Chapter 145

As I stood in Kureha's treehouse in the medical room along with Elly watching from outside the operation room as Kureha and the other doctors were making the final preparations to cure Doc's heart, I couldn't help but chuckle as I turned to the Doc who was participating in the surgery himself.

"A man, doing surgery on his own heart..." I said with a shake of my head. "Now that's something you don't see every day..." I added with a smirk.

The surgery could end up killing Doc if it was done with his heart still inside of his chest, so they intended to work on it after extracting it with Law's devil fruit.

So there was nothing stopping Doc from participating in the surgery, though he would still feel some degree of pain according to Law, which is precisely he only had a minor role in the surgery.

"It's sure is weird, captain," Elly said with a chuckle. "But I'm sure we'll see much weirder things as we go," she added with a shrug, seemingly taking things at face value.

Though it hasn't been long since she left Ballywood kingdom, Elly has already seen much of the world, and her tolerance for the weirdness that was the one piece world has considerably increased, making her almost immune to such scenes.

"You bet," I said with a smirk, going quiet in favor of watching the upcoming surgery.

A week had passed since my little talk with Chopper, and both of us had received a stern talking-to from Kureha when I had taken Chopper home the next day for making her worry about the humanoid reindeer.

Kureha, of course, didn't word it like that, making it look like she was angry because Chopper was nowhere to help her with the chores, but that was neither here nor there.

"Do it, brat," Kureha said after she gave the doctors inside the operation room a look to make sure they were ready, her eyes settling on Law as she spoke.

Law nodded, extending an open palm forward as he muttered, "Room," creating a transparent dome that covered the entirety of the operation room.

He then gestured with his hand, making Doc's heart that was on the operation table fly and float as Kureha and the rest of the doctors gathered around it.

Law gave Kureha a brief look, and she nodded, so he gestured with his hand again, causing the transparent, gelatinous casing surrounding Doc's heart to disappear.

"Crocus, help me get rid of the decaying tissue," Kureha instructed as she held a scalpel in her hand. "You will administer the medicine that will kill the virus after we remove the infected tissue, Law," she added, earning a nod from the death surgeon who was holding a bottle of red liquid.

Taking a deep breath, Kureha went to action immediately as she precisely began carving Doc's heart, much to the chagrin of the sickly doctor as he winced every time Kureha and Crocus made a cut.

Whether it was the visual of seeing someone cut into your heart with a sharp object or the pain from the connection Doc still had with his heart despite being separated that caused Doc to wince, I didn't know, but it couldn't have been a pleasant feeling either way.

That said, other than wince and a frown here and there, Doc didn't show many reactions as he stood on wobbly legs, carrying a metallic tray, which Kureha and Crocus used to stow away the infected tissue.

Law lived to his reputation as a surgeon just the same, as he moved just as quickly and precisely as Kureha and Crocus while administering the vaccine with every cut, before Doc's heart even had the chance to regenerate.

It was a bizarre scene, to be sure.

I had already expected to see many crazy things when I found myself stranded on a deserted island in the world of one piece. But seeing a literal, bleeding, decaying heart getting cut and rapidly regenerating wasn't something I expected to see.

And the fact that Doc's heart began glowing in a red, fiery hue with every cut and administration of the vaccine as it regenerated, becoming more and more luminous as the surgery went on, made this site even more fascinating.

"Lunarians, huh?" Elly said with an astonished look as she watched the surgery. "What a cheat race..." she added, shaking her head with a sigh.

"Well, considering they are hunted all over the world by both the world government, pirates, and slave traders..." I said with a shrug.

"Now you that you put that way," Elly said with a smile. "I guess they deserve to have a cheat or two," she added with a chuckle, shaking her head as she turned her attention back to the surgery.

...

The surgery went on for another three hours, during which Doc couldn't handle it anymore and lost consciousness, so Elly stepped in to take his job in helping the doctors with the miscellaneous tasks such as carrying the medical tray, passing scalpels, and whatnot.

Luckily, no complications happened during this time. And it seems the surgery was just about done, judging by the current appearance of Doc's heart, as it appeared much healthier, with no holes leaking blood or wreathing batches of flesh.

"That's all we can do with surgery," Kureha said as she dropped her while stretching her shoulders. "Dot it, brat," she instructed as she turned to look at Law with a nod, and he obliged, returning Doc's heart back to where it belonged.

"With enough luck, he should be completely cured within a week of rest and medicine thanks to his regenerative abilities," she added as she took off her face mask and made her way outside the operation room.

"I'm sure you brats can take care of the rest. I need my beauty sleep," Kureha concluded as she exited the operation room with a loud laugh without waiting for a reply.

"Well, that just happened..." Elly said with her head tilted to the side as she exited the operation room after Law and Crocus told her she was free to leave while they concluded the surgery.

She seemed confused about the result of the surgery, and I didn't blame her since Kureha didn't bother to reply, and the other two doctors were still busy.

"Kureha and the others know what they're doing, so I'm sure it will be fine... probably," I said with a careless smile, shrugging my shoulders.

"How reassuring," Elly said with a sigh, massaging her forehead as she threw herself into a chair. "But I guess you're right, captain," she added with a lazy smile slumping into her seat.

"So... what's next?" Elly asked after a second's pause.

"Now we move into Drum castle and wait for Doc to get better and for that old coot, Chinjao, to arrive," I said as I took a seat next to her. "We still have a deal to uphold with him after all," I said while gesturing my hand to the side.

"And then we can finally move on with our voyage and see where the sea takes us," I concluded as I took out my whisky bottle, intending to indulge in it.