Law awoke the next morning and knew something was wrong instantly. He could just feel it in the air.

Bonney hadn't come to pester him about Kid for the entire rest of the day and had left him to sleep peacefully that night.

He had too much to think about at the time, but now...

Quickly springing out of bed, the samurai slipped on some clothes and strapped his sword to his back before heading out of the medical wing.

He checked the Empress's usual morning stomping grounds first (the kitchen mainly) before deciding to check her chambers to see if she had possibly slept in until lunchtime.

"Bonney-ya." Law called out, opening the doors to her guest chamber.

No response.

"Bonney-ya?" He called again, moving further into the chamber.

Law's ears twitched as a noise penetrated them. It was faint, but he could hear it.

As he walked closer and closer to the noise, the smell of blood breached his senses and became more and more prominent the closer he got.

Finally as he rounded a corner, the samurai's eyes widened and he inhaled sharply at what he saw.

There, laying on the floor in a pool of his own blood, was Bonney's attendant; X. Drake.

At first glance, Law could see five- no, seven decisive stab wounds all along his abdomen and countless more slices and cuts along his body.

The noise that Law had heard was Drake's barely concious groaning.

"Law... san..." The injured man gasped, one hand pressed tightly against his throat and blood flowing from under his fingers.

Law was at his side in a heartbeat, using bedsheets, his own clothes, anything to stop the bleeding.

"Drake-ya, I need you to stay awake." The samurai instructed calmly as he tightly tied a strip of cloth around the ginger man's bleeding neck. "I'm going to get you to the medical wing, alright?"

Drake grunted and Law took that as an afirmative.

With a strained huff, the samurai hefted the larger man onto his back, careful to avoid his sword so as not to agitate the man's wounds further.

Drake's jaw clamped down onto Law's shoulder tight enough to break the skin as he tried to stifle his pain filled screams.

Law winced but said nothing as he hurried as fast as he could to the medical wing.

"Trafalgar?" A voice called out to him.

Law looked to see Killer walking towards the pair, but could see no emotion due to the mask.

"Killer-ya!" He called out, knowing that they would move faster if the royal advisor carried the missing Empress's attendant.

The masked man was by his side instantly, removing the barely concious Drake from the samurai's back and onto his own.

As the two ran, Law could feel his own now blood-soaked clothes clinging to his back and wondered desperately whether or not Jewelry Bonney was safe.

The instant Killer slammed the doors to the medical room open, Law flew into doctor mode, as did Hawkins and Chopper when they saw the severely bleeding man on Killer's back.

"The... Lady...!" Drake gasped as he was placed onto an operating table. "Is Bonney... safe...?"

Law hesitated a moment. "Bonney-ya is... perfectly well. I was with her this morning in the dining hall."

Killer gave the samurai a look from under the mask. He could tell that the man was lying, but he didn't know why.

That seemed to calm the orange haired attendant down enough.

"That's... good..." Drake sighed, closing his eyes. "Don't trust... that Monet..."

As the man slipped into unconsciousness, Killer stepped back and out of the room, leaving the physicians to do what they did best.

As he left, Law turned to him and mouthed two words: 'Find Bonney.'

The Shogun's advisor nodded and turned away.

Now it was his turn to look for the Empress of Shabondy.

Killer's thoughts raced as he ran through the halls, stringing together a search party and sending them loose to help him search.

Had she been missing since yesterday? Was that the reason why he waited for her for three hours by the koi pond before giving up? Where was she? Was she hurt? Where was she?!

-×-×-×-

Kid stepped out onto the balcony in his room with a yawn and a stretch.

In his opinion, the best way to get over a hangover was to just sleep through a whole day.

Killer had tried prying what happened with Trafalgar out of him the day before, but Kid just slept to ignore him.

The Shogun looked lazily out over the forest behind his palace and the koi pond that lay nestled in the middle of a stone garden just before it.

He thought of nothing and everything as he stared out over the serene landscape.

The kiss that he had shared with Trafalgar Law still played over and over in his mind, and he thought back onto the older man's words.

"You are intoxicated." The samurai continued harshly. "Your judgment is impaired. You hate me, so snap out of it!"

It was true, the Shogun had hated the man, but recently that feeling had evolved into something new.

No, the Shogun didn't believe in love at first sight. He believed in lust at first glance, though. Perhaps that was what he felt towards Trafalgar...

He looked over the landscape again, and this time some form of movement caught his eye.

A woman, he could only just tell that it was a woman, with green hair was dragging along something rolled up inside a large carpet towards the koi pond.

He stared at her intently. He had no green haired servants...

The woman looked around once, seeming to not realize that someone was watching her, then unrolled whatever it was in the carpet into the pond.

Kid's eyes caught on a flash of pink hair before the thing- the body, submerged completely beneath the murky waters.

Kid took off immediately, running through the halls as fast as his feet could take him.

It was Bonney she threw into the water. Bonney, his and Killer's childhood friend. The Empress of the next kingdom over.

How DARE she!

Killer spotted his master running at full speed out of his room and sprinted after him.

"Close off the palace!" The Shogun shouted. "Nobody gets in or out! Find the woman with green hair and capture her!"

By now the two were already reaching the entrance to the gardens and Killer had relayed the message to Wire as they passed him.

"Kid, what are you doing?!" Killer shouted as his master raced into the shallows of the pond.

"Dead people float..." The Shogun breathed as he stared at the waters. A murky flash of pink caught his attention and Kid dove for it.

The redhead could hardly swim, but what little skill he had was enough. Their heads broke the surface of the pond and Bonney gasped as though it were her fist time taking in air.

Killer jumped in after and helped bring the two to the shore.

The Empress's hands and feet were both chained together with lead weights that had rubbed her wrists and ankles raw and she had several minor cuts along her skin, but other than that the woman was fine.

"Drake...!" She gasped as soon as she could form words. "Where is he...?!"

"Trafalgar and Hawkins are operating on him now." Killer told her in a calm voice as he helped to try and remove the weights. "His condition is critical right now, but I'm sure he will be fine."

Kid's eyes darted up to his advisor and he snarled. "Killer, what the hell is going on in my palace?!"

It was at that moment, that a voice called out to the three.

"Kid-dono!" The blue haired man, Heat, called out to his master. "Kid-dono! We got her! The green haired woman!"

Bonney's eyes narrowed angrily. "Monet..." She growled.

"There is one thing, Kid-dono." The servant stated lowly. "The woman... she wishes to speak with Trafalgar Law."