The Doctor's Heart

A Doctor's Order

AN/ I do not own one piece and rated t for gore and language.

Riza flinched at every sounding boom of a cannon or shot of a pistol as she moved through the medical bay, preparing beds. No one came. She couldn't slow her heart, no matter how much she tried. Her crew was above deck, fighting. Here she was hiding, when she could fight. She should be up there. Taking care of her crew. Doing her duty. Yet, she was in a medical bay under orders to stay.

Riza growled as she slammed a drawer shut with enough force to rattle the cabinet. She should be better than this. Back on her home island, she was the go-to person. She could save a life with a kettle and some string with her bare hands alone. Hell, she performed emergency heart surgery in a cave in the middle of the worst blizzard she's seen to date. The patient wasn't even under. She was a trauma surgeon, a certified badass who has to work under stressful situations to save patients with minimal equipment. She's been put through what most doctors consider the toughest internship for any wannabe surgeons. Riza succeeded and had many hospitals at her beck and call, wanting her on their service. She chose a difficult path because people saw it to be too difficult. To work under a pirate captain, bandaging pirate when she could be changing the face of medicine. Making a name for herself that didn't have a bounty tagged to her title.

For someone who grew up on the streets and broke barriers between the male surgeons, she was rolling over awfully too easy. For Shanks? She respected him and he was her captain. Riza considered him to be a friend as she did for most of the crew. She was never good at following orders and that bettered her as a doctor for the most part. The rebellious feeling rose, she couldn't deny it. It was her nature.

She gritted her teeth when she dropped a tray of instruments. "Sonuva-" she started. Riza stopped as a thought hit her. To disobey. To disobey her order given to her by Shanks.

A shiver ran through her spine, a pit formed in her stomach. Riza chewed her bottom lip. She knew what the consequences for disobedience would be. Shanks was laid back for a captain but even he knew that boundaries must be set. Riza weighed her odds. Her advantages to the disadvantages.

A scream ended the thought and spurred herself into action. Riza snatched up a to-go medical bag that she put together, a few months ago. Shanks was going to be furious. Riza had to do it.

Riza made her way to the door to go up top. A resounding boom rattled her to her bones as a cannon ball was flung into her medical bay. Blinding daylight consuming the artificial light of her precious bay. Riza was flung into the wooden wall of the Red Dawn. Riza flung her arm out to catch herself. Stars exploded as she heard a series of cracks. Pain took over and she screamed as she hit the floor with a thump.

Riza gasped as she stared at her crooked fingers. She gaped at them, dumbstruck. It wasn't the first time she's broken her fingers but the pain was all the same. She was duly aware at the fact that she was bleeding, elsewhere. That wasn't her concern as of now. Riza gripped one finger with a shaking hand and yanked, twisting as she did. A shrill cry escaped her lips as the finger painfully clicked into place. Riza repeated this action with the other fingers. Riza tried to flex the digits but she cried out in pain. Goldeneye Riza snatched up a syringe from her bag and stabbed it into her arm. Relief rushed through her and she forced the fingers to bend to her will, then she moved her elbow. Riza winced as she stared, definitely broken as well. She stood up, only to sway once more.

Riza forced herself to move and she shot out the room. She stumbled as entered the fray up up on deck. She pulled a scalpel out of her belt when she was greeted with the face of a snarling pirate, who was advancing on her. The man howled in pain as he stumbled away, the blade lodged in his shoulder. Nothing that would kill him, not quickly.