Multiple days passed on the sea without a stop on an island. Law was a lot more stressed without his second medic. Corel had to be put into an artificial coma, due to his injuries and Jean Bart, the new crew member from the auctionhouse, had to be introduced to how things went on the submarine. The captain spend most of his time at the infirmary. My weekly plan was put on hiatus. I understood, the only thing really bothering me was my language lessons being put on hold as well.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeniX10rW56
That damned language barrier bothered me a lot. I coudn't tell the cook that the meal was delicious, I couldn't talk to any other crew member, I couldn't ask any questions or talk about the weird dreams I had to anyone. Law wasn't interested. What if I had any woman problems? I couldn't talk about it with Ikkaku. I feared the day my period would come. I had no tampons and didn't see anything similar at the stores in town. Thus, I had no idea how the period was handled with in this world. I couldn't imagine them just letting it flow. I definitely wouldn't play along if that was the case either. I'd rather put toilet paper in my underwear.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2di5qVhGJL
And when others started laughing, I couldn't laugh along as I didn't understand the joke.
I spent most of my time actually training my condition and translating the documents. At least I was able to get the key to the archive, so I could get the documents on my own. During those days, I only skimmed through the trade agreements to see if anything new was sold, but they were just the same as all the others. So I directed my attention to the papers I put aside when Law and I searched for the sabaody legend.
They were reports, newspaper articles and diary entries. Most turned out to be irrelevant, but a welcomed change. A single newspaper article reported a new illness spreading.
"A new illness? Where was it coming from?", maybe from my world, I speculated. I knew I shouldn't get my hopes up too much, but a new illness was promising.
Impatiently I skimmed through the text, but couldn't find any mention of a place. They must have cursed the origin of this illness, as it killed more than a hundred people on the island at this point. Could it be that everyone on the island died due to this illness?
"I need to ask Law if he has any idea what happened to those people. If there weren't any signs of a fight, maybe they really died of the illness? Alright, let's see if I find anything.", I read through the article again, looking for any clues. Translating the article into modern english, the fair copy took it's time, as the edges were damaged. Apparently, the disease was called 'lepruse'.
"Sounds kinda familiar.", I noticed. But I couldn't think of any illness with a similar name. I wasn't exactly well versed with old diseases.
The article warned of these symptoms: being numb to pain, irritated and abnormal skin, especially in the face, problems with one's eyes and numbness in general. "Man this must have been quite the disease. Wonder if the corpses could still be infectious, considering the disease was spread through skin contact.", I thought out loud. It would not be nice to finally get back home, but incurably sick. Though, if the illness came from our world, they probably had a cure today. Except, the disease caused it's own extinction with high death rates. I would be a dead girl then.
"No I shouldn't imagine the worst, 500 years have passed, after all. No virus would survive that long on a corpse. Besides, I would never touch them." The realist in me calmed down my thoughts and I returned my attention back on the article. Surprisingly, there was no mentioning of the origin of the illness. Sceptically, I read through the article one more time and realized there must be a second page. No one would end an article in the middle of a discussion. I searched through the other documents, but couldn't find it.
"It can't be! Have I not put the second page aside?", that was possible. If the second page did not look like a newspaper article I might have not found it interesting, as I just skimmed through it. Or it was simply with the papers Law looked through. Sighing, I leaned back into the chair. It wouldn't be easy finding the second page inbetween all the other documents in the archive. I pondered whether I had the motivation and time to search for it today. I had to know what else was written about the disease, but finding the second page today depended on my luck.
"I could just as well sort the documents if I had to look through them anyways.", I thought aloud. Thus, I already knew my task for the next day.
I managed to translate another two documents until dinner. A diary entry and the poem with the phrase "nightlights of the worlds". Unfortunately, they didn't help me much. The diary entry only held worries about a birthday party and a bad trade, which was not described any further.
The poem could be interpreted in multiple ways. It could have had a religious inspiration, talking about worlds like heaven and hell. But it could just as well discuss two different societies, which were only compared to as two different worlds. A big city compared to a little village for example. My expectations weren't shattered completely, though, as it could also be interpreted to talk about two actual worlds.
"Nightlights of the worlds - hope in people's hearts. The portal - a wondrous space. The people - two different peoples. It all makes sense in different ways."
"Damn it. I just cannot know what the author meant. Screw that!", I threw the ballpoint pen angrily onto the desk and stood up. Walking through the room, I didn't know how to let out the frustation building itself up in me. I sat down on my bed and stood up again. I walked to the desk and back to my bed. I didn't want to see the papers that couldn't tell me anything. In the end, I sat in front of my bed, legs pulled close, my head lying on top. My anger became sadness. My frustation despair. It didn't take long for some tears to roll down my cheek. I just wanted back home. Back into my mother's arms.
My staring at nothing was interrupted by a knock on the door. Reluctantly I stood up and went to open it. In front of it, I took a deep breath to loosen up my mood.
I was surprised to see Bepo's face.
"Uhm...", he was considerably nervous.
"[What is it?]", I asked. My pronunciation wasn't the best yet and my vocabulary limited, but I could ask what the matter was.
"The captain is [still at] the infirmary. I-I [think] he [should take a break, but] he [won't listen to] me."
"[... Sorry.]", was all I could tell him. I understood only half of what he was telling me.
"[The captain? Infirmary?]", trying to use the words I understood, Bepo seemed to have an idea.
"Captain. [Sleep. Not.]", he said, symbolizing sleep and an X.
"He needs to take a break.", I now understood Bepo's worries.
"[Okay.]", I nodded in understanding, whereupon Bepo happily pulled me along.
We went to the infirmary. In front of it, I took another deep breath.
"Here we go.", "In die Höhle des Löwen."
"How is he doing?", I asked the captain, who jumped a little in surpise. "Eindeutig übermüdet.", I concluded.
"No different than two days ago. Stable, but there's no sign he would wake up soon.", Law turned from the desk and walked over to Corel. He checked the machines again, as he probably did over hundreds of times already.
"I didn't mean to surprise you there. Sorry." My intention was to guide the conversation onto his fatigue, but Law didn't respond to it.
"Alright I will be straight with you. You need to take a break. You're completely worn out. I mean you didn't even hear the doors opening and I wasnt sneaking inside."
"You don't need to tell me how I am feeling.", Law was easily irritated. I was no person looking for an argument, but I knew, someone had to drag him out of here. His crew respected his decisions far too much to do that.
"Well you don't seem to know.", I replied, crossing my arms in front of my chest.
"I am fully aware of my health."
"So you know that you lack sleep. En masse. You don't eat well. You lack nutrition. Also en masse. On top of that-"
"Don't try to tell me what to do. I am the captain of this ship!", he lost his temper.
"You realize you are shouting, right?", he fell silent. He was angry, didn't want anybody to tell him what to do, but also knew I was right.
"Did you say that to everyone else as well?", I asked him after a brief moment of silence.
"What?", pinching the bridge of his nose.
"You are the captain, nobody tells you what to do." He only glared at me.
"Look, you are right. I am in no place to tell you what to do. But your crew is worried about you. What happens if we were to be attacked? Could you still fight?", Law kept glaring at me.
"Could you still protect Corel?", I pressed. His eyes wandered to his sleeping patient.
"I need to keep watch over him for the moment he awakes."
"I'll do that for you. So you can sleep for at least a few hours."
"You're no doctor. What are you gonna do if he wakes up or his situation worsens?"
"Then I'll run straight to you. You can even sleep here if you want and I'll wake you up if anything happens. Just do yourself - and your friends - the favor and go to sleep."
Law sighed. It was clear to me, he knew well, he needed sleep. Urgently. But he couldn't just leave his second medic unsupervised.
To everyone's relief, he gave in and chose to sleep. A tired doctor didn't help anyone. He only showed me what's most important to react accordingly in an emergency before finally leaving the infirmary. Bepo was clearly relieved to see his captain coming out and probably accompanied him to his room.
I had to come up with something how to stay awake now. Law wouldn't share the task with anyone ever again if I were to fall asleep. Sighing, I sat down at the desk with the files on it. Honestly, I wasn't very good at staying awake without anything to do, so I decided to read everything there was in this room. I considered it an exercise.
Hours passed. The submarine was a whole different experience at night. Sure, I was limited to this room, but that didn't make it any less exciting. Everything was a lot quieter and I could hear the engines working. It could be heared as a purring sound. The thought made me smile. Penguin and Shachi probably heard the engines purring. Law on the other hand most likely not. Although, it was his own submarine. Wouldn't surprise me, if he actually had bonded with it over time. Of course, he would never admit it.
With my head lying on the desk, I listened to the sounds I could hear. They were mostly just the engines, but every now and then, I could hear tired steps, when a crew member went to the toilet. I was careful not to close my eyes, as I felt quite tired already. "I guess I can forget about sorting the documents tomorrow.", I thought, "Well, this is more important."
I stood up and walked over to Corel. He was lying there so peacefully. Just as if he was sleeping. Coma. Was he still aware of his surroundings? No one really knows, besides him. I once heard of a story in which a little girl fell into a coma. But she still heard everything. I couldn't remember whether she had the sense to feel. But she was aware of the whole dilemma of her parents.
"Ich weiß du verstehst mich nicht, selbst wenn du mich hörst, aber du musst kämpfen. You hear me? Fight. Everyone is really worried for you. I don't know you much, but you took really good care of me when I was lying there. Well now I am watching you for Law. I hope you're alright with that. I'll do my best if anything happens. Just wake up soon, okay?"
I caught myself staring at Corel. Shaking my head to snap out of it, I wondered what this was. That strange feeling of empathy. It felt like I knew exactly what Corel was experiencing right now. But I never once lay in a coma. I was never even unconcious, until I got here. So why this feeling?
"Coma.", I savored the word slowly. It triggered a strange tingle inside of me. But the more I thought about it, a headache formed itself. Before I could get into it any further, someone luckily cut through my thoughts.
"Oh?", surprised, Josha, the cook, looked at me. He held a cup of coffee in his hand.
"Josha?", I thought everyone was sleeping. His surprised look quickly became one full of appreciation.
"[Law is sleeping.]", I tried to explain the situation, but he already nodded in understanding.
"[Coffee?]", he pointed to the cup as a question. I shook my head with a smile. Coffee was not my taste. He nodded and disappared again.
I never expected to see anyone until the next morning. Except for Law. It wouldn't surprise me to see him here, if he woke up.
After a few minutes, Josha returned with a cup of cocoa. "Now that's something for me.", I said and happily received the cup.
Josha stayed with me until he finished his cup of tea. We didn't talk much. Wasn't much possible. Since I finished my cocoa before he finished his tea, he took my cup with him. "[Thank you.]"
"You're welcome.", he replied, walking out of the infirmary.
His attendance was a nice change. I felt a bit more awake too.
Translations:
(1) "In die Höhle des Löwen." - "Into the lion's den."
(2) "Eindeutig übermüdet." - "Clearly overtired."
(3) "Ich weiß du verstehst mich nicht, selbst wenn du mich hörst, aber du musst kämpfen. You hear me? [...]" - "I know you don't understand what I'm saying, even if you can hear me, but you have to fight. You hear me? [...]"166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡErztTDJbjQ
