The Whitebeards' Law

1

Law put down the Den Den Mushi, turning to look up at the sunny sky as the light wind breathed through his hair. The Polar Tang was at present above water since the others wanted to have lunch on deck.

His hat lay neatly on a crate to the left of him, beside the Den Den Mushi. He didn't want to risk it falling off into the water as he leaned back against the rails.

He'd just been scolded at for the past thirty minutes. Admonished for not calling in to say he and the others were safe and well recently when he'd promised he would when he'd left. He almost went deaf at the beginning of the call from all the loud shouts.

Law closed his eyes, leaning even further back. The three boys would probably yell at him if they see him doing this. They were always worried he'd fall off one of these times and, as a Devil Fruit user, not be able to swim to safety. The old man would probably yell at him too if he was here.

Law sighed.

He missed him.

Law remembered arriving at Pleasure Town three years ago, when he was thirteen years old. The memory was fuzzy as Law was on the verge of collapsing, both emotionally and physically in pain, and tired from walking non-stop for three whole days to reach the town, especially since he spent the majority of that time crying. But he'd been determined to follow Cora-san's final instructions of heading to the nearest town.

Luckily, Vice-Admiral Tsuru had arrived when she did. Doflamingo was terrified of her. He'd been too focused on getting away from her to spend much time going around the neighboring areas looking for him.

By the time Law had arrived, he had been completely drained. Right after arriving, he'd met a woman but ran away when she'd tried to talk to him. The trauma of the way he was treated because of his Amber Lead Syndrome made him scared to interact with people, especially in such a weak state where he wouldn't be able to defend himself should things go south.

He's since then become acquainted with that woman, Willow, as she owns the hairdressing salon Shachi works at. He also now knows that she's a total sweetheart who was just trying to help the poor exhausted looking kid she'd seen while closing up shop.

He'd stayed out at a nearby cave but, despite now having the Ope Ope no Mi fruit, his sickness did not just suddenly disappear. The fruit needs the user to do treatment or surgery on the one needing treatment, whether that is oneself or someone else.

The disease was quickly getting worse and he knew that if he didn't treat it soon, he'd die before sunrise. He'd had a hard time trying to understand and use the Ope Ope no Mi to cure himself but, after lots of work, he'd managed to activate his Room for the very first time.

Law had spent the next few hours searching his body for the Amber Lead and, using the medical knowledge he'd learned from his parents and medical school - he'd been considered a medical genius, youngest in Flevance to ever make it into medical science school, not to mention the top of his class, it also didn't really hurt that his father was the greatest doctor in the country who during his free time taught him the more intricate medical procedures and let him occasionally help with patients - he removed the lead from his body before passing out into a deep sleep.

Law woke up a couple days later and was relieved to see the white spots on his skin were no longer there. That relief disappears, or was pushed aside for that time being, when he realized he was no longer in the cave and was instead in a small bed in a tiny room.

An old man had entered the room at that exact moment, face brightening upon seeing him awake. Before Law had been able to say anything, he started rambling on about if he's fine and how he'd found him passed out in a cave on a hunting trip when he was taking shelter from the show and how he was practically blue from the cold and wouldn't wake up no matter what he tried before finishing off by saying he was probably hungry and running out the room to the kitchen, coming back a minute later with a tray of food.