Second Victory

Chapter 043: Second Victory

Leo coughed twice, and the celebrating pirates quieted down with surprising speed.

Clearly, fifteen days of training had almost conditioned them into reflexes; they quieted down and obeyed Leo's commands without him needing to shout.

"Did I say you were dismissed! Anyone who doesn't go collect ten lashes after the battle will be punished!" Leo's words made the quiet deck even quieter. They were instantly pulled from the excitement of victory back to reality. A chill ran down their spines as they knew those ten lashes wouldn't be easy to endure.

But even so, their faces still held expressions of excitement and joy. Under the stimulation of the magic potion called victory, the so-called punishment and pain were insignificant.

They had defeated the Marines, proven themselves, and it was as if they had transformed from mere underlings into elites.

"Now, the first five rows will tie up those Marines, and the rest will start treating the wounded! Prepare medical supplies!" Leo commanded loudly and decisively.

"Yes!" The pirates, shaking off their previous excitement, shouted back.

As they dispersed, even though they only used a small portion of their forces to tie up the Marines, the Marines' morale had already hit rock bottom. It was difficult for even one out of ten to be willing to pick up a sword and fight; most of the others had been scared witless and lost the strength to resist.

This was the inevitable outcome for soldiers in traditional feudal cold weapon eras. Although the Marines now had the rudiments of a modern navy, as Leo had said, the concepts of a modern navy were inherently conflicting. They had the very modern desire to surround ordinary civilians, but they were constantly frustrated by local kings and powerful figures who repeatedly thwarted this desire.

They considered themselves righteous, but sometimes, in order to hunt pirates, they had to repeatedly deny their own righteousness.

Figures like Fujitora, Aokiji, and Vice Admiral Sauro were all high-ranking individuals who harbored doubts. Further down were Smoker, Koby, and many others who doubted the Marines' justice.

Leo believed that the lower you went, the more people doubted this justice.

Because the higher you went, the darker your actions became, the more ruthless you had to be, and the more you had to act on things you wouldn't normally even consider. Many people couldn't take that step; even with ability and combat power, they were unable to get promoted.

The most obvious example was Smoker.

It was precisely because he was so lost between justice and the actions of the Marines that he was reassigned to a small town in the East Blue to clear his head.

There were many like Smoker in the Marines...

Leo believed that the justice in most Marines' hearts was the same as his own.

However, before defeating the opponent, he hadn't considered trying to persuade them, because his understanding of the One Piece World was very clear.

That is, the opponent wouldn't listen to you before you defeated them.

The two sides were not fundamentally debating ideologies, but a struggle for position and life. Only the winner had the right to lecture the loser, and the loser had no right to say anything.

This was the order of the pirate world.

It was like how after Luffy defeated Crocodile, Luffy's words were considered during the Summit War.

This was how one "convinced people with virtue (power)" – the rules of the pirate world.

"Masked, come help out." Iska was, of course, unique. Ace carried her towards Masked. Among so many people, Masked's medical skills were clearly the best, so it was natural for him to have Masked treat Iska.

The other Marines didn't fare as well.

Even though these pirates prepared medical supplies and some pirates dragged them aside to bandage them, many still bled to death.

Other Marines had already had their internal organs or heads shattered by bullets and couldn't be saved.

The Marines who could still be saved were better off if they had penetrating wounds; those with bullets lodged in their bodies were the real trouble.

Although Leo had taught them how to perform surgery, how could they dare? Shooting people and killing with swords was one thing, but cutting open the bodies of those who couldn't resist was another.

Regardless, the situation was still too terrifying for them.

What the pirates could do was, according to the Battlefield First Aid Manual compiled by Leo, tie up the opponent's blood vessels with clean cloth strips, then plug the wound, change the strips every few hours, loosen the tie-off to restore blood vessel function, and repeat the process.

Don't underestimate these simple steps; they could save many lives on the battlefield.

Although the pirates had come to believe Leo's words, they were still confused and doubtful about this matter. Could people really be saved from their injuries with something so simple?

Don't look down on this thing just because it's simple; this was the experience gained from countless deaths in Earth's World War I and II. Combined with the ridiculously strong physiques of everyone in the One Piece World, as long as the bleeding was stopped at the time, not many people should die afterward... probably.

Leo wasn't sure about this, but he had to act like he knew what he was doing. In any case, it would be much better than their survival rate without any treatment.

As for those who had been shot in the body.

Leo had no choice but to reluctantly take matters into his own hands.

However, he would ask anyone who was conscious: "There's a possibility of death if I operate, but if I don't, your leg will have to be amputated." The toxicity of lead bullets was no simple matter; if they remained lodged in the body, the person would die quickly. If they weren't removed, it was also a dead end, and the only way to remove them now was amputation. As for the bullets still inside the body, there was truly no solution.

Most of the Marines chose amputation. The thought of the opponent's blade cutting into their own bodies made everyone's hair stand on end; they'd rather just amputate.

The Marine surgeons could perform amputations themselves; Leo didn't need to do it.

As for the truly few individuals who had been shot in the body, they could only choose to let Leo cut them open to remove the bullets.

This surgery was witnessed by everyone, including the captives. It couldn't be called a surgical environment at all, but when Leo dug out several bullets, everyone burst into applause, as if it were another victory.

Regardless of whether the Marine survived, they had witnessed the birth of a miracle.

That is, a person wouldn't die after their body was cut open; only if the internal organs were damaged was death possible!

Leo tossed the blood-soaked cloth strips onto the deck and began to stitch them up with needle and thread.

No matter what, he had done his best...

Without absorbent cotton or hemostatic forceps, in this extremely primitive surgery, he avoided numerous blood vessels and vital points, removing the bullets. Whether they lived or not ultimately depended on how strong the life force of the people in this world truly was...

PS: Found it