Grand Line, first half.
Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
Ron slowly opened his tightly shut eyes. The blinding sunlight left him dazed for a moment... Catching the scent of disinfectant at the tip of his nose, he sat up and stretched.
"Senior Sister Ain, how long was I asleep?"
Hearing that, Ain, who had been reading beside him, felt a surge of joy and looked up at him.
"You're finally awake, Ron!"
"You were unconscious for a week. Vice Admiral Smoker and the others brought you back yesterday, so you were transferred to the hospital."
As she said that, Ain pouted unhappily and furrowed her lovely brows.
"Could you stop being so reckless next time? Exhaustion at that level would kill an ordinary person without question!!"
Being unconscious from exhaustion for an entire week—an ordinary person would have died long before then from organ failure or ruptured lungs and heart. Even with his immortal body, Ron had scared everyone half to death this time.
Even Zephyr, who had always avoided seeing him because of Garp's death, could not help coming by. Only after confirming that Ron was alive and would be all right did he leave with a stern expression.
Ron could only smile bitterly and beg for forgiveness.
"Sorry, sorry. I'll definitely be more careful next time."
"There'll be a next time?!!"
"Uh... I guarantee there won't be! Because..."
At that, the corner of Ron's lips curled upward.
"I've already found a way to deal with Kaido... No matter how many contingency plans we had before, ideas were ultimately just ideas. Without putting myself in the situation and testing them, the answer would be vastly different."
"But now that I've had this experience, it's different. I know how to deal with him now. Practice is the sole criterion of truth!"
"You