The Requirements for Legacy (Book 2)

Road to Recovery

Ace sat in a chair beside his sister's bed. She looked so pale and even in sleep she had pain on her brow. Ed stayed close by as well, monitoring her vitals. It had been a week and still no sign of waking up.

Ace gently held her hand in his. He couldn't lose her. "Sis please wake up." He begged as he cried. Ace never cries, but here he was. He had cried for a week straight, begging her to wake up.

Ace's eyes widened when he felt Rouge's hand squeezing his back. "ED!" Ace called over to his baby brother. "She just squeezed my hand!"

Rouge groans. "Ace, you're too loud." She winces when she tried to shift her body. "Why can't I feel my arm?" She tried sitting up, but Ace gently pushes her back down.

"Take it easy, Rouge. Let me check your vitals and I need to ask you a few questions, okay? Just lay still." Ed says. Rouge slowly nods before laying back down.

"Feels like I've been ran over by a sea train." She groans in pain. She smiles weakly at Ace. "What's with the long face, Acey?" She weakly jokes. Ace chokes back another sob as he tried to smile.

"Well you look like shit."

"Touché." She grins before coughing with a groan. She didn't like the sad look on his or Ed's face. She looks over at Ed. "How bad am I, Eddy?" She whispered.

Ed clears his throat before speaking. "Pretty bad. You had a lot of deep cuts, bruises, broken bones, but worst of all is you are missing your left arm. We found it, but it was too badly damaged to reattach. I am so sorry, Rouge. Pop and I did everything we could, the best we could."

She closes her eyes and used her good arm to cover her face. "I see....... Thank you." She whispered sadly. What was she supposed to do now without her arm? It was her dominant one. There was no way she'll be able to fight with just her one arm. Ace looks at his defeated and broken looking sister. He has never seen her look so miserable. This was not the sister he knew and grew up with. "What is the next steps to get me back on my feet? And did we win?" She needed to know all of this wasn't for nothing.

"We get you healed, get you on some physical therapy and you learn to function this way. And we did win. They were all defeated. We had a few minor injuries here and there, but only 2 near deaths."

"Makoto, Rosi? Are they okay? We got separated. Please tell me they are alive? Who were the two near deaths?" She questioned worriedly before groaning.

"Rosi is fine. Thanks to Makoto he was unharmed. Apparently he threw out some conqueror's haki. The near deaths were you and Makoto. You both flat lined several times. You more so than him, but still. You two were very severely injured. Makoto is alive thanks to Rosi performing surgery on him while Pop & I worked on you."

Rouge started crying. "I see." She felt guilty for letting this happen. She said she would have his back, but she let him get hurt and almost die. "I'm sorry" She sobbed. She felt so useless and weak. No one would want to follow a weak captain that nearly got her crew killed.

"For what? There isn't a damn thing you should be sorry for." Ace huffs. "Losing his leg is a better outcome for him than what would have happened if he'd went by himself. He'd actually be dead, Rouge."

"As his captain, I shouldn't have let that happen in the first place."

"Who was going to stop him? He was going one way or another. He thought his sister was in trouble. He would have gone regardles." Ace says.

"He got hurt because of me, Rouge. Not you." Rosi said from the doorway. They didn't even hear him enter. "I got pinned down and he looked away from his own fight to save me. That distraction is what cost him his leg. If I had paid more attention I could have taken them on my own."