Pirated
Via's Eyes
A chance has finally come to heal Via's eyes! But what price will Saio have to pay to fix them?
"Oh, I rarely have visitors these days. Do come in." Welcomed an old man that was inside. He was a lanky man with an ugly face.
"Are you Dr. Tabooria?" Saio asked.
"Yes, that is correct. What brings you here?"
"We heard you were a very experienced doctor. Can you please treat one of our friends?"
"Sure. But may I ask you something?"
"W-what is it?"
"Aren't you Saio, that wanted pirate?"
"!" S-so my reputation has become this bad already... Should've figured...
"Saio, what do we do now?" Kayo asked him. "I'm not sure even this doctor will treat a pirate..."
"That is true. I will not." Dr. Tabooria commented. "So you kids are really pirates, huh? Youth these days..."
"..." If Via isn't treated soon, she'll...
"Now please leave. My reputation's bad enough alrea-..."
"It's true that we're pirates." Saio cut him off. "But our friend isn't one of our crew. She's not a pirate."
"Saio, what are you sayi-..."
"Shut up, Taby."
"Bu-..."
"She has a fatal disease in her eyes, and it's made her blind. What's worse, that same disease is slowly killing her..."
"I see..." Dr. Tabooria scratched his beard.
"If you can, please save her! We pay you as much as you want!"
"Hm..."
"Please, I'm begging you!"
"... Bring her in."
"Um, right." Saio opened the door behind him. "Ajnin, do as he says."
Ajnin brought her in the room. Via had a pained expression on her face.
"Via, are you feeling okay?" Taby asked her.
"Y-yes, I'm f-fine..." Via said, then held her hand to one of her eyes.
"You don't look fine! You look like you're in a lot of pain." Kayo said to her.
"I'm really okay, everyone. S-so you don't need to worry..."
"Via..."
"Come over here, young lady."
Saio guided her toward the Dr..
"All of you wait outside. This should take me a few minutes."
"Alright..." Saio and the other three went outside to the lobby.
"So, how's Vi-Vi doin'?" Shute asked.
"The doctor's examining her eyes as we speak."
"I see..."
"I hope he can save her." Ajnin said. "Her condition has worsened quite a bit..."
"Captain Sai... I need to ask you something."
"What is it, Taby?" Saio asked.
"Why'd you say Via's not in our crew?"
"What if he finds out you were lying?" Kayo added.
"I wasn't lying. It's the truth."
"What the heck are you talking about?!"
"She was never part of our crew to begin with. She was only with us because she had nowhere else left to go."
"But that still makes her one of us, right...?" Taby asked.
"She hasn't done anything to warrant the SIS's attention. If we pretend we were keeping her against her will she should be fine. Isn't that right, Shute?"
"I guess so..."
"So anyway." Saio continued. "If her disease is cured and she regains her eyesight, I'll find a place for her to stay here. There's even a good school for her to learn to become a docto-..."
"But WHYYYYY?!" Taby started crying. "Why don't you want Via to stay with us anymore? She's our friend!"
"It's too dangerous for her, that's why!" Saio shouted.
Taby became silent, as did the others.
"The pirate life isn't for someone as kind and frail as her. She should live a normal life, in this town. I think she deserves that much, after all she's been through."
"But..." Taby muttered.
"I agree with Saio... for once." Shute said.
"I-I concur..." Ajnin added.
"Kay...?" Taby looked at Kayo pleadingly.
"... I'm sorry, Tab..."
Taby started to cry again.
The five of them said nothing for the rest of the examination. When it was done, the doctor called them over.
"Well...?" Saio asked. "How is she?"
"I don't know whether to say if she's lucky or unlucky..." Dr. Tabooria said, scratching his chin.
"What do you mean?"
"Her disease is very bad. If she remains untreated for 2 or 3 more days, she'll die."
"A-are you serious?!" Kayo said, shocked.
"No! I don't want Via to die!" Taby said, sobbing.
"Poor little Vi-Vi..." Shute said.
Ajnin remained speechless.
"Can you cure her disease?" Saio asked.
"At this point... No, I cannot."
"WHAT?!?!"
"However..."
"However?"
"There is a way to save her, but I don't know if you'd like it very much..."
"I don't care, as long as it saves her. What is it?"
"The disease is very fatal, but only much so in her eyes. If I remove them, then I can cure her."
"Remove her eyes?!" Saio asked. "Are you saying she'll never be able to see again?!"
"Saio, calm down! At least she'll live!" Kayo said.
"B-but I promised her..."
"If you want to regain her eyesight that badly, then I could do something about that..." Tabooria said.
"Y-you can...? But you just said..."
"If I give her new eyes, she should be able to see again, no problem. But it'll be very expensive, especially with the fee you'll have to pay for curing her disease..."
"I don't care." Saio told him.
"Also, I don't have any spare eyes."
"I'll give her mine then."
"B-but captain Sai!" Taby said, shocked. "Then you'll be blind!"
"Taby, there's no other choi...-"
"She only needs one eye to see, y'know." Tabooria cut him off.
"Fine. Then she can take my left one."
"Alright, then. So the fee for her eye surgery, curing her sickness, and the surgery for switching your eyes will be..."
The doctor scratched his chin, then whispered it into Saio's ear.
"W-WHAT?!?!" Saio screamed. "I can't pay that much!"
"Saio, are you serious?!" Kayo shouted. "You won't even pay for this because it's too much money, greedy bastard!"
"Captain Sai..."
"You don't understand..."
"What's not to understand?!"
"... He wants me to pay him 10 million gold."
"1-10 millio-..."
"Even if I don't pay for the eye surgery, it's still 6 million for everything else. We can't afford that..."
"B-bu..."
"Doctor!" Taby shouted. "Why do you have to make us pay so much?!"
"I'm sorry, but I won't lower it. You're all lucky I'm even willing to do this for pirates."
"Damn it..."
"Stupid doctor! She'll die if you don't cure her!" Taby started crying again. "Stupid!"
"PLEASE!!!" Saio shouted. "There has to be another way! I'll do anything!" He dropped to the floor and begged.
"... You've traveled a lot, haven't you?" Dr. Tabooria asked.
"Huh? Um, yeah..."
"Did you see my office earlier? There are a lot of valuable antiques in there. I like to collect them."
"What are you saying?"
"If you give me something that's both valuable and antique, I'll only make you pay 1 million."
"Really...?"
"But do we have something like that?" Kayo asked.
"I don't recall anything of that sort on our ship..." Ajnin said.
"So is that all?" Saio asked. "I think I have something like that."
Saio walked toward the exit.
"Let's go, Taby. I need your help."
"Um, r-right..."
Taby flew Saio to the ship, and returned with a wooden box.
"What's in there?" Shute asked.
"Hopefully it is a valuable antique." Dr. Tabooria said.
"I hope so, too." Saio added.
Dr. Tabooria opened the box. What was inside shocked everyone.
"Saio, that's...!"
"Captain Sai, are you serious?!"
"Dr. Tabooria, this box contains not only 1 million gold, but also a precious sword I recieved as a memento of my father."
"T-this is... the legendary August Sword!" Tabooria said, amazed.
"That sword is my most valuable possession, something I'd normally not let anyone even touch. But..."
"But?"
"If giving it to you is the only way to save Via, then by all means take it. It's yours..."
"... That young lady, Via... She must be very precious to you if you're willing to do all this."
"Yes..."
"Hm..."
"Well? Is this enough payment?"
"In all my years, I never thought I'd see a pirate with a heart as big as yours ever again..."
"Huh?"
"Ah, it's nothing. Tell you what, I'll do all I said I would for just the sword. How's that sound?"
"S-seriously?!"
"Yes, seriously."
Everyone looked at each other happily, as did the doctor.
As he promised, Dr. Tabooria began to perform the two surgeries and curing Via's disease.
Two weeks later...
"It is finally finished." Dr. Tabooria came out of his office, looking rather exhausted. "I hope you four didn't mind waiting long."
"How are Via and Saio?" Kayo asked.
"It was a success. Your captain should wake up fine in a few hours, but the young lady should still rest for about another day or so."
"Thank goodness..."
"Yay~! Everyone's fine again!" Taby hugged Kayo happily.
"H-hey! Stop!" Kayo said struggling.
"I don't wannaaa~..."
Kayo sighed. "Fine, I guess this once..."
"Yaaay~!" Taby hugged him tighter, which caused Kayo to blush.
"Isn't that cute?" Shute said. "So Ajnin, wanna hug too~?"
"If you even try to, I'll kill you."
"Yeash, killjoy..."
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A draft I wrote for a future part of Pirated's 2011 version. It's honestly long enough to be its own chapter, though.