Soliloquy of the Broken Soul

Psychological Damages

It took a week, but all three boys were in full recovery. Physically, anyway.

Only having a few scrapes here and there (Sabo's shoulder was the worst when it came to injuries, never fully having a chance to heal) and being malnourished, the 10-year-old boys were allowed out of the infirmary in three days. Although Aria ordered that they were to be kept a close eye on just in case.

The two got a tour of the ship and were given a room down the hall from the infirmary with three beds against the left wall and a small closet in the back. They each picked a bed, Sabo in the middle and Ace on the left, closest to the door. They figured Luffy would wanna be in the corner as far away from the hallway as possible, and they wanted to be able to jump in front of him should something unwanted walk through.

The door could not be locked, but they both decided against letting Luffy know that.

Speaking of Luffy, he had also been released, but after a full week instead of three days. Aria managed to get his immune system back in gear by feeding him. The recovery speed was scary fast but she blamed that on the devil fruit powers of the child. When she asked Luffy about it, he simply mumbled something about meat being a cure all, which was rather amusing.

Though his immune system was working it was still very weak. She judged it'd be a year or two before he was up to full speed again. His fever had subsided and he was no longer ill, so she let him leave after two extra days of rest.

She had met with his brothers as well as Marco and Thatch to discuss his mental health. She's diagnosed him with serious anxiety, depression, (She discovered that one two days ago), touch starvation, psychosis, (Not serious, but still there), and PTSD. There were traces of other things, but she didn't think it significant enough to actually worry like the other things mentioned.

Sabo looked up with a confused and concerned look. "Psychosis? What's that?"

The doctors mouth twitched slightly and she ran a tired hand through her hair.

"Luffy has zero perception of time and hardly shows any emotion.. Or.... No.. More like he doesn't know how to show which emotion he's feeling. It's all a jumble to him," she explained warily.

Ace narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean 'he has no time perception'? Like he can't tell time or-?"

"Yesterday," The doctor elaborated, "I asked him how long he though he thought he was on the ship for. He just shrugged and said he didn't know. Then, he asked me how many hours he'd been off the ship. When I told him he's been here for a week he just stared at me and then I guess it triggered something because he started freaking out. I don't think his brain can comprehend passing time. So things either feel like they're passing by in seconds or that years are taking up single moments."

She looked up and saw how worried Ace and Sabo looked. She gave a gentle smile and ruffled Ace's hair, which he scowled at, but allowed. "Don't worry. It'll take some time but he'll be able to figure things out now that he's outside of the box," she grimaced at the term and added, "I don't suggest telling him how long he was actually on that ship for a while though. Maybe if he asks, but if it can be avoided don't let him know. "

Everyone in the room nodded.

"I'm gonna go report this all to Pops, yoi," Marco stated while heading towards the door.

Aria agreed and waved him off.

Thatch turned to Ace and Sabo with a smile on his face. "I gotta go start dinner for the crew. You two wanna join me?" He offered happily.

Ace and Sabo looked over hesitantly at Luffy but before they could answer, Aria was pushing all three of them out the door.

"Go on! He'll be finnnnneee! You two need the fresh air," the doctor said urging the trio out the door.