A/N Happy New Year everyone! It's the last day of 2017 and I hope I find the strength in me to change my life and update everything all at once. I hope ya'll have a good year ahead! Thank you for the reviews Angel and Guest, for the follows and faves as well! So, see you all guys next year!

Chapter 11

Nami nervously steps inside the morgue, her lab partner and classmates in tow. She could feel the chills run through her entire body. The smell of formaldehyde fills her nostrils despite wearing a mask, her eyes could instantly feel the sting. There, in the middle of the room, are five fresh cadavers laid out.

"Good luck on your first post-mortem examination, young ones." Doflamingo sneers and frustrated sighs immediately fill the atmosphere. Who would expect that for this particular exam, they would be cutting dead bodies in the school morgue – of all places? "I expect all teams to be able to report the cause of deaths of these unfortunate bodies. They are not yet embalmed so you students will be able to look through their organs like they are still living persons." He pauses and pulls the white sheets off the cadavers one by one. "Except, their hearts aren't pumping blood any longer. Imagine yourselves in the operating room, tending to these patients, trying to save the life of the bodies you picked and take account how you will be able to save them."

Nami has to give credits to Doflamingo for being an effective professor when it comes to subjects like this. He is indecent but he teaches Anatomy best.

Law grabs her hand and is the first to select which cadaver they are going to cut. As usual, she doesn't have a say about this. So she follows and prays whole-heartedly that they would be able to finish this exam soon. Their other classmates have placed themselves next to the bodies they have chosen.

Nami couldn't help but observe Law as she helps him prepare their instruments. His eyes are glowing, almost child-like, screaming of pure joy and excitement – it almost feels ominous. She fails to hide her uneasiness as her hands shake while placing the instruments down.

Law reaches for Nami's hand. She darts her eyes up to meet his reassuring golden orbs – one that she has never seen. "You'll be fine." He guarantees her.

Now, if this is another time, she would have swatted his hand right away. She draws the deepest breath she could, his hand still over hers. But even before she could totally calm her nerves, the corpse picked next to their counter twitches, and her heart drops rapidly as she jumps beside Law like lint gripping on his arm.

"Neuron reflex," Law beats Doflamingo.

Their poor classmates, Baby Five and her partner have stumbled a few meters away in fright.

"Now, now, class. I just told you, didn't I? These bodies are not yet embalmed. And as you can see," Doflamingo claps his hands as he strides towards the twitching body. "These volunteers are very fresh, so nerves on their brains are still functioning."

"Why are we even doing a post-mortem when we should be dissecting frogs and cats?" Baby Five cries, a bit humiliated that she and her partner are fast in running away.

Nami can't blame her though, it's a normal reaction to dash away. It's not every day one encounters a supposed to be dead person convulsing.

Doflamingo pushes his sharp-edged, tinted glasses up as he simpers wickedly, "What? You want to be a veterinarian, Miss? You can't save a person's life by familiarizing yourself with the body organs of animals."

Baby Five flushes in deep red and walks back to their jerking cadaver. Doflamingo tweaks the nape of the body bringing to close the twitching episode.

It is then that Nami became aware of her position. She is desperately clinging on her lab partner's arm. And she could actually feel the rock-hard muscles underneath her gloves. Not that she's developing any romantic interest for that matter. Spare her, please! She is used to seeing muscles as her cousin's past-time activity is to work out but of course, she never feels them up. So, this might be the first time she gets to feel up a man's arm muscle.

Thoughtlessly, she squeezes his arm just to test its firmness, she would like to think.

"Nami-ya, are you feeling me up?"

Dumbfounded, Nami stares up at Law stupidly. Quick, brain! Think! She immediately places a hand over his shoulder as she steps back, letting go of his arm casually in a very abnormal manner, "Nice triceps and biceps you got there, deltoid is 97% firm. Brachioradialis are rigid as well. Do you work out?" She grins clumsily, her ears heating up.

A cloud of awkwardness pervades for a moment. Law looks back at her with evaluating eyes, obviously not buying it. But he did not respond anymore as he picks up where they left off in fixing their dissection tools. She follows suit as well.

Once done, she tries to calm herself once again and as soon as she finds the spirit in her to face one of her absolute fear, she joins her partner in cutting the corpse's skin. A bit of blood still oozes out, foul-smelling fatty fluids follows soon after. Her spirit has instantly shattered into pieces and she feels the knot in her stomach tightening.

She has to endure. After all, this will not last as long as their normal class. She has come to realize that all people are different. Law, unlike her, is not even feeling the least nauseous at what he's doing.

"Hold it in, Nami-ya. We're almost done."

It has only been twenty minutes and he is already declaring that they are almost done. He is surely fit to be a doctor. Nami knows for certain, the man standing in front of her, will someday become a great doctor. He will be able to save millions of lives. She might be exaggerating it but who knows? She couldn't even move anymore as she watches him in awe.

"She experienced a heart failure, the right side of the heart–" he states, his eyes very focused on the insides of the human cadaver.

And for a moment, Nami is spellbound. Her heart beats faster than normal. The guy is truly amazing when he is holding his scalpel seriously, when he is not playing around. Somehow, she could understand why this guy is popular. Have they ever seen him cutting a body up close? Even someone with the weakest stomach would be able to hold in the impending bile threatening to break free from their throats just by watching him.

"–but we have yet to figure out the cause."

And he glances at her only to catch her wistful brown orbs locked onto him. But he looks away instantaneously. And she wakes up from her trance. She feels disgusted at herself right away. Great, she's now thinking like those crazy ladies after him.

Just like that, they awkwardly continue dissecting the cadaver without much talking.

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