"You've really got me! Surface your back, and I'll help you remove the harpoon from your back!"
Vic was somewhat helpless. If you don't choose to kill it, you have to choose to help it, otherwise this guy might really keep following you.
As if it could understand Vic's words, the dolphin quickly lay down to expose its injured back, which was covered with more than a dozen thick iron spearguns, each seven or eight meters long, clearly used for hunting large fish.
With a leap, Vic landed on the back of the giant White Sea. Vic took out Allen, cut off the barbed tips of the harpoons that had pierced the dolphin's body, and then pulled it out—the least painful way possible.
Only a few spearguns were pierced through like this; the rest were directly embedded in the dolphin's body, with only the tail end with the rope sticking out. Vic didn't choose to pull them out directly, but instead used his Ryuo and Mind Power to sense the depth and position of the spearhead.
Observation Haki has difficulty sensing what's inside a living organism, as if it's being interfered with or its contents are being blocked.
Vic used Allen to slice open the side of the harpoon with the barbs, creating a passage that would allow the barbs to come out smoothly.
Although it would hurt, Allen was very sharp, and the pain was only momentary. He cut the channel and immediately pulled out the harpoon. In that short time, the dolphin's body didn't even have time to fully react. This was much gentler than directly pulling the harpoon out.
Although the process was still painful, the dolphin seemed to understand that the human was helping it, and it did not struggle or thrash its body, allowing Vic to do as he pleased.
"Alright, all the harpoons have been removed from your body. You're free!"
Vic put away the last harpoon, patted the dolphin on the back, and said, "If the harpoon had remained in its body for a long time, it might have died. But now that it's been removed, it can heal its wounds on its own. The rest is up to its own fate."
"Goodbye!"
Vic stood at the bow of the boat, waved to the dolphin, and then jumped into the sea to continue swimming. The dolphin raised its body and nodded to Vic before disappearing into the sea.
Vic didn't care. He was under a lot of pressure. He had promised Rebecca and the others that he would keep Wendy safe and sound, and he would have to break his promise if anything happened to Wendy.
However, after swimming for only fifteen minutes, Vic noticed the huge white dorsal fin reappearing beside the boat. The giant dolphin had returned to him. Vic wasn't in the mood to deal with it now; as long as it didn't cause trouble, he would just let it be.
However, the dolphin didn't stay by the boat the whole time. Sometimes it would swim to the water ahead and wait for Vic, and sometimes it would circle around Vic and the boat. Anyway, it didn't affect Vic pulling the boat. Every time it swam past Vic, it would call out to Vic a few times, as if reminding him of something.
You mean you can help me pull the boat?
After several attempts, Vic finally figured something out. The dolphin beside him was trying to tell him that it was faster in the water and could help him pull the boat. It wasn't some bratty kid showing off in front of him. It could tell that Vic was in a hurry. It had never seen a human pull a boat before and wanted to repay its savior.
When the dolphin stopped, Vic nodded and made noises, a hint of a smile faintly visible in his large eyes.
Vic was happy that the dolphin was willing to help. The dolphin was indeed much faster than him in the water, and he could also completely extricate himself to take good care of Wendy, which was a great help.
Vic didn't stand on ceremony with the dolphin. He untied the ropes from his waist, took out another bundle of rope, and wrapped it around the front part of the dolphin's body, then tied the ropes he had taken from his body to the loops on both sides of the dolphin's body, like a saddle on a carriage, so as not to affect the dolphin's swimming and balance.
"Thank you, just keep going in a straight line in this direction."
Vic tied the rope, took out the Eternal Pose to check it, and then pointed it in a direction for the dolphin.
This dolphin is really smart; it can understand what Vic says and swims directly in the direction Vic points, much faster than Vic.
"With it here, rescuing it just now wasn't a waste of time, and it even shortened the time to Drum Island. It's like losing one thing and gaining another. We're lucky!"
A smile appeared on Vic's face. He casually tossed the giant, now back to human form, into the sea, and then a strange fruit with spiral patterns appeared in his hand.
It looks somewhat like a cantaloupe, but below the stem, there are two pillar-like objects of the same size attached to the two sides of the main fruit. Vic took a closer look.
"Is this the giant Zoan -Zoan Gorilla Fruit? It looks a bit unusual. Do ordinary Zoan Devil Fruit grow two arms? Oh well, I'm not going to eat it, why bother with this!"
Vic flipped his hand and stored the Devil Fruit in his Alternate Dimensional Space, then took out a towel to wipe the water off his body.
This has definitively confirmed that the unknown conditions under which the Alternate Dimensional Space can isolate the transfer of Devil Fruit have been eliminated, allowing abilities to be reborn only by randomly selecting one fruit within the Alternate Dimensional Space. This is something that Vic should be happy about; he now has two Devil Fruit within his Alternate Dimensional Space, making him quite wealthy.
Vic dried himself off and took off the last piece of clothing covering his body at the bow of the boat. He then changed into dry underwear and put back on his original clothes. After all, there was only a dolphin pulling the boat and an unconscious girl there now.
Although the girl before was a bit frivolous, the girl who was unconscious was definitely serious. Vic sat on the bow of the boat for a while, enjoying the sea breeze, and casually named the dolphin "Little Xiaobai. "Xiaobai seemed to like it very much, as its calls were exceptionally loud.
After naming the boat, Vic didn't stay at the bow. He had only been feeding Wendy a few mouthfuls of soup when he was interrupted, so he was going to start over. He also wanted to make something nice for Little Xiaobai. He couldn't just let Xiaobai run around in the sea without giving Xiaobai barbecue. Vic wasn't a miser.
Before long, Vic fed the roasted Sea Kings meat to Xiaobai. Xiaobai ate with great relish; its body was too big, and the piece of meat was just a snack. However, Xiaobai was very satisfied with the taste of the barbecue, and its speed in pulling the boat increased significantly.
After feeding the Xiaobai, Vic took the soup he had prepared and went into the bedroom. Wendy was still unconscious, with an ice pack still on her head.
Vic sat on the edge of the bed with the soup in his hand, and put Wendy's hand, which had somehow slipped out of the blanket, back under it. He then placed his palm on Wendy's face to check her temperature; it was stable and hadn't risen any further.
"I just rescued a giant dolphin from a group of pirates, and surprisingly, it offered to help us pull the ship. I named it Xiaobai."
Xiaobai is very perceptive. Now I'm completely free to take care of you. Actually, it's not really taking care of you, just changing the ice packs and feeding you some soup. You've been unconscious, so there's nothing else I can do..."
While feeding Wendy soup, Vic rambled on in a way that people in this world could understand.
After feeding Wendy the soup, Vic took out a napkin and wiped the remaining soup stains from her lips. After cleaning up the bowl and spoon, Vic sat down to meditate next to Wendy to prevent any unusual reactions from Wendy.
However, Vic would wake up periodically to check if the direction Xiaobai was pulling the boat had deviated. Xiaobai did not disappoint Vic, swimming in the direction Vic indicated, as if it had a fixed location in its mind.