Consciousness slowly rose from exhaustion.
Tomioka opened his eyes to the familiar ceiling, gently swaying with the ship.
He sat up, trying to regulate his breathing.
Cough, cough, cough—
The oppressive feeling in his chest had receded by more than half; the immense burden brought by activating his Mark was slowly being digested by his resilient body, though after inhaling too much of that guy's wax, his breathing was a bit labored now.
There was also a faint, floating sensation, different from post-injury pain, clinging to him, but this feeling wasn't very strong.
He threw off the thin blanket, intending to go out to the deck to tell everyone he was fine and they didn't need to worry about him anymore.
As soon as he pushed open the door and stepped into the small dining room connected to the kitchen, he saw Sanji by the counter, talking to Vivi, who was sitting at the table, a newspaper laid out before her.
Hearing the door open, both of them turned their heads simultaneously.
"Oh? Tomioka, you're awake?" Sanji raised an eyebrow, put down the dining knife he was wiping, and walked over in a few steps. He naturally placed the back of his hand on Tomioka's forehead.
The next second, Sanji's brow furrowed, and he quickly withdrew his hand.
"That's not right," his tone carried obvious confusion, "Why is your forehead so hot too? When we first got you back on the ship, your temperature had clearly come down a bit."
"Too"?
Tomioka was also momentarily stunned by Sanji's action, and hearing his question, he subconsciously checked his own condition.
"I'm fine now, and I don't feel uncomfortable."
Cough, cough, cough—
"It's just a bit of a cough."
As if to prove something to himself, Tomioka clenched his left hand, feeling the flow of strength in his fingers. But he could indeed feel that his grip was slightly weaker than usual.
He caught the word in Sanji's sentence and asked, "You said, 'too' hot... what does that mean?"
No sooner had he spoken than a suppressed cough came from the corridor leading to the girls' dormitory.
Vivi's face immediately showed a worried expression. She looked at Tomioka and softly explained, "Actually... not long after you returned to your room to rest, Nami... suddenly became very weak and developed a high fever." She paused, then added, "And her temperature is very similar to yours now."
Sanji had already turned back to the kitchen counter, starting to take out some easily digestible ingredients, his tone becoming a bit heavy: "Ah, really, both of them like this... Miss Nami is still sick, so I need to prepare something nutritious and light."
Vivi also walked to Tomioka's side, pressing the back of her hand to Tomioka's forehead, finding it hot. She gently advised:
"Tomioka, even though you say you don't feel uncomfortable, such a high temperature is never a good thing. Why don't you go back to your room and rest a bit more?"
Tomioka was silent for a moment.
His gaze passed over Vivi, directed towards the closed door, which was Nami's room.
"Mm..." He responded softly, but instead of turning back to his own room, he walked towards that door, "I'll go see her too."
Reaching the door, he raised his hand and gently knocked with his knuckles. Nami's somewhat hoarse and weak voice came from inside: "...Please come in."
Tomioka pushed open the door.
The room was slightly larger than his, but equally simple. Nami was lying in bed, her cheeks flushed with an abnormal red, a wet towel on her forehead, looking somewhat listless and spiritless at the moment.
Seeing that it was Tomioka who entered, she was a bit surprised and tried to force a weak smile: "It's Tomioka... you're awake? You look... like you're in better spirits than me..."
As she spoke, she pressed the back of her hand to her own burning forehead, then looked at Tomioka, making a small joke, "It's so strange... could it be that your high temperature transferred to me?"
Tomioka listened, then seriously raised his hand to touch his own forehead, carefully felt it, and then just as seriously replied: "Mm... it doesn't seem to be that way. Although it's a bit strange, I am indeed also running a fever, just like you."
Nami, lying in bed, paused, amused by his seriousness, and couldn't help but burst out laughing, though it led to a slight cough due to her weakness: "Cough, cough... I'm really impressed by you monsters... both of you can have a fever and act like nothing's wrong..."
Just then, in Tomioka's field of vision, a few familiar lines of text quietly appeared next to Nami.
[Interpersonal Communication Manual (Trial Version)]
[Subject: Nami]
[Status: Uncomfortable, Tired]
[Preferences: Oranges, Treasure]
[Suggestion: Take meticulous care]
Tomioka's gaze swept over the text, then shifted slightly, seeing a fruit plate on the bedside table, with several round, plump oranges in it.
Oranges... preferences... meticulous care... Hmm, she must really want to eat oranges now, right?
He silently walked over and picked up an orange.
"Do you want some fruit?" he asked, his tone as calm as ever.
Nami looked at him and smiled: "Sure... thank you. But, with only one hand now, peeling might be inconvenient, right? Or..."
Before she could finish her sentence, she saw Tomioka gently toss the orange upwards.
The next moment, two blue streaks cut through the air, and his Blade was drawn.
"Water Breathing, First Form: Water Surface Slash, Double!"
Swish! Swish!
Two extremely faint, crisp sounds.
The tossed orange landed steadily back in Tomioka's hand, two precise cross-shaped cuts already appearing on its smooth peel, four even segments of orange flesh blossoming open, emitting a fresh fruity scent.
Tomioka took a small plate from the table, placed the cut orange on it, and offered it to Nami.
Nami's eyes widened, staring at the perfectly prepared orange, stunned for several seconds, then she could no longer hold back and burst into laughter, though her weakness made it a bit lacking in strength.
"Hahahahaha... Tomioka, you really are something... Hahahaha..."
Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes from laughing, as if the discomfort brought by the high fever was temporarily diluted by this performance.
Nami took the plate, picked up a segment of orange, and put it in her mouth, making her eyes comfortably narrow.
"It doesn't taste as sweet as usual, though..." she said softly, then looked at Tomioka, who was still silently standing by the bed, "Do you know, Tomioka, my favorite fruit is oranges."
Tomioka nodded: "I know."
It seems this manual is indeed very useful!
Nami was immediately choked up, looking at him with a mix of exasperation and amusement, her tone a little helpless: "Are you an idiot? At a time like this, you're usually supposed to ask 'why', right? Honestly..."
She shook her head, seeming more willing to confide than usual, her gaze drifting towards the blue sea outside the window, tinged with a hint of recollection.
"Actually, I could tell, Tomioka, when you first got on the ship, you were resistant to us, weren't you? You thought we were a bunch of... pirates."
"Mm."
Tomioka didn't deny it; at first, that was indeed the truth.
"You really are... not polite at all." Nami sighed, then her eyes became somewhat complex, mixed with some pain, some hatred, and finally the relief of liberation.
"But, actually... I'm the same. I once... hated pirates the most, and I still feel that way now, pirates are just a bunch of plunderers."
Tomioka watched her quietly, not interrupting.
"In Cocoyasi Village, where I lived when I was little... a group of Fishman came. They called themselves the Arlong Pirates, and the guy leading them was named Arlong." Nami's voice was very soft, but it carried a slight, barely perceptible tremor.
"They destroyed that beautiful place, took away many important things from me..." She omitted countless details, simply glossing over them.
"...A lot happened. But in the end, Luffy and the others came."
At this point, her tone finally held a hint of warmth. She looked at Tomioka, her eyes serious: "It was Luffy, he soundly beat Arlong! He saved Cocoyasi Village!"
"So."
Nami took a deep breath, trying to make her smile brighter, "During your time on the Going Merry, you must have realized, right? Luffy and the others... no, us, we're not the kind of pirates you imagine."
Her gaze was gentle and sincere, carrying a warm feeling: "If you're still looking for your way home, if you can't find it yet... actually, you can consider this place, the Going Merry... your temporary home. It's okay."
Home... Hearing that word, Tomioka's heart skipped a beat... He looked at Nami's face, pale from illness but trying to smile genuinely, and in his mind flashed Luffy's carefree laughter, Zoro's figure diligently training, Sanji's carefully prepared food, Usopp's exaggerated Captain's pronouncements, Vivi's worried back as she thought of her country... The word 'home' still felt a bit distant. But at least at this moment, by these people's side, he felt a sensation called happiness, perhaps it was their liveliness, or perhaps it was that Muzan's demise finally lifted all burdens from him.
Tomioka remained silent for a long time, and in the end, he only said very softly.
"Mm."
...In the dining room outside the room, Sanji carefully placed the washed vegetables and fruits aside. His movements were still skilled, but his brows held a hint of solemnity.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Vivi still sitting at the table, looking at the newspaper, unconsciously clutching the hem of her clothes, her eyes somewhat vacant, clearly still worried about distant Alabasta.
He sighed helplessly, turned off the faucet, and carefully dried his hands with a clean towel.
Then, Sanji also made up his mind and walked towards Vivi at the dining table.
"Vivi."
He spoke softly, his voice calmer than usual.
Vivi heard Sanji's voice and looked up, her eyes still holding a trace of lingering worry.
Sanji beside her didn't immediately explain, but first fumbled in his pants pocket and pulled out the previously unproduced compass, handing it to Vivi. It was an antique-looking Eternal Pose, the needle inside the glass dome steadily pointing in a fixed direction.
"Actually..." Sanji's voice carried a complex emotion, as if with some apology, and also as if relieved, "I found this thing in Small Garden."
Vivi's gaze was instantly drawn to the compass in front of her, her eyes filled with surprise, and she immediately stood up to look at it.
"What I just told you, in Small Garden, I was in that candle house. After talking to Mr. 0... that is, Crocodile, I found it on his subordinate." Sanji took a puff of his cigarette, slowly exhaling smoke.
Seemingly using that breath to organize his words, "According to that guy, this was Mr. 3's Eternal Pose for returning to Alabasta."
He paused, his gaze sweeping towards Nami's room, his tone becoming somewhat low:
"But at that time, everyone had just finished battle, and they were all eager to go to the next island to treat Tomioka's injuries first... In that situation, it wasn't easy for me to bring this up. But..."
His gaze then fell on the newspaper on the table reporting the turbulent situation in Alabasta, and he said, "Just now, at Miss Nami's, I also saw the content of the newspaper... The situation in Alabasta now is probably more severe than we imagined."
He reached out and gently placed the very light yet heavy Eternal Pose into Vivi's palm.
"So, this thing is in your hands now." Sanji looked at her, his eyes serious, "Whether or not to go discuss changing course with Luffy right now... the decision is yours."
Vivi was completely stunned, staring disbelievingly at the small compass in her palm, her fingertips trembling slightly.
"So there was already..." she murmured, her voice too faint for others to hear, "Already a way to go to Alabasta immediately..."
Her eyes became somewhat vacant, her gaze blankly fixed on the newspaper on the table reporting news from Alabasta. Then she looked towards Nami's closed door, and finally back to the compass in her palm, which represented "choice."
The pressure of "choice" almost visibly enveloped her.
Sanji looked at her, feeling a bit of pity, and took another puff of his cigarette, trying to comfort her in a lighter tone: "It's okay, Vivi. Don't overthink it. If you feel you should go immediately, then go tell Luffy. Even though that guy is usually scatterbrained, in this situation, he'll understand you."
He paused, as if offering a reason to comfort himself, then added with some uncertainty: "After all, a big country like Alabasta should also have very good doctors, right?"
However, Vivi didn't seem swayed by this reason.
She slowly sat back in her chair, her expression not only failing to relax but growing even more somber, as if she had encountered an even more difficult problem to decide.
"I don't know..."
Vivi's voice was very low, filled with confusion and struggle, "If we change course immediately and head directly to Alabasta... it would still take over a week to get there at the fastest, wouldn't it..."
She looked up, her eyes full of worry for her companions: "Mr. Tomioka, with his strong body, might be able to hold on... But what about Nami? She's burning so badly now, and her condition looks very bad... I really don't know if she can last that long..."
As she spoke, she suddenly stood up, tightly clutching the Eternal Pose in her hand, and turned to walk towards her own room, her steps somewhat hurried. She needed a space alone to process.
After taking two steps, Vivi seemed to remember something, stopped, and softly said, "Oh, right. Thank you, Sanji... for such an important thing..."
"...But, please give me some time... to think a bit more myself..."
Having said that, she quickened her pace, almost fleeing, and left the dining room.
Leaving Sanji standing alone, watching her back disappear around the corner, he could only helplessly exhale a long plume of smoke.
Princess... it's really not easy...