I banged on the door as loud as I could but no one came out to answer. I had checked with someone on the street and they said the doctor should be in right now. I banged one more time and the door was flung open to reveal an old man with white spiky hair that stood up as if he had been electrocuted. His face shined a bright red color of sunburn and he wore a white lab coat that hung open to reveal his underwear.
"What the hell do you kids want from me. Can't see I'm drunk drowning in my sorrows. I've lost my future wife, but here you are banging on my door."
"O-Oh I'm sorry for your loss, but my friends are hurt and need your help."
"Don't worry about it, that witch divorced me 20 years ago but it's on days like this that I miss her warm embrace."
He closed his eyes and started to ball dance with the giant bottle of wine he held in his hand. I motioned the kids into his apartment behind and stepped in to close the door behind me. The room wasn't much of a doctor's office as miscellaneous items were cast all over the room. Even the ceilings were stained a weird brown color. I set Kira down on the couch in the middle.
"Wait a minute who said you all can come in. I'm tired, I don't have time to treat patients." I pulled a 10,000 belli out my pocket and wagged it in the air and his eyes were drawn to the bill.
"We'll I guess as a doctor it's my job to help those in need. It's just the right thing to do." He nodded his head at his selfless choice while snatching the bill right out of my hand.
"Let me just grab my tools, young ones." He disappeared into the back room where I could hear the sounds of items being thrown around. I turned to Sigmond and Lily to see what their injuries look like and to actually get a good look at them. This is still only my second day here so Pedro is the only one I really know that well. Sigmond and Lily were both about seven years old but with all of us being orphans it's hard to know for sure. Sigmond and Lily both had black hair with dark brown eyes that would likely be mistaken for black.
"Where are the two of you hurt?"
"I got kicked in the ribs and the pain stings real bad. Lily cut herself on the leg. That's why she's been limping," Sigmond said.
"I'm sorry Lily, I didn't even notice. I wouldn't have made you walk all the way over here if I knew."
"It's ok," she replied. She was really timid and if Sigmond didn't speak up for her I doubt she would speak up about it. The doctor rushed back in with his doctor bag and a stethoscope wrapped around his neck.
"So who's my first patient?"
"Help out Kira first. I think hers looks the most serious," I replied. The doctor walked over and began to check the wound and talk to Kira. If it weren't for that display early I might believe he's a respected doctor in this town.
"Uhm James, Pedro told us you lost your memory. So does that mean you don't remember us," Sigmond asked?
"Sorry but it's true. But don't worry, we can just make new memories and you can tell me about the past memories. Right Lily?" I put my hand on Lily's head and she blushed lightly at that.
While the doctor continued to treat Kira, Sigmond and Lily told me the story of how we had all met. We have all been together almost a year except for Norman and Kira who joined a group a couple months ago. Me and Pedro's parents died 2 years ago due to a plague that had swept through town for a couple weeks. Apparently I found Pedro walking the streets one day when he was hungry and I gave him a piece of bread. We have been friends ever since and gathered up the rest of the kids on the way. There used to be an orphanage in town but it closed down cause nobody wanted to donate to the education of who they considered future criminals. Now we just run the street doing our best to make it day to day.
"Alright young miss, your arm does not look to be broken. Just keep a hot rag on it every once in a while and the swelling should go down." The doctor finished up with Kira and went to check on Sigmond and Lily. After wrapping up Lily and getting some ice for Sigmond the doctor tossed his bag to the room where sounds of object breaking.
"Alright I have done the best that I can. Make sure the three of you get some rest these next couple days so you can heal."
"Thank you for the help doc. We'll be on our way."
"You know, the big bottle of wine is only another 1000 belli. It's a delicacy but if you chip in I might be willing to share some with you."
"Sorry doc but you'll have to get the money for that wine another way." I turned my back to Lily this time and picked her up so she would have to limp.
"Sigmond, can you carry Kira if she needs it? She's a bit easier to carry."
"No problem," Sigmond replied earnestly. I shut the door to the apartment and began the walk back to our home. The sun would be setting soon so some stalls had begun to close up shop. On one street there was a vendor selling skewers of meat.
"Are you guys hungry?"
Sigmond and Kira both gave me a nod and he heard Lily whisper yes into his ear. I walked over and bought some meat skewers for everyone, and after some thinking decided to grab some apples from the stall next over. By time we got back the four of us had already scarfed down our meat skewers and apples, but made sure to save the portions for everyone else.
"Everyone, we're back and we've brought food." All the kids rushed over and grabbed at the skewers and apples we brought. I sat Lily down so she could sit down. I turned and pointed at three I had taken to the hospital.
"All three of you make sure to get rest like the doctor said."
"Ok big bro," Sigmond responded. The other two nodded, and crossed their fingers and said, "It's a promise."
"Pedro come on, let's go for a walk real fast." Pedro was busy stuffing face and turned to follow me.
"Once we were out the door he turned to ask, "Is this about what you said earlier?"
"Yeah. I want to take Captain Crow down. I don't know him but what I do know is that he has no right to treat us like this. Not only that, but he has enough money so that we can take care of everyone else."
"I'm with you James but you just got better. We should be taking it easy, not going up against a bunch of pirates. I mean you and I can fight but everyone else won't even be able to get a punch off."
"I have a secret that can help me get a lot stronger and we can wait a little bit for a plan to attack. Even if it's just the two of us, if we use my secret I'll be able to defeat a bunch of regular pirates."
"What's the secret power up?"
"I placed my hand behind my back so Pedro couldn't see. I whisper to my subconscious for the devil fruit that was waiting to be called and it just appeared in my hand." I brought the fruit out and it was a black apple with white swirls covering it.
"What the hell is that?"
"It's called a devil fruit and it gives the person who eats it special powers. The only problem is I don't know what the ability is, so we're going to need some time to plan and get stronger."
"James you've acted really weird ever since you healed from your sickness, but no matter what I trust you. If you think this can work you know I'm all for robbing some pirates."
"Alright let's go find some place where I can eat the devil fruit to find out its ability. We should probably wait till night time just in case someone is watching." I slid the devil fruit in a pocket just in case someone recognizes it.
Pedro put his hand to his chin pondering for a moment before his eyebrows raised at an idea. "We can go to the abandoned church near the edge of town; nobody ever goes there."
"Ok let's tell everyone we will be back later and that we'll go over there and try it out."
We decided to hang out with the group and stayed until it was time to go to bed. We snuck off after some had fallen asleep to go to the abandoned church. The church had burned down in a fire a few years back and the scorch marks could be seen all over the outside. It was even worse inside with ashes still scattered all around. The roof had holes like our home that allowed the moon light to get right through to us. We searched around to make sure nobody was hiding in the church before I decided to pull out the devil fruit.
"Are you sure you want to eat that. I have never seen black fruit like that. It might be poisonous," Pedro said.
"It's ok, trust me." I put the devil fruit up to the light to take it all in before putting it up to my mouth and taking a big chunk out of the apple. I immediately dropped the apple and gagged at the vile taste."
"See I told you not to eat black fruits."
I didn't feel any different but I tried to force myself to change, and my body began to expand. My face and hands were covered in fur and kept growing taller till I was looking down on Pedro. I'm still pretty thin but my hairy body makes me feel much bigger. I look over to Pedro and he's petrified in fright. I look at my claws and feel a long snout with sharp canines. My sense of smell is heightened as the smell of ash fills my nostrils and my ears twitch the sounds of movement streets down from the church.
"Pedro, it's still me. I just changed from the power of the fruit. toss me the mirror so I can see myself."
He tossed the mirror over still in shock and I peered into to see myself. I have turned into the hybrid form of a wolf, but I look nothing like Jabra from one piece. My version has silver fur all around and my thin frame doesn't look nearly as imposing. I walk around on all fours and on two legs to try out my movement. I'm not disappointed, I'll still be stronger than most but I was just hoping for something more overpowered. I stepped into the moonlight and my fur started to sparkle. I suddenly felt way stronger than when I first transformed. My fur started to extend out to become thicker and my muscles started to bulge. I looked at my hand as the moonlight danced on my fur and began to focus on my hand. My hand was coated in the sparkles and emitted its own moonlight.
"Pedro, we got even luckier than I thought I would. I thought I was just a regular zoan fruit but it's a mythical zoan! I'm a werewolf. With this we'll take Captain Crow down."