and peeking in the kitchen to find them both there.

"Hmm?" Sabo asked from the stove, he was cooking lunch. Ace had come back from a fight and was dabbing his bruises with something Luffy didn't know.

"I'm going to Drum after exams are over." Luffy said sitting down beside Ace and poking one of his wounds. "That looks bad."

"It might be too. I'll ask Marco to check all of this later.

"Yeah!" Then Luffy's brain really heard the words and he remembered what he had thought when he spent the night at Torao's hotel room all those months ago.

"Maybe get you checked too, you are all red." Ace said touching Luffy's forehead to feel if he had a temperature.

"I'm fine! This-this is nothing!" Luffy stuttered and scooted out of Ace's range, avoiding eye contact. While Luffy was being weird, both brothers shared a look.

"Ok so about Drum, why and with who?" Sabo asked and gathered Luffy's attention.

"Just wanna. We can't go on Merry with everyone this time so I was thinking I will go to Drum. Everyone is doing their own thing this time." Luffy shrugged.

"Have you asked Chopper if he wants to go with you? Doesn't his mother live there?" Ace pointed.

"I wanna go alone." There was a finality in Luffy's tone much beyond his years.

"I'm ok with it." Sabo answered after a while. "Ace?"

"Yeah sure you can go Lu. Just keep us posted." Luffy cheered when Ace also agreed. "How's your finals prep coming along?"

"There's a buffet on the line so I have to get serious about my grades." Luffy said sighing. "I'll go and study. Call me when food's done."

"Ok." Sabo said. As soon as Luffy left, Sabo was half on the table. "Something's up!" He whispered to Ace and pushed aside the closed first aid kit to make room for plates.

"Bruh something's been up for months."

"He's been sneaking out at night, spent that entire day and night 'at a friend's,' he's studying willingly, even his grades are getting better and now he wants to go to Drum! Alone!"

"And why was he so weird about Marco just now too? Marco and I have been together for years."

"This isn't just about a girlfriend anymore Ace. We thought giving him space, letting him explore things, it was the right thing to do but our brother... our brother is sick!" Sabo slammed the plates on the table with his comment and Ace jumped.

"Oi oi I wouldn't go that far. I'm worried too but this is Luffy. He hasn't been hurt by any of this, maybe he's just...growing up." There was something sad in the way Ace sighed.

"So we are just going to let him be?" Sabo asked, looking heartbroken.

"Maybe break the bones of the culprit if Luffy gets hurt and burn their house down?" Ace suggested. "But Luffy has been growing up the same time we were growing up too so I guess it's time to let him leave the nest if he wants to."

"But he's our little brother."

"And he will remain that even if he wants to go to Drum alone. For whatever shady reason."

"It did sound shady." Sabo agreed and turned the stove off, sighing heavily. "As long as he comes home happy and unhurt."

"Of course." Both the brothers gave themselves time to stifle their sadness.

"LUFFY FOOD'S UP!" Sabo yelled suddenly, startling Ace again. When Luffy arrived, he was engulfed in a strong brotherly hug.

"You guys are being weird."

"You're growing up." Sabo sounded like he was going to cry. Luffy rolled his eyes.

"Come on, you already cried when I got my citizen's ID."

"Luffy you will still let us kick ass if you get hurt, right?" Ace asked for a confirmation.

"Well yeah if I get hurt, who else is gonna kick ass if not you both." Sabo starting sobbing audibly. "Why are you being so weird?! Did I say something?!" Luffy asked worried. "Sorry! I'm sorry!"

"Come on, food's gonna get cold." Sabo spoke through his tears and Ace discreetly wiped his.

"Yeah. Don't cry if you don't get any Luf!" Ace challenged and got to the table first.

"Hey that's not fair!!" Luffy cradled his hat on his head and the fight for food started among the siblings. All was good.

~

Law packed a bag and slung it over his shoulder, making his way through the lobby of the building and towards the door. He was going to make a quiet exit if Bepo hadn't spotted him from the kitchen.

"Going somewhere?" It was an innocent question but Penguin's head that popped from the kitchen below Bepo's ruined any possibility of that.

"Where are you going, so quietly?"

"To the airport." Law answered and put his bag down. He would have to stop and satisfy his friends if he wanted to avoid any sort of conflict later. The way both his friends raised their eyebrows was enough of a question. "Why're you both home today anyway?"

"Off day." Penguin answered.

"Same." Bepo echoed.

"I'm going to check on the sub." Law answered to the earlier unspoken question.

"Why now?" Penguin came and stood in front of Law.

"Taking the Tang to Drum, got a client there."

"No air travel facility?"

"Can't rely on the weather."

"Who's going along with you to Drum?" Bepo asked thinking it nearly impossible to man a submarine alone.

"I... I didn't think of that."

"Law are you ok?" Penguin maneuvered Law and sat him down on the couch.

"I'm fine." Law answered but his friends picked on his foot tapping and avoidance of eye contact, a clear sign of nervousness to them.

"Try again." Penguin challenged.

Law sighed and took off his hat, deciding to answer truthfully. "It's a big client, he might have information I'm looking for. I need this to go smoothly to obtain that information."

Both Bepo and Penguin were quietly having a conversation over Law's head when their captain bent to rest his arms on his knees.

"Ok I will come along. I'll gather the team, see who can open their schedules." Penguin said and patted Law's back. "There's no way your insomniac ass can possibly manage the entire Tang alone."

Law felt this was a lost battle so he gave up easily, keeping the matter that he would be meeting Luffy after the client thing to himself. "Can I go now?"

"Ok go."

~

The Tang ended up requiring a lot of repairs, nothing surprising when the Hearts thought back on the last time it was operated. Years ago. The team that was to go with Law ended up being Penguin, Jean Bart, Musta, Ikkaku and Clione.

Once everything was confirmed, Law texted Luffy his schedule of when he would be arriving in Drum, how long he would need to finish off his underworld work and when he would be able to meet Luffy and how long he would be able to stay. He also told Luffy to let him know when and where Luffy arrived so Law could pick him up.

Preparing, checking and rechecking things, came the day of departure and the group led by Law started their way to Drum. Law left Penguin incharge and went through the data he had on his client over and over again, in case he had missed something.

"Go sleep Law." Penguin suggested when Law was still fidgeting when they were sailing through the sea.

"Med bay is all stocked right?" Law asked and put the papers aside.

"Yeah we made sure. You think we'd need to use it?"

"Just an annoying hunch that something might go wrong."

"None of us can predict the future so instead of worrying about it, go to sleep." Peng sighed pushing Law towards his quarters.

"Fine." Law exhaled and tried his best to sleep.

~

"You guys can either stay in the sub or explore the town. Do as you wish." Law said as soon as the sub docked and the Hearts all got out.

"Going solo cap?" Ikkaku asked scratching her head, wondering if it was ok to let Law go alone.

"Yes. Peng, you're incharge."

"Aye sir." Then the older remembered something. "Wait, Law, take this." Law looked at the satellite phone in his hand and raised an eyebrow. "I don't know how well the reception is here and if we get separated and well, should you need us, just give us a call."

"Alright. Thanks." Law patted his friend's arm and made his way towards the warehouse he had bought as a temporary base of operations. He placed everything in order and checked for time, he still had nine hours before the client arrived so Law checked and double-checked everything, making sure everything was ok for a spinal injury surgery.

When the helicopter landed on the nearby clearing, Law pulled his masks, gloves and gown on. He had put in his lenses before that since he didn't want the clients or any attendants to remember that the Surgeon of Death had golden eyes. He made sure to change colours all the time so people won't be able to associate just one image with him and his cover would be relatively safe for at least the time it would take him to dethrone a certain bastard.

Law worked efficiently and swiftly on his client, spinal injury of this sort might cause paralysis if Law wasn't careful and this was a big underworld boss on his table so he didn't want anything going wrong. The guy couldn't move his feet already so Law made sure he would be able to do so after the surgery was complete and checked all other nerve connections just to be safe.

Once the stitches were in place, Law checked the vitals of the patient and ruled him stable enough to spend a few days in the warehouse so Law could be sure his patient would be ok.

The surgeon stayed in the warehouse but told the attendants they were free to leave if they wanted but they wanted to stay and keep an eye on Law. Eventually the days passed without a hitch, as they always did when Law was incharge, and came the time for the patient to leave.

The boss and one of the men he brought with himself were having an argument amongst themselves. Law had already posed the question regarding the information he required, they must be arguing about handing Law the answer. The doctor armed himself with his scalpel in case things went south with the transaction but thankfully nothing of the sort happened.

Law was handed a card. It was blank on one side and when Law turned it, he found the answer to his question.

'Dressrosa.'

~

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