"I just need to search for some people," answered Lucien as his eyes went just past the soldier and looked at the struggling people of Flevance, whose skin was now filled with white spots.
The soldier noticed he wasn't being looked at. He was reaching out to push Lucien back when Idris stepped alongside and said, quietly, "I'm sure you're both tired of standing out here in this heat. Why don't you take a break? We'll be quick." He pressed a few berries into the nearest hand without making a show of it.
The Soldiers glanced at each other before just nodding and replying, "Don't cause trouble. And be quick about it," as they both walked away.
They moved through the containment. Every direction, just sick people. White spots on skin, the sound of coughing from every tent. After a while, Lucien stopped someone and asked about the Trafalgar family.
"The Trafalgars? Their son. He was here a little while ago, helping out." He pointed toward a tent. Lucien wanted to ask about Rocco and Lira, but couldn't as the man violently coughed and sat down.
Lucien walked into the tent and saw a familiar figure. He had grown since the last time he saw him, still wearing the white-spotted bucket hat Rocco had bought him for his fifth birthday.
"Law."
Law, who was just standing by the side as a doctor was working, turned to see Lucien's tall figure and immediately ran towards him. He only came up to Lucien's waist. He wrapped his arms around anyway.
"Brother Lucien, they are dead. Everyone is dead. They bombed the hospital. Lami, she was in the hospital at that time. Mom and Dad, they killed them along with all the doctors. Everyone is dead," as he started to weep at the end.
Something tightened in Lucien's chest as he felt rage. He kept his face still. He slowly lifted Law and held him in his arms as he slowly walked out of the tent and then out of the encampment. He had been holding it in. Now he wasn't.
Idris noticed them and followed silently as they stopped by a cliff overlooking the sea. Lucien just gently set down Law as the boy didn't let him go yet. After a few moments, Law let Lucien go and looked out to the sea, and Lucien could finally get a look at Law. He had grown a lot thinner, and the white spots that signified Amber lead syndrome were on him as well.
"Tell me what happened," Lucien gently asked.
Law then slowly told the entire story to Lucien. It seemed like after Lucien visited the last time, they had almost completely theorised and proved that the real reason people were getting sick was actually due to Amber lead getting deposited in their bodies through generations and generations.
Discovering this, all the doctors banded together and went straight to the royal court, showing the proofs and asking for an explanation, along with funding and help to create a cure, at least for future generations.
But the King had laughed it off, completely denying it. He ordered martial law all over Flevance and first arrested all the doctors who dared to go against the royal family. Both Rocco and Lira, who had accompanied her husband that day, never came home as they were put in jail.
The following few months were completely hell for Law, who at 7 years old had to take care of his sister Lami, who had been hit harder by the syndrome than he and became completely bedridden. Hiding the truth did not stop the disease. It kept spreading until even the royal family could not deny it, at which point they blamed the doctors and called it their fault.
The citizens naturally didn't believe this, but the royal family went ahead and executed all the prisoners they captured that day. Law watched both his father and mother get shot in the back of the head.
Right after this, the royal family escaped from the island, along with all the top nobles and army personnel, as the citizens got word that the neighbouring islands were trying to bomb the entire kingdom to remove the disease.
Despite all their pleas and attempts to escape, they were trapped like a bird in a cage as they killed everyone who tried to escape. Law himself saw the hospital, which was a symbol of hope, get bombed, killing everyone, along with his little sister.
Law could only save himself by seeking shelter with Klance, along with many others. It had been nearly two weeks since all this happened.
"It all happened so fast, brother Lucien." Law's voice carried nothing in it. No shake, no heat. Just the facts, worn flat from two weeks of carrying them. "They knew. About the Amber Lead, they knew from the start. That's why they shot the doctors. To keep it quiet. And then the king, the one who swore to protect us, packed up and left us here to rot."
Lucien kept listening. He didn't say anything. He noticed his hand had been getting tighter around Law's without him deciding to do it.
"They should die for this." There it was, something finally coming into the boy's voice, though it wasn't quite anger. Anger was hot. This was colder. "I will kill them. Even if it's the last thing I do before this poison takes me. I will kill every single one of them."
Lucien pulled him in and held him there for a moment.
"I wasn't here," he said. "I should have been, and I wasn't." He let that sit. "But they will die for this, Law. Every one of them. Worse than anyone they left behind on this island."
He stood and looked over at Idris.
"We're making a stop before the Grand Line."
Idris looked at him. Then nodded once. "Your call, captain."
Lucien looked back at Law. "Come on. We are done waiting. Let's get this done."
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1 Chapter For Every 50 Power Stones. Please Do Support.