Heavenly Restriction

[Dad drove away the bad guys and became a hero to everyone, but now Bonney couldn't see him anymore, and that made her very sad. Dad became a pirate, and there was no telling when he would return. Bonney really wanted to see him again.]

[Task: Find Bartholomew Kuma and reunite Bonney with him.]

[Client: Bonney]

[Distance: Extremely far (teleportation available)]

[Estimated difficulty: ★★★]

In the wheelhouse, where Ruidio, Nami, and Kureha had just been standing, all that remained was a transparent prism that was easy to overlook, slowly rotating clockwise.

The clockwise-rotating prism seemed bound to that patch of floor in the cabin. Even as the big pink ship continued sailing before the wind, its relative position remained unchanged.

South Blue, Sorbet Kingdom, southeastern region—

The scorching sun blazed overhead!

Ruidio, Nami, and Kureha suddenly appeared out of thin air in the barren wilderness.

Nami's expression changed abruptly!

"The air pressure dropped..."

She raised a hand. "The temperature is at least ten degrees higher, and the humidity and wind direction... they're all different too." Still murmuring to herself, she looked up, squinting at the sun pouring heat from the blue sky. "The sun's position... are we in the southern hemisphere?"

Kureha watched her with a grin and said to Ruidio, "Impressive skills, right?"

Ruidio smiled. "You don't need to tell me that."

Nami looked around. One second, they had been out at sea, aboard the ship. The next, in the blink of an eye, they had arrived on land, in a completely unfamiliar, desolate place. All she could see was an old, bare church to the east.

She stared at Ruidio in a daze. "Where are we?"

"The South Blue, the Sorbet Kingdom."

With both hands full of shopping bags, Ruidio led the way toward the church building several hundred meters away. "Come on. Weren't you curious who these were for?"

"Huh? Oh, right."

Nami hurried after them, belatedly realizing something:

No wonder Tashigi and I couldn't find him anywhere on the ship! He really does have the kind of teleportation ability you only see in comic books! And he even made up that nonsense about being invisible...

Only when they got closer did Nami see that it was a small, old, dilapidated church.

Strangest of all, every window in the church had been boarded up inside and out, sealed so tightly that not a ray of light could get through. It was practically a huge, dark prison.

Does Ruidio's little sister live in a place like this?

While Nami was still staring in surprise, the door of the little church quietly opened a crack. It was dim inside, and all Nami could make out behind the crack was what seemed to be a flash of pink and a large, sparkling eye filled with delight.

"Ruidio! You're here!"

"Step back."

Ruidio called the warning to the little girl behind the door, and the eye promptly vanished from the gap. Kureha grabbed Nami's hand, and they followed Ruidio through the door at great speed. With a bang, the battered church door quickly shut behind them.

Everything went dark before Nami's eyes. Unaccustomed to the dim light, she could only vaguely make out the pink-haired little girl leaping onto Ruidio. She couldn't help asking, "What's going on?"

Kureha took a drink and said softly, "See the 'stones' on her right cheek? That's Blue Jade Scale Disease. When you have it, you can't be exposed to any sunlight or moonlight—any natural light at all."

"..."

Nami's eyes gradually adjusted, and she got a clear look at the sick little girl Kureha had mentioned. Ruidio was holding her high in the air, and she wore a bright, lively smile. Sure enough, there were several stones on her right cheek, vivid green and sparkling, like gems embedded in her flesh.

"If she's exposed to natural light..." Nami asked quietly.

Kureha said, "Eventually, the stones will grow all over her, inside and out. When she dies, she'll be in unbearable pain, and it'll be a horrible sight. Just like her mother."

Looking at the little girl's radiant smile, Nami could barely hold back her tears. She took a deep breath and turned away.

"Dr. Kureha, who's this lady?"

Bonney rested against Ruidio's shoulder and asked the two women speaking quietly behind him. "Oh, right! Where's Chopper? Where's Chopper? Didn't he come?"

Chapter 15: Heavenly Restriction

"Chopper's studying hard at home."

Ruidio pinched Bonney's cheek. "He's going to master medicine and cure you as soon as he can."

"Hehe..." Bonney grinned foolishly. She felt she was the luckiest person in the world: she had a father who loved her dearly, and everyone around her cared about her too.

After Dad became a pirate and left, Ruidio had appeared when she was feeling lonely. He was just like Nika in the stories Dad told, helping others with the warmth of the sun.

"Bonney!"

Two burly men came rushing out from inside the church.

They were local fishermen who had known Bonney's parents since childhood. After Bonney's father, Kuma, left, they often came to the church to look after the little girl.

The two had been taking an afternoon nap and had woken groggily at the sound of laughter. As soon as they noticed Bonney wasn't beside them, they were scared out of their wits and scrambled over.

When they saw it was Ruidio and Dr. Kureha, they finally breathed a sigh of relief. Wiping away their sweat, they said, "You scared us to death, Bonney. You can't go running outside. If you got exposed to the sun, how could we ever explain it to your dad when he comes back?"

Bonney climbed down from Ruidio's arms and pouted. "I won't run off. I'm seven. I'm not a little kid anymore."

"Ruidio, Doctorine..."

A short old woman had followed slowly behind the two burly fishermen. Her face had even more wrinkles than Kureha's. "Who is this young girl?"

"Her name's Nami. Don't worry, she's my friend."

Ruidio set the shopping bags of all sizes on a nearby church pew and briefly introduced Nami to the people in the church, as well as Bonney's adoptive father, Bartholomew Kuma, who owned the church but wasn't there.

"All right, I came here to treat a patient, so that's enough chatter."

Kureha cut short their greetings and tipped her chin at Ruidio. "Boy, get the things out. Bonney, do you have a bathtub?"

Bonney looked up at her. "I have a bathing tub. Dad made it for me."

Kureha pointed, gesturing for the little girl to lead the way.

Bonney seemed to like the way she wasn't being treated like a little child and ran off with a spring in her step toward the living quarters at the back of the church.

The two fishermen and the short old woman named Connie clearly cared deeply about Bonney. When they heard Kureha had come to treat her, they anxiously followed.

"Dr. Kureha, can you really cure Bonney?" the muscular fisherman asked ingratiatingly.

"..." Kureha seemed annoyed. "If Blue Jade Scale Disease were that easy to cure, it wouldn't be such a terrifying terminal illness."

"Isn't it?"

Bonney spoke from the front, her tone even lighter than her footsteps. "Dad told me before that I'd definitely be better by my tenth birthday."

"..."

The two brawny men couldn't hold back their tears and turned away.

Nami's eyes reddened too.

But she was also a little speechless. Not only Kureha, the doctor, but even Ruidio seemed unmoved, with no sign of being moved to tears. Don't they have hearts?!

Kureha said calmly, "Even I can only try to keep Bonney's condition from getting worse for now. Don't get your hopes too high just yet."

That was what the old woman said, but Ruidio knew that for more than half a year, she had been studying Blue Jade Scale Disease almost to the point of neglecting sleep and meals. It had even put her behind in teaching her apprentice, Chopper.

Ten months ago, his Radar Search had picked up Bonney's task.

Its estimated difficulty was three stars.

Apparently, by the system's judgment, an overall strength of about three stars would be enough to find Kuma, who was traveling the world in search of a cure for his daughter Bonney, as long as he played it safe, stayed away from places he shouldn't go, and didn't provoke people he shouldn't provoke...

Unfortunately, even Kureha, with her godlike medical skills, was somewhat at a loss when faced with Bonney's rare, stubborn illness, which the Five Elders had caused with their own hands.

After coming to examine Bonney and run tests many times, and pouring her heart into it for more than half a year, she still had no truly workable plan for a complete cure.

"We don't need so many people."

Before entering the bedroom, Kureha waved the others away, but said to the short old woman, "You stay, young lady. You'll need to remember the instructions I give you."

As for Ruidio, he was there to help. Nami was concerned about Bonney and shamelessly followed them in too. Only the two muscular fishermen remained where they were, staring at each other.

"Heave-ho!"

Bonney dragged a wooden tub out from inside the room. Its outer wall was covered with a few simple bear doodles.

Snap.

Ruidio snapped his fingers and synthesized a clear stream of pure hot water, which poured into the tub. At the same time, he reached his other hand toward the large bed beside him, and a heavy medical case appeared on it.

The reason he hadn't put the shopping bags in the system inventory was, of course, that it was already full...

Kureha opened the medical case, revealing three full rows of glass bottles, thirty in all, filled with green medicinal liquid, as well as a separate white medicine bottle the size of a fist. Since she had made the medicine herself, the bottles bore only simple labels.

"Take this."

Kureha took out the small medicine bottle, opened it, and shook out a golden-yellow pill.

"Ahh..."

Bonney sat obediently on a small stool, tilted her head back, and opened her mouth.

She had fallen ill when she was very young and had grown used to being a patient, as well as listening to the adults around her when it came to treating her illness.

"It's so bitter." Bonney scrunched up her face, but swallowed it anyway.

"One pill every three days. She can't eat anything for three hours after taking it." Kureha handed the small medicine bottle to the short old woman, Connie.

Connie studied the pills repeatedly, committing their features to memory. Her thin hand gripped the small bottle tightly, and she slowly nodded.

Splash...

Kureha took out a glass bottle and poured its green medicinal liquid into the steaming tub. "As for this, use it every day. If there's no hot water, or even no water at all, apply it directly to Bonney's body. But it must be applied every day. Remember?"

Connie walked over and carefully examined the remaining twenty-nine glass bottles of green medicinal liquid in the medical case, then slowly nodded again.

"Now get in and soak."

The hot water in the tub had already turned green from the medicine. Kureha reached in to test the temperature, then flicked a few hot droplets onto Bonney's forehead as the girl watched curiously. "Soak for at least an hour."

When Ruidio left the room, the two muscular fishermen outside were dozing on a church pew.

"Ruidio."

Queen Mother Connie followed him out, her voice calm and gentle. "Are you going out?"

I'm already here, so what's wrong with clearing a couple of tasks while I'm at it?

Ruidio said, "I'm planning to take a look around the island."

The Queen Mother slowly reminded him: