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The doctor has left his shift again, and in such an odd hour too.
No one ever bats an eyelash when he leaves though. Not even the strict dean of the hospital, Dr. Kureha, or even the associate dean, Dr. Crocus. They just let the doctor leave even when it's Monday or a weekend — when oftentimes there's a steady influx of patients. During springtime, though, he leaves almost everyday.
His tall and eye-catching figure would withdraw to the halls less passed by, and whoever catches him leaving would only see his fluffy, long, navy blue, fur coat billowing in the shadows of the well-lit hospital.
This has made the doctor the star of the gossip during lunch breaks.
Dr. Trafalgar in all his tall, dark, and handsome being knows this. But he never spoke a word about it, he just let the gossip bloom and fall, then wither, only to blossom into another gossip that would try to explain the passive handling of the executives in his case of sporadic and unanticipated leaves.
"It's probably favoritism," One would say.
"Maybe Dr. Trafalgar is Dr. Kureha and Dr. Crocus' secret love child?" Another would suggest.
"I think he always leaves to meet up with a secret lover, a man like that is unlikely to be single."
Or the more juicier yet remarkably ridiculous (at least to Trafalgar's surgical team and few friends that also work on the hospital) new gossip, "Perhaps Dr. Trafalgar has a relationship with Dr. Crocus."
"Or Dr. Kureha's boy toy," Eustass Kid, the ER surgeon for the day, quipped nonchalantly one time as he passed by a group of gossiping nurses. Leaving as soon as he made the comment and elaborating nothing.
Not that he, acquainted and has a steady friendship (this is kind of questionable for the two of them), with the doctor would try to clear up the gossip, not when even Trafalgar's very own close friends in his surgical team finds amusement with those gossips.
It was like clockwork but without a specified time, and almost everyone in the hospital has long memorized it. Even the patients and visitors who have stayed longer than a week already know. Whenever the young surgeon leaves, one of the newer practitioners, even the older ones, or sometimes patients and visitors alike would tattle about the surgeon's escapades.
Some years, perhaps a couple or three years ago, his sudden disappearances were overlooked, that was until Dr. Hogback asked one of Trafalgar's surgical team what their captain is doing whenever he leaves, only to be answered: "He's probably in the garden of wild wisterias."
Whether it was some sort of idiom or not was left unanswered, thus the curiosity of what the doctor is up to has been planted onto everyone and grew into gossips.
Those who are aware of what the doctor does on his leave knew it was not an idiom, or any sort of symbolism to anything. As Dr. Trafalgar lives in a modest chalet with a massive garden filled with trees, mostly wisterias, and flowers and a tiddly little greenhouse on the quaint town near the borders of the constantly misty and ever gloomy Kuraigana forest, some two to four hours drive from Sabaody General Hospital.
His house and garden is shipshape, even with the towering ornamental trees and overgrown plants and becomes a more exquisite sight during spring — where the wisterias bloom the whole springtime, and the spicy sweet floral fragrances of lavender, roses, and tulips waft in the air, along with the scent of ripening apricots, cherries, and strawberries.
But in order to be immersed in this spectacle, one must at least be close enough to the surgeon. Or just dauntless enough to not be deterred by the mysterious aura that floats around the residence, the uncannily cryptic atmosphere that's far thicker than the saccharine scent of fruits and flowers.
The doctor rarely invites anyone over, even when some nice elderly couple or gentle housewives came to give him housewarming presents when he was new in town, or when children lost the ball they're playing with over the fence, he would politely dismiss them (or coldly when its children, goodness, how he hates children, literal spawns of the devil if you ask him). Despite that, there will always be at least one visitor in his house everyday, even when he is out for work, it raises questions and suspicions, but the doctor always shrugs it off, telling them to mind their own business, and that its not his 'damned fault you don't have friends trustworthy enough to hand house keys over'.
The visitors would always be the same old though, be it one from the bungling group of Straw Hats — although at least once a week all of them visit at the same time. Dr. Eustass Kid, or his paramedic best friend, Killer. And on weekends, someone or all of his surgical team would visit the house. Not that any of them were unusual visitors, as they work at the same hospital and/or studied at the same university.
Then there was also the extravagant Donquixote brothers and the misanthropic Dracule Mihawk with the peculiar Perona who you would least expect to be acquainted with the silent surgeon, coming over at least once every two months.
There were rare chances, two to be exact, where other people managed to enter Trafalgar Law's residence and chose to come back. One incident was with Dr. Kureha, who tagged along one time with Chopper's weekly visit. The other was when a trio of town kids named Rika, Tama, and Toko helped a feeble Law to his house after exhausting himself with multiple shifts at the ER. And their reason for choosing to come back was all the same. It was because of Dr. Traflagar D. Water Law's husband.
His name is Roronoa Zoro, at least that's what the polar bear mink anesthesiologist, Bepo, has told Tashigi once, when he picked up the prescribed medicine in lieu of the doctor who is finishing an operation.
Bepo looked at her expectantly, as if wondering whether the name rings any bells. It doesn't. And the polar bear just shook his head with a sigh and an inaudible muttering.
But more importantly, the news that the handsome and sought-after surgeon is actually married was of greater concern to the other pharmacists around her. Series of interjections, such as, 'Husband?!' and sighs of, 'I want to be him' were heard in their area as Bepo walked away.
In Tashigi's case, she's more concerned about the particularly strong medicine prescribed to the doctor's husband.
The week came and went. Another Monday morning marked the start of Tashigi's week and Dr. Trafalgar, way too early to leave his shift, came into the pharmacy in a flash of navy blue fur coat. And it was the time Tashigi finally gathered the courage to ask the doctor what his husband's illness was.
"I know its presumptuous of me to ask since you're an accomplished doctor but—"
"Indeed it is." Dr. Trafalgar started, then looked at the name pinned on Tashigi's uniform. "Tashigi-ya, I am a doctor, and as you have said, an accomplished one. I do not need a second opinion."
The doctor's comment came down on Tashigi's throat like a bitter pill, feeling as though she's being looked down upon. "Well, doctors make mistakes too!" And feeling a little braver, she even suggested to help the world renowned surgeon.
Trafalgar Law laughed humorlessly and gripped the thick bill of his hat.
"Aren't you overestimating yourself? No one can undo god's curse, you know?"
God? Curse? If that doesn't deter Tashigi, nothing else will. Her persistence knows no bounds, and a victim of the tenryuubito's abuse is all the more reason to help the surgeon. Thus, she insists.
"Ah," a pompous yet empty smirk graced the surgeon's lips. "Then if you are that willing to help, why not come with me?"
The blue haired pharmacist couldn't hide her delight, perhaps it's because she registered the statement as a nod to her undisplayed skill or maybe it was something else that she could not understand.
"Follow me."
"Now?!"
Law sighed as if holding back a partocularly strong and exasperated facepalm, "Of course, if you don't accept now I won't offer this chance anymore."
The drive to the surgeon's home was quite long, but it was a route unknown to Tashigi so she enjoyed the ride, seeing a different scenery was a breath of fresh air. Especially when the said scenery is marked with lush nature and charming towns and farms.
The exterior of the house was well maintained and the indoor was very homey yet minimalistic, filled with earth toned furnishings and walls painted in a deafening white. Tashigi noticed a sizable wet bar with rows and rows of expensive sake and wine, and a few bottles of brandy, digestif, and whiskey.
"My husband likes to drink," he stated as he noticed Tashigi's lingering stare at the home bar.
He waved a tattooed hand, beckoning the pharmacist to follow.
The doctor's husband was sitting on a chair by the bedroom window, wearing a white yukata and draped with a green haori. He was effortlessly beautiful despite the scar on his left eye or the one bisecting his torso, with lightly tanned skin, emerald hair, a profound, lone red eye, and a noticeable three golden earrings.
Tashigi was somehow bewitched and walked over to the man in a daze. Yet there was something off about him.
Raising her hand, she checked for the emerald haired's pulse.
There was nothing.
Not a single beat.
There were no sounds of breathing and his skin felt like it was made out of porcelain or mayhaps glass. Almost like a doll.
But he was warm.
And then Tashigi realized something else. There was a puddle of foaming blood and black tar that forms as the man's shadow, numerous hands with claw like nails holds onto his legs, as if pulling him down deeper into the nothingness of his shadow, and when she looked at the shadow a little more it felt as if it's cursing her. She was unsure how to help, or if this man, Roronoa Zoro, needed any help. If so, how? She was just a pharmacist who made the decision to help the surgeon due to adrenaline. To prove herself that she's capable.
She thought the man was a traumatized former slave of the tenryuubito, not some… whatever this was.
This was not human.
"I… He's—"
"Dead?"
Tashigi felt her whole body shake at the surgeon's cold tone, and backed a few steps away from the body of Roronoa Zoro.
"Or perhaps you are the type who would say that I am a sick bastard who is attracted to dolls?"
Roronoa Zoro is dead. He is warm, but he is dead. She would have thought he only died a while ago but the surgeon's scrutiny on her form begs to differ. As if he had died a long time ago.
How long has Roronoa been like that then, if that was the case?
"But I am not agalmatophiliac. And he's not a doll, is he? He's still warm, he just has been like that for ten years."
To say that the pharmacist was shocked was an understatement. She was aghast. This is way way out of her expertise. Even medical sciences would not cover whatever Roronoa Zoro has. Not even the miraculous surgeries, Dr. Trafalgar D. Water Law performs will save this, a virtually dead body that is still as warm as a living, breathing one. And ten years of that too?!
"He would usually come to life on late evenings," the doctor started talking conversationally, as if talking about the weather outside. "Sometimes those things would leave him, on my birthday or his, or the day when that happened. I have to make sure that he lives though, even when his system stops functioning in the morning until the time he wakes up… that's why I'm using that medicine."
"I thought—"
"You thought he was a victim of the tenryuubito," he paused, taking a stool with him and sat next to his husband. Stroking a hand lovingly on his husband's palm. "To be honest, I knew you wouldn't be able to help though. No one is. Not even Kureha-ya, or Crocus-ya."
"Even Tony-ya is useless for fuck's sake! Isn't he supposed to be the world's best doctor?! Even that damned phoenix, Marco! His flames are an all-rounder cure for everything, even god's curses are nothing against this!" The pharmacist backed away a little more from the man as he started his outburst, her breathing going quicker. She couldn't say she's scared but she feels all of her limbs turning jelly. The surgeon's knuckles were turning white with how tight he clenched his fists. "Fucking phoenix told me that even if he wanted to fix him he wouldn't! I just want my husband back! I want him back! Like a real person! Is that too much to ask?! It's not Zoro-ya's damned fault, it's—"
Then he stopped, unclenching his fists, bringing one tattooed hand to his husband's forehead and kissing it ever so gently. Muttering something along the lines of 'I'm sorry I was so noisy during your sleep'.
The silence was spectral even with the lighthearted atmosphere of the room, Tashigi can feel her blood chilling.
"Go," he motioned his hands to the door as he held his husband's warm porcelain hands, then pulled himself closer to Roronoa's body, engulfing him in an embrace.
And Tashigi, for a few times in her life did as she was told as soon as it was told.
She ran.
And when she looked back she could see the enigmatic doctor kissing his beguiling husband's lips through the window.
And she ran some more and ran, and ran until she felt all her energy drain away from her body. She let out a relieved breath she didn't know she was holding back.
Tashigi wanted to talk about the incident to let it out of her system, or at least tell the story to someone she can trust. But she didn't. And when another week passed, whatever happened in the doctor's residence became hazy.
She wanted to know why, but she knew that if she relearned whatever she saw that time, it would be bad.
"Is the doctor busy?" she asked the polar bear mink when he came by to pick up the doctor's medicine.
Bepo gestured outside of the pharmacy where the rest of Dr. Trafalgar's surgical team, Dr. Eustass, and the paramedic Killer were waiting. "He didn't come to work today, we're just going to visit his house."
Tashigi opened her mouth, shocked with her own question, "Do you know about the doctor's husband?"
"Of course. We were there ten years ago."
The doctor has left. Again.
He has come to the pharmacy to pick up the medicine on his own now, as usual. This time it wasn't an odd hour, but rather right on time his shift ends. He stood in line, uncaring of the lingering longing stares he gets from the other customers or pharmacists.
"Thank you." It was the first time Tashigi ever heard the doctor thank her for the service. "I hope you never told that to anyone."
He smiled as he left in a flash of his signature navy blue fur coat, leaving a suffocating scent of wild wisterias, antiseptic, and high quality sake on his wake.
For some reason, Tashigi can't help but feel terrified of the doctor's mysterious smile even if she did not understand what the doctor's words meant.