Five Years

A few days later, news arrived. The new King was indeed not the First Prince Yota had never even heard of, but Dalton, the former captain of Drum Kingdom's guard and a Bison Fruit user.

Upon hearing that he was a Bison Fruit user, Yota barely managed to dig up an image of that guard captain from his memories. He seemed to have been quite a decent man.

And even if there was something wrong with his memories, the jubilant expressions of Drum Kingdom's residents could not have been fake. It could be said that Captain Dalton enjoyed extremely high prestige in Drum Kingdom. This finally put Yota at ease, allowing him to truly begin training without worry.

A few more months passed, and Yota had learned almost all of Jack's medical skills. He then left the town and began traveling through Drum Kingdom, training while practicing medicine.

At least for the next few years, Yota had no intention of going to the Grand Line. He was currently in his growth phase, and having eaten a Devil Fruit with limitless potential like the Munch-Munch Fruit, he naturally had to lie low and build up his strength first.

The only thing that displeased him somewhat was his Chakra training system. By now, he had mastered the three Earth Style Ninjutsu taught to him by his Chunin teacher, as well as every Ninjutsu Scroll left behind by his father.

At this point, he had no room left to advance. He could only continue down the paths of Devil Fruit development, Observation Haki, and physical training.

If he wanted to learn new Ninjutsu, he would have to return to the Naruto World. Not only was the Naruto World currently embroiled in chaos, but his dimensional travel energy had not yet finished accumulating.

He could not forget that he was now a missing-nin of Konoha. If he really returned to Konoha, he would definitely first be subjected to a round of the Yamanaka Clan's secret mind techniques.

If he was unwilling to submit to the Yamanaka Clan's Mind Body Transmission Technique examination, then Yota could only become a rogue ninja.

Therefore, all he could do was remain in Drum Kingdom for now, honing his physique and medical skills.

The years flew by, and five years quickly passed.

At this moment, on the shore of Drum Island, a blue-nosed reindeer was scurrying around in a panic. Finally, it spotted a large rock by the sea. Its eyes lit up, and it hid its head behind the rock, its entire body trembling.

"Little Chopper, come out already. Try the Soldier Pills I just made."

A young man whose face still looked somewhat youthful despite being over six feet tall grinned at the mostly exposed Chopper and spoke.

"Who wants to eat your Soldier Pills? That stuff is poison—poison! The last patient who ate your Soldier Pills took a full three months to regain his sense of taste!"

After hearing this, Chopper, whose head was hidden behind the rock, immediately began shouting. He even stuck his head out, his eyes wide and round, with his tongue hanging from his mouth.

However, the moment Chopper poked his head out, he realized something was wrong. But it was already too late. The young man flashed forward and appeared before Chopper, casually grabbed his tongue, and stuffed the Soldier Pills directly into his mouth.

At the same time, he said with a grin, "But those Soldier Pills were really effective, weren't they? Didn't they cure his malnutrition right away?"

The instant the Soldier Pills entered Chopper's mouth, his eyes immediately turned red, and steam began billowing from his ears. He opened his mouth to spit them out, only for the young man to cover his mouth in one swift motion.

Only after a moment, when Chopper's entire face had twisted and turned green and he had fully swallowed the Soldier Pills, did the young man release him.

"Waaah! They taste awful! They taste absolutely awful! They're even more deadly than Devil Fruits! My tongue is numb now—I can't feel anything at all!"

Chopper, who had originally been in his reindeer form, suddenly changed and transformed into a horned tanuki-like form. Thick tears streamed from his eyes as he began rolling around on the ground.

"Still, at least the Soldier Pills are very nutritious." The young man smiled. "Your fur seems to have gotten a little shinier."

"Hmph! Even if you praise my fur for being pretty, I still won't forgive you, you jerk, idiot."

Hearing the young man's words, Chopper stood up and twisted back and forth like a noodle, speaking as though embarrassed.

The young man smiled to himself. Not bad, not bad. This little reindeer is really easy to fool. Next time I make Soldier Pills, I'll keep feeding them to him.

That young man was naturally Yota. Over the years, he had studied medicine while training himself in Drum Kingdom. By the final two years, his medical skills could already be considered among the very best in all of Drum Kingdom.

After all, he possessed the extraordinary power of Chakra. Combined with the not entirely identical medical techniques of the Naruto World and the Pirate World, he could study and synthesize medical knowledge from two different perspectives. Naturally, he learned far faster than ordinary people.

Later, in order to further improve his medical skills, Yota sought out Dr. Kureha, the witch doctor who was now over a hundred years old.

Dr. Kureha was Chopper's mentor from the original story. Her medical expertise was indeed extraordinary. Although she gave Yota a hard time at first, she was ultimately moved by the medical knowledge from the Naruto World that Yota had brought with him and began seriously teaching him her own skills.

Naturally, Yota had his own reasons for taking medicine so seriously. He discovered that the Munch-Munch Fruit and the profession of a doctor were practically a perfect match.

With the Munch-Munch Fruit, he could easily modify his own body. If anything went wrong or he was dissatisfied with the result, he could simply scrap it and start over.

In Yota's view, methods like Wapol's in the original manga—directly swallowing weapons to strengthen one's body—were a complete waste of the Munch-Munch Fruit's potential. It was only useful as a temporary measure in battle and did not bring out the Fruit's true power at all.

If the Munch-Munch Fruit's modification ability was properly utilized, then even obtaining physical qualities like Kaido's or Charlotte Linlin's would be a piece of cake!

With Yota's current medical skills, if he could use the Munch-Munch Fruit to swallow Kaido or Charlotte Linlin and analyze their physiques, he was certain he could replicate most of the power of their formidable bodies!

...Provided, of course, that Yota was not beaten to death by the two of them first.

Thinking of this, Yota sighed inwardly. Why was becoming stronger so difficult?

Why could the Munch-Munch Fruit not work like the Star Absorbing Skill from fantasy novels, letting him grow infinitely stronger just by swallowing and swallowing?

He still had to analyze other people's physiques, then use the Munch-Munch Fruit to modify his own body. And even after the modifications were complete, he would only gain their potential, not their strength.