In the hallway of the Marineford hospital, Rorschach, who was wrapped in bandages like a mummy, was being helped to walk by Hibari.
Rorschach felt a little awkward and tried to pull away from Hibari's hand on his arm, but the little girl held on stubbornly.
Rorschach smiled wryly. "Hibari, I'm fine. You don't have to do this. It makes me feel like an old man."
Hibari didn't say anything. Her pretty face was flushed, like a ripe red apple, making one feel the urge to take a bite.
When she noticed Rorschach's gaze, her face became even redder.
Just moments ago, she had learned what the repair medicine Lilith had given Rorschach tasted like.
It was sweet...
Seeing the little girl's head about to be buried in her chest, Rorschach quickly coughed to divert his gaze and looked at the hospital rooms on both sides of the hallway.
His condition was indeed not very good.
His body was weak and powerless, his stomach was starving, and the electrical power in his body was depleted.
But these were not a big deal. He just needed to eat a lot to replenish his energy.
He had already planned to ask Hibari to go to the lab in the underground of Marineford to get some concentrated nutrient paste from Lilith so he wouldn't have to go to the Marine Headquarters' cafeteria and consume their large food reserves.
As he was thinking, a doctor in a white lab coat walked toward them, which startled both Rorschach and Hibari. They both said at the same time:
"Law."
The doctor, who was in a hurry and had undisguised fatigue in his eyes, was Law.
Seeing Rorschach being supported by Hibari, Law felt relieved. The tension on his face eased a little, and he asked in a hoarse voice: "You're awake? How do you feel? Is there anything wrong with your body?"
Feeling Law's concern, Rorschach smiled and shook his head. "I'm fine. Lilith just gave me a lineage factor repair medicine. She said it will repair the damage to my body after I drink it, and then I just need to replenish my energy, and my body will recover quickly."
"That's good. Then hurry up and go eat something in the cafeteria."
Law didn't seem surprised when Rorschach mentioned the medicine Lilith had given him.
Because he already knew.
Three days ago, when they brought the wounded back to Marineford from the New World for treatment, Sentomaru had brought Lilith over, and she had taken some blood from some people, saying that she would make that kind of medicine for them.
Rorschach was one of the people whose blood had been taken.
Seeing that Law was about to leave after saying that, Rorschach quickly followed him.
"The food can wait. Law, what's the situation now? What happened after I passed out? How did the war end? What are our casualties?"
Hearing Rorschach's questions, Law sighed as he walked. "We won the war, but too many people were killed and injured for it."
He glanced at Rorschach.
"After you passed out, the war in the New World basically ended. You killed Shiki. Charlotte Linlin and Kaido retreated from G1 island with Katakuri and King the Wildfire, respectively. The rest of the pirates, except for a few who were scattered by the tsunami, are basically all dead.
After Shiki's death, islands started falling from the sky. Although the Admirals came out to break them, there were still many islands that hit the sea, causing tsunamis a thousand meters high.
At least 40% of our warships were swallowed by those monstrous tidal waves.
The exact number of casualties is unknown, but... in the days you were unconscious alone, more than a thousand marines died in this hospital."
"40%?" Rorschach's heart trembled.
As far as he knew, the number of troops Sengoku had gathered from the Headquarters and brought to the New World was over 70,000.
If he calculated the percentage, 40% would be close to 30,000.
Adding the more than ten Navy branches in the New World that were breached by the pirate alliance, and the more than 10,000 guards on G1 island.
The loss of personnel on the Navy's side in this war was at an unbearable level.
Just as he was speaking, Law walked up to a hospital room and pushed the door open.
Rorschach and Hibari followed him in.
There were four beds in the room, and each bed had a person lying on it.
They were all people Rorschach knew.
"Huh? Rorschach! You're awake?" Momonga, who was leaning on a pile of blankets, said in surprise when he saw Rorschach.
"Yeah, I just woke up. Vice Admiral Momonga, how are your bodies?"
Rorschach smiled and looked at the four men on the four beds.
Momonga, Onigumo, Onigumo, and Doberman, four of the Navy Headquarters' pillar Vice Admirals.
"We're fine. It's all thanks to Law's treatment. Otherwise, we would have died in that tsunami five days ago."
Momonga forced a stiff smile.
Half of his face was wrapped in bandages, and the gauze on his body had dark red bloodstains seeping through. In some places, the blood was still spreading.
For ordinary injuries, Law's Op-Op Fruit ability could probably heal them easily.
But now, the four of them were still wrapped in thick gauze and bandages, which showed how serious their injuries were.
Momonga was smiling, but Law's face darkened as he came in. He strode over to them and snatched the cigars from their mouths, throwing them out the window.
"Are you trying to die? You have holes in your bodies and you're still smoking, and you're smoking these cigars. Especially you, Onigumo! Your lung was pierced, and the smoke you inhale can come straight out of your chest, and you're still smoking! Look at this room! It's so smoky! The hospital prohibits smoking, understood?"
Rorschach and Hibari's mouths were wide open as they watched Law scolding the four veteran Vice Admirals with a straight face.
Being scolded by Law in front of Rorschach and Hibari, Onigumo was a little embarrassed. He propped himself up and sat straight on the bed. He raised his hand and said in a deep voice: "I'm almost recovered. I can be discharged tomorrow at the latest. It's not a big deal to smoke a cigar. My body is very strong."
"Is that so?" Law walked up to him without expression and gently pressed his hand on Onigumo's chest.
Onigumo's body immediately trembled. His muscles tensed up, and he was in so much pain that cold sweat broke out on his forehead. His face was pale, and he kept gasping for air.
"Are you still getting discharged tomorrow?" Law asked in a cold voice.
After gasping for a few breaths, Onigumo looked exhausted. He collapsed onto the bed and said weakly: "I think I'll stay a few more days. Although I feel like I'm almost better, it's better to be cautious and stay in the hospital for a few more days to avoid any complications."
"Hmph, if I see you smoking a cigar again, I'll have Sentomaru change your bandages." Law snorted coldly. He pulled out new gauze, bandages, and some medicine from under the bed and started changing their bandages one by one.
When they heard that Sentomaru would be changing their bandages, the four, who were not afraid of anything, all looked pale.
Rorschach was confused.
"Is Sentomaru working here as an assistant too? Why are you guys so scared of him?"
Rorschach was a little confused. Wasn't that chubby guy Sentomaru a pretty cute person?
Although that guy's actual age was almost thirty, his mental age was only seventeen or eighteen, or even younger.
Rorschach's impression of him was that he was an honest person with no bad intentions and was easy to get along with.
He had also participated in this war, and he was responsible for bringing concentrated nutrient paste to the marines defending G1 island, so he had saved many people.
Momonga, while enduring the intense pain of his wounds being cleaned with alcohol, said with a wry smile: "You don't know, that little chubby guy doesn't know his own strength. He doesn't listen to anything you say and is a total simpleton. He treats us like Vegapunk's test subjects."
Rorschach thought about Sentomaru wearing his belly band, and then he thought about him carrying his battle axe while cleaning Momonga's wounds. He couldn't help but twitch his lips.
That would indeed be quite terrifying.
After chatting with Momonga and the others for a while and confirming that they were fine, Rorschach and Hibari left.
They walked down from the sixth floor of the hospital, passing through floor after floor.
Through the small windows on the hospital room doors, Rorschach saw marines and officers wrapped in bandages with pale faces.
Here, those who were missing an arm or a leg were the ones with less serious injuries.
Because of Law's Op-Op Fruit ability, he could directly cut away infected wounds and use the power of his fruit to forcefully heal them. After that, they just needed to apply some medicine and rest for a while to recover.
They would lose their limbs, and they might not be able to continue being marines after that.
But being able to keep their lives was a good thing.
They were already much luckier than those who were swallowed by the tsunami.
The most difficult injuries to treat were those to the internal organs, brain, or spine.
Even Law's Op-Op Fruit ability could not create internal organs out of thin air to repair these kinds of injuries.
These injuries could only be treated with conventional methods in the hospital.
Whether they would recover or not was up to fate.
It was better for the stronger officers. Their bodies were strong, and they could withstand life-threatening injuries for a long time while waiting for treatment.
But some of the lower-ranking officers with weaker bodies were in great danger. They could die at any time from infection or blood loss.
Just in the time it took to walk from the sixth floor to the first floor, Rorschach saw twenty-six bodies of marines, covered with white sheets, being carried away by expressionless soldiers.
This made his heart feel heavy.
Seeing a hospital room door on his left side open, with two soldiers carrying a stretcher out, Rorschach walked over and stopped the two third-class recruits.
The recruits stopped and turned their heads. When they saw Rorschach, the numb expressions on their faces immediately became a little excited.
"Major General Rorschach."
"Hmm."
Rorschach forced a smile. He walked over and reached out to lift the white sheet on the stretcher.
Under the sheet was a young face.
This was a young naval officer. Looking at the rank on his uniform, he was a Marine Headquarters Lieutenant.
Looking at his face, he was at most in his early twenties.
Being able to become a Marine Headquarters Lieutenant at such a young age, he was clearly an excellent young man.
His injuries were mainly concentrated on his left chest, near his heart.
One of the wounds was a piercing one that had just grazed his heart.
This wound was the fatal one.
The dead Lieutenant's eyes were slightly open. There was no light left in his pupils. They just stared blankly at the sky.
Rorschach covered him back up with the white sheet. He stood straight and raised his hand in a salute.
"Rest in peace, my comrade."
Hibari also raised her hand in a salute, her eyes red.
In the days that Rorschach was unconscious, she had already seen too many of these scenes.
This was the price of war.
No matter what the war was fought for, there might be a winning side, but there would never be a winner.
The pain caused by war was the loss of one living, vibrant life after another, an irreversible loss.
Rorschach walked out of the hospital with a heavy heart, following the soldiers who were carrying the stretcher. He walked along the hospital hallway toward the back entrance.
After going out the back entrance, he saw a spacious open area.
On that open area, there were rows of stretchers covered with white sheets.
One by one, the heartbroken and grieving family members were saying their last goodbyes to the dead marines.
In front of the open area was a vast cemetery.
At this moment, in this cemetery, many marines were digging in the dirt with shovels.
Some officers, wearing large cloaks of justice, were holding carving knives and carving on the gravestones in front of them.
Rorschach saw many familiar faces.
Suddenly, his heart was shaken. He saw a muscular figure with a back covered in rose tattoos in the depths of the cemetery by the sea. The carving knife in his hand had not come down for a long time. He was sitting there in silence, like a statue.
End of Chapter)
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