The Life I Live

Pray The Lord Her Soul To Take

        Summer jolted awake, blinking her eyes rapidly in confusion. She coughed violently from the suddenly dusty air. The entire infirmary was a wreck; a giant hole was all that was left of the ceiling and the medical equipment that had been attached to Luffy was crushed and broken. Her eyes widened.

        'Luffy…'

        The boy was gone, most likely through the gaping hole in the roof. There was no one else in the room with her.

        "ACE!" She heard outside of the sub. Outside, yelling men and destruction of what she assumed was the surrounding trees filled the air. She knew Law probably wouldn't want her to leave the bed, but at this point she didn't much care. Throwing off the thin blanket covering her, she swung over and landed on her feet.

        "Ah…" Her knees buckled beneath her and she fell hard onto the floor. Her limbs still weren't fully recovered from her run through the forest. Everything hurt. "Dammit…" She muttered.

        Forcing herself into a kneeling position, she breathed in and out slowly, preparing for the length of floor to the door. Now that she needed to struggle to get to it, it seemed so far away. Taking one more deep breath she got on her hands and knees and began to crawl with agonizing slowness to the infirmary door.

        Each stretch of her arm and lift of her legs brought pain and strained her stiff joints. Gritting her teeth, she pushed forward despite the effort it took to make it only a few feet.

        What seemed to be ages later, she reached up and turned the handle, watching as the door swung open into the hallway. She continued on her knees, trying her best to ignore the now loose bandages around her knees. Again, the hallway seemed to go on forever. She cursed everything she could think of, glaring at the door such a distance away.

        'Stupid submarine…Stupid Pirates…Stupid idiot Kuja…'

        Her injured knee, now fully exposed to the floor, scraped harshly against the worn metal.

        "Shit." She said under her breath. Lifting her leg so it wouldn't drag across the ground, she continued forward somewhat awkwardly.

        Eventually reaching the door, she realized that the commotion outside had died down. She could no longer hear the agonized screams of Luffy as he searched for his dead brother. Making her way to the main hatch, she threw it open with great effort and glanced at her surroundings.

        The clearing was a disaster; trees were cut in half and scattered around on the grass, debris from the ship lay on the shore nearby, men were knocked to the ground unconscious, at least she hoped. The alternative was not something she wanted to think about. Liam was one of them, after all.

        Law stood with Jinbe, who took off into the forest immediately after she came outside. Shachi and Penguin were trying to wake those on the ground nearby and Summer made her way over to them. The pain was somewhat bearable as she reached the soft grass.

        "Summer-Chan!" Penguin exclaimed as he spotted her coming closer. Shachi looked up as well and both men ran over to her side, helping her onto her feet. She nodded in appreciation, too tired to stubbornly reply that she didn't need any help.

        "Are you alright?" She nodded again. Looking around, she asked the question that had been on her mind since she woke up.

        "What happened?"

        "Strawhat woke up in a frenzy! He blew a hole in the sub and took off into the woods. He kept screaming his brother's name." The engineers walked her over to a spot of shade and sat her down. She found her breathing was ragged after all of that work to get outside.