Chapter Text
“Hmmm.” Law hummed to himself, left eye squeezed shut as he peered through the microscope. He closely examined one of the tissue samples he’d taken from Sabo earlier, searching for any abnormalities that could help point the group to a potential solution and get the man back to his human form.
Through more research and a few external exams, Law finally asked to grab a few samples from Sabo. The frog was a bit apprehensive about getting poked and prodded, but eventually submitted to the blood work and multiple bodily swabs Law needed— though he still frowned and made a fuss about it the whole time. Law didn't expect the man to be a bit terrified of needles, but tried to distract him with light conversation leading to Sabo asking what Law’s wish would be once he's back to normal. He almost forgot that Sabo had said he’d get Law anything he wanted after everything went back to normal, but he also didn’t want to admit his initial wish was something unachievable after Sabo would become human again. He just replied ‘I don't know yet.’ as he prepared the tourniquet, hoping to change the subject.
Sabo flashed him a bright smile as always, reassuring the man’s worries with ‘It's ok, you have enough time to decide.’ before yelping from the pinching pain Law inflicted on him. The man filled two small tubes with blood to be examined, placing them into a small container to hand off to Ikkaku. Like a child, Law handed Sabo a small treat after exhausting the frog with multiple exams— leaving Sabo to sulk in the corner as Law conversed with the crew on next steps.
What Law didn't want to say was that his wish would have been to make sure Sabo was safe.
Something now in his own hands.
Law took on the job of examining the bodily tissue he had grabbed from another needle extraction, leaving the blood testing to Penguin, Ikkaku and Shachi while Uni and Clione continued more research. Often the two would travel into the town or back to The Polar Tang to find more books that may help the crew. Though there was never anything exactly to help them due to this kind of transformation never once being recorded before, the whole crew stayed fairly positive that something would break through soon. That they would find something that would guide them into a possible medication that would turn Sabo back to normal.
“Anything?” Penguin asked, peering over Law’s shoulder as if he could see through the microscope, as well.
Law continued to peer through the microscope, slightly grimacing at what he saw. “I've never seen anything like this.” He replied as he moved back from the microscope, reaching for his glasses before scribbling his notes down on a notebook nearby. “The skin cells aren't quite human or frog— almost a mutated combination of the two. I expected them to be more similar to a frog due to the transformation, but it seems whatever happened may still keep a lot of human traits in his system.” He paused, glancing up toward Penguin above his lenses with a questioning yet worried expression. “What did the three of you find on your end?”
Penguin handed a clipboard with multiple papers attached to it toward Law, who began to read over the notes on the first page while Penguin spoke. “He’s got high cortisol levels— not sure if that's because of whatever got him this way or his diet and stress levels lately. Which… he does still eat a lot despite his size. Also, his blood cells resemble more of a human’s blood than a frogs. They're still spherical in shape.”
“Interesting…” Law replied back in thought. “Seems like it's not quite a full mutation of his cells, so we need to treat him more as a human than an amphibian.”
“That’s what Ikkaku, Shachi,and I also believe and wrote in the report. Besides his cortisol levels, everything else seemed fairly normal.” He paused, looking around the room in search of something or someone. “Where is he anyway?”
“He's outside trying to sneak around and gather more information with Bepo.” Law replied while flipping over the pages to continue reading over the test results in silence as Penguin waited for the man to say any more. He eventually stood up, walking out of the room while flipping through the other pages as Penguin hurriedly walked behind him. “Let’s target the cortisol levels first, we may need more samples later for further testing, but there's something we need to figure out with his mutated cells and try to get those back to human only cells. What’s his blood type?”
“X type.” Penguin replied back.
“X… Glad it’s not S RH-.” Law said with a slight smirk. The rare blood type would have been harder to find a suitable candidate for, and he honestly would have lost a lot of confidence if so. ‘Was there anyone on the crew that had X blood type?’ Law wracked his brain trying to recall everyone’s blood types, yet most were F or S— He himself being an F type. They would need to find someone with a matching blood type in order to compare the two’s blood and possibly run a blood transfusion. ‘Maybe we can call Koala again to see if she knows anyone with it.’ he thought to himself. They did schedule another call with the girl in the coming days to relay any information the two groups may have.
Walking into a different room, the crew greeted Law in a more chipper mood than they had weeks prior. Though they were working continuously again, they were often taking more breaks than when they were for the late King Outlook III. Sabo made sure that the crew never felt rushed to find out any solutions, and that they needed not to cause too much suspicion on their end.
Their biggest worry still was if there even was any way to reverse this?
Unfortunately, Sabo didn't know much himself. He remembered having his last meal with the family before meeting with the King privately. At some point around then he felt sick, nausea and fever taking over his body that caused him to rush out of the quarters and head toward his room, feeling weaker with each step. He felt his body shift and ache while the hallway grew larger and larger until he was on the ground. It was a blur for him by now, but the feeling still shook him.
Law relayed his information to the rest of the crew, discussing their findings together. Eventually Ikkaku spoke up, “I agree that we should see if Koala or any one else has the X blood type, but I think we would need to make our way to their location. I don’t believe we would get any information by the time Stelly ascends the throne.”
“Yeah, last I heard it’s happening in a week. It's been crazy in the castle again.” Jean Bart added. Also noting that the maids and butlers that used to help them since the beginning had ceased their activities in the guest house. Only coming by a few times since the King’s death.
“Should we try and contact Koala today?” Shachi asked.
“No.” Law spoke up, handing the clipboard over his shoulder and back to Penguin. “We have a scheduled call with her in a few days. It would be best to stay on that schedule.”
Uni raised his hand, “This will just cause further delays. Besides, the queen wants us gone after the ceremony.”
A few of the crew nodded in agreement with slight ‘Yeahs’ and humming amongst themselves. Law sighed heavily, massaging the bridge of his nose to ease his stress. “Fine. I don’t think we will be able to contact her tonight, but I can see if tomorrow would be better suited for it.”
A knock on the door interrupted the crew as they looked up to see Bepo and Sabo returning from their trip— Both seeming a little worn out. “What’s going on with you two?” Ikkaku questioned with a worried expression as she got up from her seat to guide Bepo to a seat. He plopped down harshly onto the chair, Sabo still sitting on the bear’s shoulder.
“The funeral is tomorrow.”
The day dragged as the funeral proceeded from the morning till the late afternoon. Law had tuned out most if not all the words and praise that the officiant and Queen had spewed out about the late King— or it just all blended in together. His own mind wandered about the tests and results from the day before, thinking about the potential next steps once they would get in contact with Koala. Sabo agreed that they could give her a call tomorrow to discuss everything, but he himself didn’t really know anyone’s blood types off the top of his head. Unfortunately, going to his room or office in the castle wouldn’t be possible at all currently, and he expected most to have already been cleared out by now. ‘Once we get another candidate with the X blood type, we’ll test theirs amongst the remaining bit we have of Sabo’s blood. Hopefully we can figure out a potential medication from that. We’ll need to test the other’s blood for a bit before we try anything on Sabo.’ Snapping out of his thoughts, his eyes wandered to the small frog peering from his shirt’s pocket, who watched the whole event intently. He almost forgot that Sabo was even there from how motionless and quiet the man was. “You ok?” He whispered softly so that it would only fall to the other’s ears.
Sabo shook his head a bit, getting out of his trance to gaze up at Law. There was no sadness behind his eyes, but his usual dark pain still lingered. Something Law took note of. “Yeah. Honestly I'm a little relieved.”
“Oh yeah?” Law questioned with a curious face.
“Yeah,” Sabo replied back, staring off toward the extravagant casket and blown up photos of King Outlook III. Law watched as his face morphed into pure disgust. “He wasn't a great father or King, but here we are treating him as if he were some saint.” Sabo’s gaze went into the crowd— which Law followed— watching all the attendees’ faces. All were watching with dazed expressions, yet there was more impatience under the surface than anything. It was as if everyone else wanted this funeral to hurry and wrap up already. There were never any tearful eyes at all from any citizens, knights nor castle staff. Not even Stelly and the Queen had shed a single tear.
“No one cares…” Law accidentally slipped out from his lips, hand to his chin.
Sabo chuckled a bit, nodding his head in agreement. “Exactly that. No one actually cares at all, it's all just for looks.” His eyes zoned in on the Queen, noticing her wiping away her dry eyes with a white handkerchief as she spoke. No sniffles or hiccups exuded from her body at all, nor picked up from the microphone she spoke into. Just soullessly going through the motions. It felt like an elaborate play was going on— though it wasn't a well acted performance. Sabo sighed at the display, “I was always taught to never actually cry. It's a sign of weakness.”
Law sighed heavily in response, watching Queen Didit continue her speech that slowly devolved into praising herself. Her lips moved, but Law tuned it all out. He just wanted this to all be over already. Besides, it wasn't even the first time the Queen has spoken today, nor would it be her last.
“Now a word from Crown Prince Stelly.” The officiant spoke into the mic, showing a palm off toward the eventual King.
Moving aside with the help of a maid, the Queen stepped away carrying on her tearful performance while Stelly walked toward the podium, adjusting his elaborate yet gaudy suit while looking smug and full of himself. He smirked into the silent crowd as if everyone were nearly pawns of his. Clearing his throat, he began to speak into the mic “Hello citizens of Goa Kingdom. As you may know, my ascension will be happening soon.” Sabo let out a long exhausted groan listening to his brother speak while Law rolled his eyes from the bits that did enter his ears.
Looking to his right, Law didn't notice the tall, elaborate man that stood next to him. He had a long, yet very defined face and pink lips that sat in a wide grin, taking up most of his face. It felt menacing and uncanny how big his mouth was, even from the side profile Law could see. Though his outfit was very showy with large feathers around his collar, Law could notice how slender his body was. The man eventually looked down at Law when noticing the man’s stare, a shadow casting onto the doctor as the man examined him. It gave Law more time to fully see the man and the red markings that ran vertically from his forehead, over his eyes and to his chin. His light brown wavy hair rested past his collar bones, covering a bit of his peeking chest from his striped button up shirt.
They stared at each other for a few moments in silence while Stelly babbled on in the background. Words no longer existing in Law’s mind at all. He couldn’t help but wonder who this colorful character was, never once seeing the man at all during his time in the Goa Kingdom. “You should pay attention, kid.” The man spoke up toward Law, his eyes continuing to scan over the doctor. It made Law feel slightly uncomfortable under his gaze, almost threatened. A slight chill ran down his spine, slightly activating his fight or flight senses despite not knowing the man at all.
“Not a kid.” Law replied back with a scoff before turning his attention away from the man.
He could hear a faint chuckle from the man as he watched him turn back toward Stelly through his peripheral vision. “Spunky.” he heard the man reply back before Stelly’s speech became more heard again.
“My father was a good man, and I will be an even greater force for the Goa Kingdom. My foolish brother may have tried to destroy our glorious Kingdom but no longer will we be seen as weak amongst the world. We will become a powerful Kingdom for others to fear.” He clenched a fist up toward the crowd— a gesture that seemed to try to empower the citizens of the Goa Kingdom, but really just stroked his own ego. “For that, I would like to introduce one of our new Supreme Commanders who will help make this happen.”
A hand reached out into the crowd, beckoning some force to come to the podium. The man beside Law gave him a slight cheeky nod as he looked back at him, “If you'll excuse me.” He said as he made his way through the crowd to the podium where Stelly greeted him with a mischievous smile. Law’s face moved from interest to a puzzled look as he looked down to exchange looks with Sabo. Both doing double takes while silently communicating through their lost expressions. The man tapped his left leg to a silent beat while posing exaggeratedly like he was at a concert, pulled out his own microphone with an accompanying stand and pointed a finger out into the crowd while he proceeded to loudly yell into the mic, “Yaow hello Goa Kingdom!”
Crickets.
Everyone stood in silence as they stared at the unknown man in confusion. Some jaws fell to the ground in disbelief at the flashy entrance. Law could hear the slightly confused murmurs amongst the others nearby and eventually Shachi’s “What the hell?” that he tried to say under his breath.
Just who the hell is this guy?
The man cleared his throat, tapping the mic while murmuring “Testing… Testing…” into it. The tapping made the speakers peak and crackle, hurting Law’s ears that he had to cover with the palms of his hands. The man made another exaggerated set of poses as he strummed his microphone stand like it were a guitar. “I said HELLO Goa Kingdom!” He repeated louder, trying to pump up the crowd that refused to join in his energy. His large smile never left his face despite there being a sense of disgust at the constant silence. “My name is Diamante, your new Supreme Commander! I promise to make your military force stronger so that these sort of incidents will never happen again!”
Eventually a confused applause made its way around the crowd, possibly just to appease the man. “Is he… serious?” Sabo questioned to himself, a slight frustration hidden in his words. He let out a deep sign while slapping a slimy hand to his forehead. “Stelly can't be serious about this.”
Law grimaced watching the scene play out, not quite sure what to think anymore. The man didn't give him good vibes at all, and he also wondered why Stelly made such a bold choice to strengthen their knights. He of course didn't know as much as Sabo did of the goings on of royalty, but he couldn't help but wonder what the future state of the kingdom would be with this new power.
Stelly moved back to the podium, noticing that maybe he needed to speak up to ease any troubles the citizens had. “With Diamante’s help, we will strengthen our forces. But fear not, we will have a few more Commanders joining soon who will take charge in training our knights further. We also will avenge my father’s death by finding and holding a public execution for my brother.” His eyes almost seemed to land right onto Law’s own, somewhat challenging the doctor.
“That I promise.”