The Whitebeard Pirates' Playground

Ch.13 - SHINY!!! (Part 3)

Ace cursed as the bird let out a weak sound before suddenly going limp in his arms "Birdy, oiii birdy!" He shook the blue creature slightly, but there was no reaction. "Deuce!"

"Coming cap!"

With the ships doctor in tow, Ace made his way inside, almost running towards the med-bay, trying to not jostle the bird too much. "It will be okay, birdy, I promise."

While Ace had been talking to the bird under his shirt, Deuce had put some towels over the bed after they reached the ward. "Put it on here Ace, we'll see what's going on. Maybe Kotatsu bit h-"

"My baby wouldn't!"

"It could have been an accident Ace, and he did try to protect you."

Without a word Ace stood over the bed and lowered his arms to the bed to place the lifeless body down, as it laid on the bed, he carefully took his shirt off of the bird. He could fully see that it was soaked red, he didn't want the bird to die, it may have just been attracted to his flames and now he may end up dying for simply trying to get a closer look...

His thoughts stopped as he felt a pat on the back, "don't worry cap, I'll make sure he's up and flying in no time again."

He gave a weak smile at his doctor "Thank you Deuce, take care of him... can I stay?"

"... Yes. But don't get in the way."

"I promise I won't!" He stepped aside to give Deuce all the room he needed whilst also making sure he still had the perfect view. He could see Deuce prodding around and moving the fire aside, it looked pretty neat, as if you could split it like normal feathers.

"Ace"

The called man straightened up at the seriousness of the voice.

"Get my bag, the red one."

With a quick nod he did as asked and handed it over to the doctor. He took out a pair of gloves and handed them to Ace, also putting on a fresh pair himself "put those on and hold the bird on his side and hold his wing up a bit, I think I've found what's wrong, and it isn't due to something we did."

Being confused at the statement, but not wanting to delay, he simply did as told and put on the gloves after fumbling with them for a bit, and followed the other's instruction to re-arranged the bird and hold up a wing. A big bloody patch visible under it.

With some sterile saline, the blue haired doctor efficiently cleaned the area revealing a- "Bullet wound?" Ace whispered flabbergasted.

"Yea, looks like it."

"But... what? When? We didn't shoot at it."

"We didn't, meaning, it already had it."

"That can't be, it had been flying behind me for a while and it was fast, super-fast and agile, it didn't seem bothered by anything!"

"... Well, I can say for sure we didn't do this and it definitely didn't happen when it fell into the sea, so it must have already been there. The only thing possible is that with Kotatsu's jump, it may have gotten deeper or shifted, causing more damage."

"..."

"Hold him still Ace" Deuce mentioned as he rummaged in his bag, pulling out different kinds of tools that Ace would never remember the name of. Luckily his first mate was super smart and kind to talk him through what he was doing, so he wouldn't worry unnecessary.

"Normally, I would give some medicine to help decrease bleeding, but I am not a veterinarian, I don't know if the human stuff would do more harm than good, so we're just going to work quickly." Deuce had gotten a cotton ball and was holding it in some kind of prongs, dipping it in a liquid and dabbing it over the wound.