Chapter 314: Guinea Pig
Kureha's words sounded casual and hearty, but it was difficult to tell how much was serious and how much was simply her peculiar sense of humor.
Axel had little interest in finding out.
"Forget that for now. You should examine me first and decide whether you can actually treat me."
Kureha raised an eyebrow.
It had been a long time since anyone questioned her medical ability so directly.
A condition she could not treat?
Now that was interesting.
"Oh?"
She grinned.
"You've got quite a mouth on you, brat."
Then her expression became more calculating.
"But my fees are expensive."
Axel waited.
"And I don't accept ordinary payment. I take whatever catches my interest."
Her eyes sharpened.
"So tell me, what can a wanted criminal with a bounty of four hundred million Berries offer me?"
Chopper, who had been hiding near her, immediately curled up a little tighter upon hearing the number.
Still, curiosity got the better of him, and he peeked at Axel again.
Axel looked at Kureha.
"So you recognized me."
"Hmph."
Kureha adjusted her glasses.
"I may be young, but my memory is excellent."
Vivi's mouth twitched slightly at the word young.
Kureha ignored her.
"I don't easily forget people or things I've seen."
Axel touched his face.
"I look quite different from the bounty poster."
"Only amateurs identify people by hairstyle and skin."
Kureha gave him another glance.
"Bone structure. Facial proportions. The position of the cheekbones, eyes, jaw."
"Those things don't change nearly as easily."
Then she looked at his pale complexion.
"Though I'll admit, that skin of yours is impressive."
"Almost makes me want to ask you for advice."
Axel frowned.
"You didn't recognize me because of my skin, did you?"
"Of course not."
"Good."
He had no desire to continue discussing his face.
"What exactly do you want as payment?"
Kureha stepped fully inside and closed the door behind her.
Chopper stayed close to her side, trying very hard to pretend he was not still nervous.
"I don't know yet."
Axel raised an eyebrow.
"I told you. I decide my fee based on what interests me."
"And I usually decide after the treatment."
She pointed at him.
"When I'm finished, I might demand all your money."
"Or I might ask you to do something extremely troublesome."
Her grin widened.
"So, knowing that, do you still want me to treat you?"
"Yes."
Axel answered without hesitation.
Kureha studied him for another moment.
"Fine."
"Let's start with an examination."
The process was not particularly different from what Chopper had already done.
Unlike the twenty doctors under Wapol, Kureha had no sophisticated diagnostic machines here.
She relied on ordinary instruments, observation, touch, experience, and judgment.
Axel cooperated quietly.
But he did not show her any of the detailed medical records produced during his previous treatment.
That was deliberate.
He wanted to know how much Kureha could determine on her own.
Her reputation meant little if she could only reach the same conclusions after being handed the answer.
After a short examination, Kureha stopped.
Her expression had changed.
Then she spoke.
"You're actually still alive."
Axel's crimson eyes sharpened slightly.
"That's quite a miracle."
He smiled.
"Why?"
Kureha crossed her arms.
"If someone had carried you here unconscious, I probably would've thrown you back into the snow."
Chopper stared at her.
"Doctorine!"
"What?"
Kureha ignored him.
"From what I can tell, someone in your condition shouldn't even be capable of waking up."
She looked at Axel with growing interest.
"But here you are, sitting in front of me and talking."
Her grin returned.
"Interesting."
She paused.
"No. Calling this a disease would be wrong."
Axel's eyes brightened slightly.
"This is physical damage."
That answer immediately caught his attention.
Without machines.
Without previous records.
Kureha had identified the nature of the problem after a basic examination.
Chopper looked baffled.
"Physical damage?"
He stepped forward.
"How can that be?"
Kureha glanced at him.
"You're wondering how someone could survive injuries this severe, right, Chopper?"
Chopper nodded quickly.
"That's what I want to know too."
Kureha turned back toward Axel.
"How are you alive?"
"My ability."
Kureha adjusted her glasses.
"Devil Fruit?"
Axel smiled.
He did not answer.
Letting people assume his power came from a Devil Fruit was something he had done for years.
There was no reason to correct her.
Chopper stared at Axel.
A Devil Fruit...
Just like him.
For a brief moment, a thought entered his mind.
Was Axel a monster too?
Then Chopper immediately lowered his gaze.
No.
That was different.
Axel was still human.
Chopper was neither fully human nor fully reindeer.
He was the strange one.
The monster.
Kureha had already moved on.
"Your body is damaged so badly that it's basically carrying a bomb inside it."
She tapped one finger against her arm.
"So before I touch anything, I need to know whether that bomb can go off."
Axel understood.
"You mean whether my ability can suddenly stop working."
"Exactly."
Kureha looked directly at him.
"Can anything interfere with it?"
"Pain?"
"Loss of consciousness?"
"Medicine?"
"Anesthesia?"
"Anything that might cause your ability to fail while I'm treating you?"
"No."
Axel answered calmly.
"My ability operates automatically."
"You can treat me however you want."
"Don't hold back."
Kureha's eyes narrowed.
"If something goes wrong, I can protect myself."
He paused.
"And by something going wrong, I mean anything."
"Including an attack from you."
The room became noticeably quieter.
Kureha stared at him.
She had encountered guarded patients before.
Suspicious patients.
Paranoid patients.
But very few had told their doctor, before treatment had even begun, that they were prepared for the doctor to attack them.
"You're pretty confident."
Kureha smiled.
"During treatment, I'd have a hundred ways to kill you."
Axel met her gaze.
"Try one."
Chopper stiffened.
Vivi immediately looked over.
Axel continued.
"I don't think any of them would work."
There was no warning.
Kureha's hand moved.
A knife flashed from her waist.
She lunged forward and drove the blade toward Axel's side.
"Axel!"
"QUACK!"
"Doctorine!"
Vivi, Karoo, and Chopper shouted almost simultaneously.
Snap!
A sharp metallic sound cut through their voices.
Kureha stopped.
Then slowly pulled her hand back.
The knife had shattered.
Only a broken section of blade remained attached to the handle.
Axel looked down at it.
Then at her.
"How much strength did you use?"
"All of it."
Kureha answered without the slightest embarrassment.
"You sounded so confident that I had to check."
Chopper stared at her in disbelief.
"And if I'd actually been hurt?"
Axel asked.
Kureha shrugged.
"With your body?"
"One more wound hardly seemed important."
Axel fell silent.
Kureha examined the broken knife.
"But it looks like you were telling the truth."
"I really can't hurt you."
She nodded appreciatively.
"What a useful ability."
Axel stared at her for several seconds.
He had expected her to challenge his statement verbally.
He had not expected her to immediately stab him.
Finally, he sighed.
"I think I'm beginning to understand why people say women are difficult to deal with."
Vivi's eye twitched.
Kureha ignored the comment.
Chopper and Karoo, meanwhile, visibly relaxed once they realized no one had been injured.
Then Kureha asked,
"So physical attacks don't work?"
Axel nodded.
"What about poison?"
Axel went quiet.
For the first time, he looked as though he might regret saying too much.
Kureha noticed immediately.
Her grin widened.
She walked toward one of the shelves and began rummaging through bottles.
A moment later, she returned carrying a small container filled with green liquid.
The contents bubbled ominously.
Kureha held it out.
"Poison."
Vivi stared.
Chopper quietly moved closer to Karoo.
"Drink it."
No one spoke.
The situation had somehow transformed from a medical examination into something far stranger.
Chopper crouched beside Karoo, trembling.
Karoo looked equally uneasy.
Vivi stared at the bottle in Axel's hand.
She had seen his abilities deal with physical attacks.
She had seen him manipulate force and protect himself from things that should have caused devastating injuries.
But poison was different.
Wasn't it?
What if he could not stop something acting inside his own body?
And more importantly...
What kind of doctor gave poison to her patient simply to see what happened?
Was Kureha actually a physician?
A witch?
Or somehow both?
Axel studied the green liquid.
It bubbled unpleasantly inside the bottle.
No matter how he looked at it, it did not resemble something meant for human consumption.
Kureha folded her arms.
"What?"
"Regretting all that confidence?"
"No."
Axel continued staring at the bottle.
"I was wondering whether you have any candy."
Kureha blinked.
Vivi blinked.
Chopper's jaw dropped.
Axel looked completely serious.
"I doubt this tastes very good."
Several seconds passed.
Then Kureha sighed.
"Fine."
She tossed him a piece of candy.
Axel accepted it.
Then, without further hesitation, he raised the bottle and drank the poison.
Gulp.
Gulp.
Gulp.
He lowered it.
Then burped lightly.
"Hm."
Everyone stared.
Axel considered the taste.
"Not as bad as I expected."
He smacked his lips once.
"Sweet at first, then a little bitter and astringent."
He nodded.
"Strange, but tolerable."
Chopper looked like his soul had left his body.
Vivi simply stared at him.
Kureha waited.
Several seconds passed.
Then longer.
Nothing happened.
She examined Axel carefully.
"As expected."
"You're fine."
"Of course."
Axel handed the empty bottle back.
His Reflection existed to protect him.
Poison was no exception.
At its core, damage caused by a toxic substance still involved interactions, movement, and energy transfer within the body.
So long as there was a direction to that process, it fell within the range of his control.
The nature of the substance itself did not matter.
Kureha looked at him again.
This time, her expression was different.
Far more interested.
"So I can use more aggressive methods."
Axel suddenly had a bad feeling.
Kureha's grin widened.
His appearance meant nothing to her.
His bounty meant little more.
What truly interested Doctorine was something else entirely.
Axel was the perfect guinea pig.
A patient she could use to test treatment methods that would normally be far too dangerous to attempt.
And judging by the look in her eyes, she had already begun thinking of several.
....
https://discord.gg/KvMN2CFsMR
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03].