The Return (Part 1)

"STEPHEN!

Where are you!?

Answer!" Shouted Fred, who was running down the corridor with great concern at full speed armed with poisoned needles in both hands.

After defeating John, Fred injected him with a higher dose of [Sleeping Beauty Mark 10] to ensure he wouldn't wake up for many hours and ran to find Stephen.

With his strategy plus the Pact Magic he used, he didn't fear excessively for Stephen's life... but even so the remote possibility that Smith had seriously injured him without actually killing him existed… and the fact that he hadn't gotten back with him by now only increased his concern, making Fred think the worst possible situation as usual

'Fuck...

What if that son of a bitch was right and the other son of a bitch is crazy enough to torture Stephen before taking the antidote/poison?

If he has done irreversible damage to him, I...' Fred thought as he followed the trail of traps and blood, crossing his fingers to meet his friend at the end of that path in acceptable conditions.

"Fr... Freeeed?"

Hearing that voice at the end of a different corridor Fred quickly changed direction and there he found Stephen…

Bleeding from several parts of his body, staining almost all his clothes in red, the same color that his eyes had now, a sign that he had been crying until not long ago… but despite that pain Stephen wasn't on the ground, he was leaning on the wall with his left shoulder, in order to try to walk despite having trouble breathing and standing, problems that wouldn't be so titanic for him if he had both arms in minimal conditions to lean on something

"FUCK!"

Despite hyperventilating after seeing Stephen's sorry state, Fred quickly pounced on him and carefully laid him on the ground to examine his condition "You have some contusions, broken ribs, your left wrist..."

Clanck!

"Auuuuchh!

Fuck!"

"The left wrist was dislocated, but not anymore and…your right arm and fingers…fuck they suck…

However, nothing that cannot be cured with a few months of plaster, rest and rehabilitation...

Thank goodness..." Fred said with relatively great relief as he gave Stephen first aid and injected him with some of his anaesthetic to dull his throbbing pain.

Perhaps on his Earth that broken arm and fingers would be difficult or impossible to fix unless he was operated on several times, but in the world of One Piece the human body worked differently. Broken bones like these and other types of trauma healed naturally as long as the person was healthy and had the will to live, something Stephen wasn't lacking.

Seeing that Stephen wasn't only alive, but also wouldn't suffer from being paralyzed for life comforted him, but he wasn't happy in the least. It was evident that Stephan had been tortured and had suffered greatly, something that made Fred's stomach churn with fury, a rage directed above all at himself "I am sorry! I am sorry! I am sorry!

Sorry for putting you in this situation!

Now everything is over... we have defeated everyone and Roxanne and the others are in a safe place...

Rest here without moving in the slightest while I go for..."

"Fred...

Schrödi...

Schrödinger is in danger...

Over... over there... quick..." Stephen snapped, interrupting Fred as he pointed his not broken finger in the direction of another corridor.

Fearing that something might happen to him if he didn't look, Fred carried Stephen on his back very carefully to not hurt his ribs and both moved in the direction Stephen was pointing with his aching left hand

And turning several times they finally saw Smith, unconscious on the ground next to the syringe with poison... and a few centimetres away from him...

"Schrödi..."

Almost glued to the wall, Schrödinger lay limp on the floor, unconscious like Smith, but unlike Smith...

Schrödinger wasn't breathing...

"A strong blow to the stomach, probably with a kick...

His bones are broken, they have pierced his organs that are already destroyed by the impact

...

He's dead" Said Fred diagnosing Schrödinger's death as he carried his lifeless body in his arms

"I… I'm sorry…

He... he died because of me, he tried to save me and...

Mmff... mff...

Buah! Buah!!" Stephen sobbed, feeling immense sadness, pain, helplessness and guilt to see how once again that same day another member of the family of his best friend in the world died in front of him

"I told you not to play the hero, you idiotic cat..." Fred said trying to remain calm as he caressed with affection and sadness the remains of the last member of the Freed family, of which now only he remained

Words that didn't calm Stephen's crying, quite the contrary, it only increased their intensity "Buah!! Buaah!! Buahhh!!

Because of me! He has died because of me!

Buah!! Buah!! Buahhh!!

I'm sorry Fred! I am so sorry!"

"It's not your fault Stephen...

It's mine

I was the one who allowed you to come despite knowing that something like this could happen..." Fred replied to comfort Stephen and in turn express his regrets

He, an adult, had exposed an infant to mortal danger from which he had been seriously injured and only luckily without consequences for his future thanks to the heroic sacrifice of his house cat, who saved Stephen from his serious miscalculation

While he... he was practically unharmed except for a bruise and cuts that were already practically closed.

He felt the only one guilty and responsible for this whole mess...

"No, it's not!

We boarded the ship even knowing the danger...

And you warned us! It's not your fault!

It's mine for shooting! For not doing it right! For not letting the poison fall properly!" Stephen protested, wiping the tears on Fred's back and trying not to keep crying as he took Schrödi's death as his fault.

Something that further wounded Fred's conscience "Who screwed up the safest plan exposing you and Schrödinger to this danger?

Just me..."

If Fred hadn't intervened ahead of time Stephen wouldn't have been hurt like he's now, he wouldn't have been in mortal danger, Schrödinger wouldn't have died and... Stephen, a nine-year-old boy shouldn't have to feel guilty about the death of the pet of the guy who almost put him in mortal danger by making him follow such a dangerous plan with variants that were beyond his control.

Those wounds, that death and that feeling of guilt for having failed them both so many times hit his conscience with the power of a nuclear bomb.

However, Stephen refused to put even 0.01% of the blame on him, not today, not in his presence "But if you hadn't done it mum might be dead now!

You do not..."

At this point Fred realized that it was useless to continue this conversation, Stephen wouldn't take a step back and neither would he

"This isn't the time to look for culprits, comfort or mourn the dead...

Your mother and other girls need our help, we have three children surely crying waiting for us at home, patients who need medical attention… including you… and we also have to clean up all this mess" Said Fred as he headed towards the dock of the secret base, with Stephen at his back and with Schrödinger on his right arm

But knowing who was the only culprit

"Mff...

Yes...

Mfff..." Stephen answered, resting his head on Fred's shoulder and holding onto him tightly with his legs and left arm as if he were a koala.

No matter what they said or how much they lamented, not even the Toki Toki No Mi was able to change the past

The only thing they could do was keep walking forward, but without forgetting where they came from.

---

A few hours later

On Narhad Island a boy stood guard on the pier

Ever since Fred and Stephen left, the other three kids took turns to stand guard at the port, hoping and praying that his two little heroes would come back safe and sound

And now it was Edu's turn, who covered with a blanket, armed with a wooden sword and with the help of a lantern, looked towards the horizon without blinking... until finally something changed in that immutable sea that he had been observing for minutes

Hidden in the dawn sun, something was approaching on the horizon, so he ran to alert his sister and Tania, who quickly left the Freed family home to receive the only boat they were waiting for today, Fred's and Stephen boat

However, once again in a few hours they discovered that things didn't always go as one wished...

"OH NO!"

What they saw was a pirate ship, a pirate ship that would haunt them all their lives in their worst nightmares, the ship of the Leech pirates

Seeing him arrive, their minds could only think of the worst possible scenario, they began to believe that the Leech pirates had killed Fred and Stephen and now they were returning to the village to kill them as revenge.

The three children were completely paralyzed by fear, not even being able to run to hide, although they also wouldn't know where to hide from those monsters...

Concerns that were suddenly put on hold when from the deck of the relatively distant ship they slightly heard somewhat familiar voices that seemed to scream at the top of their lungs

"EDU! SARA!"

"TANIA!"

And the closer the ship got, the easier it was for them to identify who it belonged to, until it was close enough to be sure they weren't dreaming...

"MOTHER!"

On board the pirate ship, their mothers, although somewhat injured and with somewhat torn clothes, cried with joy when they saw their sons and daughters again, whom they didn't believe they would see alive again, just as their offspring thought too

CLANK!

And when the ship finally arrived, with more emotion and joy everyone hugged and kissed while crying for more than a minute, without any reserve or embarrassment despite being observed.

"We're back...

As I promised with your mothers... and with more people too" Fred said, carrying a wooden box containing Schrodi's remains under his left arm as he commanded many Scum to carry the people they carried on stretchers to his private clinic

"Everything okay around here?" Stephen asked the rest of the children from one of the stretchers, one next to Fred and his mother's, still unconscious.

"FRED!

STEPHEN" Tania and Sara screamed, jumping from the arms of their mothers to those of their childhood crushes, who returned victorious after performing an unthinkable feat, becoming in something similar to the heroes of a fairy tale before their teary eyes. "Are you ok?

Oh, God! How awful…"

However, although they all managed to return safely, it couldn't be said that they had returned sound...

Roxanne and many other women they didn't know were badly injured, some of them unconscious and stretched on stretchers… and their heroes had suffered injuries during the rescue, especially Stephen

"We're fine..." Stephen replied, raising his cast left arm with a slightly forced smile with which he tried not to worry the girls more than necessary, especially when he saw them cry again

"No, you're not!

Rest, don't do crazy things for now and when you wake up, take care of your mother and father while they're still unconscious" Fred answered, injecting Stephen with [Sleeping Beauty] and signalling the entire island to follow him to his doctor's office

Place where he would care for the new wounded and check the condition of the old ones, where surely Marlon was still unconscious, since otherwise he would have gone out as much as possible to receive them.

"Fred, all these pirates...

Have you also poisoned them to listen to you? Tania asked, following Fred and the others to the doctor's office in the arms of her mother, who refused to let her go.

"Let's say that...yes...

It was impossible to transport so many people, especially injured people on my ship so I had to [convince] more scum to [help] me manage this bigger ship

And if I'm not mistaken, they will need two or three more trips to transport everything with certain value from the pirate island to here...

Luckily they had plenty of food and medical supplies...

There will be no problem treating the wounded and we can last several weeks without producing anything, even with the momentary increase in population..." Fed answered, making a quick report on the situation while he left the wooden box at the entrance of the house, got rid of his weapons and poisons to make room for the medical instruments to carry out the surgical interventions that he couldn't do on the ship and ordered the scum where they should leave the wounded and the merchandise

"And those women... who are they?" Tania asked, also carried in her mother's arms along with her little brother, pointing to the women she didn't recognize... who looked from side to side like frightened puppies arriving at an unknown place

A question that Fred answered as he came down from the attic with a large amount of material for a long day of work in which he would have to attend to dozens of patients alone for the first time "Something similar to what happened here happened in their village…

They'll stay here until they can go home, but that's not important right now...

First I have to attend to the wounded, then explain the situation to the boneheads of the Marine, then make sure that the scum have finished with all the tasks that I have ordered and I will order

And then… I have unfinished business…"

"Can you…can you tell us what happened while we help you?" Edu asked without making eye contact with Fred, asking his mother to put him down from her arms to immediately take away one of the bags that Fred was carrying to carry it himself

"Yes...

No problem, it'll help me stay awake

But first explain to me what has happened around here" Fred said just as he opened the door to the field clinic's makeshift intensive care ward, where more patients than would actually fit there and could be successfully cared for lay where they could and how they could

A devastating image that darkened even more the face of the depressed and exhausted Fred

"...

I think... Mr. Hamilton, Mrs. Hamiltion and Mrs. Brush stopped breathing a few hours ago... as you predicted...

And no matter how hard we look for Schröedinger, we can't find him

Do you know where he could be?" Tania asked, holding her mother's hand, where she got the strength to speak without crying. It ached her soul to have to report such bad news to Fred just as he arrived.

"...

...

At this time, a normal cat would be out there, doing what he wants without worrying about anyone, without doing anything to deserve the food that his owners give him and only coming home to demand food, comfort and affection in the doses he wants when he wants…

I would like to believe that he's doing something like that…" Fred answered, avoiding giving a clear answer to that question as he examined the corpses of the Hamilton couple and Mrs Brush, rolled them up in a blanket and left them at the door entrance next to the Schröedinger box to leave three free beds, beds that would be occupied by living patients who needed them

Thus carrying three more deaths on his back, soul and conscience... dead that later the scum would pick up and take to bury to prevent the diseases that they could give off from claiming more innocent lives

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You'll be able to see 8 chapters in advance in my Pa-treon

pa-treon.com/user?u=83938371

Edited By: The_Bored_Immortal