A Whimsical Idea Born from a Joke

The officers and soldiers of G3 Branch were suffering—and enjoying it.

Wright's enthusiasm for hunting pirates far exceeded what ordinary people could imagine. As his strength grew, Garp loosened the restrictions on Wright's patrol time. Even when a pursuit had to continue, he no longer needed to return to the branch base to report in.

As a result... Wright often chased pirates like a mad dog biting at their heels. As long as there was solid proof that pirates had harmed civilians or Marines, Wright would hunt them down to the bitter end, even if they fled into territory under another branch's jurisdiction.

As for how he got solid proof—once he activated Observation Haki, he could simply call out, "Have you ever harmed civilians or Marines?" and make his judgment from there—unless the pirates had collectively hypnotized themselves.

However, thanks to Wright's powerful healing ability, the Marines who went into battle under his command had maintained an almost zero-casualty record for two years—something unprecedented in the past.

But that led to another problem—countless Marines tried every possible way to join Wright's command and go on missions with him... In short, Wright had become the golden ticket for the lower and middle ranks of the entire G3 Branch, even Marine Headquarters. People from Headquarters were also doing everything they could to transfer into G3 Branch and join Wright's command!

In the waters around G3 Branch, Wright was patrolling alongside Garp's warship.

"This won't do, Old Man Garp." By now, Garp barely reacted when Wright called him that—habit was truly terrifying. "G3 Branch probably hasn't been this popular since the day it was founded. Even when you, the Marine Hero, personally held down the fort, it was never this outrageous!"

"Ahahaha!" Garp wore his Dog Head Hat and grinned broadly. "With things like this, everyone with connections or without them is pulling strings to get into G3 Branch. Aren't they all coming for you? And that's after this old man blocked plenty of them!"

"What can I do if I'm that popular? I'm desperate too!" Wright said helplessly. "I can't just watch my subordinates get injured or even die when I clearly have the ability to help, can I?"

Garp curled his lip. "Who knew that damned Holy Light Fruit of yours would be so powerful? The cost of healing injuries is too low, and it's too fast. Most importantly, as long as they still have a breath left, you can save them. It's unheard of!"

"None of the other known healing-type Fruits can produce such outrageous results. For ordinary Marines, going into battle with you is like carrying a life-saving charm..." Garp leaned close to Wright, his smile gradually turning lecherous. "I heard lots of beautiful female officers at Headquarters are interested in you. Want this old man to introduce you to a few?"

"No!" Wright shoved Garp's huge face away. "That's just how my ability works. What am I supposed to do, blame me?"

"Yes, it is your problem," Garp nodded. "If you could spread that light of yours like a Den Den Mushi, would any of this still be happening—"

"How could that possibly... be..." Wright looked disgusted, but before he could finish, something suddenly came to mind—the applications of Holy Light Power.

Holy Light Power was a miraculous force. It could be used for offense, defense, healing, and even manifested to forge weapons—his saber, Ashes, was one such weapon.

After years of continuously infusing it with Holy Light Power, Ashes was vastly different from how it had been at the start. The long blade had gradually lost its metallic texture and become something like a semi-energy construct, even taking on an obvious illusory quality—yet it was sharper and sturdier than ever, capable of slicing through hair blown against its edge!

This phenomenon was one application of Holy Light Power—Light-Forging.

By combining Holy Light Power with intense spiritual will, one could bestow the properties of Holy Light upon an object. Ashes was an evolvable, exclusive Light-Forged weapon imbued with the characteristics of Holy Light!

Ashes required such painstaking effort because it possessed all three characteristics of Holy Light—offense, defense, and recovery. And as an exclusive weapon capable of growth, it had to be refined to the utmost, with every effort spared.

But what if—he found a small medium and imbued it with only a tiny amount of Holy Light Power, possessing healing ability alone, enough to preserve someone's life at a critical moment? That should be much simpler.

In this era, the medical resources equipped on Marine warships were still quite formidable. Warships even had dedicated blood stores for transfusions and treating severely injured Marines!

Therefore, if they could solve the problem of severe and fatal injuries that ship doctors could not handle in time, or could not treat due to limited conditions, merely achieving the effect of "keeping someone alive"—ensuring the injured did not die and could hold on until the ship doctor treated them or they returned to base—would save a life!

At worst, injuries that doctors could not heal could be gathered together periodically, and Wright could personally treat them with his powerful Holy Light Power!

This would not only solve the awkward problem of Wright being unable to split himself up and handle everything personally, while other doctors had nothing to do whenever he did; it could also be promoted throughout the entire Marine force, preserving the lives of vast numbers of severely injured, dying Marines. Once those Marines recovered, the terror and shock of facing death would forge them into even tougher warriors!

It could even serve as relief supplies and play an enormous role when aiding civilians harmed by pirates. Ordinary civilians did not possess the Marines' strong constitutions—moderately serious injuries could cost them their lives!

It would be a boundless merit!

Garp watched Wright trail off and freeze in place, his eyes flickering as an unsteady golden halo shimmered around him. Was his excitement causing his ability to slip out of control?

"Wright, boy! What's wrong?" Garp put away his joking expression and asked sternly.

"..."

After standing there dazed for a while, Wright slowly came back to himself, and the halo around him vanished. "Old Man Garp, I think I may have thought of something that could affect the entire Marine force to some extent... perhaps even the overall situation."

Garp raised a brow. "Is it important? Is it dangerous?"

"No, it isn't dangerous, but it's only a preliminary idea for now. I need to experiment further. Once this succeeds..." Wright looked up at Garp, whose expression had turned uncertain. "Not only can it resolve G3 Branch's current troubles, it can give every Marine an extra life!"

"!"

This time, Garp was truly stunned. Had that casual remark of his just now...

"You really came up with a healing method like a Den Den Mushi? This old man was only speaking offhandedly!"

Wright said seriously, "It isn't as exaggerated as what you said, but without that random remark of yours, I would never have thought of such a solution that was practically right in front of me."

"On that point alone, I must thank you, Old Man Garp, on behalf of the Marines, civilians, and all companions fighting for justice who will benefit from this in the future!"

"..."

After returning to the branch base, Garp, now aware of Wright's plan, gave him the fullest possible cooperation. He gathered all kinds of materials that might serve as a medium for Wright to test. The requirements were: cheap, abundant, preferably capable of artificial synthesis, small in size or able to be cut without losing its properties, environmentally stable, and relatively sturdy.

With those basic conditions met, Wright would then test their Light-Forging compatibility with healing-type Holy Light Power, selecting the most suitable material to create an entirely new strategic resource!

"If my idea can truly be realized," Wright said to Garp with a smile, "maybe I can borrow that Hero title of yours too, old man?"

Bang!

"..."

Thanks for everyone's support. I received a recommendation notice, so it looks like this book won't flop immediately... The fourth update will be at 20:30. Thanks to the fans for their rewards, everyone for their recommendation votes, and all the big shots who bookmarked this book!