Louis spread out a pale golden canopy, and glimmers of dawnlight descended from the sky. A rich vitality blossomed, keeping the lives of the people who had collapsed and were wailing from slipping away.
Hongou, the Red-Haired Pirates' doctor, ran at full speed, quickly administering first aid to the poisoned people.
Yelena stood behind Hongou, stopping several people who instinctively tried to rush forward and help their families.
"There's not much we can do to help. Don't get in the doctor's way." Though Yelena's face was frighteningly grim, she still did her best to stay calm.
Then she looked at her anxious tribespeople and lowered her voice to soothe them. "Don't do anything rash. If he needs help, the doctor will call for us."
Meanwhile, Louis extended his superhuman senses and Observation Haki, peering inside the poisoned patients' bodies to search for the source of the poisoning.
Soon, Louis made a discovery: there was a large amount of liquid in everyone's stomach.
Or rather, water.
The Red-Haired Pirates had brought plenty of supplies, but no water. So the most likely source of the problem was the water stored in the village.
A moment later, Louis told Yelena what he had found.
Yelena's face turned ashen. After thanking Louis, she instructed her tribespeople to stay where they were and be ready to help if the doctor called for them. Then she left without looking back.
Louis calmly watched Yelena walk away, until her figure disappeared into the shadows. Only then did he turn and look toward the town on the plain again.
If he remembered correctly, during the battle a few days ago, the women and children who were unable to fight had brought back quite a lot of water from the river.
"..."
Soon, Yelena reached the stone hut where the water was stored and the fruits and vegetables Shanks and the others had given them were kept. She looked down at the water her people had traded their lives to bring back, her gaze vacant and silent.
Gradually, she clenched her fists. The veins in her arms and forehead bulged.
Just then, Beckman, who had also realized what was wrong, approached. He scooped up a cup of water and tested it with a poison-detection kit he had borrowed from Hongou.
Soon, he got the answer he had expected.
Beckman furrowed his brows and sighed inwardly. No wonder even Roger, whom Shanks admired so much, could bring himself to be so merciless toward them...
Then he turned to leave and tell his excellent ship's doctor the name of the poison.
Near the doorway, he stopped and glanced back at the shadow inside the stone hut. "Don't worry. Our ship's doctor is excellent. Once he knows what kind of poison it is, he'll definitely be able to save them."
With that, Beckman shut the door, leaving Yelena alone in silence.
"..."
"We already chose a river you didn't want, one you used to dump your garbage..." In the dim stone hut, Yelena slowly unclenched her hand and lowered her eyes. "Even so, do you have to wipe us all out?"
Yelena pressed a hand to her chest, feeling the sharp pain in her lungs with each breath. She murmured, "If I die, what will happen to my people?"
"..."
"Can they really defeat this despicable nation?"
Yelena already knew the answer.
After a long while, a glimmer of resolve flashed in her eyes. I'm sorry, Grandfather.
"Your way of thinking was wrong. Perhaps the ordinary people of the Kingdom of Jacob aren't innocent either..."
In the dim stone hut, Yelena made up her mind. She used chains to secure the barrels of water, then turned around—only to see that the appearance of one of the fruits had suddenly changed in a strange way.
Yelena stared in surprise. "What is this?"
"We've figured out where it came from. It was indeed the people of the Kingdom of Jacob."
"Hongou has already started preparing an antidote."
Beckman walked over to Shanks and explained, "Hongou said this is a deadly poison often used by the CP Organization for assassinations. After it made a name for itself, the Underworld gradually began using it too."
"You can buy it as long as you can get in touch with the Underworld."
At that, the coldness in Shanks's expression gradually eased, though he still kept his hand on the hilt of his sword. "The Jacobites... They really haven't learned a thing."
Beckman stood beside Shanks, but his eyes were on Louis, who was surrounded by golden dawnlight. He said with a sigh, "We have Louis to thank. Hongou said that if he hadn't stabilized their condition right away, even after the villagers took the antidote, they would probably have suffered severe aftereffects."
Not far away, Louis looked at the victims, who were breathing steadily again. After a moment's thought, he drew in the dawnlight surrounding him.
After letting out a long breath, Louis looked toward the two men who were discussing him.
Just then, the doctor, Hongou, finished treating the patients and walked over to Louis, an unreadable expression on his face.
"Louis, does your ability let you help people heal quickly?"
Louis was a little confused, but nodded all the same. "Yes. Is something wrong?"
"The power of a Devil Fruit is incredible. Even the best doctor couldn't do something like that." Hongou didn't press him about the abilities Louis hadn't revealed. He simply marveled at them in wonder.
Louis understood. If someone in his previous life had built a whole building in front of him in an instant, he would have been even more astonished than Hongou.
Then Louis suddenly remembered what Yelena had told him and explained the diseased state of her lungs to Hongou.
Hongou was taken aback, then said, "Shanks mentioned on the way here that there might be patients with Divers' disease who needed treatment."
"But from the symptoms you've described, her illness goes beyond the scope of Divers' disease. It's a completely new disease, and it can be named after her!"
Hongou said that if he had encountered a case like this before becoming a pirate, he might already have begun researching it and preparing to publish a paper.
Louis looked at the Red-Haired Pirate in surprise. He hadn't expected Shanks to have thought of that too.
But it made sense. Yelena had said she was the youngest person to develop the illness, which meant that the pillar of the clan before her had suffered from something similar.
It wasn't strange that Shanks and Roger, who had been here before, knew someone there might have the disease.
But...
"Was her condition much worse than that of the previous King of Canaan?" Louis fell into thought, then asked, "Are you sure you can treat her?"
Before Hongou could answer, an arm reached over from behind and settled on his shoulder.
Shanks leaned in with a grin. "Of course! Hongou of the Red-Haired Pirates is the best ship's doctor in the world!"
"There isn't a single illness in the world that can stump him!" Shanks looked extremely smug, as if he were bursting with pride in his crewmate.
Behind him, the Red-Haired Pirates had gathered again. They all nodded, clearly agreeing with their captain.
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