Almost immediately, Law, Luffy, and Shachi were already on their way towards the elevator to the third floor.
Luffy was frantically picking up his bag while being followed after by Law and Shachi when they were just going out of the doctor's office towards Ace's hospital room.
He couldn't wait to see Ace awake again.
Luffy's mind was filled with thoughts about his older brother. Intrusive thoughts were also present in his mind – negative feelings and all. What if Ace couldn't walk after this? What if he doesn't want to see Luffy after the accident? What if he got amnesia like Sabo when they were little?
Those thoughts were interrupted by Law who was now holding Luffy by his hand while rubbing his thumb on the back of his hand.
Luffy thought Law must've felt his nervous heartbeat.
"Sorry, I'll stop." He apologized while Law shook his head in response.
"It's okay, don't be." Law replied. "It's normal."
When they arrived at the room, they all prepared themselves to enter the room with the right equipment with Law instructing Luffy to keep quiet for a while as to not disturb the other patients. The latter just nodded indefinitely.
Law opened the door to room 304 and saw a fair skinned tall nurse with short green hair and dark purple eyes, writing down on a paper on her clipboard that seems to have Ace's medical information. She was wearing the Heart Hospital's nurse's coat with her signature black top with a yellow star.
The person looked at the three when Law opened the door and shut it after they went in with the now conscious Ace.
She beamed. "Dr. Trafalgar, Shachi, and the little brother, hello." She greeted happily, looking at the three.
"Nurse Camie." Law greeted.
"The Patient is awake." She informed, looking at Ace who had his eyes slightly opened while looking at Luffy. "He woke up two minutes ago after I changed his IV drip."
"Thank you, Camie, we'll take it from here." Shachi did a small bow and smiled at the nurse.
Camie did a little curtesy bow while giving Law the clipboard before exiting the room, giving the three space for the patient on the hospital bed.
Law inspected the clipboard at hand.
It was very detailed to the bone. Ace's condition, his vitals, blood pressure and all of that. Law had Luffy explain what caused him to go unconscious and how the situation happened.
It was a car accident. A hit and run happened. He was informed by a colleague, too, who worked with Dr. Hiriluk that day of the emergency.
Good thing it wasn't anything bigger, or else.
Such shameless people not paying for the damages they caused. The driver could've killed his soulmate's brother and that doesn't sit well with him, knowing that Luffy's this affected much.
Law got pulled out of his thoughts when Luffy rushed to Ace's side as he held his brother's bandaged hand between his.
He didn't know what his soulmate felt at the moment. It was a mix of emotions. Relief, anxiety, happiness, guilt, and a lot more to count that he couldn't quite pinpoint the flutters of his soulmate's heartbeat.
"Ace . . ." Luffy sniffled, relieved that his brother is finally awake, though mostly unresponsive.
"L–Lu . . . Fy . . ." Ace struggled to say, having a pained expression on his face making Luffy worry more and tighten his grip on the older brother's hand.
"What is it?" Luffy asked immediately. "Do you need anything? I should call Marco and Sabo. Do you wanna sit up? Eat? Drink? Oh, wait, you can't. You shouldn't be speaking either. That tube on your mouth goes through to your lungs!"
"It's to the trachea, Luffy-ya." Law corrected.
"Yeah, that." Luffy said, acknowledging the correction. "So you shouldn't talk right now."
"T–The IV . . . needle . . ." Ace uttered with a hoarse voice, ignoring Luffy's warning while struggling to voice out with a tube placed through his mouth with medical plasters, looking at his hand his little brother took a hold of. "You're . . . push . . . ing it . . . Fucking . . . hurts . . ."
"OH MY GOD, I'M SORRY!" Luffy exclaimed loudly as he dropped Ace's hand on the mattress of the bed. "I should call Sabo and Marco! They're both gonna be so happy . . .!" He said happily, going out of the room now with his phone in hand after he fished it out from his sling bag.
Law's eyes followed Luffy for a bit, quite amused about how his flutters became more on the positive side. It felt relieving and exciting from Luffy's heart and he could feel his own flutters all because he saw how giddy his soulmate was.
The doctor had Shachi tend to the young Gol's machines for a while, checking the heart monitor and the vents.
Law looked at the Glasgow Coma Scale on the clipboard and saw the words 'spontaneous opening with blinking' for eye movement and an 'NT' for the verbal response with Camie's handwriting.
He looked at Ace's figure on the bed and introduced himself. "Good evening, I'm Dr. Trafalgar Law." He said. "Can you close your hand into a fist and open it afterwards?" He asked politely, taking a pen that was neatly tucked in his breast pocket.
Ace looked confused but he complied, opening and closing his hand that wasn't squeezed by Luffy.
Law put down the notes that says 'obeys commands' on the paper. 'Score of 10 in the scale.' He thought to himself while putting the scores on the paper. 'Now for the PEFR . . .' He sighed silently from under his mask.
"I'm done checking the machines, Boss." Shachi grinned as he stood up. "I'll go ahead, Clione will change shifts with me." He bid goodbye as he went towards the door and exited the room, giving Law and Ace some space to do more tests.
---Scene---
Luffy sat on one of the chairs and waited patiently for Marco and Sabo to arrive at the hospital. His heart was beating faster as he gripped his shirt above his chest.
He looked really happy.
So happy, he didn't notice Shachi – the nurse who was with Law – exit the room and walked away with a small hum.
Finally, for a month now, Ace woke up and it looks like he wasn't mad at Luffy. Typical of Ace not to blame him though, it wasn't his fault in the first place but he thought it was.
Luffy called Sabo and Marco twice this day. One in the afternoon, when Ace had a seizure, and one in the evening when he told the great news to them.
Sabo was at home now and for the fact that they were near Flevance Street – their apartment being in Goa Residency – he arrived first while having this relieved expression on his face while panting. Looks like he didn't take the elevator again. He was a bit sweaty, so it was obvious he didn't take the lift.
Marco was right behind him, probably took the elevator, seeing that he wasn't all that sweaty as the other blonde is.
Luffy stood up and greeted them both with a huge happy grin on his face.
"Sabo! Marco!" Luffy greeted as he approached the two blondes. "Ace's awake! He can't talk though, but he did talk to me when I squished his hand that's with a needle." Probably should've kept the last part, but he didn't care either way.
"That's good to hear." Sabo sighed, sitting down on one of the chairs while panting, holding his head down in exhaustion. "But why the hell would you squeeze his hand?"
"Well, what's his condition now-yoi?" Marco asked, tucking a hand in his pocket.
"Dr. Tra . . . Traffle . . ." Luffy struggled. "Dr. Tra . . . Fal . . . Gar! Tralfargar." He finally said. "Dr. Torao's inside checking on him now." He informed.
"That's nice." Marco sighed in relief, putting a hand over his chest to where his heart is. "Even though it's already night, it's good that he's awake now-yoi."
Sabo approached and embraced his younger brother tightly. "Thanks for calling us, Luffy." He said.
Before Luffy could even respond, the door to room 304 opened revealing his soulmate who was busy looking at his clipboard he held on his hand, making the two brothers break away from their hug.
Then, Law looked at the same three people who were with him. Two blondes, and his soulmate.
"The patient is awake." Law informed, making the two blonde's expressions brighten. "He woke up 20 minutes ago and is resting for now. I did some tests and he's ready for an endotracheal tube removal." He looked at his clipboard again and stated. "Glasgow scale at 10, peak expiratory flow results at 220 liters per minute – he's good to go. All he needs is physiotherapy after his full recovery and he'll be out of the hospital." He looked at the three again with slightly tired eyes, making Luffy a bit concerned. "We'll discuss further details tomorrow." He said.
"Thank you, doctor." Sabo bowed down to the doctor and raised his head after. "Can we see him? We'll leave right after."
"Sure." Law said nonchalantly looking at his watch. "Visiting hours end at eight anyway. If you'll excuse me, I'll be in my office." He bid goodbye before walking away, meeting eye-contact with Luffy who had a tired smile on his face.
"That's one rude doctor." Sabo muttered, looking at Law's disappearing figure with an indifferent expression while crossing his arms.
"He's alright." Luffy shrugged in response to Sabo's remark. Then, he grabbed the two blondes' hands and rushed inside Ace's room. "C'mon, let's go! Ace must've wanted to see you guys, too!"
As they headed inside, Ace came to view when Luffy closed the door behind him. Wires and tubes are still attached to him, bandages were still there and changed clean, but not without the obvious eyes of the young Gol on the bed in front of them.
Marco could feel Ace's fluttering heartbeat from his chest. Ace must've been happy to see all three of them visiting him. Although they all just came to check on the poor guy.
The three approached Ace's bedside, greeting him a good evening.
As much as the three want to talk to Ace and ask how he is doing, they can't because of the tube going through his trachea, so they all only spoke about what happened outside while he was in coma.
And before visiting hours ended, Sabo, Marco, and Luffy all went ahead outside of the hospital with a question Sabo had the entire time.
"Come to think of it, Luffy . . ." He trailed off, catching Luffy's attention. "Did you even leave the hospital before heading out of the room this afternoon?"
"No, not really." Luffy shrugged.
"Then, what were you doing there-yoi?" Marco followed up a question.
"Oh, because my soulmate works there."
Then, Sabo and Marco stopped in their tracks, followed by Luffy who was now ahead of them by a few steps towards the parking lot.
"..."
"..."
"WHAT?" Sabo exclaimed with a dumbfounded expression.
"I'm gonna leave you two for that discussion." Marco shrugged, putting his arms up. "My car's just over there." He pointed at the right side. "I'll be going first."
"Huh? Oh okay." Sabo bid goodbye to the older blonde before turning his head towards his brother as Marco walked away from them.
"You've met your soulmate?" Sabo asked, not believing what he just heard. "Who're they? Are they a patient or part of the hospital staff?"
"The one you called a rude doctor is my soulmate. I just told you he works there." Luffy said in a matter-of-factly tone. "After I left the room, I looked for him and he let me stay in his office when I found him working." He continued as they walked towards Sabo's tesla. "I fell asleep in his couch and woke up right before a nurse came in and told us Ace woke up."
When they arrived in front of the blue tesla, they entered the car and drove off to Goa Residency, still talking about the soulmate Luffy met at the hospital. A bit unbelievable that it's the tattooed doctor, but hey, lots of possibilities that your soulmate is a thug, right?
Sabo's just grateful Luffy's soulmate is a good doctor, but he couldn't trust Law because of how suspicious he looks.
He just hopes his little brother will be fine in the hands of his soulmate when the time comes and . . .
"How would Ace react to this?" Sabo muttered while looking at the road in front of him, turning right before flashing his signal light.
Luffy looked at Sabo for a moment and looked back at the road. "Dunno."