"There was no way to save him." Said a voice from the shadows. Footsteps, loud and heavy grew close.

"Are you sure?" A familiar voice asked, it sounded sad and defeated.

"Were it possible, he'd be here." The talking stopped, the room only filled with the sounds of machinery and breathing. "Go back and rest, he'll be fine."

"It's been days now why isn't he waking up?"

"Go rest, when he's up I'll have Bepo fetch you." Heavy footsteps walked away, a door slammed shut somewhere. He felt someone draw near, closer to the bed, he refused to open his eyes, and he knew if he did, he'd see Ace again and again. Something thin was placed over him and he nearly yelled, the pain from before returning, it felt like fire. Whoever it was drew away from the bed and left, and it was only then did he open his eyes.

A horrible array of tubes covered his chest, he tried to move but found himself restrained. The pain grew with each tiny movement and he stopped to focus on where it was radiating from. His chest ached and as he shifted slightly to see it, his vision finally clearing he gasped at the gaping hole and promptly fell back, his vision going dark once more.

"You need to eat something." He ignored the tray of food the strange man held out. For the first time in his life, he didn't feel like eating. "If you don't eat, your recovery will be delayed severely." He rolled onto his side to avoid the man, he didn't want to eat, he didn't want to talk he just wanted Ace to be fine again, and he did not like this man. "Strawhat-ya, I'll leave the tray here and I expect it to be cleaned when I return." A clatter as the tray was set beside the table, the hiss of the door closing and he sighed in relief at being alone again.

He did not like that man, the one who failed to save Ace, he did not like this place or the silence that crept in when he was alone. He missed his friends and with a sob rolled over to face the door once again. The tray of food blocked his view, it was a large pile of meat and he felt something hurt deep down in his chest.

"How are you feeling today?" Asked the strange doctor. He didn't look up from where he was laying, just continued to stare at the doctor's hands instead. The letters of DEATH wove themselves expertly around his arms, wrapping bandages tightly.

"Why do you care?" He snapped back wrenching his arm away from the man and rolling over. He felt his stitches sting from the sudden movement but didn't care. None of this mattered, his friends were gone, Ace was gone and a failure of a doctor couldn't fix that with his pity. He felt a hand on his shoulder, gently turning him back over.

"I know you're mad, but you need to be more careful, you nearly ripped your stitches again and it took a long time to do those so I suggest you don't do that again." Their eyes met for a brief moment and he saw something threatening and familiar in those gold eyes. He looked away, deciding to wait this time until all his bandages were changed before curling up under the covers. He cried as soon as the doctor left.

It was lunchtime and he was sitting on his bed as the doctor with the strange hat clipped and removed old bandages. He stared at the metal wall, counting the bolts before bored he looked elsewhere, at the clock that ticked too loud at his ignored lunch tray before finally staring at the sword near the door. It was larger than all three of Zoro's swords, but he bet the swordsman would have been impressed by it. He wondered if his friend was busy fighting to get back to the others, the thought made his chest burn and he quickly forgot about it.

"How are you feeling today?" The doctor asked, slowly wrapping up the bandage roll and staring down at him. He did not answer, choosing instead to stare at the man's face again, wondering where he'd seen it before.

"Whats your name?" He demanded instead, staring up into those gold eyes again. The man, unfazed turned away and replaced the bandage roll.

"My name is Trafalgar Law." He narrowed his eyes at the man. Law, he didn't remember a name like that and if it was important than Usopp would have told him so. The man must have noticed his confusion and sighed. "Do you remember the auction house?" An old building and friends yelling for help bubbled to the surface of his mind but he couldn't quite remember this doctor. "You punched that pathetic man, you must remember that?"

An image of a man being slammed into the floor stirred out a memory. He was saving friends and there was a man with a metal arm there, laughing and fighting and then of course the strange doctor before him, cutting people into chunks.

"Oh right, you. I still don't want to fight."

"I'm not going to fight you."

"I'm going to go then." He said with some finality and with a great deal of effort hopped to his feet. The room spun around him and he quickly grabbed hold of the bed. "I have to go back, I have to get that guy, Ace won't feel as bad for losing then-"

"They buried him." He turned around slowly to stare at Law. "It was a few days ago, you were asleep. But it doesn't matter you cannot walk now." He felt his knees tremble as he tried to take a step, his chest burned. The idea of being stuck here, in this bed, in this silent dark room pushed him to take another step. "StrawHat-ya there is no point you'll only injure yourself."

"Shut-up." He gasped; grabbing onto the bedside table now and taking another step forward. A searing pain from the center of his chest knocked the breath out of him and he fell, slamming hard into the floor. He watched, through watered eyes as the man's feet stepped over to him and he felt himself being picked up and placed on the bed again.

"You cannot walk still. Eat your lunch today and rest." When he made no move to get back up again, the doctor turned and left the room. He lay out on his back and ignored the food again, it's not like he was being punished if he didn't eat. There really wasn't much else they could do to him now.

He woke up to the sound of heavy footsteps approaching. For once he felt a bit of fear wash over him but it vanished when the door opened and he saw Trafalgar Law standing in the doorway.

"You have a visitor today."

"I don't want to talk." He rolled over and faced the wall, focusing hard on the small porthole window.

"It's Jinbe." Something painful surged forward, he did want to talk but not like this, not with all these bandages and the smell of medicine on him.

"I don't feel well." He lied, waving his hand dismissively. He heard the door hiss shut and he waited until the voices and footsteps faded away before trying to fall back asleep again. The days all seemed to run together now; all he could do was wake and sleep.

He woke up, covered in sweat and his chest burning and the images of Ace's pained face in his mind. He froze; detecting that someone else was in the darkened room with him. He allowed his eyes to adjust before seeing the bright yellow of the doctor's shirt. Warily, his eyes tracked the man, watching the hands moving bottles around on a table. Chopper never bothered him when he needed to recover, the little reindeer often sat at his desk reading and checking his temperature now and then. He missed the small hoof that would tap his forehead gently and for a brief moment he wanted this man to do the same. The idea made him furious, Trafalgar Law was not a friend, he was not a good doctor like Chopper and worse he failed to save Ace.

"What do you want?" He addressed the man, holding back anger and tears. "Why can't you leave me alone?" He saw the man straighten up and slowly turn around. The darkness seemed to end at the man's face and shirt, it made his eyes sting and he was bothered that tears were already falling.

"I was preparing medicine for tomorrow-"

"Why do you even do this?" He demanded. The doctor looked surprised, but now his vision was blurring. His impatience won out and he was getting up, finding an unknown strength returning to his legs. "Why didn't you just leave me to die? That would have been better than this." He was taking a step forward, towards the man hidden in darkness.

"Your wounds Strawhat-ya." The man said quietly, not moving away from the spot.

"Why do it? Why save me and not Ace? You could have done it, why didn't you?" His words were slurring and his hands hurt from clenching them and his legs shook as he stood in front of Law, his eyes staring hard at the dark man's face. Trafalgar Law stared back, only reaching out to push the small cart of medicine bottles to the side, out of reach.

"How are you feeling today?" The man asked calmly. He felt his breath hitch in his chest and he brought his fist back and punched Trafalgar Law with all his might, ignoring the ripping of stitches and the red staining through his bandages.

AN: Sorry for the first chapter being so short, a little busy working out all the bugs and whatnot so thanks for reading!