Ch 13: Treatment

Chapter 13: Treatment

Ayaan couldn't help but curl his lips. This medical student could even make himself seriously ill—it was obvious he wasn't very reliable.

But… being unreliable wasn't necessarily a bad thing. If he was unreliable, didn't that just highlight Ayaan's own usefulness? Then, he'd have a valid reason to follow Ace on the ship!

As the son of the Pirate King, Ace's physical potential far surpassed Ayaan's. On top of that, he had a heroic personality. As long as Ayaan could get close to him, he was confident he'd eventually get the chance to analyze the secrets of Ace's body.

Moreover, Ace was a typical adventurer-type pirate. Being with him was far better than being with pirates who only knew how to rob and loot.

Not to mention, the Spade Pirates would eventually merge with the Whitebeard Pirates—and aboard Whitebeard's ship was the treasure-chested Blackbeard!

Blackbeard's alien body that could contain two Devil Fruits was extremely tempting to Ayaan.

Thinking of this, Ayaan smiled slightly.

"I see. But if you're looking for a doctor, don't bother. I'm a doctor."

"Really?" Ace looked surprised. "The Drum Kingdom is truly a legendary medical nation. Any random guy you meet turns out to be a doctor."

No, I think you've got the wrong idea about the Drum Kingdom. Ayaan's eye twitched slightly.

How is this any different from when Bruce Lee movies got popular and foreigners assumed all Chinese people knew kung fu? I didn't expect such stereotyping to exist in the One Piece world too.

"How could every random person be a doctor? Ayaan is a very famous doctor in the Drum Kingdom!"

Chopper, who had been standing quietly behind Ayaan, couldn't hold back and jumped out to defend him loudly.

"Hey!! It's a talking raccoon cat!" Ace exclaimed, wide-eyed.

"Idiot! I'm obviously an elk! What raccoon cat? I'm not a raccoon cat!" Chopper shouted, baring his teeth in fury.

"Moose?" Ace tilted his head. "I don't believe it. You totally look like a raccoon cat!"

"It's a moose!!" Chopper leapt at him angrily and the two started brawling on the spot.

Ayaan smacked his lips, glancing at the poor deputy captain who had been left lying on the ground and completely forgotten by Ace. He sincerely felt that this guy was too pitiful—he really had earned the title of "the lost one."

Thinking that, Ayaan casually turned Deuce's body over and spotted a somewhat rotten wound on his back.

"Damn… I thought it was just a regular illness. Turns out it was inflammation from an infected wound."

"Is this guy really a doctor if he can't even treat this kind of injury?"

Ayaan muttered a few complaints and then casually opened his mouth and swallowed Deuce in one gulp.

Ace, still wrestling with Chopper, suddenly noticed and shouted, flinging Chopper aside and rushing over.

"What did you do to Deuce?!"

Panicked, Ace grabbed Ayaan's face and pried his mouth open, sticking his head inside.

Then, he was knocked away by Deuce—who had just been spit out by Ayaan.

"What just happened? Deuce, are you okay?"

A dizzy Ace rubbed his head and looked up, just in time to see Deuce opening his eyes.

"I'm so thirsty… Hey, what's going on? Where am I?"

"Deuce, you're awake!" Ace shouted joyfully. Not only was Deuce conscious, but his fever had completely subsided. Even the infected wound on his back had vanished, leaving behind only a small scar.

"What happened? Oh right… I remember I had a high fever from a wound infection. It's healed now? How long was I unconscious?" Deuce looked confused as he casually reached for his back—only to find a barely noticeable scar.

"I healed your injury. The inflammation's gone too." Ayaan said nonchalantly, making a few "Puh" sounds. Truthfully, swallowing people didn't feel disgusting to him anymore—it just made him a little uncomfortable psychologically.

By combining the Baku Baku no Mi's transformation ability with his advanced medical knowledge, treating wounds and inflammation like this was simple—though the method itself looked a bit terrifying.

Ace looked stunned. He kept touching Deuce's body until the annoyed vice-captain finally slapped him away.

"Everything healed that fast? What kind of Devil Fruit power is this?!" Ace asked, eyes sparkling as he ran over to Ayaan in amazement.

Though he'd been shocked by Ayaan's actions earlier, now that he had calmed down, Ace understood that this had to be some unknown but incredible Devil Fruit ability.

"This is the ability of the Paramecia-type Baku Baku no Mi. It allows me to transform anything I swallow—naturally, that includes the human body."

"That's amazing! So no matter what injury someone has, you just have to swallow them and spit them out to heal them?" Ace said in awe.

"How could it be that simple? I can only cure diseases or injuries I already know how to treat. The ability just skips the time required for normal healing and surgical recovery," Ayaan replied, shaking his head.

Of course, what Ayaan didn't say was that if someone was injured—so long as their vital organs were intact—he could heal them even if they'd been cut in half, as long as he swallowed them before they died.

But if the injury was like what happened to Ace in the original story—where his entire heart was blown apart—then there'd be no saving him. After all, the Baku Baku no Mi allowed transformation and reconfiguration, not creation from nothing.

"That's still pretty incredible." Ace's eyes shone. "Would you like to be our ship's doctor? That idiot Deuce only knows how to wrap bandages, disinfect wounds, or say 'drink more hot water.' He's totally unreliable!"

As Ace spoke, Deuce—who had just recovered—lowered his head and shuffled off to the side, drawing circles in the dirt. While doing so, he muttered:

"I'm just a medical student… I was obviously forced onto this ship…"

But Ace ignored him and continued excitedly, thinking to himself that he had to recruit someone dependable. He was fed up with his crew's overall level.

"Even though our Spade Pirates have just entered the Grand Line, but—"

"Okay, I accept." Ayaan interrupted with a smile.

"Wait until things go better in the future and—huh? You agreed?!"

Ace blinked, stunned, finally realizing that Ayaan had already accepted his offer.

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