Encountering Ace

Since Yota knew that witch doctor, it was only natural that he knew Chopper too.

As for why Chopper was afraid of his Soldier Pills? After eating the Munch-Munch Fruit, Yota's sense of taste had become completely different from that of an ordinary person, with two entirely separate modes.

When he was not using the Munch-Munch Fruit, his sense of taste was more or less the same as a normal person's. But once he used it, his palate became rather bizarre.

After Wapol ate the Munch-Munch Fruit, his altered tastes had even made him enjoy eating grilled houses—whatever that was supposed to mean. That showed just how broad his diet was, and how strange the Munch-Munch Fruit's sense of taste could be.

So when Yota made Soldier Pills, something more like medicine than food, he never considered their flavor at all. He only focused on making them deliver the maximum possible nutrition.

Anyway, no matter what he ate while using the Munch-Munch Fruit, it never tasted that bad.

Of course, that made things miserable for those who tested his medicine. Little Chopper was one of the victims of his concoctions, yet both Yota and the witch doctor found Chopper's expression when eating Soldier Pills fascinating. Thus, poor little Chopper became the toy of those two unscrupulous doctors.

After fooling around with Chopper for a while, Yota sat on a reef by the shore again, staring blankly at the distant sea. He sighed. "I'm about to set sail, Chopper. What are you planning to do after this?"

"Set sail?" Chopper's eyes immediately filled with longing. "That sounds great. I really want to go out to sea too."

Yota shook his head. Our roles overlap. What would a ship need two doctors for?

If Yota did not know medicine, he definitely would have taken Chopper to sea with him. But as things stood, bringing Chopper along would be a complete waste.

"You should wait another two years. I'm sure there'll eventually be... Huh! A pirate ship!"

Far out at sea, a small pirate ship was sailing toward them. Its pirate flag was rather flashy: a skull wearing a hat inside a red heart, with two small crying and laughing face symbols on the skull.

"Ah! Pirates! Pirates are here! Pirates are here! Run! Run!" The moment Chopper saw the pirate ship, he panicked and his whole body bristled.

Yota pursed his lips. "I want to go to sea and become a pirate too. What's there to be afraid of? Besides, you're a reindeer, not a human. Why would you be afraid of pirates?"

"Ah! Right, I'm not human. Why am I afraid of pirates?" Chopper tilted his head and spoke in confusion.

Seeing Chopper finally looking relieved, Yota added in a sinister tone, "Come to think of it, even if you're not human and won't be robbed by pirates, they might still turn you into provisions and bring you aboard their ship."

"Ah! I see, they'll turn me into provisions and take me onto the pirate ship... Isn't that even worse?" Once Chopper processed it, his eyes immediately filled with tears, and he hid behind Yota.

Yota was about to tease Chopper a little more when a streak of fire suddenly shot up from the distant pirate ship. It then descended toward him.

"Did they fire a cannon?" Yota frowned slightly, immediately clenched his fist, and circulated Chakra. Earth and stone from the ground instantly gathered around his fist. As he threw a punch, the stone shot out like a cannonball and smashed toward the streak of fire.

This move looked somewhat like a variation of the Rock Fist Technique, but in truth, it was just gathering a rock around his fist. Its power depended entirely on the force of the punch he threw. Put simply, it was not much different from throwing a stone, only more convenient.

The ninjutsu Yota had figured out on his own was basically not very powerful. After all, he had learned far too little ninjutsu. Under those circumstances, there was no way he could develop any formidable techniques.

Still, his physique was already exceptionally strong, and Chakra enhanced it even further. The rock thrown by his fist was about as powerful as a small catapult. With a howling whistle, it struck the streak of fire.

Yet although the stone pierced through the flames, the fire seemed completely unaffected. Soon, it landed in front of Yota and condensed into a human figure.

"What an amazing punch! If I didn't have the Flame-Flame Fruit, that would've been bad." The figure formed from flames wore a hat and was bare-chested. He grinned at Yota as he spoke.

At the same time, he had a man tucked under one arm. The man's face was flushed red, and he looked groggy, as though he were seriously ill.

Yota's expression immediately twisted. Even though more than ten years had passed and his memories of One Piece had grown somewhat hazy, he could still recognize the guy before him. Wasn't this Fire Fist Ace?

A man who looked like he had all the makings of a protagonist, only to die in an utterly casual way.

At this point, Ace had only recently entered the Grand Line, yet under Yota's Observation Haki, he could already sense the immense power contained within Ace's body.

Even though Ace had not yet learned the two types of Haki, he already gave Yota considerable pressure. Yota could guarantee that even without using the Flame-Flame Fruit, Ace could probably beat him until he was crawling on the ground.

In the end, Yota's talent was simply too ordinary. Even after eating the Munch-Munch Fruit and gaining the physique of someone from the One Piece World, it was only the physique of an ordinary person in the One Piece World. Compared to a heaven-blessed genius like Ace, the gap was enormous.

That was with Yota possessing the Chakra system. Otherwise, the difference in strength between them would likely have been even greater.

Ace saw Yota's expression and immediately found it strange. "What's wrong? Do you know me?"

Yota shook his head. "Fire Fist Ace, a pirate rookie with a bounty of over a hundred million Beli the moment he debuted. I've seen your wanted poster."

He then looked at the man tucked beneath Ace's arm. The man wore a strange eye mask and was dressed like Zorro. Yota frowned and thought for a long time, but still could not figure out who he was.

After all, he had never read Ace's spinoff. Although he had seen some information in Oda's materials before, he had long since forgotten it all.

Seeing Yota's gaze, Ace directly helped his first mate stand up. "This is Deuce, the first mate of my Spade Pirates. Don't worry, we're not the kind of pirate crew that runs around causing trouble. The Spade Pirates came here to treat Deuce's illness."

Yota did not know which route through the Grand Line the Spade Pirates had taken. After all, this was something outside the original story. Still, he found it rather strange. "Don't you have a ship's doctor?"

Ace was not as scatterbrained as the Straw Hats. Surely his ship did not really lack even a single doctor?

Ace smiled somewhat sheepishly. "Deuce is our ship's doctor, though he's only a medical student."