Kureha (Extra Chapter Thanks to a Big-Supporter Reward)

Drum Island, Big Horn Village.

"The consultation fee is one-quarter of your family's assets."

Kureha casually tossed her stethoscope into her medical kit, the bottles and jars clinking together to produce a crisp sound. Crossing her legs and sitting in a chair, she gulped down half a bottle of shochu.

"Are you robbing us?!"

"What kind of lousy doctor is this?! You're just a money-grubbing old hag!"

"You're already 120 years old and still this cold-hearted, watch out or you won't die a good death!"

The friends of the patient's parents instantly exploded, pointing at Kureha's nose and cursing bitterly.

The little girl lying on the bed had a complexion as pale as paper, her breath hanging by a thread. She forced her eyes open and looked at Kureha:

"Doctor... thank you... I feel a lot better..."

Kureha made an OK gesture, grinned, and revealed a row of neat white teeth:

"I've received your tip, and I'm very satisfied."

The girl's parents exchanged a glance, squeezing extremely fawning smiles onto their faces. The man shook with both hands as he handed over a heavy, bulging money bag:

"Thank you very much, Doctor, for saving her life..."

In their lowered eyes, there was only malice and resentment.

They had never intended to save this money-losing daughter in the first place, figuring that once she died, they could just give birth to a son. Now, as it stood, they had lost a quarter of their family's assets for nothing.

Kureha snatched the money bag, hoisted it onto her shoulder, pushed open the door, and strode out into the swirling snow, quickly turning into a blurry black dot in the snowy landscape.

Inside the house, the smiles on the parents' faces instantly vanished. They viciously glared at the daughter on the bed, and walked into the neighboring room without saying a word.

Soon, the sound of smashing objects and curses of mutual recrimination filtered out through the thin wooden partition.

When Kureha braved the wind and snow to reach her front door, she found that a silver-haired young man had already been waiting there for a long time.

A thick layer of snow had fallen on him, making him look almost like a snowman, yet he still stood as straight as a pine tree rooted in the snow.

"I'd like to ask you to give me a physical examination."

Lucas stepped forward, brushing the accumulated snow from his shoulders. "But before that, I'd like to ask you a question first: how much do you know about Lineage Factor?"

This was the issue he cared about the most.

"16 years ago, a punk named Vegapunk published a paper on Lineage Factor."

Kureha pulled out a key and inserted it into the keyhole. "I took an afternoon to read it through. It's more than enough for treating illnesses."

"Click."

The door opened in response.

The corner of Lucas's twitched.

Vegapunk... a punk?

He froze for a moment, then immediately came to his senses. The person in front of him was already 119 years old this year, while Vegapunk was only 45.

In her eyes, let alone Vegapunk, even Garp and Sengoku were probably just a bunch of wet-behind-the-ears kids.

Thinking about it this way, that title didn't seem incorrect at all.

He reined in his thoughts and walked into the house.

To his surprise, the dilapidated exterior of the wooden cabin concealed a high-tech medical office inside.

Various precision medical instruments were neatly arranged on shelves, and a small generator in the corner hummed softly, supplying electricity.

"Some medicines must be made using electricity."

Kureha casually offered an explanation, pointing to the cot in the corner of the room,

"Lie down. Take off your clothes."

Lucas followed her instructions. Over the next few hours, Kureha used various instruments whose names he didn't know to give him a comprehensive examination.

Lucas didn't hide anything either, laying out his special physique, the abilities of the Vampire-Vampire Fruit, and the fact that he had absorbed Airey's lightning Lineage Factor point by point.

It wasn't that he didn't want to hide it; lying to a doctor when seeking medical treatment was undoubtedly irresponsible to oneself.

He believed Kureha wouldn't go around spreading the information.

As the sun set in the west, the final ray of sunlight spilled through the window into the room.

Kureha took off her glasses and wiped the mist off them.

"I have good news and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?"

"The good news."

"The good news is, you're not going to die." Kureha poured herself a drink and said leisurely,

"Your physique is very special. The second Lineage Factor you've now integrated has exceptionally good compatibility with your main body, and you can continue developing it without any problems.

According to my tests, you can absorb the Lineage Factor of at most one more Devil Fruit."

"The premise is that it cannot be a Zoan, it cannot be a Logia, and those Paramecias that alter body morphology won't work either.

Otherwise, your Lineage Factor will directly collapse, and not even the gods will be able to save you then."

"Then what's the bad news?"

"The bad news is that your life energy is too active, and it has already rewritten your genetic material."

Kureha took a sip of alcohol, her eyes looking at him with a hint of playful amusement,

"The women who sleep with you—their Lineage Factors will be optimized by your genetic material, making them younger and stronger. But they won't give birth to children for you, unless their Lineage Factors are optimized to the point of touching the racial barrier."

Lucas's expression turned somewhat peculiar.

Why did he feel... that both of these were good news?

Racial barrier...

That should be the upper limit of an individual's might for that race.

If that was the case, then whether he had children or not didn't matter at all.

"I have one last question." Lucas sat up, put his clothes back on,

"Since I can only accommodate one more Lineage Factor, can I extract the other Lineage Factors I absorb afterward?"

If this operation was feasible, it would mean he had mastered a divine skill—allowing Devil Fruits to be reborn on the spot.

"Yes."

Kureha answered cleanly and decisively, then reached out and rubbed her fingers together:

"But that costs extra. The technology for extracting and separating Lineage Factors is very expensive, you know."

Lucas pulled a bulging money bag from his backpack, tossed it casually, and it landed precisely in Kureha's arms.

"Inside here is the consultation fee from just now, plus the tuition. Is it enough?"

Kureha opened the money bag and glanced inside, her eyes instantly lighting up. She weighed the money bag in her hand, nodded in satisfaction, and said:

"Enough. Starting tomorrow, come over for class at nine every morning."

Over the next month, Lucas stayed in Big Horn Village.

Every early morning, he would practice one thousand sword swings in the knee-deep snow until his sweat soaked his clothes and froze into a layer of ice shell on the outside.

In the afternoon, he would go to Kureha's place to learn everything about Lineage Factors.

Kureha's teaching style was just like her person—brutally direct, yet extremely effective.

Lucas's talent was already exceptionally high, and in just a month, he had completely mastered Lineage Factor identification and separation technology, as well as how to alter Zoan transformation wavelengths.

April 15, 1521 of the Sea Circular Calendar.

Late at night, pitch-black darkness shrouded Drum Island, with only the howling sound of wind and snow echoing between heaven and earth.

Lucas carried a simple backpack on his back and bid farewell to Kureha.

"Get lost." Kureha leaned against the door frame, waving her hand. "Don't go dying outside in the future, and don't expose your abilities carelessly. Not everyone has the secret to eternal youth like I do."

"I'll remember that."

Lucas turned and walked into the wind and snow, holding a bag of fresh fruit in his hand.

TO BE CONTINUED

(PS: Only just realized the time was wrong. 41 minus 20 should be 21, and I've corrected the earlier parts too. My math-death came early.

I admit I was a little lazy, using the familiar golden finger again.)