"Take me to Vhils." Charlotte had ordered as soon as they disembarked.
"Vhils? Why would you want to go there? There are only criminals who's been exiled there." He didn't even know where she heard about the secret town for exiles.
She grinned at his words. "Exactly."
Lyas glanced over his shoulder back towards the lackadaisical huntress. He wasn't sure if he should be frustrated at her or not. They were heading towards the outskirt village he had mentioned to her earlier. She said that the thief was likely there. They were the only people who knew of how Zāles operated and had motive to do something like this.
"What happens to these exiles during The Change? Don't they get sick too or need to use the Remedial Core?" Charlotte had prompted then.
"It's their punishment. Should they get sick, they are left to die." Lyas said with a shrug. It was a dark and drastic measure, but it was how the system worked at Zāles. He wasn't expecting her to burst out into laughter then.
Slipping her mask off to wipe at a loose tear, Charlotte straightened. "Don't tell me you haven't connected the dots yet. Your thief is in Vhils."
"What makes you think that?" He frowned. "Criminals are banned from entering Zāles. That was the rule."
"Oh, cute." She mocked, patting his head, and messing up his hair. "You think criminals who broke the laws will abide by rules." He lifted his head to glare at her when she finally moved her hand. His retort never came as he watched her stare off into the distance, eyes alight and proud smile on her face. "Let me tell you something, kid, people will do anything when there are lives on the line."
And as if to prove her point, she bent over until they were at eye level, a sneeringly proud smile on her face. "Tell me, is there anything you won't do to save your cousin right now?"
His gaze dropped to the snow. The thought ruminating in his mind. Would he break the rules if it meant saving his cousin? His hands clenched into fists. Yeah, he would. If it meant saving his family, he'd do anything.
Remotivated, he turned back to the huntress to give his response. She trudged a few steps behind him, kicking snow around. He felt his patience thin when she paused to see how far she could dig under the snow before the top layer would collapse over the tunnel she made. "Can you stop playing around? We don't have a lot of time!" He knew she said seven hours were plenty, but they shouldn't be wasting time like this either!
She lifted her gaze and the snowball she had just made still in her hands. "Then lead the way faster." She responded, ushering the male forward. Sweat building between her brows. She ran the back of her hand against her chin, her breath coming in harder. She pressed the mound of snow against her neck, the clump melting too quickly. Something was wrong.
Shachi woke to a blurry bright world. He groaned, raising an arm to cover his eyes. His head felt like it was going to split into two. "P-Penguin... can you... pass me some water?" He croaked. His other arm flopped out blindly in anticipation. "...Penguin?" He asked again when he heard nothing.
Silence.
"Penguin, are you there?" He groaned, tilting his head towards the side opposite of the wall. He peeked out from under the shadow of his arm, squinting into the light and willing the world to focus. A shrill scream left his mouth, and he scrambled back, falling off the metal bed in horror.
A severed head floated next to him. The simple printed text on the hat stared mockingly back at him. "PENGUUIIIINNN!!!"
Law peeked out from the long cabinet at the noise. "Shachi-ya, you're awake." Law said easily, not at all perturbed by the near cardiac arrest state his friend was in. "How are you feeling? Any symptoms?"
Shachi turned back towards his Captain, confused. Tears streamed down his face as he clutched the severed head of his best friend in his arms. "M-my head hurts and it's... it's hard to hear, Captain." He managed between sobs, still not fully comprehending what was going on. "B-But Captain, Penguin... Penguin is!!" He thrust the head towards the doctor as if showing off a prized possession in a show and tell class. Except he was sobbing all snot and tears. "W-What do we do? Penguin's dead! Captain help! Save him!!"
Law eyed the black cap in silence. "Shachi-ya." Law called and the sobbing man sniffled in response. "That's not Penguin." He sighed and when the other managed to calm down enough to look his way, Law pointed towards the other medical bed where a hatless person was resting. "Penguin's sleeping over there. His hat fell off, so I left it on the model." He explained.
Shachi slowly turned the bust around. The black cap with the letters PENGUIN stared back at him. The yellow bill shadowing the face. He sniffled and with gentle fingers he grasped the yellow bill and ripped the hat off the bust. He stared at the face. His sobs no longer present, but tears continued to flow silently down his cheeks. The wide eyes of the half face and half muscle anatomy head stared back at him. Heat rose to his cheeks and Shachi lifted the model, ready to chuck it at the ground for tricking him—
Law quirked a brow.
"How dare you try to trick me, Penguin!" Shachi hissed, slapping the unconscious mechanic with his own hat. The model placed perfectly on the ground where Shachi had fallen off his bed earlier.
"Let him rest, Shachi-ya." Law picked up the severed head and placed it back on the shelf from where Shachi had grabbed it in his groggy state. He picked up the triangular shades next to it and an empty cup. "Glad to see you are feeling much better though." He filled up the cup with water and handed it to the other who took it graciously, not realizing how parched he was.
He placed the shades on Shachi's crossed knee and took a seat on the chair next to him. Law waited for the other to finish, before picking up where he had left off earlier. He tapped the pen against the clipboard. "Shachi-ya, what happened before you fell ill?"
Shachi replayed the events of the day in his mind. They had arrived on the island. Split up for errands. Stumbled across Charlotte. Got captured. Missed the rendezvous time. Night came. Charlotte left them and escaped, but not without telling them how to get out first. Then they spent the rest of the night trying to escape the small room. Then the sun rose, and he saw The Change happen and then the brat showed up and he sneezed on the kid and then he woke up here. "A lot." He summarized with a grin. His grin fell when he met Law's unimpressed stare and an air of seriousness fell around Shachi as he repeated the day's event in more detail.
"You saw the Change?" Law asked, pen still from tapping. "I thought you couldn't see because it was too dark."
Shachi scratched the back of his head, "It was, but the sun was rising so I guess there was some light and I just... witnessed it. A blanket of snow just falling out of nowhere! It was like an avalanche but vertical! It was so sudden that there was a whoosh of cold wind that struck me when the snow hit the ground!"
Law frowned. Brows knotted together. From what Shachi said then it was likely that that gush of wind carried over the virus or the body went into shock from the sudden temperature drop and fell ill. But Zālians abided by their belief of Working Hours so most wouldn't get sick... unless Zālians didn't actually listen to that rule as much as they like others to believe. If they wholly believed and relied on the Remedial Core to cure them, then there would be no risk in getting sick. That would explain why there hasn't been an outbreak of the fast-acting virus yet. The rule breakers weren't willing to risk it with the core missing. It would also explain why the core went missing at night when no one should have been up.
Law lifted his head. "When did you say the sun rose?" He asked again. The only other person out that night was Charlotte.
"Where are you going, Captain?" Shachi asked as the other slipped on his long coat.
"To the hunter. She's sick." He frowned, he had mistaken her flushed skin and shivers to be just chills from the cold temperature outside.
"She's not on the ship?" He could have sworn that this would be the first place the huntress would go. Law was her target and while they were locked up, the rest of the Heart Pirates would have been sleeping. It would be a good chance if any.
"No, she's tracking down the Remedial Core." Law corrected while replaying Charlotte's symptoms and behaviourism from the night before in his mind. He cross-referenced it with the symptoms of the flu and his nostrils flared. Oh, she was good.
"To save us?" Shachi crossed his arms over his chest, a smug look on his face. "And she said she didn't care about us." He scoffed, "Wait, didn't you say she's also sick?!" He sputtered.
Law nodded. "I didn't know." He admitted with a low growl, and Shachi looked at the doctor in shock. He didn't know, but Law always knew when something was wrong with their bodies. They were never able to hide as much as a cough from the doctor.
He had chalked up her strange behaviour playing and eating the snow as it was her first-time seeing snow, but now he suspects she did it deliberately to keep her body temperature cool. For someone who adapted to situations quickly, she seemed endlessly fascinated by the cool white snowflakes.
"But it can't be that bad. I mean I've already recovered." Shachi tried to reason. Sure, he felt awful, but it wasn't life threatening as the rumors made it sound like. "And if she gets to the Remedial Core first—"
"You're fine because I've administered the antidote on you already." Law corrected. The virus wasn't one that was too difficult for someone like him to determine. But as Lyas alluded to, without a cure, the flu proved fatal. "I've already administered it to the others. They should wake up shortly."
Shachi beamed, pride filling his chest. "Captain!" he cooed.
He glanced up at the clock in the room. Four and a half hours had passed, and the huntress still hadn't returned from her hunt. The win was his. Or was she unconscious somewhere in the snow? He frowned at the thought. He grabbed his jacket and long sword quickly, turning back to give the only conscious a few instructions, "Wait here while the others wake up. Give them water when they do. They'll be parched. Once Rike-ya wakes up, he can take over for the post-treatment. He'll know what to do."
"Aye, aye Captain!" Shachi saluted, plopping in the doctor's chair that Law was occupying earlier. He spun on the chair, hands grasping the seat. "Are you going alone to pick up our princess huntress?"
Law raised a brow at the odd naming and Shachi only grinned wider. "She's the only female on the sub." He stated as if that explained it all.
Law scoffed silently at the remark. Seems like the crew and her were getting along just fine. "You know, she could be going after the Remedial Core to cure herself." He supplied an alternative, though he doubted that was the reason. He had seen the glances she kept taking towards those sick. That will be what she says though.
"We were just lucky collateral." Shachi mimicked without missing a beat, but Law had already exited the medical bay.
Besides Law doubted that she knew that she, herself, was sick.
The blue medical gloves left his skin with a loud slap as Law discarded the latex along with the empty vial and used needle. He turned back towards the seventeen-year-old boy, taking notes of his vitals. The vaccine already working well through the unconscious boy's system. It wouldn't be long now before the boy woke up.
As if on cue, the younger male's face scrunched together, and the boy stirred. "L-Lyas-nii?" The kid asked groggily at the silhouette in the room.
"Not quite." The boy jumped, jolting awake at the unfamiliar voice and scrabbled as far back as he could on the desk he was resting on without falling off. "W-Who are you? And where is Lyas-nii?" Epoch asked. His eyes narrowed when they focused on the intruder. He wasn't someone he recognized from Zāles.
"I'm the doctor who cured you." Law said, arms crossed as he watched Epoch's groggy brain slowly catch up with the current reality. "Yes, you are cured and no longer sick." He repeated, when the boy turned to him, mouth agape and eyes blown wide. "I didn't do it for free—I need you to take me to where Lyas-ya is."
Charlotte stared at the crescent shape clip holding two glass plates together with half-lidded eyes. She wasn't sure what she was expecting the thing to look like, but she definitely wasn't expecting a monocle. "That is the Remedial Core?" She asked with bated breathes, platinum eyes squinted in focus at the tiny object on the blonde male's face. "It doesn't look good on you." She commented after a moment.
"Who the hell are you and why are you attacking the good people of Vhils?!" The blonde muscle man demanded, standing bravely in front of the rest of the civilians who had taken the time to retreat.
"Y-you stole the Remedial Core. You should know the consequences of what that would bring to Zāles, Milose!" Lyas shot back, though his voice didn't have the same harsh bite that the other had. He was still trying to register the village that Vhils had become. Vhils was supposed to be this graveyard for the criminals, a wasteland where they would go and then pass away once The Change happened. Not a place lined with small huts and full of life.
"So, you're saying we should just let ourselves get sick and die off?! There's elderly and children here! I'm sure I taught you better than that, Lyas." Milose shot back and Lyas flinched. "Vhils may have started off as a barren land, but as more Zālians were exiled for disregarding Working Hours, it became a place of freedom and a secondary life. The flu that came with The Change slowed down their development, but no longer! They deserved to live as much as anyone else on the island. "
Ah, so they know each other. Charlotte thought. That would explain the kid's behaviour since they met. "People will do anything to live, Lyas." Charlotte grinned, liking the blonde's philosophy even if he was the thief that dirtied her name and kept the other from being saved. "While I respect that philosophy, I have my own reasons for being here. I'm going to need the Remedial Core!" Charlotte interrupted. She gave Lyas thumbs up, reminding him of the deal they struck back at the courtroom. His silence in exchange for the Remedial Core.
"If you wanted the Core, then why did you drop it after taking it?" The ex-police head questioned, tilting his head in confusion and Lyas agreed wholeheartedly. Charlotte had done a magnificent job at the beginning, surprising everyone by ripping the Remedial Core from their hands, only for her to reel from it as if it burned her. Since then, they had been struggling to get it again.
"S-Shut up! That wasn't intentional!" Charlotte hissed, face flushing redder than before. She wasn't expecting her Devil Fruit ability to burn her from picking up an object. Since when did inanimate objects eat Devil Fruits? The flash of heat only made her condition worse. It was strange, her body had been hot for a while now and while the snow had been very helpful at the beginning in keeping her temperature down. It was losing effect like she had built a tolerance against it. A tolerance against snow, was that even possible? She scoffed. She was tolerant to the weather.
Charlotte frowned at the many boxes that spotted her vision since she touched the core. There were so many of them that she could barely see the opponent before her. Each box held some sort of detail, though most of them were irrelevant. Charlotte could care less about a scar the man got when he was five. Charlotte read the status box that indicated the man was cured of the flu and shrugged. What the hell was this Devil Fruit ability she copied?
"You won't be able to get it again." Charlotte snapped back to reality at the taunt, and she widened her stance. Feet struggling to find a hold in the quickly melting snow. Her vision blurred and she cursed when the target seemed to have tripled. "We'll see about that." She retorted, squinting harder as if that would help. It didn't. The random boxes didn't disappear either.
The thief laughed and Charlotte frowned at the box that said that the man was now laughing at her. As if I couldn't tell that with my ears? Charlotte rolled her eyes. She swatted at the boxes, yet it remained, undisturbed. "You really think you can take me on in your condition?"
"Condition?" Lyas repeated, confused, and then turning towards the huntress. Her breath coming out in uneven, heavy clouds through the mask. Her posture slumped and flushed neck from where she had tugged the scarf loose. "H-Hey, are you alright?" He reached out nervously.
"Don't touch me!" She hissed and his hand twitched to a stop. She cursed at herself when a box popped out telling her that the boy was frightened. "...I don't like being touched." Charlotte excused. Her voice lighter this time. She pulled on her scarf again. This time to draw it closer to her face despite her body's complaint. She was far too warm. "I'm fine. We're... running out of time. As soon as I pass you the core, you make a run for it." Charlotte ordered between pants. She reached behind to grab the gloves she had shed off earlier. Struggling to put them on, Charlotte settled for only wearing one. She only needs one to grab the item without being burned.
"B-But what about you?" Lyas questioned, eyeing the girl's sluggish behaviour. She wasn't like this earlier. It was as if she—his eyes widened. "You're sick!" He shouted, jumping back and bringing his cape over his nose and mouth.
Milose laughed again, and Charlotte's attention was stolen back towards the thief. A male who she shouldn't be having so much trouble with. He may have been the ex-police head before Lyas, but he was nothing more than a civilian now. A trader from what the boxes detailed. "You finally realized."
Her brows furrowed together. Sick? She was sick? Charlotte scoffed, straightening up and flipping her purple tresses over her shoulder. "Please I don't get sick." She huffed despite the pain it brought her.
"Ah, in denial I see. Here, let me clarify for you since you are unfamiliar with the Remedial Core. The Remedial Core allows the wearer to see everything it is looking at. It decomposes everything into tangible informational pieces, easy to understand. One look at you, and the information boxes will tell me everything I need to know about you. Like how you are in critical state because of Seasonal Flu and how you have a fever over 103 degrees. It's amazing how you even manage to stay standing."
Lyas snapped his head towards the panting huntress. Over 103 degrees? How was she still alive?!
So that's the ability. Charlotte grinned and lowered her stance. Her blurred vision actually helping with the information overload. "Lyas, I'm counting on you." At the words, the kid shot up straighter. "Yes, I'll see to it that my cousin and your friends are alive." He said, swallowing hard at the lump in his throat at her determination. To risk her lives to save others was motivating.
"Friends?" Charlotte choked, "We're not friends." She corrected with a frown. They weren't friends. She repeated, reminding herself. "I don't do friends."
Lya's brows knotted together as he stared at the large smiley on the huntress' back. It matched exactly the symbol the others wore. He snickered slightly, lips drawing up as he watched the huntress aim for grabbing the monocle off the other's face. She sure was going far for people who were only strangers. "Why are you doing all this then?"
"...because he called me a friend." Lyas smiled brightly. They were 100% friends.
Bated pants escaped her chapped and split lips, shoulders heaving with each shaky breath. The blunt blade felt heavy in her blistered hands. The sounds of cheers and bells a dull buzzing compared to the deafening dripping noise of blood splattering against the growing slimy red puddle by her feet. The yellow rag on her arm slipped off, staining instantly as it touched the floor. Charlotte breathed quickened, the air never reaching deep enough in her lungs. The dripping noise increased, and Charlotte finally lifted her gaze towards the body before her.
Charlotte grunted, swiping at air again. She pivoted, taking her frustration out on the target instead. The kid was starting to annoy her. "One. I had one friend." Charlotte finally admitted, bitterly and the emotion quickly changed into anger at the flinch the thief gave her. The Remedial Core's ability telling her exactly what it was that she knew he just saw through the core. She needed the stupid thing off now.
Her breath hitched. The blade felt heavier than lead. Drip. Drip. Dri—clang.
"So, which one is your friend? He's one of the sick ones I bet."
Platinum eyes wide. Panicked. Dread—she screamed as she looked at the face of the man she just killed.
"He's dead." Charlotte corrected and Lyas froze.
Another box popped up in her view and while she couldn't see the thief's expression anymore. The box told her enough.
Three jagged lines ran across his face. A face she had grown familiar with over the last few months.
"My name is Noah, and I'll be your first friend."
"I killed him."
A chill ran down his spine and Lyas stared at the leaping huntress' again with new eyes. The blade in her hand looked much more like the claw of a dangerous beast. "Run Milose-senapi!" Lyas shouted suddenly and the thief turned to look at the boy, shocked. Lyas had refused to acknowledge him by name ever since he was exiled.
Whoosh!
"M-Milose!!" Lyas scream running over towards the fallen thief. "Y-You didn't have to kill him!" Lyas shouted angrily at the huntress, tears streaming down his face.
Charlotte stared at the kid in silence. The world swayed softly, and Charlotte stumbled backwards somehow, managing to keep on her feet. Great, the kid's crying. Charlotte thought, putting a hand against her ringing head. The sounds doing nothing to help her situation. "Shut up kid," Charlotte groaned and yanked the boy from the thief's body.
She dropped the kid unceremoniously a few meters away. "He's not dead." Charlotte sighed and it seemed to do the trick. That or the Remedial Core she dangled before the kid, hanging off the blunt edge of her karambit. "He's just asleep. Now take this go before it's too late. Make sure you get the others, especially the strawberry head kid."
He stared bitterly at the huntress, not sure of what to make of her words. It wasn't until he noticed the soft rise and fall of Milose's chest that he turned around. "T-The strawberry head kid... y-you do care about them!" He cried, grinning widely.
"The strawberry-haired one... he called me his friend." Charlotte muttered quietly, looking away bashfully and Lyas grinned wider.
He grabbed the core and quickly got to his feet. "Roger that. I'll make sure he's the first one I cure." He promised, fixing his mask on properly and twisting on his heel. "Remember, we need to bring him back as proof of being the thief to clear your name." He warned and Charlotte plopped into the snow next to the thief, waving the boy off.
"Idiot, the first one should be your cousin. He's the youngest." Charlotte muttered tiredly and she waved the boy off. "Go now."
"There's no need for that." A voice called, followed by a happy scream. Charlotte's brow furrowed together as she tried to make sense of the tall, black figure slowly approaching her. Was it a friend or foe? "Lyas?" She asked, brows furrowing in worry. She heard him scream earlier. Her hand patting around for her blade, weakly. She'd be damned if she lets someone else takes the core after all the trouble she went through. "I beg to differ. T-there are people who needs that core." Charlotte panted, voice lacking in bite. Her mind felt like it was floating and the world was spinning.
"Not anymore. They're all cured. The only one who is still sick is you." The voice spoke again, and Charlotte's brows furrowed tighter together. The voice sounded familiar.
"That's stupid. I don't get sick." Charlotte commented and the other simply chuckled amused at the blatant lie. "The... others. How?" Charlotte continued, drawing out the conversation. Where the hell was her blade?
The voice hummed and then as if teasing her, the unknown man stepped closer, a smugness in his voice that Charlotte swore she knew. "Didn't you want me to prove my worth as a doctor? I made a cure."
Charlotte stared at the strange orange fluid in the clear syringe that the man had pulled out of his jacket, unsure what to think about it. She had been expecting a gun or a weapon of some sort when the man reached into his jacket. Not a syringe. She lifted her gaze to the doctor man, vision still blurry and eyes failing to see. "Is that the cure?" She asked, voice barely a whisper. At the nod, she shoved the orange vial away. "There are people who need that. In the next town over. The brat can bring you to them."
The man's lips pulled into a soft smile that seemed unbefitting of him and Charlotte's brows knotted together. Was what she said that funny? "I just came from there. They're all taken the cure already." He reassured, and her body relaxed at the news.
"They're going to be okay?" She breathed, head lolling back and off her shoulder. It felt like her head would have detached from her body if it hadn't been for the other steading her. She wanted to thank the man, but a warming flush ran through her from the hand at her cheek and her mind felt like it had been scrambled again.
Her gaze dropped towards her left arm, limp against her body. The strange needle hovering slightly over it. The box labelling the syringe as an antidote. "What are you going to do with that?" She finally asked between pants.
The man paused, turning to stare at her with an expression she couldn't quite see. "You didn't run." He stated as if the option was available and a risk he had calculated for. It was. Though he couldn't quite understand why she didn't take it. "Why?" Instead, she went through all this to help them. Her fever was running so high, she was practically delirious. Yet she still managed to take one down and complete her mission in time. Even if she was barely making it now. Why did you go through all this trouble for the crew? He reached over to slip the wooden mask completely off her face and Charlotte slightly breathed a sigh of relief as the cool air felt pleasantly against her flushed cheeks.
When she opened her eyes again, she realized the man was still looking at her, so she made a face, not entirely sure what the man was waiting for. It seemed to have work as he turned away, eyes focused back on her arm. "I'm going to need access to your arm." He explained and reached over, unzipping the jacket just wide enough to expose her bicep.
Her hands shot out instinctively, grabbing the arm and halting its ministrations. "What for?" Charlotte asked, voice raspy and groggy. She cursed at the heat that seared through her body at the touch and sending her temperature into overdrive.
"I'm going to cure you." He said before Charlotte could get any words out. Her brows furrowed slightly, and the words seemed to loll around in her mind, fuzzy and fogged like everything else it seemed.
Why?
Law paused, syringe inches away from her flushed skin. He turned towards the delirious huntress. She had passed out. Her state was far worse than he expected; temperature far too high to be without consequences. He spared a look at the unconscious thief she subdued in her state and smiled softly. "As if I need a reason to save my crew." He muttered while silently thanking the woman for going to such lengths for them.
He injected the vaccine into her arm.
Pulling the jacket back over her shoulder properly, Law lifted the unconscious woman in his arms. "I believe we are done here." Law said, turning towards the two cousins and the strange looking monocle in their hands.
"Oh, um, actually... she said she would help us bring the thief back to clear your names." Lyas said sheepishly, pointing around toward the large and unconscious thief. The man far too large for the two teens to carry back. "We need to keep record of all thieves. Oh, of course, I'll need you and your friend's names too."
Law frowned, not liking where this was going. "What for?"
"For our records, we would like to acknowledge your help and assistance in all this. We'd like to put you down as heroes."
Law's face darkened at the thought. He was a pirate and pirates weren't heroes. "That's the city's treasure, correct?" Law asked carefully, eyes lingering on the Remedial Core. Lyas nodded once more, unaware of the slight shift in the air. "Do you mind if I have a look at it?"