Ship's Doctor Ares

What followed was a one-sided slaughter. Brian knelt on the ground, watching his men get killed one after another. Most of them were already fleeing in panic. Who still cared about him, their captain?

His once-loyal subordinates had no time to worry about their half-dead captain when their own lives were at stake.

"Hey, take a good look. What gave you the nerve to kill my companions?" Rogge grabbed one of Brian's fingers and twisted hard, snapping it clean off.

"Aah!" Brian screamed.

"Don't worry, this isn't over yet." Rogge clenched his hand, crushing the finger in his palm. Blood sprayed from between his fingers.

The seven-thousand-strong pirate crew had lost all its officers. How could the remaining leaders dare stay? Once the first person ran, everyone else followed.

Soon, only several hundred corpses remained. Everyone else had fled without a trace.

"That was hardly satisfying." Jelly returned with his blood-dripping saber, wiping the blood from his face.

"Forget it. We got to vent, at least. It was boring." Ham returned to his original form. Blood—his enemies' blood—continued dripping from both his fists.

"Ares." Cook, who had also been blinded by rage, walked over to Ares's body and reached out to turn him over.

"I'm not dead yet."

"What?" Cook jumped in fright. Looking down, he saw Ares, who had been lying on the ground, pushing himself to his feet with both hands.

"What are you...?" Cook stared wide-eyed at the standing Ares.

"Good thing I always carry blood packs with me. Otherwise, I couldn't have fooled those people." Ares shook his hand and tossed a transparent bag onto the ground. There was still plenty of blood inside.

"Luckily, I dodged the moment he struck me. To fool him, I crushed the blood pack I had on me and smeared the blood on his weapon. I even fooled you." Ares smiled.

"You bastard! Hahaha, but that was well done. I didn't expect you to have a trick like that." Cook laughed and cursed.

"I learned it from all sorts of people in prison. I didn't learn much else, but I did pick up plenty of tricks for deceiving people," Ares said.

Rogge, Jelly, and Ham stared at Ares curiously. They had not expected him to still be alive. Rogge looked at Brian, whose arms had been torn off and legs broken by him, and suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

"Um, sorry. I didn't expect you to be this useless." Rogge let go.

Brian was furious enough to die. His eyes shifted toward Ares. He had not even managed to kill one person and had been fooled by such a crude trick. Thinking of that, Brian spat out a mouthful of blood.

He had been angered to death. The mighty overlord of the West Blue, a pirate with a bounty of seventy-seven million Beli, had been angered to death on the spot.

"Dead?" Rogge looked at Brian, whose eyes were wide open and who was no longer breathing, in surprise.

"With such a weak temper, tsk tsk." Jelly walked over and shook his head.

Rogge drew a pistol from his waist. He carried both a dagger and a pistol at his side, and having two weapons on hand did have its benefits. He raised the gun and aimed it at Brian's head.

Bang!

"As expected of our captain. Even now, he still won't let him go," Ham said with a laugh.

"No, I'm worried this guy might try the same trick. From now on, I think we should always finish someone off after killing them." Rogge smiled as he put away his pistol, then turned his gaze toward Ares.

Ares felt a chill run through him under Rogge's gaze. At the same time, he had not expected Rogge and the others to be so strong.

When Ares had fallen, he had assumed Rogge's group would be killed. Although Cook had once saved his life, there was no reason for him to throw away his own life for Cook. So he had planned to fake his death and slip through it.

He had not expected Rogge and the others to be so formidable. They had erupted into action and taken Brian down in an instant, crushing the Bloodhand Pirates, who numbered seven thousand.

Ares knew he could not hesitate. If he did not make his stance clear now, he would probably be the next one to die. He immediately said, "You came to find me because you wanted to invite me into your pirate crew, right?"

"That's right. We still need a ship's doctor. Ares, come with us to the Grand Line," Cook said, patting Ares on the shoulder.

"Okay, okay." With Rogge, Jelly, and Ham all staring at him, how could Ares dare refuse? His instincts told him that if he refused, his fate would be miserable.

"Hahaha, welcome to the Asura Pirates." Rogge laughed loudly as he walked over and shook Ares's hand.

Jelly could not help commenting, "Asura Pirates? That sounds so lame."

"Shut up." Rogge turned and glared at him.

"Asura Pirates, haha, it's a pretty good name. Asura hell—it has a lot of presence," Ares said with a forced smile.

"Right, right, exactly. That was what I meant from the start. Brother, I think highly of you." Rogge happily patted Ares on the shoulder.

Ares forced an ugly smile as Rogge's pats landed with thump thump sounds, gritting his teeth and enduring them.

"By the way, what abilities do you have?" Rogge asked Ares.

"Just medical skills," Ares said.

"Just medical skills? You don't have any combat ability at all? Are you going to play dead every time there's a fight?" Rogge asked curiously.

Ares immediately waved his hands. "I can poison people too. Look at my hands. When I was experimenting with poisons, my body became immune to all toxins, but my hands were corroded by poison. My hands themselves are poisonous weapons."

Rogge looked at Ares's gloved hands and motioned for him to show them.

Ares did not hide it. He took off his gloves. They were long, reaching up to his elbows. Once he pulled them off, his hands were revealed to be a purplish-black, looking incredibly eerie. Even his fingernails were black.

"Tsk tsk, you won't poison us when you're preparing medicine, will you?" Rogge instinctively sensed danger and took a step back as he looked at Ares.

"It won't happen as long as I wear gloves. But my own combat ability isn't very strong," Ares said.

"All right, I was only joking. We have a ship's doctor now. Brothers, all we still lack is a ship, and the Bloodhand Pirates have one ready-made," Rogge said.

"That'll save us a lot of time. I only need to make a few modifications," Cook said.

"I want a training room." Rogge raised his hand.

"Make the kitchen nice for me," Jelly said.

"I want a study," Ham said.

"If possible, I'd like a separate medical room," Ares said cautiously.

Cook looked at the four of them for a long moment, then turned his back to them. "Got it. But leave some room. I want an aquarium."