Luffy had tested it.
There was a window between the start of a punishment and blowing the chamber.
Using his rubber nature, he could hold out for ten seconds.
During that span his mind went blank and his breathing turned ragged, from comfort at first to pain at the end. If he kept resisting, it was like an unlucky gunner whose cannon backfired on himself.
He had to hurry. If the arrow had to fly once on the string, that would be bad.
"Medical knowledge? Just for that?"
Seeing Luffy look like a debtor chased by a thug, Nami was angry and amused at once; her earlier fright and fury were blunted by the absurd request.
But the more she thought about it,
the angrier she got.
"I'm a navigator! A navigator! Not a ship's doctor!"
Her chest heaved, the thin camisole tracing graceful lines that rose and fell like wind-stirred waves.
Had she become Luffy's private tutor?
Pay the teaching fee first.
"Please, Nami!"
Every muscle in Luffy's body was taut.
The countdown siren in his head turned shriller, his face a shade paler.
Nami's heart softened. She pressed her fingers to her brow, helpless.
To be fair, he'd come to the right person.
She had stockpiled some medical knowledge to handle injuries and illnesses at sea. Otherwise, sailing alone, she'd have died on some deserted island.
And aside from her, no one on board seemed reliable.
"You win."
She sighed and, resigned, rummaged deep in her nightstand.
She pulled out a thick, yellowed, much-thumbed volume and slapped it into Luffy's hands. "Here. Seafarer's Practical Medical Handbook, East Blue Edition. It covers the most common sea illnesses and basic treatment. Memorize it and stop bothering me."
Luffy felt pardoned from death.
In his eyes, the heavy book might as well have been the Pirate King's treasure.
He clutched it to his chest; the twisted look on his face melted like snow, leaving pure, post-crisis relief.
"Nami, I love you!"
He hugged her in his excitement, then bolted to the only chair at her desk, threw the book open, and buried himself in it, muttering through the thorny drug names and symptom lists.
Nami looked at her own hand, then at Luffy, then back at her hand. What had she just touched?
Crisis averted.
Luffy flipped into forced-focus mode.
Did he understand what he was reading?
No.
But that didn't stop him from mouthing every word and ramming them into his head.
His mind had been empty; now it was being crammed full.
[ Through hard study, your medical knowledge has increased. Experience +3. ]
Experience?
Suddenly the points on the page made a little more sense.
Read more, learn more, practice more.
Could this make him Pirate King?
The Pirate King should be the freest man on the sea.
Doubt pricked him.
[ Warning: During medical-knowledge study… ]
He howled inside.
Fine, you win.
Maybe Pirate King wasn't what he'd imagined.
Without strength there is no freedom, so if you don't grind, how do you become Pirate King?
The room fell quiet except for the crackle of pages and the scratch of a pen.
Coming back to herself, Nami sat on the bed, staring at the figure hunched over her desk.
The monkey who usually bounced off the walls was now bent over in total concentration.
The whiplash of that contrast was stronger than any magnetic anomaly she'd charted.
Just then, she felt her shoulder strap slip.
She glanced down.
Bad.
That sudden sit-up and book toss had let one thin strap of her loose camisole slide down her smooth shoulder.
A pale swath spilled into view.
"Ah!"
She yelped, cheeks blazing hot, red enough to drip, and clapped a hand over the bared side of her chest, eyes flashing with shame and anger toward the culprit at the desk.
But Luffy didn't move, head nearly buried in the fat manual, oblivious to the scenery beside him.
That, in turn, made Nami pause.
A flicker of loss she didn't notice herself brushed her heart.
He really didn't look?
Was her charm no match for a flea-and-parasite plate in a book?
Damn that dense rubber idiot.
"Hmph." She snorted hard on purpose.
"Nami!" Luffy called suddenly.
"What?" Her face lit up before she could stop it.
"You can draw charts—can you draw human diagrams?"
The thought in his mind was sharpening. This stuff was actually useful.
"No." She balled her fist, fighting the urge to hit him.
She hastily tugged the strap back into place.
"Hey, idiot. I'm getting changed. You absolutely must not turn around. Got it?" Nami said.
"Okay." Luffy didn't lift his head.
Even if the most beautiful woman in the world stood before him soaked or in uniform, he'd just shove her aside and keep reading.
No one could stop him.
Watching him devour the book, that nameless fire mixed with a delicate frustration flared again in Nami's chest.
He really didn't see her as a woman at all.
She bit her lip and, in the end, could only give his back a small, aggrieved snort.
[ Through hard study, your medical knowledge has increased. Experience +3. ]
[ Continued… ]
Medical knowledge covered a lot: biology, human anatomy, medicine and surgery.
Heart, lungs, digestion, blood, and more.
Luffy began to think.
Garp had drilled one idea into him: even a dog wouldn't eat a Devil Fruit; only a strong body is truly strong.
That was why he had a foundation solid enough to survive on one hour of sleep a day.
An ordinary body, with relentless training, could reach Garp's level.
What if you broke past ordinary limits?
He remembered the Marine he'd sent flying with Third Gear. The man had shouted Iron Body. A Marine technique that turned the body into iron.
"When the body is excited it can erupt with two hundred percent strength. Stimulate blood flow to reinforce the body and enter a different state from the normal one. I'll call it Second Gear."
Luffy burst out laughing. "I did it. I did it!"