Ace cursed as the bird let out a weak sound before suddenly going limp in his arms "Birdy, oiii birdy!" He shook the blue creature slightly, but there was no reaction. "Deuce!"

"Coming cap!"

With the ships doctor in tow, Ace made his way inside, almost running towards the med-bay, trying to not jostle the bird too much. "It will be okay, birdy, I promise."

While Ace had been talking to the bird under his shirt, Deuce had put some towels over the bed after they reached the ward. "Put it on here Ace, we'll see what's going on. Maybe Kotatsu bit h-"

"My baby wouldn't!"

"It could have been an accident Ace, and he did try to protect you."

Without a word Ace stood over the bed and lowered his arms to the bed to place the lifeless body down, as it laid on the bed, he carefully took his shirt off of the bird. He could fully see that it was soaked red, he didn't want the bird to die, it may have just been attracted to his flames and now he may end up dying for simply trying to get a closer look...

His thoughts stopped as he felt a pat on the back, "don't worry cap, I'll make sure he's up and flying in no time again."

He gave a weak smile at his doctor "Thank you Deuce, take care of him... can I stay?"

"... Yes. But don't get in the way."

"I promise I won't!" He stepped aside to give Deuce all the room he needed whilst also making sure he still had the perfect view. He could see Deuce prodding around and moving the fire aside, it looked pretty neat, as if you could split it like normal feathers.

"Ace"

The called man straightened up at the seriousness of the voice.

"Get my bag, the red one."

With a quick nod he did as asked and handed it over to the doctor. He took out a pair of gloves and handed them to Ace, also putting on a fresh pair himself "put those on and hold the bird on his side and hold his wing up a bit, I think I've found what's wrong, and it isn't due to something we did."

Being confused at the statement, but not wanting to delay, he simply did as told and put on the gloves after fumbling with them for a bit, and followed the other's instruction to re-arranged the bird and hold up a wing. A big bloody patch visible under it.

With some sterile saline, the blue haired doctor efficiently cleaned the area revealing a- "Bullet wound?" Ace whispered flabbergasted.

"Yea, looks like it."

"But... what? When? We didn't shoot at it."

"We didn't, meaning, it already had it."

"That can't be, it had been flying behind me for a while and it was fast, super-fast and agile, it didn't seem bothered by anything!"

"... Well, I can say for sure we didn't do this and it definitely didn't happen when it fell into the sea, so it must have already been there. The only thing possible is that with Kotatsu's jump, it may have gotten deeper or shifted, causing more damage."

"..."

"Hold him still Ace" Deuce mentioned as he rummaged in his bag, pulling out different kinds of tools that Ace would never remember the name of. Luckily his first mate was super smart and kind to talk him through what he was doing, so he wouldn't worry unnecessary.

"Normally, I would give some medicine to help decrease bleeding, but I am not a veterinarian, I don't know if the human stuff would do more harm than good, so we're just going to work quickly." Deuce had gotten a cotton ball and was holding it in some kind of prongs, dipping it in a liquid and dabbing it over the wound.

"This is a weak numbing agent, it's mostly based of plants, so it should be safe. Now, I'll use these retractors" The other waved a pair of.. Other kinds of prongs around... everything just looked like prongs to him... "on skin around the wound to hold it open." As the other explained, he completed the tasks with ease, it made Ace feel a bit at better that the other didn't seem too worried. "-xtract the bullet, the bird may flinch on reflex, without waking up, so hold him still okay"

After getting the okay, the doctor pushed in the tweezers, moving them inside the wound to try and grab at the bullet. He cursed as the bullet slipped away.

"Is everyth-"

"Shush Ace."

The captain zipped instantly, letting the other do his work. It's good that he had a good hold on the bird, because its wing randomly expended into his face. He only didn't release because of Deuce's warning beforehand.

Without even a second glance at his captain, Deuce continued with his tasks, and not long later he pulled out a tiny blood coated bullet and deposited it with a clang on a nearby dish.

Not stopping he dabbed around the wound with a cotton ball again before taking out a bended needed and tread "I'll now suture the wound close, clean it, put on gauze and try to wrap it in bandages."

For Ace it took forever, but in reality, there were only a few minutes that passed as Deuce stitched the wound shut and got it clean and covered before standing still with a roll of bandages in hand.

"... ehm."

"I'm just thinking how to wrap it..."

Ace considered it carefully "Maybe just... like you go around the body"

"It would slip of due to its shape, and the wings are in the way."

"You can go around the wings. Like..." Ace lifted the wings a bit and pointed at the connection point "like just loosely a few wrapped around the underside, then one over the upper, maybe even turn back around a wing..."

"... That... could would. Okay, Ace, lift him a tiny bit, put one hand under its belly."

With a nod Ace did and Deuce was, after some slip-ups, able to somehow get the gauze secured and have the bandages tight enough to add some pressure to the wound, and make it not hurt the wings, or well, he thought that with the way it was now it wouldn't hurt. They wouldn't know for sure until the bird woke up.

"Okay, you can put it down now."

Gently Ace lowered it onto the bed, the body still laying limp, he looked at it sadly as he stroked a blue cheek.

"He will recover Ace. Everything is closed now, it looked like a strong bird, didn't it?"

"It did." the captain replied weakly. Deuce smiled back at him, "Then it will be okay."

"Can I... hold him?"

Deuce quirked a brow "You want to hold the bird?"

"Yea, it... it seemed cold before you know and I just..."

Deuce sighted, he would rather have the other not touch the bird, but well... he did have a point that the bird had seemed cold, and it was made of flames, so maybe it could be more comfortable against Ace's extreme body heat. And comfort was also a big factor in a good healing process.

"Alright, but you can't be able to move it."

"I won't."

"... Let me set up another bed."

"Huh? Why? I can sit in the chair?"

Deuce snorted "No way am I letting you sit in a chair, without railings, with my patient on your lap, when you have a tendency to fall asleep AND fall of whatever you're sitting on, no no, you're going to lay down or sit-up in a bed and then have the bird on you. Just wait a minute."

Ace pouted but watched how the doctor moved around, putting some sheets onto another bed, adding pillows and a mountain of blankets he pulled out from who knows where and put the bed in a seating position. Infirmary beds were neat.

"There, now come sit on this."

Without complaint, Ace stood up and crawled onto the bed, sitting against the backrest. Deuce nodded and... tucked him in? He had placed a blanket over his legs and an extra towel on him too.

"Deuce?" The other should know he doesn't get cold, he doesn't need all of this.

"It's for the bird, to sit in a soft spot, you've got hard thighs cap."

Ace grumbled a bit at that, the doctor snorting as he went to pick up the bird.

"Man, this really is a big bird." With arms full of fire, the doctor carried the being over, gently depositing it in the freckled one's lap. "There we go. Now, sit still, don't touch its side. And if it wakes up, try and keep it from moving. And definitely do everything you can to make sure it doesn't peck at the wound. I'll bring you some food later."

"Alright, thank you Deuce, you're amazing."

"No problem, take care of our new resident and call me if you need anything."

With one last look the doctor made his way out again, probably to tell the rest what was going on and tell them that they'll be staying the night at the same spot. They wouldn't try to navigate the next part of the sea without Ace's knowledge of the corals, it would be too dangerous. But they had enough provisions, so taking a day or two longer before they reached the next island wouldn't bring any disaster upon them.

As they were left alone, Ace pulled another blanket Deuce had prepared close and carefully draped it over the bird's body. He then gently patted it as he heated his body temperature to what it was before, when the bird had seemed to have cooed in delight.

"I hope you are at least a tiny bit cosy birdy. We'll make sure you can fly around again soon."

He doesn't know how long he was there, the only thing he knew was that it was past dinner time since Deuce had already brought that around and he of course finished it in no time. The bird hadn't woken up yet. It had moved a bit more towards him, laying his head closer to his stomach. Ace had smiled at it, stroking the fire covered head which earned him a cute nuzzle from it in return. With the small movements, he had been relieved from a lot of worries and could finally believe that the bird would be fine.

With an eased mind he let his eyes fall shut, petting and stroking the bird for as long as he could before sleep took him away.

This story isn't dead yet! We're still going! Next chapter will be Marco's view again. Since he's like fully asleep in this chapter, well, it will mostly be from when he wakes up, so not a full repeat of this chapter, but more of a continuation.