(A/N) I'm late, whoops. So in this chapter, there is a lot of science-ey stuff. I tried to base it all off of actual information, but its actually just a lot of fiction mixed with fact. Have fun trying to distinguish the two!

LB

Chapter 38

Third Pov

Snuggled close together at a small table in a tiny cafè near the edge of Yukihira, Ace and Mila poured over the folder they had stolen.

Mila was flipping through the pages within the folder with one hand, reading them with lightening fast speed while balancing a cup of tea in her other hand. While she was reading, Ace browsed over the pages Mila had already read, not really reading then at all. He didn't have much of an understanding of any of it, it was all science mumbo jumbo. While he was waiting for Mila to decipher all of it, he chewed on a delicious cheese danish.

Mila flipped a page over, laying it in front of Ace. On this particular page, a detailed diagram was drawn out on it instead of the normal formulas and notes. It looked like an ugly worm. It had tiny pinchers at its head and small, stubby thorns as legs. The next paper placed in front of him was of a beady little fly with red stripes running across its back.

"All of this is about a bug?" Ace asked in suspicious disbelief.

"Shush," Mila admonished, continue to flipped through the pages, laying another on top of the diagram.

Words started to stand out on the page for Ace, one in particular, 'parasite'.

After a few moments, Mila flipped over the last page from the file, clearing the stack in front of her. She gripped her cup of tea with both hands and took a long sip.

Ace shoved the rest of the danish in his mouth and chewed anxiously, waiting for the verdict. He knew better than try and rush Mila. The little he could discern from everything had peeked his interest, especially in relation to their mystery case. How do bugs have to do with any of this, unless they were giants and were eating their crew brothers. Ace's mind stated to wander off onto pictures of creepy elephant sized bugs posing for horror movie posters.

Taking another deep sip, Mila flipped over the information, trying to figure it out for herself before trying to explain it to Ace. This whole case just took a bizarre twist.

"Its all about a bug," Mila admitted, just as surprised as Ace.

"You're kidding me, right?" Ace chocked down his danish, sputtering crumbs onto the documents.

Shooting him an annoyed look, Mila brushed the documents off and straightened them. "So it seems."

Ruffling the papers once again, which caused a vein in Mila's forehead to pulse, Ace pulled out the diagram, "All of this," he gestured to the hefty stack of mussed up papers, "Is about this ugly son of a bitch?"

Mila scowled at the picture, "Diptera Hominivorax, to be specific."

"So what is this dippytera homivorxy, and what does it have to do with why we're here or why those scientists were so hush hush?"

Mila set her tea to the side and rubbed her temples, "Honestly, I barely know the answer to one of those questions."

"Okay," Ace waved his hands in an impatient rolling motion, "Lets hear it."

She shoved her hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ears, "The Diptera Hominvorax is an insect evolved from the Cochliomyia hominivorax. The Cochliomyia hominivorax was a basic fly with the a taste for flesh. They like to hole up in the crevices of animals and humans, anything really with a pulse. They'll chew up the epidermis, not consuming it till reaching the flesh beneath it, that is where they gain their sustenance until they grow to full size. Infestations begin when an adult female fly deposits her eggs in an existing wound on a mammal. These wounds can be as small as a tick bite. A sole adult female can lay as up to 350 eggs and only on living mammals. The eggs hatch, and the larvae feed on the healthy tissue, causing the wound to grow and enlarge. Their activity can draw in more adult flies, that can deposit even more eggs. Once larvae are fully formed, they drop to the ground where they pupate in the leaf litter or upper soil levels. Adult flies emerge from the pupae and begin the cycle again."

"Whoah," Ace ran his hand through his hair, pushing his hat off his head, "that sounds straight out of a horror movie."

Mila snorted, "Thats nature for you," she interrupted.

"But thats not the dippytera," he said.

"No, but it shares all the same characteristics with it expect that the Diptera's mission in life is to seek out and eat the pituitary gland," Mila said it with such haunting conviction that Ace knew that he was missing something important, but he wasn't shivering in his boots as he supposed Mil's statement was intended to do.

Sensing that her foreboding tone hadn't gotten the magnitude of the statement across, she explained, "The pituitary gland is located in a bony hollow at the base of the skull, underneath the brain and behind the bridge of the nose. The preferable route is through brain tissue."

"Oh shit," Ace got the message, "Its a fucking brain eating monster."

"Essentially, yeah," she nodded and shrugged. It summed it all up pretty well.

"But why this pituitary gland? Why not just stick to eating good'ole flesh?"

"Thats a valid question," Mila conceded, "It doesn't say why it evolved this way, but it does state that the fly desires the hormones the pituitary gland secrets. The saying, like a fly to honey, may be a tad inappropriate right now, but extremely accurate. The fly will do anything to reach the gland and its hormones."

"Like, testosterone?" He asked, naming the first, and only, hormone that came to mind.

She gave him a look, "Like testosterone, as in its a hormone. The pituitary gland is often called the 'master gland' because of the hormones it produces. They are in control of many of the bodies different processes. It senses the body's needs and sends signals to different organs and glands throughout the body to regulate their function and maintain an appropriate environment." She lectured.

Ace took a moment to let those fun tidbits of information sink in before throwing his hands up in the air. "I don't get it!"

Mila frowned, "I guess I can try and dumb it down, but I thought I was pretty straight forward," she trailed off.

"Not the bug," he shook his head, "I get that, they eat brains." He scooped up the file and waved it at Mila from across the table, "What I don't get is why this is important? Did the scientists in Boardus create the little zombie fly or something?"

"Not from what I read," she pulled out a stapled packet from the pile, "The hospital on the island may be in Corningstone, but the morgue is in Boardus. They examine bodies of drug overdose victims to try and prevent similar cases. In this case, they complied together autopsies from 18 victims people found scattered around the island. Mostly men and woman ranging from 20 to 30, they all were found with their heads opened with surgical precision to the pituitary gland eaten and some remains of adult Diptera Hominvorax left inside. This file is all investigating the cause of their deaths, the fly.

"Not someone opening their heads?" Ace asked skeptically.

"No, it seemed that it was done postmortem, so not high on their priority list to investigate."

"Any of the dead," Ace was a little afraid to even ask, "Were any of them Whitebeard?"

"No."

He expelled a deep sigh of relief. "So this has nothing to do with us, no drugs or missing Whitebeards involved?"

"It seems so," Mila mumbled while tracing her stars scar mindlessly.

Ace tilted his head and studied her. She was staring at all the papers, now flung across the table in different directions, but she wasn't really looking at them. Her mind had wandered off, taking her somewhere else entirely. He had seen her do this a few select times, when she was searching for something she had read and would get lost in the endless sea of information.

"Mila," he said gently, trying to draw her attention outward, "What are you thinking about?"

The glaze over her eyes dulled as she came out of herself, "Eggs."

"You're hungry?"

She rolled her eyes, "No, the fly eggs. The adult female lays them after eating the pituitary gland, but in the bodies, there were no eggs found in the empty cavity where the gland used to be."

Ace instantly connected the dots, "So where did the eggs go?"

She nodded, "Thats my thought exactly. The wound left in the bodies heads is similar to one I read about in a medical journal discussing removal of pituitary tumors."

"You think that someone was surgical removing the eggs? Why would someone want brain eating bug eggs?"

"I don't know," she scrubbed a hand over her inner elbow, the tingles of pain from the scars only encouraging her to rub harder. The feeling of missing something important was gnawing at her.

"Maybe we shouldn't worry about it," Ace offered. He could see the inner turmoil that was plaguing Mila from the twisted state of her face and growing irritation of her inner elbow. "We could go around and ask some restaurant owners if they've heard anything, maybe they'll be a little more forth coming than Soten."

Her insistent rubbing halted, "Thats not a terrible idea."

"I do have good ideas on occasion," Ace argued.

Mila began shuffling all of the papers back into the plain folder they had stolen them in, "Rare occasion," she rose from her seat, Ace following.

"We really should return those," he said, nodding to the folder.

Mila scoffed, "See, that was a terrible idea."

"Getting dinner isn't though," he said with a crooked smile.

"No," she said, giving in, "for being here for so many day, I should have eaten out far more."

"If were going out, whats your favorite place to eat while here?"

Heading out of the small café after leaving a generous tip on their table, Mila scowled, "I thought we were heading out for reconnoissance, not for fun."

He shrugged, "Two birds with one stone, right?"

"Well, if thats the case," a playful grin spreading across her face, "I know just the place."

Mila's choice of restaurant was not one he would of choose. It was one of the dingier joints in Yukihira. Most were very sleek in appearance, very five star looking. This one had barrels turned over with planks of wood as tabletops and had big open walls filled with framed wanted posters of the entire Whitebeard crew. The walls resemble an odd shrine to his crew. Whitebeard's picture was certainly the biggest, but the commander's posters surrounding his were also impressive, as were their bounties. He picked out Mila's head quickly, her blue hair sticking out among the the pictures. He had to say, she looked pretty cute in poster. She was still really young in the picture, maybe ten or eleven and still innocent.

"What is this place?" Ace asked skeptically.

"The place to eat if you're a Whitebead, Pirate Cove," she said proudly, seeing herself to one of the barrel tables. The restaurant staff smiled and said hello to her as she passed, all recognizing her. Every barrel table was full of joking patrons, laughing around their food and drink. The patrons may be enjoying themselves, but not all look to be of savory character.

"If you insist."

After awhile of looking at their menus at their table, a waitress stoped by and traded pleasantries before taking their order. Despite the dingy appearance, Ace was excited for his food. Everything on the menu was simple, but sounded delicious. What else did he expect from Foodvalten.

Ace looked around at all the guests eating around them, "So, who are we questioning here?"

Mila twirled her straw in her glass of water on the table, "The owner, Kedero. He is very in touch with everything that goes on around here."

"So, he's a big gossip?"

"Very much so," Mila laughed, "He'll tell us anything, since we're Whitebeards. Hey, he might even put up your wanted poster."

"Wow, what an honor," Ace mocked, not matching her enthusiasm.

She nodded, not catching his sarcasm as her eyes were locked on the door leading to the kitchen. The waitstaff of Pirate Cove maintained steady traffic through these doors, some with giant platters of food, and others with cleared dishes. Mila kept tabs of every single one of them.

"Ah!" Mila bounced up in her chair, "Here he comes!"

Ace turned toward the kitchen doors as a gangly redheaded man came through them with their own heaping plates. As the supposed owner of the establishment, Ace expected someone a little more burly, someone who matched the pirate theme. That man looked like he had trouble carrying plates of food and could barely grow a beard.

Setting our plates down in front of us, he said, "Look what the sea dragged in, an all grown up Blinking Child," he smiled down at Mila, "How long has it been? A year?"

"Hi Kedero," Mila giggled, "Its doesn't feel that long."

"Of course it does," he scoffed, "I mean look how big you've gotten. You're even bringin' boys around," Mila blushed fiercely, Ace almost thought about laughing but restrained himself. He did not want a repeat of earlier. "I'm still cheerin' for Killian though." Kedero said when he looked at Ace.

"This is Ace," Mila explained, willingly her blush to subside, "he's a new member of the family."

"Ya don't say?" Kedero mumbled, taking a step back to survey him properly. "Well, we'll have to get your poster up, won't we."

"Its a pleasure to meet you," Ace offered his hand out of curtesy.

Kedero took it, "Back at ya. So what brings you down to this neck of the woods?"

"We're looking for Arlo, Rey, Turner, Major, Jaron and Franc," Mila said seriously, "they all came here in the past seven months and haven't been heard from since."

Kedero nodded solemnly, "I know, they've all come around here for dinner the first nights the were here, but none of them ever came back. What do you want to know?"

"Everything," Ace demanded.

"I don't know much, we didn't talk much business. They all asked if I knew anything about a new drug they thought was floating around," Ace and Mila looked at him expectantly, "And I told'em I didn't and still don't." He shook his head, "ya kids looking in the wrong place, Corningstone is where things happen. And I told them that, but they all head to Boardus and come up with nothing. And then they're all gone."

Ace sank back in his chair and stared down at his plate, not longer hungry in the least anymore. They weren't getting anywhere, they might even be getting further away from their goal. And as they wasted their time talking to people who knew nothing, something was happening to their crew brothers. If they didn't figure something out-

"What about Diptera Hominvorax?" Mila interrupted his thought to ask Kedero, "Or Cochliomyia hominivorax?"

"Kid, ya know I don't follow your science talk," he grumbled.

"They're flesh eating flies," Mila explained eagerly, "they've been found in some dead bodies around the island. What do you know about them?"

"I've heard a little," he said hesitantly, not quite understanding the change of subject, "The native go missing for about three weeks, then turn up dead with a hole in their head."

"The natives are the ones going missing, not tourists or the chefs?" Ace inquired.

He nodded, "I think they worked in the fields out on the edge of Boardus. Thats all I've heard on that, don't know what they have to do with the bugs or ya brothers though."

"We're not quite sure yet if they even do," Mila admitted.

"Ok," Kedero stepped away from he table, still looking confused, "If ya need anything, ya know where to find me." He clapped Mila on the shoulder before retreating back to the kitchen, perplexed.

Equally perplexed, Mila started digging into her food while Ace watched her.

"What are we going to do now?" Ace asked Mila as they walked back to their room after Mile had eaten her dinner then Ace's. It turned out that the best way to deal with stress was to eat.

"Go to Corningstone I guess, what else?"

Ace dug into his pockets, looking for their key "Try not to get kidnapped or killed."

"I mean, its a goal," Mila said, half serious. It was more than they had and were probably going to get anytime soon.

They turned the corner to their room after Ace had found their key. Looking down their hallway, Mila had never been happier to see a dead body outside her door before.