Half a month had passed since they crossed Reverse Mountain and entered the Grand Line.
It wasn't until the Marines stationed in Loguetown notified their superiors that three naughty brats had appeared in the town—and this news was subsequently relayed to Garp, who was already halfway through the first half of the Grand Line—that he realized he had taken the wrong route.
Without a word, he immediately circled back, preparing to pass through the Calm Belt from the Grand Line again to find those three troublesome boys, though this would take another half a month.
Garp breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing the three brats were safe, but this was immediately followed by an even greater sense of urgency.
Generally, criminals release hostages for one of two reasons: first, the hostage is no longer useful, so they are released or killed.
Second, the objective has been achieved, and the hostage is no longer necessary, so they are released—or, alternatively, slaughtered.
Both possibilities were high. Since he couldn't contact Dragon right now, he could only confirm the details with the three boys after returning to Loguetown.
And while he was at it, he needed to make their Vivre Cards to prevent this situation from happening again.
Meanwhile, Alucard's group had arrived at a Winter Island known as Drum Island, a famous medical kingdom in the Grand Line.
"It's a Winter Island. Do we need to go ashore?"
"Drum Island, the extremely famous Nation of Doctors. Do we have patients?" "Of course we do! Look!"
The Immortal Pirates initially discussed amongst themselves, but the conversation quickly shifted to the sick people on their ship. Some looked toward the cages on the Dragon Ship, immediately silencing the objectors.
If the half-dead Revolutionary Army prisoners weren't considered patients, then it was hard to imagine how severely injured someone would have to be to qualify.
They had originally captured about 1,500 Revolutionary Army members in the East Blue, but after the defeat and the journey here, only about fifty captives remained.
Along the way, they had released some of the weaker ones and killed others who refused to surrender. In short, only the high-ranking officers remained. The others were either released or killed—they didn't have the provisions to feed that many people. A thousand people ate a mountain of food every day.
Urdaha, who had lost his prosthetic arm and was left with only one, stood outside the cage holding Dragon, the Revolutionary Army leader. After observing him for a moment, he said, "We should find a few doctors in this country. Didn't Alucard-sama order us not to kill him?"
"But why did the Captain say not to kill him?" Wolf emerged from the frigid seawater, approaching the ship's side, his tone full of confusion.
"Who knows? I'd love to kill this guy, but if the Captain says he must be kept alive, there's nothing I can do."
Urdaha rubbed his left shoulder. Losing his prosthetic arm was a painful thing, and even after some time, he was still unused to working without it.
"In any case, in this harsh weather, if they aren't properly treated, they might actually die. We should go capture some doctors."
"Hm? Is that... a pirate flag symbol?" Matthew rested his hands on the ship's railing, looking at a pale yellow submarine near the shore of Drum Island. It even had a sail, painted with a large, grinning face.
"It looks a lot like the Donquixote Pirates' flag," someone commented, looking at the symbol on the pale yellow submarine.
"No, the Donquixote Pirates' flag has a slash across the smiley face; it's different," another person countered.
"Doesn't matter what it is. Capture them and ask for information."
The Immortal Pirates ships quickly sprang into action, cornering the submarine. Matthew patted his shoulder twice, where his sword rested. "Wolf, don't let them escape underwater!"
Alucard, who had been reading an ancient book on the Dragon Ship, closed the book and walked to the ship's dragon head. He stared at the symbol on the submarine, muttering to himself, "That symbol... is that the Heart Pirates?"
Based only on his past life's memory, the Heart Pirates at this time weren't yet a true pirate crew, but rather a little-known small group.
"ROOM: Transfer!"
Suddenly, a young man's voice came from nowhere. Immediately, a light-blue circular membrane spanning tens of square meters appeared. Instantly, the submarine vanished.
This sight caused the Immortal Pirates, who had been preparing to attack, to collectively pause. Urdaha said, "A Devil Fruit ability?"
"Over here~"
Suddenly, Wolf, who had dived underwater, burst out of the sea. In his giant paw, he held the submarine, which looked no bigger than a caterpillar.
"Ah~"
Wolf instinctively lifted the object in his hand toward his enormous mouth. Just then, a young man of about eighteen, wearing a spotted fur cap and carrying a huge nodachi, emerged from the submarine. He shouted through gritted teeth, "Don't eat everything! You monster!"
"ROOM! Transfer!"
The same light-blue transparent circular membrane opened again. The submarine vanished from Wolf's hand, reappearing about twenty meters away in mid-air, then crashing heavily onto the sea surface. In Wolf's hand, where the submarine had been, there was now a seabird.
"Interesting!" Urdaha's eyes glittered.
"What kind of Devil Fruit power is that? Instantaneous movement, and of objects, too. It doesn't seem to be a Logia or a Zoan. It must be a Paramecia."
Everyone was fascinated by the ability the young man displayed. This technique alone confirmed it was a high-grade Devil Fruit.
"As expected..." Alucard's mouth curled up. He hadn't expected to meet such an interesting boy here.
The young man adjusted his beret, nearly tripping into the sea, and shouted into the submarine, "Bepo! Full speed ahead!"
Roar!!
With a furious roar from a beast, the young man realized the ship was held firmly in place, unable to move even slightly. He looked down and saw an unbelievably massive black dog clamping half the submarine in his jaws, its blood-red eyes gazing at the youth with abnormal ferocity.
"This is... Ugh!"
Just as the young man tried to act, his feet stumbled, and he fell against the ship's railing. "Damn it... Moving the submarine twice already cost so much energy..."