Marine Academy
Part 3
Chapter 23
Eighteen hours after the end of the Great War.
"We have three beds available in intensive care, five in the emergency service and a cardiologist." The nurse listed, her eyes fixed on her clipboard.
"You take him directly to cardiologist and ask Dr. Stellar to see him urgently." Murphy ordered, her shoulders heavy with pain and fatigue.
She gently massaged her neck and sighed. The rythm had started to slow down slightly in the past few minutes. The soldiers coming to the emergency service were becoming rare, others were already starting to leave the Grand Hospital.
The doctor could see the sun rising through her office window. She had finished her last operation, handing over to her colleagues so she could take a three-hour break before doing consultations in the emergency room.
A bitter feeling overwhelmed her. Many soldiers had died in her hands. She had rarely seen such injuries: limbs blown apart by cannonballs, wounds as deep as her fist… But the worst was the screams of pain from the soldiers who, despite colossal doses of morphine, could not find relief. These screams had been echoing in her head since the beginning of the war. And the images of this massacre too.
While she was plunged into the silence and darkness of her office, she heard someone knock on her door and slowly enter. She didn't even raise her head from the pile of medical records spread out on her desk.
"Murphy..." Her husband's deep voice froze her body. She remained silent.
"Is everything okay?"
The blonde remained frozen behind her desk, her eyes closed as her hands gripped her hair to try to calm the anger that began to arise in her as soon as her husband had opened his mouth.
"Is everything okay? Is everything okay Sakazuki? Are you asking me if everything is okay?" Her voice was shaking, filled with anger and sadness.
"Have you seen the number of dead soldiers? Have you seen the state of the Hospital morgue? We could make a fucking cemetery the size of Marineford with all the corpses we've been piling up for hours!" The doctor screamed, completely losing control of her emotions.
The admiral remained calm and stoic in front of her.
"We won this war. It was the price to pay to destroy the son of the pirate king and the crew of..." The soldier began, massaging his head, also exhausted by all these events. But he remained proud and straight.
"Do you know what I saw, Sakazuki?" The doctor screamed at the top of her lungs in the office, standing up forcefully and banging her fists against the files.
"I saw soldiers burned by lava! I amputated charred limbs! I can still smell the ash, Sakazuki!" Her screams turned into sobs as her face contorted with the madness that overtook her as the memories resurfaced.
"Why did I see that Akainu?" She screamed as she sat back down in the chair.
Her husband remained silent in front of her. Silence returned to the room as the Admiral scrutinized his wife's reactions as she tried to control her sobs.
"I..." Sakazuki began.
"Get out of here immediately!" She ordered as she threw a stack of files at his face. The Admiral dodged the documents, letting them crash against the wall behind him. He put his cap back on and silently left the room, leaving his wife to drown in a whirlwind of hatred and sadness.
Twenty-four hours after the war.
"Oi, Murphy, I'm bringing you a latecomer!"
The doctor had barely left the box eight when she heard Admiral Aokiji's slow voice in the hallway. He was followed by a white-haired soldier with several cigars in his mouth.
The blonde barely reacted to the admiral's call and made no comment about the smoking ban in the hospital. She mechanically took off her blouse, her blood-stained gloves and her protective mask.
"Would you have time to see my friend Smoker? I had a hard time convincing him to come see you but he...ah I don't know why anymore..." The iceman continued in a slow and painful voice for the doctor who only dreamed of sleeping for the next three months.
As if by automatism, she invited the two men to enter the empty box in front of her with a wave of her hand, without saying a word.
She put on a new disposable clothes and closed the door behind them.
Kuzan settled down at the back of the room in silence, preparing to take another nap as the so-called Smoker sat down.
She questioned the marine for a few minutes, constantly maintaining her professional posture and not addressing a word or a glance to the admiral behind her.
After about twenty minutes and several examinations, she confirmed to Smoker that he was in relatively good health except for a few fragile ribs and bruises. The white hunter thanked her politely and left the box without delay, he really wasn't a fan of these places.
The blonde noticed that Kuzan probably didn't intend to leave right away, continuing his nap in silence.
Exhausted by her exchange with her husband and the management of this unprecedented crisis, she left him like that, throwing her outfit away again and washing her hands in the sink in silence.
Kuzan and her had hardly spoken to each other since he had kissed her during his inauguration ceremony, limitating themselves with polite exchanges in the hallway out of respect for the other.
As she was about to leave the box, the admiral finally broke the silence.
"How are you, Murphy?"
She understood from his tone that he was serious and sincerely worried about her.
"I'm fine. I'm glad you're not hurt, Aokiji. You were brilliant during this war."
The man didn't answer her, contenting himself with observing her thin figure bent over in front of the door.
"Do you know what might happen, Murphy? Did you hear that too?"
The woman felt tears silently flow down her cheeks. She felt like she was caught in a speeding train going straight ahead, completely losing control.
