~

"Dragon-san! You have mail!" Koala announced entering Dragon's office at the Revolutionary Army's Goa base.

"Who... has this direct address?" Dragon asked putting the books he had in front of him, aside and taking the letter from the young woman.

"No idea, it doesn't say, but it's addressed to you. Could be an enemy."

"Very well." The old man dismissed Koala and made sure the door was shut before he first turned the envelope around in his hands, then opened it. Inside the packaging was a sole yellow card with a location and time written in black lettering. Considering it really ominous and threatening, Dragon decided to still go to the place.

Much farther West, Grap received the same letter in his office in the marine headquarters.

"It sounds like some kind of a trap." Coby thought out loud after reading the letter and handing it back to the old man.

"We'll go, nonetheless." Garp said, a finger in his nose. "Whoever this is, we will either bring them to justice or at the very least, hear them out."

"Yes, vice admiral!" Coby saluted.

~

"Well... your burns are healing at the same inhuman rate as ever, your oxygen saturation is ok too, no fevers as well... should I discharge you?" Law asked looking over Luffy's chart, a hand on his chin. "You still can't talk though." The doctor quickly added.

Luffy typed back. |I'm fine!

"You say that about broken bones too."

|Ace and Sabo will take care of me.

"That's what I'm worried about, I don't consider them competent enough for that."

|You're being mean!

Law sighed. "You on your own won't follow proper protocol, your brothers can't watch you all the time either... I'll call Nami, we can do shifts."

|You're making a big deal out of nothing, Torao.

The older stared at the pout on his boyfriend's cute face for a few minutes before shrugging. "It's not a big deal, you're injured, you need to be taken care of. I can't keep you here because we might need the beds, you've been fighting the staff and not letting them touch you, and I can't watch you all the time either, so, shifts. And no, you're not being a burden, don't think like that."

Luffy rolled his eyes and showed Law the screen for what he had typed. |YOU think like that.

"So I do."

Law went away for a while to call his sister and to make arrangements, he also made sure to call Luffy's brothers to let them know that their youngest was being discharged but would be staying at Nami's since Law didn't consider them good enough. Next, Law called Chopper and informed him about the situation and asked him to check on Luffy too if he had time to do that.

After Nami arrived, Law helped Luffy in his regular clothes and signed his discharge sheet and other forms.

"Where am I taking him?" Nami asked.

"Where do you wanna stay?" Law asked Luffy.

|Torao's.

"Make a chart for oxygen saturation, take a reading every two hours and come back to this hospital if its below ninety-five." The doctor explained.

"Luffy, you're limping." Nami pointed.

"His burns are still healing, so don't make him walk much too."

Luffy rolled his eyes at the many things Law was telling Nami, the younger just wanted to go home and sleep in a familiar, comfortable environment, away from the stuffy hospital with its weird smells.

"And dietary restrictions?" Nami asked.

"He's on liquid diet, soups mostly, nothing cold too." Law added and checked his pager when it went off. "I gotta go, I'll see you later."

~

Law knocked on the director's door before walking in and closing the door behind him. The old man motioned for the doctor to sit down before he began.

"I had the ER staff questioned about your conduct as a doctor and found nearly all of them supportive of you." Qar said holding out a tray of caramel candies for Law to take.

"I'm curious, what did they say?" Law asked accepting a few candies.

"That your diagnosis is swift and correct, that you can make a solid prognosis from minimal tests, and that there is one brat in the ER who won't get treated by anybody but you."

"All of that is true."

Qar narrowed his eyes. "Who's that patient? More specifically, who is Monkey D. Luffy to you?"

"If you are looking for some leverage over me, going about it that way won't work." Law raised an eyebrow when Qar grinned.

"Everyone in Goa knows who Monkey D. Luffy is. The only thing I'm interested in is that the kid has never willingly set foot in this hospital, but the moment you arrive, he's patient enough to stay for a few days, without trying to run away? So, who is he to you?"

"I've been his doctor before, he trusts me." Law avoided answering with the actual truth. "I've actually treated his brother, Ace, too."

"The narcoleptic kid?"

"Why're you so interested in them? Why do you know so much?"

Qar shrugged. "They are troublemakers, but they bring good trouble, the kind Goa needs if its to change. Everyone knows those kids."

"Right." Law rolled his eyes. "And Monkey D. Luffy is being discharged, so he won't be bothering the other staff now."

"Hahaha!" Qar laughed. "Ok, now I'm coming to the thing I actually called you here for." The old man handed Law a few folders. "I'm adding you on the cardio OPD and surgery as well, you can choose your hours from the schedule. And about your research, the north wing is not in use, we can rename it and equip it with anything you need."

"What's the catch?" Law narrowed his eyes.

"You will have to acquire patients and test subjects for the research yourself. The other directors are too cowardly to approach patients directly."

"I can do that much."

"Oh! And please schedule checkups for your assigned marines." Qar reminded.

"I'm pretty sure my grandfather said I'm not allowed to overwork." Law scratched his head looking at the folder and the ton of things he was suddenly bombarded with.

"You're not. I have attached a sheet of working hours, so schedule according to that."

"Research cannot be bound by working hours."

"I'm sure you'll figure something out." Qar laughed again and Law had half to mind to check if the old man had brain damage. "Hand it in by the end of the week, until then you're on ER duty only."

"Got it boss."

~

"That looks like... Dragon of the Revolutionary Army." Helmeppo said, squinting his eyes to get a better look from the hidden point. Garp had arrived at the location mentioned in the weird letter with his two students, Coby and Helmeppo, both of whom were on lookout.

"Dragon?" Garp asked with a tilt of his head and started walking in the direction without further clarification.

"Vice Admiral! What are you doing! This could be a trap!"

"Come back here please!" Coby echoed his friend.

"Oi Dragon! What're you doing here? Why did you call me here?" Garp asked his son as soon as he was in earshot.

"...dad?" Dragon tilted his head much in the same way Coby and Helmeppo had seen Luffy do. "I didn't call you here."

"What?! Then who did?!"

"The letter mentioned this location and since we both received one, I suspect it has something to do with Luffy."

"What did that brat do now?!" Grap yelled.

"Stop yelling, let's sit down there and wait for whoever has called us." Dragon sighed and pushed his father towards the only available table at the nearby café. "I think the third person is joining us soon."

"Huh? How do you know that?" Garp asked then his attention got pulled towards the food. "Hey! Get me those crackers! And some tea!" The old man ordered.

"This is the only table that was empty, it said reserved and nobody stopped us from usurping it, so I think it was reserved for us. The third person must be close too, monitoring us, so they will join us shortly I presume."

"You were always too smart." The old man said. "Trapped us too, we can't attack with so many people around if things so south."

"And here I thought you weren't paying attention." Dragon laughed a little.

"Don't forget who taught you."

"Are you both done?"

The sudden recognition of the third person's appearance shocked both the older men into a stunned silence, but they were both seasoned soldiers, they recovered just as quick.

"Trafalgar Law." Dragon said.

"Yes, that's my name." Law rolled his eyes.

"Luffy with you? Why'd you call us here?" Garp asked next.

"I'm here alone because I need to ask you both something." Law crossed his arms. "No, this isn't a trap and I'm not going to jump you both, relax."

"Alright then. Ask your questions." Dragon nodded.

"Why is Luffy so apprehensive and paranoid and afraid of hospitals?" Law decided his best shot at getting a straight answer was by asking straight questions, so he went at it. The way Luffy had panicked at the hospital was bothering Law a lot, coupled with all the times the younger had been very reluctant to go to a proper hospital, so Law sent out location cards to both the older men in hopes of getting answers from them. It was good that Law got an early off, Luffy was just discharged too, Law knew he could make it back in time.

"This meeting could have been an email." Garp groaned.

"I handed premium grade crackers to your students for you, quit your whining old man." The doctor rolled his eyes.

Dragon stared at Law for a whole minute, then sighed. "What happened?"

"I'm not answering that."

"We forgot Luffy in the hospital once, maybe that's why he like that, hahahahaha!!" Garp laughed.

"What!" Law's eyes widened in horror. "How old was he?!"

"Aaah, I don't know, it was before I handed him over to Dadan."

"The thugs." Law then turned to Dragon, hoping that he was involved in the 'we.' "How old was Luffy when that happened?"

"He was five years old-" Dragon started answering.

"You both forgot a five year old in the hospital?!"

"Calm down you brat, we found him a few days later, no harm done." Garp laughed some more.

"A few days- no harm done?!" Law wanted to pull at his hair, he could not believe how nonchalant Garp was being about the lifetime of trauma that he had caused Luffy.

"Since that kind of negligence, we both decided it would be best if Luffy was in someone else's care." Dragon tried.

"So you both thought, why not thugs?" Law, frankly, wanted to flip the table and tackle both the men to the ground and hit them till they were properly sorry for traumatizing Luffy, but he controlled himself. "I have my answers. I'm leaving."

"Will you help him?" Dragon asked as Law started leaving.

"Why else do you think I'm here?"

~

|I'm bored! I wanna eat meat!!

Nami sighed reading what Luffy had typed and prepared herself to wrestle the younger if he tried to get meat himself.

"You can't, Law said you can't eat solid food for some time." Nami said.

|Torao's lying!

Zoro cackled at the pathetic argument from his friend and made himself more comfortable on the living room floor. "I would believe it if it was just Law, but Chopper said the same thing."

|Chopper's lying too!

"Sanji-kun said he would add some meat in the soup he's making for you, so wait till then." Nami added.

"I still can't believe Law called us incompetent though." Sabo sulked behind the couch Luffy was sprawled on. "We have taken care of each other all the time!"

"I'm not risking Luffy after you dumbasses got your sister's injuries infected." Law said appearing in the living room, putting the folders he got from Qar on the center table. "No amount of reassurances are going to work on me, so don't waste your time."

"But Uta's ok now." Ace pouted.

"After I had to readjust her medication, pretty sure that was painful for her." The doctor sat on the empty one-seater sofa and sighed.

"Tough day?" Nami asked her brother and passed him a bottle of water.

"Kinda, a lot of people were being unnecessarily stubborn today." While taking a drink directly from the bottle, Law noticed Luffy patting the space on the couch beside him, telling the older to sit near him. "Why aren't you in bed? You should be resting." Law asked Luffy, then turned to Nami instead. "Why isn't he in bed?"

"He's been throwing a tantrum about eating meat." Nami groaned.

"I cannot stress this enough, your throat is hurt, you cannot eat anything solid, it will make your injury worse." Law tried explaining. "Even with your inhuman healing, it is going to take time to be able to eat meat."

|You said that back in Flevance too, all those years ago!

"What... does that mean?" Ace asked when everybody read what Luffy had typed.

"I did say that and didn't you get indigestion?" Law rolled his eyes.

|Yeah because you cheated! You said that meat was already rotten!

"Ok, what the hell." Sabo asked Law.

"Are you suggesting I give you bad meat now too just to teach you a lesson?" Law ignored everyone and focused on his boyfriend who really did need to be taught a lesson.

"You gave our brother bad meat?" Ace stood up.

"And you're telling us that we are incompetent?" Sabo mirrored Ace's actions.

"Yes, to both of those." Law answered plainly then turned to Luffy again. "If you want to injure yourself further, I can comply but if I hear the tiniest whining about it later, I will put you in a medicine-induced coma till your throat is healed."

Luffy groaned without a sound, threw his phone aside, stomped his feet and left the living room, Godfather following suit. The fact that the younger didn't take his phone with him, was indication that he didn't want to talk to anyone.

"A little solid food won't hurt, I'm sure." Nami said hesitantly, her eyes stuck where Luffy had disappeared in the hallway.

"It's you guys being compliant all the time that he thinks I will budge too." Law answered with a sigh.

"Aren't you going after him though?" Ace asked, confused that Law didn't show any signs of moving.

"No...?" The doctor raised an eyebrow. "I didn't do anything wrong."

"How have you guys lasted this long?" Sabo followed.

"Exactly like this. I don't coddle unreasonable behaviour."

"Oh my god, this guy is tough." Ace shook his head, disbelieved, that anybody could say no to Luffy and mean it, without swaying. "So, since Loof seems mad at you, can we take him home to us?"

"No. You guys would have given in by now and fed him solid food." Law left his seat and took his folders. "I'm going to change out of these hospital smelling clothes."

"Sanji-kun is coming with food in half an hour maybe." Nami informed.

"Thank fuck, good food."

"You're really just going to Luffy." Zoro teased with a grin on his face and received a middle finger from Law.

"Will you make sure he's not too sad?" Nami pleaded.

"If I encounter him, then yes, if not, then no." Law showed everyone a middle finger as he walked away. "Pretty sure he's in his own room..." Law talked to himself and went to his room, only to find his boyfriend sprawled on his bed, a literal starfish, typing something on Law's laptop, his own medical file opened by his side.

Godfather followed Law with his eyes as the doctor, without saying anything, put his folders on his desk and took out fresh clothes, taking them with him for a short bath. Well, Law had planned for a quick shower but when the cold water hit his shoulders, he felt all the tiredness of the day crash on him at once, so the doctor filled the tub with borderline-searing hot water and got in it. The bathroom door was never locked because Law was prone to drowning. Law didn't know how dogs worked but Godfather was beside Law's tub a few seconds after the man had sat in the tub.

"You're keeping watch?" Law asked the dog and strangely enough thought that the canine nodded. "I'm going to close my eyes for a few seconds then."

.

Luffy was chatting with the Hearts on Law's laptop, whining about the restrictions Law had put on the younger about food and no use of voice, hoping that they would tell Luffy a softer recovery method and that Law was being too strict. But the Hearts doctors had to say the same things as their captain, and instead of getting angry with them, Luffy only felt bad for being mean to his Torao, for leaving the living room like that. Law had already looked so tired and weirdly pissed and when Luffy thought he might have added to that, the younger started thinking of ways he could make up for it.

It was Godfather's barking that brought Luffy out of his thoughts. The barks were coming from the bathroom and the younger could hear splashing sounds. At first Luffy thought that Law was playing with the dog, then he remembered that the older had the problem of going underwater when in bathtubs.

Luffy ran to the bathroom and helped however he could. Godfather was in the tub, pushing against Law's chest to keep him stuck to the tub's rim and above water. By the wet coughs leaving the doctor, Luffy knew Law did go underwater, so the younger was quick to help his boyfriend out of the tub but he got pushed away, quite forcefully, shocking Luffy for a few seconds, and those were all Law needed to scramble out of the bathroom.

Luffy wanted to check on Law, if he was ok, if he needed anything but the younger remembered Bepo' words that whenever such a thing happened to Law, the older wouldn't talk for some time and that he only ever allowed Bepo near himself. Luffy was quick to connect the dots that Law had confided in him about how when he was in the care of that mafia boss, before Cora-san got him out, Law got punished by being waterboarded.

So Luffy waited.

It was painful to watch Law curled up in a ball much smaller than Luffy thought the older was capable of, shaking the entire time, not even allowing Godfather near. Luffy himself was starting to feel panic rising in his chest at the state of his boyfriend, so he quietly held a corner of the weighted blanket Law had wrapped around himself. That mere gesture made Law pull Luffy closer, inside the blanket and hide his face behind the younger's head. All Luffy could feel was the older's hot breath on his neck, it was quick and shallow, but slowly, it calmed down into deep, long breaths, until Luffy felt Law's lips at the nape of his neck.

Luffy turned around just enough so he could look at Law, a question in his eyes.

"I'm ok- Ok." Law said, voice barely above a whisper. "Thank you."

Although Law was still shaking a little, Luffy detached himself from the hug and took the towel he had brought along with him and gestured towards the older's head, asking for permission to rub Law's hair dry.

"Ok." Law nodded and allowed the gentle and soothing motions on his head, it was oddly calming. "I'm sorry about this..." The older said, hands still clutching Luffy's shirt.

|NOT YOUR FAULT.

Law blinked at the sudden intrusion in front of his eyes, recognized it as one of the speech cards Luffy had prepared when he was not talking to Law. The doctor had questions about the speech cards still being in the younger's possession but left it for another time and let Luffy soothe him. When Luffy was done with drying Law's hair, the older felt that was the end of it and that Luffy would go out of the room, but the younger sat down beside Law, the laptop in his hands, typing.

|And I'm not mad at you if you're thinking that.

"You're not? I thought you would be upset with me about not letting you eat meat." Law said, confused, a little tired too from the panic. The older rested his back against the headpost, Luffy following suit.

|Nope! I talked to your friends, and they said you were being very REASONABLE and that recovery takes longer.

"You bet I'm being reasonable." Law laughed a little, feeling better by the second. "All the other patient got at least a week of liquid diet."

|Shachi told me two days.

"I said that too, a few days."

Luffy typed quickly. |TWO!

"Few means two or three, but ok we will go with two." Law relented.

|YAY!

The smile and sunny radiance was back on Luffy's face like it had never left and Law felt his heart skip a beat that it was all because of him and directed at him too.

"I love you." Law found himself saying, dipping his head to connect his lips with Luffy's long enough for the younger to respond. "And I miss your voice, if I give in to your cute whining, I'd be robbed of your voice for longer than I can stand. So, please, just follow the recovery plan."

Luffy saluted hi affirmation, eyes all watery from the honesty of a recently-vulnerable Law. Godfather cuddled close to his two humans, finally relaxed. Then Sanji called for food and got himself tackled to the ground by the dog for disturbing his peace with Luffy and Law.

"AHAHAHAHA! FINALLY HE DOES THIS TO SOMEONE ELSE!" Zoro laughed from his place on the living room floor. Law shook his head and helped Sanji up while Luffy salivated over the food.

Ace looked from a happy Luffy to a freshly showered Law and the word was out of his mouth before he even had the chance to register it in his brain and think if he should really say it too. "Quickie?"

"OH GOD! ACE! WHAT THE HELL!" Sabo burst.

"Please think before you speak!" Nami scolded.

"Not in front of my food!" Sanji screamed but Zoro just laughed. Law groaned and Luffy gagged, and things with them were just as they always were. Perfect.

~