Somewhere on the Grand Line, the Twin Goddesses glided steadily across the sea, driven forward by the wind.
Aside from the cargo hold, galley, and training room, the ship contained a total of eleven living quarters.
Room 1 naturally belonged to Yemu. Room 2 was Enel's, Room 3 Tiger's, and Room 4 was shared by Flare and Baby-5.
After Erik and his sister Ayala came aboard, Room 5 was assigned to Erik, and Room 6 to Ayala.
At the moment, everyone was gathered inside Room 1.
That was because not long ago, their captain, Yemu, had finally woken up.
After eating a large amount of food, Yemu's body recovered astonishingly fast. "Rapid" would not have been an exaggeration.
When he first regained consciousness, even speaking had taken effort, but now his voice was full and steady.
If not for the bandages wrapped all over his body, he would have looked no different from a normal person.
The white-haired girl named Ayala, her face flushed red with embarrassment, carefully replaced the bandages and applied medicine for her captain, the man who had saved both her and her brother's lives. After that, she nervously hurried back to her brother's side and spoke in a shy, slightly trembling voice.
"Brother… Captain Brother is recovering really quickly. In three more days, he should be completely better."
"Captain Brother…"
Yemu found the slightly odd form of address unexpectedly pleasant. He pointed at the small, bashful white-haired girl and said,
"So that means Erik's sister, Ayala, is now the ship's doctor."
"Mhm."
Seeing Yemu awake, Flare was genuinely happy. Over the past two weeks, everyone had been terribly worried. Now they could finally relax.
"Don't let Ayala's age fool you. Even Dr. Kureha has praised her medical skills. Dr. Kureha says she's still a bit inexperienced, but if she keeps growing, she'll become an amazing doctor."
Seeing this, Erik also spoke up to encourage his shy sister.
"Captain, please trust Ayala. Our parents were doctors, so she grew up around medicine. Later on, in order to treat lead poisoning, she studied a great deal of medical knowledge."
Erik didn't want to be separated from his sister either.
He believed that if he asked, his new captain would certainly let Ayala stay. But he didn't want her to become a burden on the ship. So when he learned that the crew still needed a ship's doctor, he encouraged her to take on the role.
"Ayala may still be inexperienced, but please give her a chance. She won't disappoint everyone."
"That's right. Ayala is working extremely hard right now. All the medical books we got from the Drum Kingdom are piled up in her room. It's practically a library. She studies them with all her effort every day. These past two weeks, all of your injuries were treated by her, and she did a great job!"
Flare clearly liked the little girl a lot and spoke up for her.
"I see."
Yemu understood the situation now. To be honest, he would have preferred a more reliable, experienced, and mature doctor.
But first, there wasn't really any other choice. Second, all of his companions were saying this, and on top of that, Dr. Kureha had acknowledged her ability.
So for now, this would do.
He looked at Ayala, who was still very young and had the timid air of a shy little girl, and said,
"Then everyone's health will be in your hands from now on!"
"!!!"
Ayala's eyes instantly lit up. Her small body trembled with excitement as she clenched her tiny fists.
"I… I won't let you down, Captain Brother. I'll work hard."
"Mm. I believe in you!!!"
With that, the matter of the ship's doctor was temporarily settled.
At that moment, Yemu suddenly remembered something and asked,
"Then what about Dr. Kureha?"
"Oh, her. On the third day after the battle ended, she borrowed a small boat from us and went back to the Drum Kingdom."
She called it borrowing, but it was unlikely she would ever return it.
"I see."
Yemu had originally planned to ask Dr. Kureha to use her medical expertise to check what was going on with the strange sounds in his body. But since she had already left, there was nothing he could do.
"So where are we now?"
This time, Tiger answered.
"Based on our current route, we should reach Water 7 in a little over a week."
"Mm, that's good. By then, my body should be mostly recovered too. Thank you, Tiger. Being able to survive this time was all thanks to you."
Tiger waved his hands awkwardly, looking a little embarrassed.
"Captain, you're being too polite. You're the amazing one. I never imagined you could actually take down that monster, Bullet. When I went to save you, I didn't run into any trouble at all."
"No…"
Yemu shook his head.
"It wasn't that I defeated him. He hesitated at the very end and gave me the opening."
"But no matter what, Captain, you really did hit him."
"When you put it that way… you're not wrong. Hahahaha…"
Yemu laughed as well, his mood lifting. No matter how it happened, the result was that Bullet had been struck by him, and he had survived safely.
At that moment, he looked around and asked with some confusion,
"Where's Enel? What are he and Baby-5 doing? Weren't they just here?"
Everyone broke into smiles at that.
"Vice Captain Enel saw you eating like there was no tomorrow and said he was going to get you a surprise. He went out together with Baby-5…"
"A surprise!?"
Yemu froze.
Now everyone's expressions, especially Tiger's, turned extremely strange.
"Yeah, it really is a surprise. Captain, do you remember those three CP9 Devil Fruit users you captured for experiments when you saved me last time?"
"How could I forget that…"
The moment Yemu said it, his whole body stiffened.
"Don't tell me… it actually worked!!!"
"Uh… it's hard to believe, but yeah, it worked… though only one fruit…"
"!!!"
That was a real surprise.
He asked eagerly, so excited that he accidentally pulled at his wounds, making him grimace in pain.
Seeing this, Ayala immediately stepped forward and did her duty as a doctor, pressing him down gently.
"Captain Brother, don't get too excited. Otherwise, your wounds will open up and bleed again."
"Ah… I know, I know. Don't worry, I'll definitely listen to the doctor."
Seeing the anxious look on Ayala's face, Yemu suddenly felt that maybe having this little girl as the ship's doctor wasn't such a bad thing after all.
That said, with Baby-5 already on board and now this little girl too, his ship was starting to feel a bit like a daycare.
Still, the feeling wasn't bad at all. It was surprisingly warm and comforting.
Seeing how obediently Yemu listened to her, Ayala looked very happy. She carefully checked the bandages on his body, making sure there were no spots where blood was seeping through.
Yemu, on the other hand, asked impatiently,
"What kind of Devil Fruit ability is it!?"
Tiger shook his head.
"That's not entirely clear. After Vice Captain Enel came back from stopping the Marines, he brought back two CP9 members. All we know is that one of them could see extremely far with his eyes, and the other could open doors in the air…"
"Open doors… could it be!?"
Yemu immediately had a guess as to what kind of fruit it might be.
Tiger continued,
"Vice Captain Enel thought their Devil Fruit abilities were interesting. He remembered the experiment you did before, Captain, so he knocked the two of them out with electricity and brought them back. We didn't really have much hope, but unexpectedly, two days later, one of the fruits underwent a strange change…"
But before Tiger could finish, Enel's furious roar suddenly echoed throughout the Twin Goddesses, accompanied by crashing thunder and flashing lightning.
"You bastards… prepare to die…"