Chapter Text
If you told Corazon a few months age he would be stuck on a small fishing boat with several guns shot wounds and four traumatized teenagers he would not believe you. He was 70% sure he had an infection or was going too soon, he and Law already used all the bandages they had and were almost out of the rest of the medicine. Food was running low too. The situation wasn’t the best, he is the only adult in the situation he’s supposed to be protecting these kids they don’t have anyone else but him and each other.
“Cora-San are you alright” bepo the youngest spoke.
“I’ll be fine I can hold off till we get to an island”. He tried his best to sound like he wasn’t dying but when he look over at Law he saw the worry.
“There’s a ship, I think it may be pirates”. Shachi yelled over. This can’t get any worse he thought to himself, they were in no situation to deal with pirates he can barely get up let alone fight.
“What does the flag look like”. He called over, hopefully it’s a bunch of nobodies.
“Uhh it looks like it’s got a white mustache”. Penguin called back. That made Cora immediately panic, the only pirates with that kind of flag were the Whitebeards. He had to calm down and protect these damn kids if it’s the last thing he does. Getting up with a groan he walked over to penguin and shachi and saw it, the moby fucking dick. It wasn’t like he was scared of Whitebeard after seeing his clash with Garp he just wanted to avoid them is all.
“SHIT”. He yelled out so the others could hear, trying his best to hid his panic.
“What is something happening”. Law and bepo came up next to him, Law had the most knowledge of pirates out of the kids and immediately knew why he was being yelled at. Cora was still known as a pirate in doffys crew, they could think this is an attack, but they had zero supplies they literally had nothing. He needed to make a decision, fast. He didn’t want to leave the kids behind, he wasn’t stupid he knew he was dying, but Whitebeard was an emperor of the sea he couldn’t just go up and ask for help. His mind was moving a million miles a second when he remembered a rumor that the Whitebeards were sympathetic towards kids. Well it was this or they die.
“LETS MOVE TOWARDS THAT SHIP”. He’d rather see Doffy again before he won’t let anything happen to his kids.
“WHAT, CORA ARE YOU INSANE THATS WHITEBEARDS SHIP”. Law yelled at him
“I know but we have nothing, we’re all going to starve soon”. He left out the fact he’ll probably die from the gun shots. Law went quiet after that and went to helped the others to change corse. Hopefully he’ll take pity on them and not recognize Cora.
“Uhhh hey Cora is that a bird”. Penguin said getting closer to him. Looking up he saw a bird looking thing but it was on fire.
“Fuckkkkk”. He said, they did not need to deal with the first division commander right now.
———
“SHIP AHEAD” a call came from the crows nest.
“Hmm a ship haven’t seen one in a while”. Marco thought aloud. They changed course for the north blue a while back to look for a cure for pops. More specifically the ope-ope fruit that was the one lead they had to cure pops. Looking out he saw a small fishing boat with a few people on board. He toke a small telescope one of his siblings had saying thanks and looked aboard the small ship. It seemed to hold one tall man and a couple of teens and a bear? Most likely a mink but they aren’t very common in the north blue. Looking closer at the man he seemed very tall and there were red spots on his shirt. The spots didn’t look like a pattern he realized that man was injured and probably the only adult on board. He quickly ran to the infirmary grabbed a medical bag and ran back out, he transformed into his phoenix form.
Landing on the ship, it shacks a lot. He was able to get a closer look at everyone. The kids seemed unharmed and all of them where behind the man, who was a lot taller then he thought. Looking behind him there where two who looked in there late teens, one preteen and the polar bear mink who looked very young definitely the youngest. Looking back at the adult, most likely there caregiver who was stand in front of the mink the most. He had a large black feather coat on making it hard to see but there was definitely blood, lots of it, he also seemed malnourished along with the older kids.
“Uh hey you seem injured, I’m doctor could I treat you and we’ve got food on board”. He tried his best to be gentle, he was a pirate they weren’t gonna trust him just like that. The man seemed to consider it looking down to the boy standing right next to him. He then looked at the other two boys, one had his hand over his stomach. They probably ran out of food and were giving everything to the younger ones. The man finally looked back.
“Sure”. His voice was deep and seemed pained. Marco moved closer and the man sat down with a sigh. The kids all look varying levels of confidence, the preteen the most. The man started to move his shirt and coat away and could see the man was shot, multiple times.
“My names Marco”.
“Cora”. He said back.
“Are any of you kids injured or sick”. All of them shook their head, then one of the older two smacked the preteen.
“Law your sick don’t pretend you’re not”. The older said. The teen, Law looked embarrassed.
“It’s not that bad and it’s getting better”. He’d started bandaging Cora and looked back at the boy. He was also covered in bandages, odd. But he said he was doing better so he isn’t the priority. Glancing back to his ship the moby was getting closer. Great he couldn’t do much with being in the infirmary, he’d have to carry the man up. All of a sudden the sound of the waves stopped and the man stared speaking.
“Don’t freak out it’s my devil fruit”. He stated matter of factly.
“They can’t hear us”. He guessed.
“Yeah, listen I’m the only adult left to care for them I’m no doctor but my situation isn’t exactly the best”. He realized what the man was trying to say.
“I’ll keep them safe for you”. He won’t let kids get hurt.
“Normally I’d ask why you are helping but I’m about to pass out”. Sounds cam back and Marco realized it’s a lot worse then he thought. Luckily the moby is right next to them now.
“GET A STRETCHER DOWN HERE”. He called up as a latter was thrown for them. The kids started climbing it and Cora was quickly transported to the infirmary for immediate surgery.
——-
Law had no idea what to do. The pirate took Cora away to treat his wounds and now him and the others are alone. He’s the strongest of them and they agree he’d be captain if they ever set sail, but that was before they were forced off the island when Doflamingo came back. He’s the one with knowledge of pirates, he’s not the oldest but the others are depending on him and he is terrified. What if there allied with doffy and he didn’t know they could easily hand all of them over or they could hurt bepo. It’s well known that minks are highly sought over on the black market.
“You kids hungry”. A man with what looked like bread on his head said.
“A little.” Law said not meeting the man’s gaze.
“Good, I’m Thatch the main chef on this ship.” He started walking and talking as the boys followed.
Four bowls of steaming soup were quickly placed in front of each of them. They all scarfed down the food no matter how hot.
“Any of you want second.” Thatch said chuckling.
“If that’s alright.” Law said. His bowl was then refilled and emptied, five times. Only after five servings was he finally full, damn D genes. When he was finally done he set his bowl down and observed the galley, there wasn’t much to it that was out of the ordinary.
“So what are you kids doing out in the middle of nowhere.” Thatch asked.
“Some pirates drove us out of our home.” Penguin responded, it wasn’t a lie but it wasn’t the whole truth.
“You’re quite trusting of pirates for being kicked out by them.” A different man said.
“We don’t trust you, we just don’t have any other options.” Law responded. Truth is Cora had gone over all the current strongest pirates with them. He said that he met them briefly once when shadowing Garp and Cora spoke highly of them and seemed to respect them so the boys trusted the pirates.
“Well maybe you should head to the infirmary to, your covered in bandages.” The bandages were to stop his already sensitive skin from getting sun burned while it still healed from the lead. If he took them off they would see his spots.
“Hell no.” Law responded, glaring at the man who asked. Although having access to a fully stocked infirmary instead of a blanket and Cora’s pocket knife to do his makeshift surgery’s on himself would be a lot safer. He continued glaring as he thought when the doors to the galley opened.
—
Marco walked fast to the galley where the kids were while looking over the clipboard with Cora’s information. It wasn’t much to go off of since the man was unconscious so he couldn’t ask questions. He opened the door and immediately felt four pairs of eyes on him. Questions about the blond man immediately were asked. He held up his hand to signal them to stop asking.
“he’s find is going to make a full recovery but I would like to know who did the surgery on him before me.” Marco said. The kids all seemed relieved that he was going to be ok before looking at each other. Three hands well two hands on paw pointed at the bandaged boy.
“You’re the one who did it.” He asked surprised.
“Uh yea I did.” The boy answered nervously looking at his feet.
“How old are you.” Marco asked.
“13.”
“You’re 13 and who did surgery on him, the stitches are professional grade level.” The boy seemed to glow at that. “But you did still leave some bullet fragments in him.” The boy deflated as fast as he glowed. Marco looked around at the other three. “Alright you three come with me.” Marco said and all four boys followed him out the galley and yo the infirmary.
“Are we going to see Cora.” The bear asked.
“Not yet he just got out of surgery and needs to be supervised he’s also still out, I’ll tell you when you can see him.”
“Then what are we doing here.” the penguin boy asked suspiciously.
“Check ups, I noticed he’s malnourished I need to see if you are as well.” He explained, but that seemed to be the wrong thing to say as the older three tensed up. “Alright you four sit in those chairs I’ll be right back.” He walked out to grab new patient forms, he had one for everyone on the ship that the nurses kept organized.
When he returned the boys where settled with the younger to in between the older ones, protective he thinks.
“Alright let’s start with basic, what are your names.” He learns their Penguin, Law, Bepo, and Shachi and 16, 15, 13, and 10. As he writes down the information he studies the boys, Shachi is grinding his sharp teeth together Bepo and Law were holding hands and Penguin was fidgeting with his. They all seemed nervous.
Next he asked species the older two froze.
“Bepo’s a mink the rest fully human.” Law said staring into his eyes trying to be intimidating, unfortunately for him his opponent was a new world veteran who didn’t get scared that easily.
“Listen we’re not going to get anywhere if you lie to me.” Marco said. Shachi stared at the floor like it was the most interesting thing in the world while Penguin looked like he was thinking hard. He heard a tiny murmured whispering from him after a minute.
“What was that.” He asked softly.
“I’m part mink, a penguin, Shachi’s part fishman both of us got some human to.” Penguin said quietly.
The appointment continued on like normal after that but both Penguin and Shachi were quieter. Eventually they got to the obvious question.
“Can you take off the bandages.” Marco gently asked Law. He only got a glare in response.” I just need to check your injuries.”
“I’m fine, not injured at all.” The boy said.
“So why do you have them then.” Law tensed, another hard topic two in one appointment just his luck. The boy shrunk in on himself looking as small as he could and avoiding his gaze. The other three didn’t look at him either so he’s not getting answers from any of them. He sighed.
“All right you win but your going to have to take them of eventually.” Marco surrendered.
“Why don’t we get you to bed you must be tired, follow me.” He said and the boys got up and followed again before standing in front of a room, he opened the door to reveled to bunk beds and a desk and chair.
“WOW cool, we get bunk beds I call dibs on top.” Shachi yelled at running in the room.
“No I want top.” Penguin ran in after him. The top started yelling at each other apparently forgetting there was two as Bepo and Law set up on the lower two.
“Alright if you guys need anything just ask.” And with that he closed the door and left.