--Night · Lucifer's Glory-operating room.
The operating room was fully enclosed, with no natural light at all. Under cover of night, Kuma the Tyrant had brought his adopted daughter, Jewelry Bonney, aboard.
Rooms without natural light on this Airship were not particularly suitable for living in. For now, however, the plan was to have Bonney stay in the lounge outside the operating room.
Sephiroth honestly felt that Kuma was far too willing to trust other people. They had only spoken briefly, and he already felt this reassured? Was Sephiroth's reputation really that good now!?
--So wondered Sephiroth, utterly oblivious to the fact that he had been using his extraordinary productivity to provide aid all over the world.
"Say, Mr. Kuma."
Sephiroth looked at the child clinging to Kuma's calf, bundled up so tightly that only her eyes showed.
"Is she your daughter?"
Even though he knew her background, this was completely different from Rebecca's situation. He could not let on that he knew the inside story.
Mainly because Kuma was powerful. If Kuma misunderstood him, Sephiroth would not be able to handle it. At best, they would end up in a messy stalemate: Kuma chasing him while he fled, and Sephiroth attacking whenever Kuma stopped.
"Yes, Mr. Sephiroth. I've heard that you've saved many people with terminal illnesses. I hope you can help Bonney... she has blue jade scales disease."
After contracting this disease, the patient's body would gradually turn blue, and their skin would become as hard as scales. Exposure to natural light accelerated its progression. It was a terminal illness with no chance of survival.
"I'll do my best. Let's examine her first."
With Kuma's encouragement, a slightly nervous Bonney took off her hooded coat, revealing her pink hair. She wore a white dress and looked about five years old. Scattered blue, scale-like crystals had already appeared on her arms.
"Are you the Angel~?"
Bonney was a little shy around strangers, but she adapted quite quickly and seemed rather lively.
"Yes, I'm an angel (a Devil Fruit User), all right."
Though the comparison was a little inappropriate, it reminded Sephiroth of Oripathy, which someone from a certain smelly-feet forum had mentioned in his previous life.
Sephiroth rested his hand on Bonney's, linking their bioelectric currents. Bonney felt a slight sensation, much like an electric shock.
The actual sensation was similar to that produced by a medical device called a Daoping therapeutic instrument in the Celestial Empire of the Blue Star.
They chatted easily, and Sephiroth answered some of Bonney's childish questions.
"...Hmm, this is a little complicated."
He would not dare claim he could cure a terminal illness unique to this world. His previous so-called cures for terminal illnesses had mainly relied on applications of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit to bioelectricity.
The way he had achieved this was rather cruel: he had experimented on living pirate prisoners guilty of the most heinous crimes.
Sephiroth's Devil Fruit development was mainly grounded in knowledge from his previous life and over a decade of study in this one, with practical experience gained by reproducing this world's technology. Human experimentation was another form of development.
Still, even if these people had done things no different from the Anglo-Saxon bandits of Blue Star's Age of Exploration in his previous life-or worse, even-that did not change the fact that what Sephiroth was doing was pretty inhumane.
He was not deceiving himself, either. Personally, he did feel a little uncomfortable, but he had more or less thrown up his hands. Whatever. This is what I'm doing.
He used these people to test the body's various responses to bioelectric stimulation through brute-force trial and error.
One of the results he had piled up human lives to achieve was the ability to activate the immune system within safe limits, and even induce a controlled cytokine storm.
Some terminal illnesses had healed themselves while the immune system went on a rampage. Sephiroth had merely provided a little targeted assistance in the process.
"Good. It can be treated, but it'll take time. Laki, you can take her to get something to eat."
The examination ended, and so did the treatment, in a sense. Bonney said she felt a little itchy, and the crystals on her body shed a small amount of powder.
Before Kuma could celebrate, he caught Sephiroth's meaningful look, and his heart tightened. This was not the first time he had seen that expression on a doctor's face.
Only after Laki had taken Bonney away did Sephiroth speak to Kuma.
"As I thought, its nature is very similar to a congenital genetic disorder."
As far as he knew, Vegapunk was the only person who could treat this terminal illness using lineage factor technology.
In fact, a year later, Kuma would turn to Vegapunk because he had exhausted all other options. The Five Elders would overhear their conversation and use it to blackmail him into joining the Shichibukai.
Coincidentally, meeting Kuma today had also reminded Sephiroth that the World Government agent in the Mechanical Kingdom was not Kalifa using an alias, as he had guessed. Her name really was Alpha, and the two were twin sisters.
The main reason was that Alpha had only appeared briefly in the original story, where she was responsible for watching Jewelry Bonney and preventing her from meeting Kuma. He had not remembered her right away.
Seriously... do all you agents like infiltrating places under your real names? Aren't you afraid of ending up in some "secret agent infiltration gone wrong" scenario?
"Mr. Sephiroth... is there nothing you can do, either...?"
"It's mainly on the genetic level that I can't help. But by manipulating her metabolism, I can still slow the deterioration considerably."
Still, Sephiroth suspected that Vegapunk was not their only option for saving Bonney. It might simply require a lot of people working together... If we all join forces, surely we can match one Vegapunk...
"...That's still wonderful-thank you so much, Your Majesty Sephiroth."
With that, Kuma dropped to his knees with a thud, tears filling his eyes.
"Please don't, Mr. Kuma. You're a king yourself, and my fee isn't exactly low."
To put it bluntly, Sephiroth thought Kuma was something of a pushover, but morally speaking, he truly was a good man.
Thanks to using the Rumble-Rumble Fruit to cheat at strengthening his body, Sephiroth currently had physical abilities roughly on the level of a Holy Knight-in other words, one of the Four Priests from the original Sky Island arc. Since they were not competing in strength, he managed to help the kneeling Kuma up.
But the height difference was so absurd that his efforts had limited effect. It was mostly because Kuma saw what Sephiroth was trying to do that he stood up sheepishly.
As for height, Sephiroth was actually quite satisfied. Most people in this world were of normal height. He was perfectly happy being 186 centimeters tall.
To put it plainly, aside from the giant-sized characters, there were only Yamato at 263 centimeters, the Empress at 191, and Robin at 188. The other [major female] characters were all under 174 centimeters. If he really tried to grow taller than Yamato and reached 270 centimeters...
(Besides, let me ask you this: if you're too tall, how are you supposed to go for taller women!)
--Come to think of it, had Kuma really been this softhearted four years ago?
Sephiroth only retained a few basic impressions. He really could not remember the details.
"How much is your fee? I'll make sure to get the money together."
"No, what I actually need is your strength in combat. And if the operation goes smoothly, we might even be able to cure Bonney completely."
"Is that really true-!?"
Kuma was truly excited. He wanted to take Sephiroth's hand, but considering their difference in size, he made only a few hesitant movements, looking at him with excitement in his eyes.
"...First, I should tell you that our target is Doflamingo."
After Sephiroth explained the truth behind Dressrosa, the kindhearted Kuma had no objection at all to making an enemy of Doflamingo.
"But what does that have to do with Bonney's illness?"
"That involves the people Doflamingo has persecuted."
Doflamingo had long enslaved the Tontatta of the Tontatta Kingdom, and their princess, Mansherry, was a Heal-Heal Fruit user.
[The Surgeon of Death-Trafalgar Law], who bore a grudge against Doflamingo for "killing his brother (father?)," was the captain of the Heart Pirates and an Op-Op Fruit user.
"If we get rid of Doflamingo, we can get help from those two. Of course, I won't deny that this benefits me too. I currently hold a nominal 'claim' to Dressrosa."
"I see."
Having learned the full story, Kuma thought it over. He felt that although someone like the Great Angel had his own interests, he did not seem to be a bad person.
"Once the Tontatta are freed, they'll most likely help us. The problem is that Law is hard to find."
Sephiroth explained that the man traveled in a submarine. All his limited intelligence network had learned was that Law was twenty this year and had founded his pirate crew four years ago. His whereabouts were unpredictable.
"If you have a better intelligence network, find him. As long as we're moving against Doflamingo, he'll most likely be willing to help. I'll have my people keep an eye out too."
Although he could not expect much combat power from Law at this age, the main concern was that Law might not come forward on his own after Doflamingo was dealt with. Finding him beforehand would be safer.
"Understood. I'll find a way to locate him."
"There are other people who can help too. But let me make this clear beforehand: don't go to Vegapunk unless there's absolutely no other choice. He's under close surveillance. If you go, you'll definitely be discovered."
"All right, I understand. Thank you for the warning."
The other people Sephiroth had mentioned were, first and foremost, two doctors.
The first was Crocus, the lighthouse keeper at Twin Cape and former ship's doctor of the Roger Pirates. The other was the witch of Drum Island, Dr. Kureha. Even if these two renowned doctors could not cure her, they should at least be able to contribute something useful.
(Kuma probably never found those two in the original story.)
Besides that, if they could obtain the lineage factor technology held by Germa or Caesar, then with so many people's abilities combined, even Vegapunk would be no match for them when it came to blue jade scales disease!
"You actually know where the former Pirate King's ship's doctor is living in retirement!?"
"Yes. I have a way to reach Dr. Crocus. I'll leave inviting Dr. Kureha to you, Kuma."
Of course, they would not summon them right away. They would make contact first, then gather everyone once Doflamingo had been dealt with.
"Caesar is still working under the World Government. Although he isn't watched as closely as Vegapunk, he's still difficult to approach. We'll have to start with Germa..."
"All right. Leave it to me."
Seriously, Kuma, you're so enthusiastic that I don't know what to say-Sephiroth.
Kuma truly would spare no cost to save Bonney. No wonder he had ended up with that fate later on.
"Then I'll say just one thing: when dealing with Germa, don't expect polite negotiations to work. Fight first, talk afterward. If you need my help, just say the word."
"All right. Thank you, Mr. Sephiroth."
Before you continue