Garp's Duty Badge

The voice on the Den Den Mushi continued, "If it's not Luo who opens the door, sink the ship immediately."

Luo did not touch the skeleton.

He stared at the naval badge on his chest, first noticing the engravings, then the wear on the edge of the badge, and finally shifting his gaze to the skeleton's hand.

Two fingers are missing from his right hand.

Drake stood outside the door and asked, "Is that Garp?"

"Brands can be counterfeited."

Where's the sound?

"You can even record Den Den Mushi)."

Lami, held in Drake's arms with his face pressed against Drake's coat shoulder, looked up at Luo upon hearing this.

"Brother, don't you know Garp?"

"I've seen it."

"Is he a good person?"

Luo did not answer.

The sound of papers turning over came through the Den Den Mushi, followed by the man's voice.

"Your father brought me out of the God Valley."

Luo's hand landed on the hilt of the Kikoku Blade.

"You're not Garp."

I didn't say I was.

"Then who are you?"

"A doctor on duty."

Why is Garp's brand on you?

"Borrowed."

"How long did you borrow it for?"

"After returning from God Valley."

The Den Den Mushi's eyelids twitched, making a soft click.

Vegapunk said on the other end of the communicator, "Law, don't get close yet. There's a metallic reaction on that skeleton; it might be connected to the ship's old energy system."

Can you confirm my identity?

"Sampling is required."

"Pick."

"You have to move the bones out."

"I'll handle this." Drake placed Lami back in the wheelchair and re-fastened the harness. "You watch her."

"I can sit by myself."

Lami's voice wasn't loud, but his hands gripped the edge of the wheelchair.

Drake stopped there, not letting go immediately.

Luo saw her staring at the skeleton and reached out to cover her legs with his coat.

"Stop looking."

"I want to know who he is."

Even if we knew, we couldn't bring him back to life.

But he knows his father.

These words made Luo look down at her.

After finishing his sentence, Lami turned his face away to look at the ward numbers on the wall of the ship's medical room, as if what he had just said was unimportant.

Drake removed the skeleton from the chair, and as soon as he raised his shoulder, a muffled thud came from the hull.

The thin line outside the door tightened again.

The White Swallow slid off the rock strata, the iron pillars securing it making a scraping sound, large pieces of ore peeled off the bottom of the ship, and several pieces of gravel hit the side of the hatch.

Chopper's voice came through the communicator. "Law, those three submarines outside have started towing the boat."

Where's the bear?

"Fighting against them."

Aokiji continued, "The Medical Department personnel went into the second floor; they brought explosives."

"You can't stop him?"

"It can hold them off for a while."

"How long?"

"Let's see how many people they're willing to die."

Drake dragged the skeleton to the doorway, blood seeping from the wound on his arm and dripping down the bandage.

Lami saw it.

Your hand is bleeding.

"Old wound."

Can old wounds bleed again?

"Meeting."

"Then sit down."

I have to move him.

"Brother Luo said you would protect me."

Drake looked up.

Lami pointed to his arm.

"If you're injured, you can't protect me."

Drake glanced at Law.

"She's right," Luo said. "Bandage her first."

"The ship is moving."

"I know."

"If this drags on any longer, the iron gate will break."

"Then let it break."

Luo crouched down beside the skeleton, covered the body with ROOM, and examined the metal structure inside the bones inch by inch.

Vegapunk's voice came quickly. "There's an old-fashioned Den Den Mushi behind the sternum, fixed to the skeleton. It was probably implanted before death."

"Take it out."

"It will damage the corpse."

He is dead.

"I need your permission to separate my ribs first."

Luo placed his hand on the skeleton's chest.

"Let's do it."

The room opened, and the bones separated silently, revealing the Den Den Mushi embedded behind the sternum.

A letter is engraved on its shell.

[K]

The Den Den Mushi suddenly opened its eyes.

A completely different voice came from behind.

"I will only say it once."

No one answered from inside the room.

The voice was deep and hoarse, with the rasping of the sea breeze in its throat, yet without the slightest pause found in the recording.

"Don't take my daughter back to the government."

Lami lifted his face.

"I am not his daughter."

The sound from the Den Den Mushi paused for a moment.

"You're a doctor's child."

My brother is here.

"I know."

"You know my brother?"

I saw him when he was a child.

Luo pressed his fingers on the floor.

"Who are you?"

"Garp."

Drake stopped bandaging.

Chopper shouted into the communicator, "Isn't Garp already...?"

"This isn't me," Garp said. "It's Den Den Mushi."

"You put the Den Den Mushi inside the corpse?" Luo asked.

"That's my corpse."

A brief silence fell over the cabin.

Garp continued, "Thirty-eight years ago, I brought a child out of the God Valley, and the child's father entrusted him to your parents."

Whose child?

Didn't your father tell you?

He's dead.

That's right.

Luo looked up at the Den Den Mushi.

"What's the meaning?"

"The dead don't reveal secrets."

"You're dead too."

That's why you can hear it.

After saying this, the Den Den Mushi made a clicking sound, as if someone in the distance had flipped the spring back.

Luo asked, "Where is the child?"

Garp did not answer.

Doflamingo chuckled over the external communicator, "Haven't you figured it out yet? Garp left the body here to guard an empty room."

Luo turned around.

The door to the last ward in the ship's medical ward was slowly opening.

There was no number on the doorplate.

There was only a wooden board with the name scraped off.

Lami gripped the wheelchair armrests tightly.

"People used to live there."

"You remember?"

I remember there was a man outside the door.

"What man?"

He asks me every day if my brother has come back yet.

Luo got up and walked over.

Garp, Den Den Mushi, said, "Don't go into that room."

"You just told me to take her away."

"She can walk."

What about me?

You have to stay.

"Why?"

Garp's voice lowered.

"Because your father gave you the last nautical chart."

Luo stopped in front of the door.

"The map is in my hands."

That's just the entrance.

Where is the real path?

A draft carrying the smell of medicine blew in from under the door.

On the wall inside the room, a line of words that had just appeared emerged.

[Third doctor, please complete the first shift handover.]

Garp said, "On your sister."

Lami looked up at Luo.

"Brother, I've never seen that road before."

"I know."

But I remember a voice.

Whose is it?

He said he wanted to ask you a question when you came back.

What's the problem?

Lami opened his mouth, as if recalling a pronunciation from a long time ago.

Would you still be willing to save someone who is already dead?

The Den Den Mushi inside the door opened its eyes.

All the lights on the White Swallow went out at the same time.

The next second, a new shift leader appeared above the ship's medical room.

[Patient: Trafalgar D. Wa Tie'er]

[Status: Dead]

[Request: Please have the doctor confirm whether the patient has been revived]