There Was a Sea Chart in Dragon's Heart

"Put the medical records down."

Luo's voice was directly connected to the Medical Department's landing craft.

The person holding the metal box looked back at the hatch. The isolation door was still there, and the White Swallow had already moved away.

"Trafalgar Law, you have no right to demand the return of government documents."

I told you to put it down.

Can you come over?

ROOM crossed the water between the two ships but couldn't find the medical records.

The landing craft is equipped with a ring of Seastone on its outer surface, and its range of motion extends to the front of the hull.

The Medical Department team leader picked up the test results.

"The true starting point of the journey was the First Patient's heart; this record has nothing to do with the Trafalgar Family."

"The medical records were obtained from my father's boat."

"The White Swallow received government funding."

"Is that all you can say?"

"Enough."

"Then look back."

The team leader turned towards the Stern.

The bear's submarine didn't give chase, and the White Swallow didn't change course, but the coordinates projected by the miniature pointer landed right in front of the landing craft.

Seventeen old Navigation Beacon lit up on the seabed rock.

The landing craft's navigation system switches automatically.

[God Valley route calibration in progress]

"Turn off the navigation!" the team leader shouted.

The driver pressed the buttons several times, but the steering wheel did not respond.

Luo placed Lami's old Button in the center of the medical record table.

It recognizes medical records.

What did you do?

"Nothing was done."

"Stop the Navigation Beacon immediately!"

"Throw the tin box overboard."

The Medical Department leading the team looked at the medical records in his hand, then at the first Navigation Beacon that was getting closer and closer.

There was no passageway in front of the ship, only a narrowing underwater rift valley.

You're lying to me.

"You can keep it."

The landing craft glided between two rocks, its outer layer of Seastone scraping against the rock face, producing a continuous rattling sound.

The driver jumped up from his seat.

"Water is entering from the left side!"

"Close the compartment!"

"Can't close it, the navigation is taking over control permissions!"

The team leader finally threw the metal box into the launch port.

Luo raised his hand.

The moment the iron box left the Seastone hull, it was exchanged by ROOM for the White Swallow.

The landing craft's navigation was quickly restored, and the crew hurriedly backed away, barely managing to exit through the rift valley entrance.

Drake arrived at the ward and placed the metal box on the table.

"Are we just going to let them go like that?"

They didn't get anything.

There are still five people on the boat.

"Tie them up and wait for Aokiji to process them."

Is he still considered a member of the Navy?

"Ask him."

Aokiji paused for a few seconds before replying, "For now."

Drake turned off the communications.

Luo opened the tin box.

The medical record number 17 is missing two pages, but the test results are still there.

The First Patient had no name, and their date of birth was also deleted; only a cardiac localization map remained.

Lami put the two pictures together.

A photo from the First Patient.

The other one belongs to Dragon.

The two surgeries were performed at exactly the same locations.

"It's a dragon," she said.

Dragon lifted his head from bed number seventeen.

"No."

"Same location."

I don't have the first medical record.

"What kind of surgery did you have when you were a child?" Luo asked.

I can't remember.

Who did it?

"Your father."

Where?

"After leaving God Valley."

Why do it?

He didn't tell me.

Luo projected the location map in front of Dragon.

"Take off your clothes."

"Reject."

You are a patient now.

You do not have authorization to see a third doctor.

"I'm not asking you this from my position Throne."

"Then there's even less reason to agree."

"You've hidden a flight path in your chest. The Medical Department just confiscated your medical records, and the Five Elders saw them too. Are you planning to take it back to the Revolutionary Army Headquarters?"

Dragon did not respond immediately.

What will happen after it's removed?

"Check it first."

"Cannot be checked."

"Why?"

"Once this data is read, its coordinates will be sent out."

Vegapunk asked, "How did you know?"

"I did it once when I woke up thirteen years ago."

"And then what happened?"

"The Revolutionary Army's three safe points were attacked simultaneously."

"I was the one who read it," Wa Tie'er said.

Luo turned to him.

"You knew to leave it inside Dragon's body?"

"Can't get it out."

"My father put it there."

"Putting it in and taking it out are two different things."

What's different?

"It's already connected to the heart."

Dragon raised his hand to unbutton his hospital gown.

The old surgical scar extends from below the left rib to the heart area, and it matches the medical record image.

Lami tried to get closer, but Luo held his wheelchair back.

You stay here.

"I want to see."

You don't understand.

"I can remember."

What should I remember?

"What Dad did wrong."

Dragon looked at her.

Your father did nothing wrong.

"Then why didn't you let your brother check?"

"Because the inspection will harm others."

"Even if you hide it, it will still work."

"At least we can choose a time."

Luo expanded the room, limiting the area to just around the hospital bed.

The moment the power touched Dragon's chest, all the Den Den Mushi in the underground ward opened their eyes simultaneously.

The location map on Vegapunk's side started to fluctuate.

"Signal being transmitted outwards, with more than twenty destinations!"

Dragon reached out and pressed down on Law's knife.

"Stop."

"I haven't seen it clearly yet."

"The Revolutionary Army Headquarters is also located there."

"Turn off communications."

"It can't be turned off."

Bear access line.

"The headquarters has been moved."

Dragon looked at him.

"When?"

"After you wake up."

Who gave the order?

"I."

"You do not have authority to move headquarters."

"Without the dragon, the cadres voted in favor."

What about other safe spots?

"Evacuation in progress."

Dragon still did not let go.

"Too late."

"Then give them time," Luo said.

"The Throne will not wait."

"Lami can control the Navigation Beacon."

"She is merely the holder."

"Therefore, I need your heartbeat permission."

New requirements have been introduced for medical records.

[Reading the heart of the First Patient requires the patient's authorization.]

[Upon authorization, the holder will temporarily take over life support.]

After reading it, Dragon asked, "Who is the holder?"

Luo handed the Button to Lami.

"She."

"A child who has just woken up?"

"Patient."

Lami took the Button.

"You're unwilling to trust the patient?"

Dragon withdrew his hand from the back of the dagger.

I don't know you.

I don't know you either.

What if the heart stops beating?

"My brother will save you."

He has lost his right to the Throne.

"But he's still a doctor."

"You believe him?"

Lami thought for a moment.

He'll get it wrong.

Luo looked at her.

Whose side are you on?

I haven't finished speaking.

Lami stuck the Buttons onto the medical record diagram.

He corrects his mistakes; he doesn't hide them.

Dragon looked at Wa Tie'er.

The person in bed turned their head away and did not participate.

"What do you need me to do?" Dragon asked.

"Give the heartbeat control to Lami," Luo said.

"You traded fruit for foreign objects?"

"No surgery required."

"The stone is connected to the heart."

"So I would replace the tissue of the same size and then separate the stone from the tissue."

Chopper immediately objected. "No, you don't have a complete image. Even a slight misalignment could damage the heart muscle. Do the examination first!"

"The check will continue to send coordinates."

"But we can't do it blindly!"

Lami asked, "Can Button replace an inspection?"

Vegapunk retrieved the data from the micro pointer.

"It keeps following the stone's direction, which might be able to mark the edge, but someone would need to keep their heart rate constant."

"I'll do it," Lami said.

Luo looked at her.

How did you get here?

"The Button has heard my heartbeat."

"That's yours."

"I've heard of him too."

Thirteen years ago, Dragon knocked on Lami's sleeve across the ward wall, leaving Button on her clothes that recorded the rhythm of her sixteen awakenings.

Those seemingly flight path taps were actually Dragon's heartbeats, a way of proving he was alive.

The Throne has been authorized.

[Temporary Life Support Holder: Trafalgar Lami]

The heartbeat of Dragon's chest was projected onto the surface of the Button.

Lami tapped along to the rhythm.

One time.

Pause for seven seconds.

Just one more time.

"Don't stop," Luo said.

"I know."

"Just say you're tired."

"Don't talk to me, you'll miscount."

Luo turned his attention back to the room.

The edge of the stone became visible inside the heart, larger than recorded in the medical records, and new blood vessels had grown around it.

Chopper kept reporting their positions.

Vegapunk was responsible for calculating the exchange range.

Dragon did not receive anesthesia; he simply placed his arm across the edge of the bed, his breaths growing longer with each breath.

How much longer?

"Don't ask," Luo said.

"Six of the Revolutionary Army's safe zones have been exposed."

"The bear is handling it."

He can't handle everything.

"Then you do it?"

Dragon stopped urging him.

When the miniature pointer reached the seventeenth mark, Lami's hand movements slowed down by half a beat.

The heartbeat device immediately alarmed.

"Lami!" Chopper called out.

"I'm fine."

Your blood oxygen levels have dropped.

"Just one more step."

"Put on your breathing mask first!"

Luo did not look up.

"Listen to Chopper."

"The hand will stop."

"I'll count them."

"The Button doesn't recognize you."

Dragon reached out and pressed his hand on the other side of the Button.

"I'll count them myself."

"Patient cannot be taken over," the system message indicated.

"Let's do it together."

Lami put the breathing mask back on, his fingers still on the Button.

Dragon followed her rhythm and struck the final note.

Luo raised his hand.

Shambles.

The black stone shard left the heart and fell into the prepared medicinal liquid.

Dragon had no wounds on his chest, but his heart skipped a beat.

Chopper called out the drug dosage over the communicator, Law replaced the temporary tissue in its original position, and the heartbeat returned.

The stone flakes unfold layer by layer upon contact with the medicinal liquid.

The original palm-sized black block transformed into a thin sheet, with fine flight paths spreading outwards from the center.

Just as Vegapunk was about to read it, the other half of the image projected by the stone fragment crossed over the White Swallow and appeared on screens all over the world.

The Five Elders' announcement followed immediately.

[Trafalgar Law's Illegitimate Inheritance of the Throne Core]

[Immediately listed as a top-level wanted fugitive worldwide]

[The patients and ships under its control are considered assets attached to the Throne.]

Luo picked the stone fragment out of the medicinal liquid.

"I've lost access."

Wa Tie'er looked at half a nautical chart on the global screen.

"You don't need authority to Throne."

"What does it need?"

"We need someone who can remove the core from a living person's body."

The Five Elders' new command covers all channels.

[New Throne Confirmed]

[Location: East Blue Tavern]