Hello everyone, here is another one shot. This is a different event

In this, Azuruko is still alive. Ace has still joined the Whitebeards and is still not fond of touch or trust of others. This is set in chapter 28 The Wounds. What if Azuruko was the one to show up with Ace?

This was a request from Onee-Chan1999

Hope you enjoy

Read and relax

Everyone had been cleared off from deck, being told to go inside as someone would come by. Everyone knew the routine for this, as it happened a few rare times now and then. The only ones out were Bay and Marco, the first commander having asked the doctor if he could join, and she saw no harm in it. When the boat was close enough, a man boarded, carrying Ace. The man looked to be in his late forties, or around there. He was tall and lean, pink hair in a half pony-tail and completely white suit. He looked to be really calm, entire posture and eyes holding this calmness. Bay swore she had seen him before, but she couldn't place where.

When he was closer to them, Marco took a step forward, asking is he should carry Ace. The man shook his head, ¨No. Aces back isn't in the best shape, and my hands are in some less damaged places. If you could show the way to the infirmary, I would appreciate it.¨ Bay saw Marco nodding, and turned around, giving her a small nod as she started to lead the way. She didn't like that Aces back was in such a bad shape he couldn't be handed over, and she knew it was heat damage as she was asked to have cooling towels ready, as well as oxygen mask, maybe meaning he also had inhaled smoke.

When they did get to the infirmary, the man placed Ace in the bed made for him. And before Bay could move and put things in place, the man fixed the mask as he turned to Marco, asking him to leave, which he did, mentioning Pops wanted to speak to him if he had the time. As Marco left, the door closing behind him, the man turned to her. ¨Good day, Doctor Bay.¨ Bay gave a nod, not sure if he knew her name as many did, or if he actually knew her. ¨Hello, mister?¨ The man gave a small chuckle as he removed the cape from Ace, showing a clearly heat damaged and bandaged wrapped back. He put the cold towel on, before looking at her. ¨I'm Azuruko.¨ Bay nodded. The name sounded familiar, but she knew Ace had spoken about him before. Bay decided to focus on Ace for now.

¨Do you know what his damages are, Azuruko?¨ The man gave a nod. Turning the oxygen up to a higher level, seeming to know what he was doing. ¨He was in a burning building, and his lungs got a lot of harm from that, both from smoke and from warm particles burning his lungs.¨ When the oxygen was at a higher level and he seemed satisfied, he turned to her. ¨When he did get out, the building exploded, and the warmth of it hit his back, making severe burns. He also managed to get hit with a pole, which went through his abdomen.¨ Bay nodded, that wasn't good, and she hoped they had fixed that. The bandages looked fresh, but there was already blood starting to seep through at places. ¨Is it stitched up?¨

Azuruko shook his head, and she was on her way to say it needed to be stitched up, when he spoke again. ¨I know he has been injured here before, and I'm sure you noticed his body healed faster than normal?¨ Bay nodded. It had healed way faster than normal. Azuruko nodded too. ¨It will heal better if it isn't stitched up, since his healing is as fast. Although he is not healing as normal right now, but he will after he wakes up.¨ Bay nodded, that gave somewhat sense, not that she liked it. ¨And when will he wake?¨ Azuruko shook his head. ¨Anywhere from now to 2 days. If he have not woken up by that time, an adrenalin shoot is needed.¨ Bay nodded, he seemed to know what he spoke about. ¨If he wakes up and it hasn't healed in two days, I'm stitching it up.¨ Azuruko nodded, ¨That is fine.¨

After speaking a bit more around the smaller things, like how burn marks healed on him, knowing burn marks was tricky from the start, she looked at him. ¨Is that all?¨ The man gave a nod. ¨Yes, nothing more on that part. The only thing is this.¨ He took a bottle from a small bag he had. ¨This will help him heal, but do not give it before he can sit up on his own and breath better.¨ Bay nodded, taking the bottle. ¨Thank you for binging him here, Azuruko.¨ He gave a calm smile, ¨It was nothing, Dr Bay.¨ Bay gave a nod, before looking at him. ¨Have we met before? You look familiar.¨ The man gave a small chuckle. ¨I knew your old teacher, Dr Bay. Think you were with him a few times I dropped by.¨ Bay blinked, trying to remember. Her stoic and almost abusive teacher had been working with a lot of people. Then she remembered a man sometimes coming by and dropping injured people off. Everything from children to adults. Bay never understood that then, but he was an assassin now, and was most likely an assassin then.

She saw a lot of horrible wounds and that thought her a lot. She looked at him, ¨I think I remember. You used to drop a lot of people off.¨ Azuruko nodded. ¨Yes. I didn't have the means or education to do things then.¨ Bay nodded, that gave sense. She looked at him. ¨I think commander Marco is waiting outside. Have a good day, Azuruko.¨ He gave a nod. ¨Same to you, and take care of Ace.¨ She nodded. ¨I will.¨ Then the man left, heading out to speak to Pops before he left. When she was alone, she looked at Ace. She knew he would heal fast, so much so people would know it was too fast when they knew what injuries he had. A hole through the abdomen would take months, and she was sure it would be fine in a week or so. With a click of her tongue, she made a decision to not go into details in the journal. After all, this could loosely be explained as a flesh wound, and those could heal fast. He was an assassin, she could still be somewhat careful with information about him, even after he had joined them.

But if Pops asked, she would tell. If not, Ace just had a flesh wound on his abdomen.

-x-

Marco walked next to Azuruko, heading towards the meeting room, knowing Pops was there. There was only Pops there for now, knowing it was going to be Azuruko who came by, and he knew Pops wanted to maybe have a few words with the man, and the less overhearing, the better. And Marco was surprised on how calm the man was. Not only that he was at a ship where he could be attack. they wouldn't do it, but it could happen. As well as Ace was injured. He knew he cared about Ace, why else would he have kept him as a charge for all those years. And he didn't expect the man to be this calm, his entire posture and aura clearly being calm, the perfect picture of calmness almost actually. But he was an assassin, and they needed to manage to keep calm.

When they got to the room, Marco opened the door so Azuruko could walk in first, before he walked in after and closed the door.

When Pops saw them, he gave a small smile to him, before looking at Azuruko. ¨Hello, you must be Azuruko.¨ Azuruko nodded, holding his hand out. ¨I am. And you must be Edward Newgate, Ace have spoken about you.¨ Pops gave a small laugh, shaking his hand as he nodded. ¨Ace have spoken about you too.¨ When they let go, Whitebeard looked at Azuruko, ¨Speaking of which, how is Ace?¨ Azuruko nodded. ¨He's going to be fine. Just a bit injured here and there.¨ Marco saw Pops nodding. ¨Do you know what happened?¨ Azuruko gave a nod. ¨A burning building with seastone walls, not enough to completely drain one, but keep the powers away. Because of this, there was a lot of smoke inhalation and burn marks, but it could have been worse.¨ Both Marco and Pops nodded. It could have been a lot worse, and Marco was glad Ace was here and safe, he would be fine with time. Pops gave a look to Azuruko. ¨Thank you for bringing him here, Azuruko. You are welcomed to stay if you want. You are his mentor after all.¨

Azuruko gave a nod. ¨It was nothing, he can get the help he needs here too. And I do thank you for the offer, but I don't have the time to stay for the moment unfortunately.¨ Azuruko looked at Pops, ¨That being said. Ace isn't especially fond of being told to relax as he should. Especially around so many or in an infirmary. Therefore, I've sent a word to his brothers, who will come by and make sure he relaxes, as he does so better with them around as he is more comfortable then. Don't take it the wrong way, as Ace is a person who is not easy to gain the trust off and for him to get comfortable.¨ Pops nodded. ¨That is understandable. And they are welcomed here. The same are you, should you have the time.¨ Azuruko gave a nod. ¨I will remember it.¨

He sent a clam look at them. ¨I know Ace is adapting, and it is a lot for him to take in. Just be patient and things will go fine.¨ Both Pops and Marco gave a nod. Pops looked at Azuruko. ¨We will do that. And again, thank you for taking the time to bring him here.¨ Azuruko shook his head. ¨It was nothing. He should get more used to being here, and this is a good way for him to do that.¨ Marco couldn't help but smile at that, seeing Azuruko seemed glad they had let Ace join, and let him take the pace he needed to get comfortable around them. After some more small words, they said their goodbyes, Azuruko leaving. When he was gone, Marco turned to Pops. ¨Ace is a lot like him, yoi. Especially the way he hold himself.¨ Pops nodded, ¨You're right, he is. And he have the same calmness, although not as strong.¨ Marco nodded. The man had this really calm aura, and Ace had that too. But not as strong as that. It was clearly from him he had gotten the calmness from. They were a lot alike in their stance and how they spoke.

As they watched the boat sail away, both glad Ace was back with them and that Azuruko didn't seem to mind Ace having joined them and even seemed glad, Whitebeard couldn't help but think Azuruko looked familiar. But he couldn't remember where he had seen him. It could have just been from the newspaper, he was in there a lot, but that didn't have a good picture of him he now realized. With a small shake of his head, he decided he might just be imagining things, he would have remembered meeting an assassin like him. The captain was sure he wasn't a person one easy forgot.

And that's the chapter, hope you enjoyed

And this is even in the schedule, so I'm proud of that. I' working on the Ace of Spades chapter and hoped to get it up this week, but I make no promises there

If you have any requests, don't be afraid to leave them as a comment. Or you can send a PM, I'm a nice person and won't bite

And if you have the time, I really do appreciate feedback

And for those interested. I got a new story called Depression, targeting mental health. If this sounds interesting, please go read it