Link to voyage approval-- 
https://strawhats.rpg-board.net/t1480-an-absolute-go-to-hell





"I am a doctor. It is a profession that may be considered a special mission, devotion. It calls for involvement, respect and willingness to help all other people."


By Ewa Kopacz.








The Virus outbreak hit Mock town and hit it hard. No one knew what caused it, nor where it started from. All everyone knew was, it spread fast and killed quick. Just 24 hours after being infected, a person began to feel difficulty breathing. A day later, and said person couldn't breathe unaided. 12 hours later, the lungs would completely shut down, leading to certain death.

Once the virus got into the person's system, it attacked the lungs, restricting it's ability to absorb oxygen from air and let out carbon dioxide. This was the first time this particular and unknown virus had struck, and it left pain, panic and death in it's wake. It's debut appearance was indeed an impressive one.

Kouse, true to his nature and his thirst for knowledge had taken notice of the virus and had predicted the impending outbreak as soon as the first few patient's stormed into his hospital.

The fear of being infected pushed Kouse into action.
"Cindy!...get out of here!...use the back entrance." Kouse yelled as they stormed into the hospital. "Go and get Dovey and his brothers to come help me with the crowd control, and remember to tell them to wear those protective suits we made a few weeks ago!."

Kouse rushed into his operating room and slammed the door shut, just as the infected group of individuals spotted him. He realised that an emergency oriented medical unit would be invaluable in sorting out this issue. 
They knocked on the door calmly at first, but then soon became knocks of panic.
"Help us Dr K!...we are struggling to breathe, help us!....work your miracle!".

Kouse pitied them, but also knew that there was nothing he could do if he also fell victim to the virus. After waiting for a few minutes, he activated his devil fruit ability 'ROOM', expanding his blue sphere, enough for him to swap positions with a wooden log, just outside the hospital where he met up with Dovey,Saki,Sammy and Cindy, all in protective suits, complete with gas masks.

"Hey guys, I'm sure you've all heard about the virus spreading like wildfire." Kouse said as he wore a spare suit Dovey brought for him. "I'll need to study it, to find a cure for it quickly."

"Damn it all to hell Kouse, this is a damn plague!" Saki said as he's hands began to shake uncontrollably.

"Shut it Saki, you're not helping." Sammy cautioned. "What plan do you have in mind Kouse?"

Kouse began to walk back towards the front entrance of his clinic, followed by the others. "What I've managed to deduce so far about this virus is that judging by the rate at which it's spreading and the symptoms I've heard...it's most likely infecting people through air." Kouse adjusted his glasses. "It's an airborne virus. You so much as breathe in the same air of an infected person in close enough range and you've contacted the virus!"

Kouse rushed into his clinic to see half a dozen people waiting, on the verge of panicking. The moment they saw him, they rushed him.
"Dr K! Dr K!."

Fortunately for Kouse, the three brothers; Dovey,Sammy and Saki jumped to his rescue. They rushed forward, blocking them from direct contact with Kouse.

"I need just one of you in my operating room!...Just one!" Kouse yelled out. Needless to say, the infected ones didn't hear him. The fear of death could do that to you. Kouse had a frown on his face, if he just had someone who was in charge of Admissions then he would have the proper information he needed on each patient, to properly pick the best candidate to inspect.

The brothers did pretty well to get five of the sick pirates out of the hospital, leaving just one for Kouse, a young female about his age.

"Alright, what's your name?" Kouse asked as he rushed into his operating room, with her on tow.

"It's ino, Dr K." she replied as she quickly lay down on the bed per Kouse's instructions.

Kouse nodded and smiled at her, trying to make her even just a little bit more comfortable.
At that moment she began wheezing and chocking, struggling to breathe.
Kouse decided then to skip the calming stage and straight into the scary surgery stage.

"I'll have to give you a shot of anesthesia." Kouse said as he left the patient to fish about for the injection. Time wasted, time he didn't have. Time he should have been using to perform the actual surgery. He knew he needed to have someone in charge of administering the anesthetic injections, while he prepped for surgery.

He got back to Ino and immediately jammed the syringe into her chest. "I'm sorry, but I have to perform a quick surgery on you." 

"Go, go ahead....I trust you Dr K." Ino said as she slowly fell asleep. 

After a few seconds more to ascertain she was truly out. Kouse turned to pick up the scalpel but found it wasn't on his tray yet. But this time he already had what was needed........ a nurse!, and fortunately for Kouse, she was holding up the scalpel for Kouse.

Kouse couldn't help but smile at her, for being there when he needed her; as he turned back to his patient. With a quick slash with the scalpel, he opened up the chest. He quickly and efficiently detached the lungs from within Ino. Taking a closer look at it. This would have been completely impossible without causing permanent damage, but thanks to Kouse's devil fruits ability, it was easy.

Kouse, looked closely at the lungs. He couldn't see anything amiss. He took out his microscope and took another closer look, but he couldn't still see anything wrong.
Sweat poured down Kouse's face. His time was extremely limited. Every minute he spent in here clueless, the amount of people being infected out there increased.
Kouse thought about it for a second then picked up the scalpel and cut the lungs open. 

"Damn." Kouse exhaled sharply. "The inside of the lungs had reddish spots scattered all over it. The lungs natural colour itself was pink, so the reddish spots were fairly obvious.

Kouse recalled a rare disease, he'd read about, years ago in a book. He smiled widely, he knew just how to make the antidote. But a thought passed through his mind that took his smile and turned it into a worried frown. 
There was no way it was mentioned to spread as fast as they are spreading here!. 
Kouse shook his head, trying to get rid of the thought. 'Its just a new and more aggressive strain of the disease. It has to be!' Kouse thought frantically as he rushed out of the hospital in search of the items he'd need to make the cure.

He would meet up with the three brothers still doing their best to stop any infected person from rushing into the clinic. For a moment, Kouse realised that a group of people in charge of study of viruses and the discovery of new cures and new medical technology was needed...a science division would be invaluable to Kouse.

He gave them the list of items he needed to make the antidote. "Remember, get them all as fast as you can, and exactly the large amounts I put on the list." Kouse instructed. He turned and rushed back into the hospital to keep track of Ino, still unconscious and cut ope on the operating table.
He made quick work, placing her back together.


An hour later. The three brothers, saki, Sammy and Dovey arrived with the items he asked for.
Kouse, done closing up Ino began working as fast as he could, mixing the items together. Step by step, using only his memory to recreate the exact antidote he read about years ago.

Once done, all Kouse needed to do was wait for the mixture to breathe and simmer for a minimum of 24hours. Using the medicine any sooner than that would be deadly. Since the liquid would be passed straight into the lungs for immediate effect, it had to be brewed perfectly.
But Kouse knew, that this wait would cause several deaths already. By Kouse's estimation, the viral outbreak had begun 50 hours ago, and to wait 24 hours more would mean certain loss of life.
There was no way out of it though, Kouse had to wait.

During the wait, Kouse gathered a dozen other pirates who he knew and who were infect free and taught them all how to get access to the lungs directly from the chest using a special kind of injection. How to use said injections to insert the liquid into the lungs.
It was hard work. Cindy, and the three brothers who always helped him out around the hospital, got it soon enough, but the dozen other pirates took some more time to learn.
Even after the 24hours were up, Kouse was still not confident on most of their abilities to perform the procedure, but he had no choice, other than to work with what he had.
'I need more doctors around me,' he thought.

The noise and ruckus outside the hospital had been growing with every passing hour they were waiting for the medicine to simmer. 
When Kouse opened the door, the source of the noise was like a slap in all their faces.
The 17 individuals; Cindy,the three brothers, the 12 pirates and Kouse looked on in shock.

There were no less than 80 sick pirates all laying down in front of Kouse's hospital, struggling to breathe,dying slowly with their loved ones or companions with them.....all waiting for him!.  

A little girl no more than 5years old spotted Kouse and his group emerge from the hospital with their protective suits on first.
"Look, it's Dr K!. He's come to save us!."

They all looked up to Kouse at once, eyes that had nearly lost all hope were filled with it. Kouse made a quick estimate, excluding the 80 already critically ill, there were about 250 others who certainly were also infected right in front of them. They all knew about Kouse's previous miracles and they hoped he would perform one yet again today. They bet their lives on him, it was either Dr K saved them all or they died.

The weight of the situation fell right on the young shoulders of Kouse. One might forget he was still just a young pirate doctor. Infact he just turned 20years of age. Yet, he had handled himself thus far like an experienced doctor who had lived for multiple decades.

"Begin administering the treatment to the......" Kouse hesitated for a moment. He knew the moment word of him administering the cure that would also immunize a person from succumbing to further attacks from the virus got out. People and pirates alike who thought they had some contact with the sick would rush towards the hospital in their hundreds, both the fatally ill and those who just wanted immunization. This could cause serious chaos if handled wrongly. 
But what caused Kouse to really hesitate was not all that, no, he had thought ahead and had a suitable plan to solve those problems. It was what age group to save first. He could remember reading vaguely,those years ago, that there was a certain age group that died faster than the rest, but he just couldn't remember. Was it the elderly or the little kids?. 
It took just a second to make his decision, and he knew even as he said it, that these three departments; intensive care, pediatrics and elderly services were needed for the better treatment of the critically ill patient's, children and the elderly people respectively.

"Get the treatments to the old and young ones first!, and remember, just a few drops into the lungs is enough for complete recovery. So don't waste the medicine, we'll need every drop!." Kouse took his first step forward as he yelled out his instructions. "Remember your training.....now let's go save mock town." Kouse finished.





Three days later, Kouse could finally sleep. 
He'd been awake assisting and supervising the spread of the medicine to all who came or were able to come to his hospital. The moment they had begun giving out the cure, word had spread about it, just as Kouse predicted. Hundreds of pirates and citizens alike stormed into the wide clearing in front of his hospital all demanding the cure.

Kouse's choice of giving the treatment to the really old and very young first, had turned out to be a success. The loss of life of those who got to his hospital was really low. 
It also helped that the cure could be administered via normal injections too for less critically ill patient's.
As more people poured in, more people helped out to administer the cure, with the normal injections of course.

Just a few minutes ago, the last of the cure was taken by some friends of Kouse to different parts of the town, to seek out those Ill that couldn't make it to Kouse's hospital, whatever the reason.

His closest companions, Cindy, the three brothers all to their credit stayed awake all 72hours with him. Kouse respected them all even more for it.

As Kouse shut his eyes to sleep, he knew just exactly what he needed to do, to change Mock town for the better and ultimately, the entire pirate world.

Kouse and dovey looked closely at the architectural plans in front of them. It was a little complicated and would have confused them totally if they hadn't hired an architect to sort things out with them. They both agreed to take a look quietly, to organize things and make any last ditch alterations.

After Thompson's sudden and horrific death a month ago, Kouse had inherited his clinic. Kouse however had a vision for mock town. He wanted to honour the memory of Dr Thompson. He wanted to make his name eternal on this island called Jaya. So Kouse had decided to build a huge teaching hospital, right in the center of mock town. It would officially be the first teaching hospital for pirates in the world, and Kouse wanted it to be as breathtaking as possible.
He had accumulated huge amounts of money from the raid on the marine ship that attacked them a month ago, and the  money he got after killing Cantilever. Even with all that, Kouse had just only %55 of the required funds for his project.

The hospital to be built would be a true beauty. Kouse didn't much care about the beauty but the size of the hospital. It had to be huge, to contain all the different sections and departments Kouse had instructed the architect to place. 


The first and most important department was the   Accident and emergency (A&E). Also called Casualty Department, where you're likely to be taken if you have arrived in an emergency situation.

The next department was the-
Admissions  At the Admitting Department, the patient will be required to provide personal information and sign consent forms before being taken into the hospital. If the individual is critically ill, then, this information is usually obtained from a family member or close friend.

3. Anesthetics  Doctors in this department give anesthetic for operations and procedures. An anesthetic is a drug or agent that produces a complete or partial loss of feeling. 

4. Cardiology  Provides medical care to patients who have problems with their heart or circulation.

5. Critical Care  Also called intensive care, this department is for seriously ill patients.

6. Elderly services  Covers and assists with a wide range of issues associated with seniors.

7. Finance Department  Performs all works related to budget and ideal use of the items of such budget. Also, it prepares payrolls and monthly wages, and concludes contracts of operation and maintenance and purchases.

8. Oncology The Oncology department provides treatments for cancerous tumors and blood disorders.

9. Pharmacy  Responsible for drugs in a hospital, including purchasing, supply and distribution.

10. Pediatrics it involves the medical care of infants, children, and adolescents. 

11. Physiotherapy Physiotherapists work through physical therapies such as exercise, massage, and manipulation of bones, joints and muscle tissues.


12. Science division This is comprised of biologists,chemists,engineers who's goal is too make inventions to advance medical technology.


Kouse finished looking at the long list of departments and sections on the plans. Yeah he not only had plans for mock town, but for the world of pirate medicine.
"We've got another patient Dr K, he's another 'inoperable case.'" Cindy, his nurse announced. "And he's in great pain."

Kouse smiled. That meant potential publicity or huge sums of money...or both.

"Let him in." Kouse said as he put on his white gown.










"Aaargh!!" Captain Minna yelled in pain as he clutched his head. 
The pain had started months ago and had only gotten worse, with each passing week. It was like a migraine that simply refused to go no matter what was done to cure it. Pain killers only dulled the pain for sometime, the crews doctors felt useless after weeks and weeks of failing to solve the problem.

Minna was a renowned pirate captain. His red hair, beard and the red cape he wore were renowned. Almost anywhere he went, they could recognize him instantly. He had a pirate crew, although small but extremely loyal to him. His bounty was at 300 million belli. The world knew him and his crew as the Minna pirates. They had built an impressive reputation by standing against the marines on several occasions and coming out safely. They lived for the thrill of preventing the marines from achieving their goals. The Minna pirates were right at the peak of their glory just a few weeks back......




Flash back


"How dare you pirates challenge us! We have orders from the admiral to take everyone on this island prisoner for the continuous harboring of pirates!." A marine captain yelled in rage at the Minna pirates.

The Marines had set out 5 ships strong,  to take in the inhabitants of the island as prisoners, but the notorious Minna pirates had blocked their path with just their two ships, cutting them off of the island.

"hehehe!." Minna laughed out loud as the marine Captain yelled in rage and replied. "Does it look like I give a damn about you and your admirals?...the Minna pirates answer only to me!". 
Minna took out a fat cigar and lit it, taking a long drag, then let it out slowly. "And I say." He raised his other hand up. "Attack!!." He yelled.

The bitter battle lasted for three hours, the loss of life for both the marines and the Minna pirates were high, until the marines decided it wasn't worth it anymore and retreated, with their last remaining ship.

A villager from the island approached Minna as they docked on the island, after the fight.
"Th- thank you, you sa-ved us." He stammered, still full of fear.

Minna looked straight at him with a smile. "I promised you years ago after everyone on this island protected me and hid me from the Marines that I was forever your friend, it's a man's duty to do all what he can to save his friends after all." Minna said as he turned to his second in command, Slosh. "Get them all onboard, we have to relocate them, we just killed three marine captain's, they'll surely be back for blood and this time, with a buster call." He turned back to address the villagers that had gathered. "You are not safe here anymore, I have a place for you."

Days later, they approached another island where Minna knew the marines wouldn't think of searching for the villagers. He dropped them all off with a huge sack of money to help them all restart their lives on this new island, and as they waved goodbye to him and his crew he yelled out.
"Always remember, we are forever friends!."



present


That was a few weeks back, when Minna was at his best. Now, he was constantly bedridden and in intense pain. A man who had singlehandedly stood against three marine Captain's at once. Who had caused the Marines countless headaches, who had acquired the undying loyalty of his entire crew, now couldn't even feed himself properly. The seizures came periodically, the spasms came daily. Everyone on the ship knew he was dying, but no one dared believe it.

Slosh, the second in command finally lost it one day. Once they had docked on an island, he dragged both doctors they had in their crew into a deserted building.

"loko, Nala, you two know Captain Minna is dying, you know his life depends on you two coming up with a way to save him." As he spoke, Slosh's blue eyes squinted more and more, his long dark hair flowed way below his shoulders. He clenched his gun in his right hand. 
"You know he can't go to a large hospital, since all the hospitals with sophisticated equipments and tools are owned by the world government." He gritted his teeth and pointed the gun straight at them. "You'll find a way to cure him, or I'll shoot you two dead where you stand!!." Slosh was yelling now. "The captain saved my life!, I had nothing, I was nothing and he gave me a purpose, he showed me what it meant to have a brother. We've sailed together for years, and soon we'll get to go to the new world...and you're telling me, it's a migraine that'll kill him?." 

Slosh cocked the gun and took aim, his finger on the trigger.

"Slosh plea- please stop!...yo- you know us, if we could, we we would--" One of the doctors pleaded, his eyes wild with terror.

"He saved your lives too, more than once, he gave you both everything.....he should be like 'god' to you both." Slosh's blue eyes moved from showing pure rage to madness. "We'll all die first before we see him die!....and you two will be the first to go!."

Slosh wasn't joking, he'd kill himself the day Minna died. 
He was about to pull the trigger when the door to the building slammed open. Slosh turned in surprise to see an old man walk in. He was so old he needed a walking stick to help him walk. He looked at the three pirates, and shook his head slowly.

"I heard most of your conversation, and it's obvious you both are new around here." He slowly took a sit. "You three should head over to mock town and your problems will be solved."

Slosh didn't know where this old man came from or what he was saying nor did he care to know. "We're busy here old man, please leave."

The old man just laughed. "Boy, listen to me. There is a young doctor in mock town....he's been known to perform miraculous medical feats one after the other, and everyone around these waters go there for their treatment, once the other doctors can't help out."

Slosh lowered his gun. "And how do I know you aren't lying to us?, that this isn't just you sending us on a wild goose chase?."

"You don't." The old man stood back up and began walking out of the building. "But what other choice do you have." With that, he left the three pirates alone.

Loko finally spoke. "He's right, we have nothing to lose, let's go check out this doctor at mock town."

Nala nodded at this.

After a moment of thinking, Slosh accepted that this would be their last chance to save their Captain. "Alright, let's give it a go, not only the Captain's but our lives are depending on this."


Back on the ship, Slosh walked into the Captain's room to see him still groaning in pain.
"Sir, we've just set course for mock town,   we heard about a doctor there that-."

He was interrupted by his Captains pleas. "Help me!, stop the pain....help.....Help!."

Slosh couldn't bear it, his great and powerful Captain, reduced to this!. He didn't realise when the tears began to fall from his eyes.

Nala rushed in at that moment and gave the Captain an injection, filled with morphine to try and reduce the pain.

Slosh staggered back onto the deck. "Full....Full speed ahead!...Begin paddling!"

Slosh knew they had to get to Mock town as fast as possible. He only hoped the sails plus the paddles would get them there soon enough, and he hoped to God that this doctor was the real deal.

The first thing Kouse noticed about his patient, was his bright red beard. He was carried in by two extremely worried looking pirates, followed closely behind by a few more, all wore faces that made Kouse realise that they all genuinely cared for the life of the pirate they carried in. 

"Hey, are you Dr K?." Slosh asked Kouse the moment he came in behind Lolo and Nala who carried the still in pain Minna into the operating room.

Kouse noticed the long black hair and the blue eyes of the pirate that spoke to him. Kouse noticed he was just above 6fts in height, and had two swords hung at his back.

"Yeah I am." Kouse replied.

"I've heard a lot about you and how you have performed medical miracles on several occasions." Slosh turned from looking at Minna's unconscious face before turning to look directly at Kouse. "I hope for all our sakes that you can perform another miracle today.....cause we'll need one to save our captains live." 

Kouse nodded once the pirate was done speaking. "I'll do my best. So what exactly is wrong with your captain?."

"He's been suffering from serious and unending headaches and it's been getting worse and worse with every passing week. He recently began passing out, and having seizures." Slosh put his hand through his hair in frustration. "We've been to dozens of other pirate doctor's and most of them don't even know what is wrong with him. But a few, especially the most knowledgeable of them said he had something they called a brain cancer, but as you might have guessed, they could do nothing to save him."

Kouse walked to the patient and checked the rate of his heartbeat with his stethoscope. "What's the patient's name?." He asked Slosh.

"He's known as Captain Minna." 

"And what's your name?" Kouse asked.

"It's Slosh, of the Minna pirates." Slosh replied.

Kouse nodded. "Alright, I'll do the surgery, but I'll need to have my privacy. You all have to leave and wait for me at the reception."

Slosh hesitated for a moment. He didn't like the idea of leaving Minna alone with someone they had just met, even though said person was a doctor. The doctor.
"Alright, have at it Dr K, and remember money is no object. Do whatever you can to save him, no matter the costs."

Kouse adjusted his glasses. "No worries slosh, your captain will be alright." 

Kouse waited for everyone to exit the operating room before turning to his patient.
Cindy approached him at that moment. "You think you can save him?" She asked.

Kouse turned to look at his nurse, Cindy. "Who do you think you're talking to?......it wouldn't even be that difficult for me."

After sufficient preparations for the surgery were made, the anesthesia administered, Kouse began the surgery.
"Pass me the scalpel Cindy." Kouse asked of his nurse as he started an operation that would be impossible for any other doctor in the world to perform, especially with just a scalpel and a newly made medical equipment that increased the success rates of brain surgeries called the 'Bone Rongeur.'
The Rongeur is a heavy duty surgical instrument with a sharp-edged, scoop-shaped tip, used for gouging out bone.

Kouse, after activating his devil fruit ability and coating the patient's entire body in a transparent blue sphere. He proceeded to cut the scalp off his patients head using the scalpel. Then came the physical part. Using the Rongeur, Kouse slowly and carefully began cutting through the skull of the patient. 
Several minutes later, the entire brain was finally exposed. Kouse looked closely at what he was working with using another newly made equipment called a 'laparoscope.' It made visibility much much better. The tiny but important details missed by the naked eye could easily be noticed using a laparoscope.

Manni was suffering from multiple tumors in the brain, which was deemed inoperable. 

Kouse looked more closely at his patients brain. He understood why this would be an impossible task to any doctor in the world, without his abilities. Not only were there several tiny tumors scattered all over the brain, said tumors were entangled in vital blood vessels. Not only that, some tumors were located in the most sensitive areas of the brain, places that were needed for speech and movement would have to be tampered with, several times. The difficulties this surgery entailed was astronomical. It would take the medical society several more decades of advancement to be able to solve this problem successfully.

Kouse held the tiny scalpel in his right hand and began slowly and carefully removing each tiny tumor from the brain and placing it in a transparent plate beside him.
Kouse knew he could do things much faster and with more carelessness. But he didn't want to be complacent with his new abilities. His lifelong dream and ambition wouldn't let him do that.

Once he was done removing each tiny tumor, Kouse began closing up his patient. He placed the detached skull back, replaced the removed scalp and   made the necessary stitches and just two hours after the operation started, his patient was back to normal. Kouse then deactivated 'ROOM.'

There was no recovery time. After the anesthesia wore off, his patient woke up, like he simply just had a nap the last hour. There was no injury, nor did any of the countless possible complications occur.

"Where am I?" Manni asked.

The first thing Minna saw the moment he opened his eyes was a blurry image of white. He blinked once then twice and he could make out more of his surroundings. The white he saw at first was a lab coat, worn by a young man with jet black hair and glasses. This man was the first thing Minna saw when he opened his eyes. For the first time in such a long time, Minna felt absolutely no pain, he’d almost forgotten how being completely health felt. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, savoring the moment.

“Where am I?” He finally asked the man in glasses. He was the only one in the room after all.

“Hello Minna, I’m Dr K and this is my clinic.” Kouse said whilst beaming down at Minna. 

Minna sat up. “I feel so…..normal.” He managed to say, still feeling overwhelmed with the fact that he felt good. “How long was I out?.”

“Just a couple of minutes. I removed the tumor from your brain.” Kouse took a sit right beside Minna. “You are completely healed, you won’t be feeling pain anymore Minna.” Kouse handed him a cup of coffee. “Here, have a sip, it’ll restore some of your energy.”

Minna was still a little confused. It seemed too good to be true. The last thing he remembered was shouting continuously for help, the severe pain had made him lose all his pride and he had more or less begged to be helped.
Minna guessed he must have passed out though, for it felt to him like he only closed his eyes in intense pain then opened them back up just moments later to a completely cured reality. The suddeness of his change of fortune shocked Minna into silence. He thanked Kouse for the coffee and took a sip, it tasted good, everything felt good, life was looking good, he could think about the future now for the first time in awhile. 
Minna didn’t realize the tears dripping down his face. 





The cold penetrated him to his very core, slowly but surely sucking away the heat within him, the heat that kept him alive, that meant he was alive. 
It wasn’t winter, but it was cold enough to kill anyone who was both without shelter and without proper clothing. 

Slosh had neither of these things. He was an only child, orphaned at the age of 7 by the flu that killed both his parents. They were in a far off place and no relatives knew where they were or what had happened. He had ever since scraped a living off the streets, doing whatever it took to survive. Begging for food, then stealing when he couldn’t get what he needed to survive.

That was 3 years ago.

living on the streets for 3 years, facing and tasting the cruelty of the world at such a tender age had hardened him considerably, he could take a merciless beating, one bad enough that it caused him to bleed profusely without even a cry of pain, he could fight against other homeless kids twice his size and although he got the worst of it, win said fight. He had adapted just enough to survive, he did all was humanely possible to beat the odds, to grow into a man even with all his past misfortunes.
But sadly, this world is a cruel place.

Slosh knew his time was up. He could feel the cold draining away his life force. He had tried to stay alive, after 3 years of surviving out in the streets, he had thought he would make it. He was wrong. 
He would have fought the other homeless kids for an extra piece of cloth, but his right leg was broken. He would have gritt his teeth and crawled till he found somewhere he could curl up into, but he was too weak from days without eating to do so. He would have at least cried for help, even though he knew it would be futile, but the cold had taken away even that, and the most noise he could make were muted grunts of pain.

Slosh closed his eyes, accepting death, he had tried afterall, but he was never meant to survive, his time was up, it was time for him to finally rest.

“No, it’s not.”

The powerful voice was so close to slosh that it snapped Slosh's eyes back open and the first things he noticed of the person who spoke was his his red beard and red hair.
Confusion was replaced with terror when the red haired stranger moved towards Slosh. 
The confusion was back immediately when said stranger instead of the beating slosh expected, covered him with a thick blanket.

“Don’t be afraid child, I'm here now.”

The voice of the stranger engulfed Slosh’s senses, filling him with hope.

“We can be Forever friends .”

Slosh couldn’t hold back the tears as he hungrily bit into the fresh bread the stranger gave him.

He was wrong again.

It wasn’t his time that was up, but his time alone on the streets.

“Mom!, Daddy’s having one of his seizures again!.” A young girl who lived with her family in mocktown yelled out. They were one of the most wealthy people in town. Her father, a retired pirate captain who was once really famous.

“Alright, we’ll head over to Dr K's place to get him to take a look at your father.” Her mom responded with little worry. “Dr K will know what to do.”



“Ouch!” The 5 year old boy yelled in pain. He just cut himself with a razor while recklessly trying to trim his nails himself, blood slowly dripped off his fingers while he clutched it in pain. Tears quickly filling his eyes.

“I told you to be more careful with that.” His twin sister said as she too picked up a razor. “Well let’s go meet Dr K again. We haven’t met him in weeks.”

On hearing the doctors name the boy stopped crying. “You think we’ll get to meet him over just a little cut like this?” He asked as he started walking towards the clinic. “We might just get to meet one of those brothers he has working with him or the nurse.” 

His sister walked along with him. “Well, there’s no harm in trying is there?.”




In the slums, after dark, filled with the homeless and beggers.

“Hey dude, tha' lego of urs issa busted.” One beggar resting after a busy day of begging round mocktown spoke to his homeless friend, a fellow beggar.

“U surris rite. Imma go mit Dr K tomoa. He go'n treat me, be as bran' new.” The one with the bad leg replied.

“Ain’t go’n carry u there.”

“No nid, imma crawl dere if I af to, Dr K wilt handle tha rest.”




The thief’s just finished a big job in mock town, robbing a bank and one of them had gotten a rather severe head injury, which was bleeding profusely.

“Dude, you’re gonna die if you don’t get treated soon.” One of the thieves casually said as he took a sip of alcohol.

“No rush though, we can go meet someone in the morning.” Another one chimed in.

The one with the head injury weakly nodded. “yep, we laying low currently after our job, I’ll just receive treatment tomorrow.” He painfully took a sip of alcohol. “Besides, it’s Dr Kouse that’llbe treating me.”

“Oh, no worries then, let’s celebrate.” The first thief who showed concern that he needed treatment soon said.



“I'm going over for my check-up at Dr K's place, see you later!.” Ino, the very first patient Kouse had treated of the virus that struck mock town said as she ran out of the house.

“But your last check up was two weeks ago!.” Her father shouted after her whilst shaking his head, “Damn girl can’t stay a week without seeing the doc.”



It didn’t take long for everyone who lived in mock town to rely completely on Dr K to treat them.
From the wealthy to the poor, the innocent to the guilty, the young and the old. Hence, Dr K's name was the first out of the mouths of anyone on mock town in need of any medical assistance.




“Alright Cindy, remember, take it slowly and carefully, paying great attention to every detail.” Kouse whispered to Cindy as she practiced on a dead monkey on how to sew up a heart, whilst the three brothers Dovey,Saki and Sammy paid close attention. It was a fairly difficult and delicate procedure, needing great concentration and Kouse saw this as a good time to train his little work staff, since this was one of the only free time they had.

He was close, just behind Cindy, he could smell her, the little cologne she put on wafted through the air and into his nose. Her black long hair was let loose and he itched to grab a hold of it.

They’d been dating for a month now and still had only gone on a single date together, one that happened by chance. They both had little to no time for their personal lives, but it didn’t affect their personal lives as it normally should. They both knew what they were getting into and more or less were together all the time, even though they could only just steal moments together while the others were occupied.

“You three should begin your own practice too, Cindy’s not the only one learning here!.” Kouse said.
They quickly turned and began operating on their various monkeys.

Kouse reached out and lightly touched Cindy’s arm, she froze still for a moment before dropping her scalpel and queitly leaving the operating room.
Kouse waited for a few minutes, supervising the three brothers; they were all doing okay, before also leaving the operating room himself.

He knew where she was, and went straight to his office.
Kouse was just about to touch the door knob when the door flew open and Cindy dragged him in, already holding his neck and pulling him down for a kiss.
He in turn gripped her waist tightly, as he kissed her back.
They both knew they only had a few minutes alone together before the others became suspicious, so they didn’t waste a moment.


A loud and unexpected knock on the door to Kouse’s office caused both Cindy and Kouse to jump off each other.

“Hey, Dr K!, A man here wants to meet you.” Saki called out. “He says he’s with the newspapers or something.” 
Kouse quickly got himself back into control. “Okay, I’ll be right out, go back to practice.”

With a quick hug and kiss he rushed out of his office to meet the strange man waiting for him outside the clinic.

“You looking for me?” Kouse asked as he approached the man.

The man looked straight at Kouse with a big smile. “It's a pleasure to finally meet the famous Dr K!.” He stretched out an arm to Kouse to shake. “I'm a reporter from the WEJ, the World Economic Journal, and I’m here to conduct an interview with you Dr K”. 

“The world awaits anxiously to know much more about you.”

"Dad, why are the marines here at the docks?" A seven year old boy said fearfully as he gripped his fathers arm. Although he was still young, he had heard of lots of scary stories of marines and their brutality to pirates. He'd also been a witness to the now late Captain Draki's brutality.

His father, a simple fisherman, who came from a long family line of fishermen, reached down to touch his boys head.

"They must be here for Dr K boy, we were told weeks ago that something like this would happen soon." 

"Dr K?, what do they want with him?" The boy asked, fear creeping into his voice.

"They want to capture him and make him pay for getting rid of that Draki fellow." The father replied.

"Oh, okay." The boy said. "And are you going to let them take him?."

The man looked down to smile at his son, it was because of Dr K's cure that the recent viral outbreak hadn't claimed both his wife and his only child's life.

"Of course not son, not if I can help it."




The nursing mother held her three months old child in her arms. She had developed complications during delivery, and Dr K had to conduct a surgery to cut open her stomach and take out the baby. 
There were doctors who traveled from other islands to watch the procedure and she was grateful for his help. As a single mother, she was penniless and after the surgery, Dr K had demanded no payment.

"Mom!, a marine ship just appeared on the horizon, they must be here for Dr K. Just as Dovey and his brothers said they would!" Her daughter burst into the room, speaking excitedly.

On hearing this, the nursing mother stood up. "Here, take your brother, I'll be back soon." With that she walked out of the house.



Both the rich and the poor, the old and the young, the handicapped,sick and the healthy, Pirates and Civilians, male and female all had different reasons to drop whatever they were doing at that moment, on hearing of the approaching marine ship.




Sometime back

"I think we should spread the word about the marines coming to get you Dr K, and have a plan to stop them when they do." Dovey, the eldest of the three brothers said. "They all are indebted in you, and can't wait to give something back."

Kouse shook his head. "I know Dovey, but I won't like to put them all in front of the brutality of the marines. They already see Jaya island as a hostile place and possibly expendable. Them all, standing with me would cause more harm than good."

Saki, the youngest of the three brothers tapped Kouse on the shoulder. "Don't sweat it, they know the risks of standing against the marines, this is Jaya after all."

Sammy, the third brother nodded. "I agree, besides with most of the inhabitants standing behind you, the marines wouldn't dare attack right off, there are civilians as well as pirates on the island. So with everyone helping out, we avoid a fight."

"Alright." Kouse finally agreed. "Let's go with the plan."






Kouse maintained his composure and showed no signs of surprise when the marine walked in. He instantly knew he was ranked as a rear admiral the moment he walked in. 
Kouse watched whilst adjusting his glasses as the rear admiral went on and on about his achievements. Kouse didn't mind someone listing out the things that he had done, but he was hard pressed for time and hoped the admiral would get to the threats already. Kouse knew for a fact that the admiral didn't come all the way to Jaya, to run a recap of all the notable things that he had done.

'You have one hour to say your goodbyes and come to the docks willingly.' The admiral finally said.

Kouse couldn't help but smile at this. He'd expected the marines to make a move sooner or later. In fact, he wondered why they took so damn long to make contact. 
Kouse's sharp eye for details noticed the young and eager look on the rear admirals face, the enthusiasm still fresh in his body movements, the absolute dedication to the work and that sickening ignorance to what was really going on in the world.

Kouse said not a word to the marine even after the several threats and ultimatums given.
The moment the marine left, Kouse simply waited for the reporter to walk back in.

"Pardon me for listening in Dr K." The reporter said as he walked in.

Kouse motioned for him to take a seat. "No problem, I would respect you less if you didn't. So where were we before we got interrupted?"

The reporter couldn't help but hesitate. "Are you sure?, thought you had just an hour to - ."

"Let me worry about that." Kouse interrupted him. "I've got one hour, let's use it well, there's a lot to talk about." 





Being time conscious was one of the many requirements needed by a good Doctor. 
The interview with the reporter lasted for 45 minutes, more than enough time for Kouse to get to the docks before his hour was up.

The streets which were always crowded by noon, were mostly empty. Several shops, selling different goods were closed shut. 
Mock town seemed like a ghost town that hot afternoon, due to most of it's citizens gathering at a specific location.

"Welcome Dr K." Dovey said as Kouse arrived at the agreed location. "Everything is ready, the people have all gathered."

Kouse nodded whilst adjusting his glasses. "Alright, I hope you listed out the consequences for doing this to them all?" Kouse asked, still not wanting to place them all in danger.

"Yes, we did. Surprisingly enough, no one left." Dovey replied. "Its time to face the world Dr K."

"Yeah, I guess it is." Kouse said as he began walking towards the docks.



Kouse would appear as if he were alone to the marines at first, but soon, they would spot the hundreds of people marching right behind him. The docks were not small in the least, but it would be filled to the brim, and still wouldn't contain all the people who came to stand with Kouse against the marines. 
On seeing the defeated look on the rear admirals face, Kouse would know what was happening right now was their worst case scenario. 
The marines knew that this could happen and tried to avoid it, but unfortunately, it did.

The moment everyone had settled down and the noise generated from the huge crowd died down, Kouse began speaking.

"I'm not surrendering to the marines....." Kouse announced. He disliked pointless talk and went straight to the point. "....Nor will my hospital be destroyed because of that."

Kouse turned to Dovey who lifted a large sack containing the 17 severed marine arms and dropped it right in front of the Rear admiral.

"Your arms are in that sack. Take it and leave, cause that's all you will be getting today and without a fight." Kouse said as he turned round and began walking away.

"Oh, i nearly forgot. Just to clarify this; in case you are not a 100% sure. I do have the ability to preserve severed body parts indefinitely." With that last and confusing statement, Kouse along with the hundreds of individuals supporting him, would slowly exit the docks.





"Sir!, we have to stop him!" One of the marines yelled in desperation, this was an insult to them and his training wouldn't let him take it.

Rear admiral Vesper, turned in anger and grabbed the foolish marines neck, and hard. "What do you wanna do? Take on an entire island filled with pirates? Fight them all? Kill the civilians too?." Vesper knew his first official mission was already a failure, and with that realization came raw anger. 
Quickly, just holding on to the marines neck wasn't enough and he threw him a punch straight to the face.

"Didn't you see the women and children tagging along with him? what do you want us to do!." With another punch that sent the poor marine soldier to the floor, writhing in pain, Vesper turned to look at the sack Dr K had dropped.

"At least we got the arms back." Vesper said with a little sigh of relief, the entire mission wasn't a failure after all. He walked quickly to the sack and untied it to inspect the arms, but before he even saw what was inside, the pungent smell of rotting flesh engulfed his senses.

The sack wasn't filled with supernaturally and perfectly preserved arms, but was filled with hunks of rotten arms. 

Vesper jumped pack in both shock and surprise, he couldn't believe it, he got screwed even with this?.
Just then, Kouse's last statement passed through his mind.

'I do have the ability to preserve severed body parts indefinitely.' 


Vesper fell to his knees in defeat. The arms we're deliberately left to rot, and Dr K had made sure he knew he could've kept them preserved. 
The reality hit Vesper hard, his very first mission became an utter failure, and it wasn't just an insult to him or his crew, but it was 'an absolute go to hell,' from the famous Dr K to the to the entirety of the marine organization.


The actions of Kouse Arima would cause a ripple effect, one whose size none could've predicted, drawing in several opposing and powerful individuals which would lead to a climax that could only end in complete disaster.





(Exit)