~

Luffy laughed at the way Law was complaining about 'too many pictures.' Rosinante forced Law into many pictures outside the hospital when Luffy and him went to drop the doctor off for work.

"I'm not a kid on his first day of school, stop. You've taken enough photos." Law rolled his eyes.

"But you're my kid on his first day of actual work, so I will take all the photos I want." Cora argued and handed the camera to Luffy so the younger could take the father and son's pictures.

"Ok, that's enough, I have ten minutes before I have to meet the board guy, so I'm leaving." Law said keeping his employee card in his hand. "I better not see you both in the ER on my first day here, or at all for that matter."

"You won't!" Luffy laughed with Cora in tow.

"Good, see you later then, I guess."

"Kick their asses Torao!"

"Yes, kick some butt!" Rosinante cheered with Luffy while Godfather barked and wagged his tail.

"It's not a battle but I will be sure to put them in their place!" Law called back before going through the gates.

"How are you spending your day?" Cora asked Luffy, starting their walk back home.

"Imma sleep now, doctors wake up way too early." Luffy yawned.

"So they do."

~

Law showed his ID for security clearance and was guided to the first office on his right. The doctor knocked once on the door and was about to raise his hand again for another knock when the door opened, Law assumed it was the board director man who he was supposed to meet but the man looked too young to be a board member.

"I know that look, I'm ninety!" The old man laughed and patted Law on his upper arm, rather forcefully. "I'm so glad a Trafalgar is here! I'm not letting you go and join another hospital, ever, so resolve yourself!"

Law didn't know how to react, the old man was too much from the get-go. "You...have met a Trafalgar before?"

"I worked with your grandfather for some time in Flevance, in research." The man thought out loud. "I'm Doctor Qar, I'm also a member of the board."

"So I was told."

"Come on! I'll show you around."

Law followed the man and first they went to the lockers where Law was told to put his stuff in, then the young doctor was shown the entire hospital, finally stopping at the ER. Law had mixed feelings about working in a hospital that didn't have his parents, or his friends.

"Did you choose your scrubs yourself?" Qar asked looking Law up and down.

"Sengoku- I mean, my grandfather, chose them for me. Is there a problem? Are there colour codes after all?" Law looked at himself.

"Well, you're head and shoulders above any doctor here so you can wear black all you want." The older doctor shrugged. "Usually ER doctors wear blue here and essentially, no one is allowed to wear black."

"But, I can do whatever I want because I'm a genius?" Law grinned.

"Cheeky too." Qar laughed again. "Yeah, do whatever you want, just don't think about quitting here."

"Not in my plans for the foreseeable future."

"Good boy." The old man patted Law's arm again. "The ER chief is going to give you a hard time but I'm sure you can handle yourself. I will read a written report of all the patients you saw through the day and decide about your designation from then on."

"Got it." Law nodded.

"And based on that, we can start discussing about your research hours too."

"I'm sorry to say it so bluntly, but the labs you showed me today, they're underequipped for the research I am supposed to be doing."

"Ha! So you do know your stuff, Kureha wasn't lying about your brilliance either, I see, I see."

"You're coming off as someone close to me, how do you know everyone?" Law rolled his eyes at the way Qar seemed to know a lot of people, like Luffy.

"Brilliant doctors and researchers get to surround themselves with brilliance too, that's how."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You'll find out if you stay long enough!" Qar laughed again and Law was pretty sure the man was senile. "Ok! Let's get you started in the ER!" The old man walked fast and signaled the ER chief to come to him. "This is doctor Trafalgar, he's going to be in the ER today."

"I see, doctor Trafalgar." The chief said, with a fake smile.

"Give him the difficult cases, he can handle it, and don't give him a hard time unnecessarily."

"Of course director, I won't."

Law raised an eyebrow at the obvious lie on the chief's face but shrugged it because he was there to work and if that guy had any problem with him, Law knew how to take care of trouble.

"Ok then! I'll leave here, young man. You, save some lives!" Qar patted Law's back with the force only Zoro ever used.

"How the hell are you ninety?! Your hit like someone threw a brick!" Law yelled at the receding figure of the old man, laughing as he went away. The doctor then faced the ER chief, waiting to be assigned, he was going to behave, for a few minutes.

"Sit in a corner and wait for the day to be over." The chief said curtly and walked away.

"Excuse me?"

"There are no patients at the moment, I will call for you when there are."

"I'm going to make myself familiar with all the cases already here and the way things are done here, in the meantime." Law said, a challenge in his statement, provoking the chief to say something in exchange. The other doctors and nurses present in the ER shared nervous looks, Law realized they weren't used to confrontation with the chief.

This will be fun, in its own way.

~

When Luffy woke up at midday, his stomach protesting for food, he first sought out Sanji. After eating his fill five times over, the younger was at a loss of what to do, he didn't have any plans for the day, he wasn't needed anywhere, he didn't feel like doing anything in particular either, so Luffy took Godfather and headed for Nami, he had wanted some advice about Law and the orange haired woman had been the best candidate for it.

"Rosi-san isn't alone and unsupervised, is he?" Nami asked letting the young man in her house.

"Kemurin's got him." Luffy said and made himself comfortable on the couch.

"Poor Smoker, he has to babysit both Law and Rosi-san." The young woman sat down on the other couch after filling the coffee table with edibles. "So, did you see Law off at work?"

"Yeah, he was being grumpy about the pictures."

"You guys do take a lot of those and Law is not a picture person at all."

"He told me not to go see him at the hospital." Luffy pouted, hugging the big pillows on the couch.

"I'm sure he must have said to not be a patient at the hospital..." Nami sighed. "So, why're you here?"

"How does it work with people when they have jobs?" The young man asked, straightforward. "Up until now, whenever Torao has been here, he didn't have to work so we had all the day to ourselves, even in Flevance, but, now Torao has a job and he's going to be here in Goa to live, not just stay, so I dunno how much space he would want and if I should be at his house when he gets back or if he'd be annoyed if I'm there, like I dunno what to do, how does it work?"

"I really don't know what to tell you Luffy, none of us have that dynamic."

"I'm confused, Torao told me to talk to him but sometimes he's so good at hiding things and what if when he gets home today, he's hiding too, about how tired he is or how annoyed he is but he doesn't say anything about and then what if he snaps and I can't pick up on it in time, and what if-"

"Luffy." Nami stopped the younger and sat down on the sofa Luffy was occupying, bringing her friend's head in her lap, running her fingers through his hair. "You're letting your anxiety take over. You know you once told me you want to let Law have his own adventures, so let him. I don't think you guys need to be together all the time."

"But... I dunno what to do when Torao's not there." Luffy hugged the pillow closer to himself and closed his eyes, letting Nami help him.

"Then that's your problem, isn't it?"

"It is... we don't get many jobs on beating people up too nowadays."

"So think about how you want to spend your time because otherwise, Law definitely will get snappy." Nami laughed. "And if you're so worried about him getting mad at you, try not to injure yourself."

"That just happens." Luffy frowned.

"Be careful then. Law's lost a lot, he gets anxious and worried more than he thinks he's capable of when one of us is hurt."

"Torao was pretty worried about Uta too."

"He must see his own sister in her, I guess."

Luffy curled on his side and hid his face. "I wish Torao hadn't lost his parents and Lami. I hate the world for taking them away from him."

"I do too." Nami hugged her friend close, sharing a heartache. "I do too."

~

"What do you think about that buddy?" Luffy asked Godfather, looking at the 'we are hiring' ad outside a café. After taking with Nami and taking a short nap there, Luffy left to walk around town and see what kind of jobs he could take so he wouldn't so weird and heavy with Law working at the hospital.

Godfather plainly turned his head away and sounded like he was laughing.

"Yeah, I don't think I can work in a café, I'll eat everything they have." Luffy puffed his cheeks out and began walking again. The young man was absentmindedly looking here and there when suddenly his dog started running ahead, so Luffy of course had to follow. "Wait! Where are you going?!" Luffy didn't have to wait much, Godfather came to a halt a miles ahead, after tackling someone to the ground, someone with suspiciously familiar green hair.

"I swear if you weren't Luffy's dog, I'd have tackled you back a long time ago!" Zoro yelled pushing the dog off him.

"Why'd you do that?" Luffy asked his dog who was looking up at him with puppy eyes, as if...

"He's asking for treats, Law always gives him some when he tackles me down." Zoro said and stood up, dusting himself off.

"So now you think you'll get treats every time you knock Zoro down?" The younger asked his dog, who barked happily, wagging his tail. "That doesn't sound right, but ok!"

"Sup?" The swordsman asked once the dog had been spoiled with treats and the two had begun walking.

"I was looking for jobs, what about you?"

"I was going to the Sunny. Jobs?"

"Sunny's in the opposite direction Zoro." Luffy laughed. "Yeah jobs, we don't get much on beating people up now so I want something to do."

"Maybe your brothers can find you something." Zoro suggested.

"I'll ask." Luffy said. The two were walking aimlessly until Godfather picked up a scent and looked back up at Luffy. "You smell that too?"

"Something's burning." Zoro commented and the three took off where Godfather's nose was leading them, it was to a burning building with lots of apartments in it.

"Call Ace!" Luffy told his friend before running into the burning building without a second thought, Ace had his own group of firefighters from Shirohige's patronage and they were recognized by the official Goa laws so Ace was always Luffy's first call when there was a fire. The young man ran from to door to burning door to guide people out of the building safely until the firefighting units arrived.

"Man that's bad." Ace commented looking at the high flames. "Ok guys! Pick up the pace!" Once the command had been given, Ace's unit of the firefighting first responders got to work on analyzing the nature of the fire and how to go about dousing it. The area was cleared, a perimeter was set up, the surrounding buildings were evacuated.

"Ace!" Luffy ran out of the building, his face blackened and an old man on his back. The young man sat the man down on a gurney he was being ushered to by the medics.

"Luffy what the hell were you doing in there?!" Ace scolded his baby brother, looking him over from all angles to see if there were any injuries.

"I'm fine! What took you guys so long?!" The younger complained. "I told Zoro to call you twenty minutes ago!"

"Zoro? Yeah he called me but where is he?"

Luffy looked around at the words and found his best friend jumping off the burning ledge on the third floor with three children in his arms. "There's Zoro." Luffy said.

"You guys got it all covered before we even arrived huh. You after my job or something?" Ace joked and patted Zoro on the shoulder for a good job.

"Some of those guys have bad burns, the EMTs are taking them to Goa General." Zoro reported.

"Oh Torao's there! He'll take good care of them!" Luffy grinned proud. Just then, there was a call for help that brought the brothers' and Zoro's attention to the sixth floor of the building. There were two children up there, looking out of a small window. Luffy looked around him to see who was fast enough to react, but the number of firefighters was small and they were all busy with beating the fire.

"Luffy. No." Ace said before his younger brother even spoke a work.

"You can't spare anyone, the kids look too scared to jump on a safety mattress, we don't know what caused the fire and how long we have till the entire building collapses, so, let me go, I'm small enough to fit through the window."

"Damn." Zoro raised his eyebrows impressed. Luffy being smart in the thick of the situation was one thing, and a common one at that too, but Luffy being smart and putting it into the correct argument was something unseen.

"In and out, no detours or stopping." Ace relented because there really was no choice.

"Ok! Gimme a boost!" Luffy said and ran to the all that had the window on it and looked up at the children. "I'll get you guys down in a minute!"

"Use a ladder!" Ace scolded.

"No time for that." The younger said putting his strawhat on Godfather's head for safekeeping. "Boost me."

"Deuce! Spray Luffy!" Ace called his friend and the other got the meaning fairly quick, spraying Luffy with water, drenching him so he would be safe against the fire to at least some extent.

Zoro and Ace stood in front of each other and created a foothold for Luffy to jump on so they could boost him up to the sixth floor, it was a bit of a stretch but both Ace and Zoro were strong and they knew Luffy could jump quite a considerable height so he would make it to at least the fifth floor if not the sixth. Luffy didn't waste any time and ran and jumped and got hoisted with enough force that he could at least grab the ledge of the sixth floor window.

"Hey guys! Come on, let's get you down." Luffy said to the two children that were stuck to the window just a few seconds ago.

"M-mom's stuck." The younger of the two cried, pointing to the far back of the room, already engulfed in thick flames.

"I'll get your mom in a few second. For now, you have to be brave for me, ok?" Luffy crouched to the children's height and pointing to the safety mattress Ace and Zoro were holding right below the window. "You both gotta jump."

"No!"

"We're not leaving mom behind!" The children cried.

"I can't save your mom unless you both are out of this building." The young man helped the children securely on the ledge. "My green one's my best friend and that idiot looking one is my brother, they'll help you no problem!"

"Ok here they come." Ace held the mattress tighter so it won't move, he could see Luffy talking to the children and was impressed with his brother that he made the children agree with him so quickly. Together, the siblings jumped and Zoro took them to the EMTs. Ace looked up to see if Luffy was getting down yet but the younger pointed to the back of the house and without further explanation, went back inside the building.

Ace felt his heart sink and felt bricks in his stomach. The oldest brother was remembering the fire of the Grey Terminal for an instant, how it had almost taken the brothers apart, how it gave them all nightmares for years. Ace felt afraid for his brother's life in that moment, watching him run back in the building with nothing but wet clothes to protect him against the heavy assault that fire dished out. Ace was rooted in his spot until Deuce got him out of his trance and gave him a job.

Luffy ran to the back of the apartment, ran all through the apartment in search of the siblings' mother but there was fire everywhere and he was having trouble seeing, and now with the flames so high, trouble breathing too. The young man took his shirt off and wrapped it around his mouth to provide some security against the smoke while he searched for the woman. Luffy found her nearly passed out under a bookshelf.

"Lady, are you awake?" Luffy asked, feeling for a pulse, it was there. "I'm gonna move this shelf and get you out of here."

"Don't waste your time... run." The woman said, hoarse.

"Shut up, I'm saving you." The younger said and gave his shirt to the woman when she started coughing real bad, then with a few pushes, lifted the shelf enough to drop it somewhere else, enough to free the woman.

"I-I can't feel my leg... just leave me."

This is a problem... Luffy thought to himself looking at the weird angle the woman's leg was bent at. "I'm gonna pick you up, then we're going out." Luffy looked at the window, then at the weird leg, and recalled how Law always said to not move the injured site if he wasn't sure what was wrong, Luffy looked at the window again and thought there was no way he could get the woman down through that route, he could injure her worse.

Not allowing the despair of the situation settle in his heart, Luffy picked the woman up in a traditional Fireman's Carry, having remembered that from the times Ace used to practice on him and Sabo. Luffy made sure the weird leg wasn't getting stressed or moved, then started his way down the stairs, through the burning building, through the collapsing corridors. There were no safeguards against the heavy smoke that was everywhere in the building now.

Luffy could feel his nose running and his eyes beginning to irritate from all the smoke, and even with holding his breath to not accidentally inhale the toxic smoke, some of it was going in his lungs anyway. But he needed to keep moving, despite his head starting to hurt and vision starting to sway, he had to keep moving. The young man apologized for the numerous jumps he had to make to make it down to the ground floor, so he could get the woman out and he didn't know how long it had been before he finally saw the sunlight coming in through the main door.

"Luffy!" Ace ran to his brother and signaled for the EMTs to take the woman his brother was carrying.

"Her leg's busted." Luffy croaked and coughed, trying his best to relay the information to the medics.

"You ok?" Zoro asked supporting the weight of his friend, Luffy looked like he would fall.

"Yeah! I'm A-OK!" The young man grinned but his voice was all hoarse and his eyes were all droopy.

"You spent ten minutes in that smoke, you're going to the hospital too." Ace said and helped the remaining EMTs strap his brother into a gurney to be taken to the hospital.

"No! I'm fine! I don't wanna go to the hospital!" Luffy thrashed around and only made himself more tired and proved his brother's point.

"Zoro, go with him."

"Got it." The green haired man agreed in less than a heartbeat and used his force to help the medics.

"Torao's gonna be mad! I don't wanna go to the hospital! Don't make me go there!" Luffy threw a tantrum as best as he could with his vision now blurring too.

"Stop your whining!" Zoro scolded. "Or I will have to knock you out." The older didn't hear from his friend and found him passed out.

"His throat is very badly burnt and oxygen levels are very low-" The medic started telling Zoro while taking the first aid measures.

"Then hurry the hell up!" Zoro hit the glass panel separating the driver from the back of the ambulance. "Law will have Luffy's, mine and all your heads if Luffy's hurt more because of your slow driving!"

~