The Grand Line, Drum Island Sea Area.
Ace, Sabo, and Jeno, accompanied by the profoundly shaken Dalton, utilized Moonwalk to ascend back to the Eclipse hovering within the heavy blizzard.
The moment Dalton's boots settled onto the pitch-black deck—forged from pure Starfall Black Steel—and his eyes scanned the massive, technologically advanced architecture of the warship, his jaw slackened. The sheer presence of the powerful figures lounging along the deck plates was enough to stifle any words before they could form in his throat.
"Hey, Jeno! Did you secure the asset?" Sabo tossed his alloy staff from hand to hand, approaching with a light smile. "How does the core feel? Did you turn into a mindless glutton?"
"Yahahaha! I've been waiting to see what kind of power could get a mortal mechanic so worked up." Enel stood near the secondary mast, arms crossed as blue-white static skittered across his dark skin. Though his tone maintained its characteristic arrogance, a distinct curiosity hovered in his pupils. Following Ace's prior guidance, he had been using microscopic currents to continuously stimulate his cellular structure, systematically building a physical baseline to match his elemental speed.
"Heh, keep your eyes open, boys!"
Jeno let out a wild laugh, stroding over to a corner of the deck where a pile of high-purity Cloud Iron—salvaged from the Sky Island reserves—lay stacked. Under the dumbfounded gazes of the crew, his jaw unhinged slightly as he began to crunch and swallow the dense metal chunks, which were several times denser than standard iron plating.
A mechanical hum, like grinding gears and melting ore, vibrated from his midsection.
"Armament Fusion!"
Jeno growled. The skin along his bare forearms began to writhe and buckle, replaced instantly by a deep silver, metallic luster. Within seconds, his right arm and shoulder were completely encased in a seamless, high-density mechanical Cloud Iron gauntlet. Two integrated blades, emitting a cold, serrated gleam, slid from the housing on the back of his hand.
"Oh? You don't just digest it; you can fuse it directly with your biology?" Sabo's eyes lit up. He stepped forward, tapping his pipe against Jeno's new metallic forearm, producing a crisp, resonant clang. "The density has jumped significantly. It looks like the raw elements are being completely refined inside your stomach furnace."
"Exactly, Sabo!" Jeno traced the lines of his new arm, his face flushed with an intense, heated excitement. "This is the true potential of the Munch-Munch Fruit! I can synthesize ultra-high-strength structural alloys that don't even exist in nature, based purely on the engineering files in my head! Right now, my stomach is the ultimate foundry!"
"Yahahaha! It lacks the flash of my lightning, but I suppose it has its uses," Enel snorted, masking his genuine surprise behind a stubborn shrug.
Buggy poked his head out from beneath his pile of down quilts, his eyes green with envy. "Dammit... why does it feel like my fruit is the only one on this ship that doesn't come with a cheat code!"
"Alright, Jeno. You have full clearance to consume any rare minerals in the cargo holds," Ace interrupted, cutting through the banter as he turned to the reserved Dalton. "Hurry up and bring your armor profile up to spec. Captain Dalton, lead the way. You know where the two physicians reside."
Dalton quickly bowed his head. "Yes, Lord Ace. Dr. Kureha and the reindeer are currently operating a clinic out of a giant treehouse halfway up the chimney peaks."
"Then let's go collect our ship doctor," Ace said, his gaze shifting toward the snow-covered mountains as a thin smile touched his lips.
Halfway up the peaks, the Witch's Clinic.
A roaring fire crackled within the stone fireplace, fighting back the sub-zero chill of the Winter Island. A tall old woman with wavy silver hair and dark sunglasses hummed a low tune as she leaned back, nursing a bottle of plum wine. Despite the severe weather, she wore an incredibly provocative, midriff-baring winter outfit. She was the 136-year-old "Witch," Dr. Kureha.
In a corner of the pharmacy bay, a reindeer standing barely sixty centimeters tall, distinguished by a striking blue nose, stood atop a small wooden stool. His round eyes were fixed with absolute focus on a stone mortar, his tiny hooves steadily grinding dried herbs into powder. He wore a plush pink top hat, a white medical cross neatly hand-sewn onto the center of the brim.
Thump, thump, thump.
The heavy wooden door was struck three times in rapid succession.
"Who's rattling the door? Don't you know an old lady rests when the snow falls?" Kureha called out without looking up, taking another swig from her bottle.
There was no verbal response. Instead, the heavy timber was pushed inward by a gentle, irresistible force. A gust of freezing wind and a flurry of white flakes rushed into the chamber, followed by the heavy, rhythmic thud of combat boots. Ace's tall, imposing silhouette crossed the threshold first, Sabo and Dalton flanking him closely.
"Waaah! Strangers! Humans!"
The blue-nosed reindeer, Chopper, felt his fur stand on end with sudden terror. In his panic, he lunged toward a structural wooden pillar to hide. But his nervous agitation triggered his classic, backward defense—his entire torso and hindquarters remained completely exposed to the room, while only half of his face was tucked behind the wood, his wide, tear-filled eyes peeking at the intruders.
Ace watched the adorable display, a genuine amusement softening the coldness in his eyes.
"Dalton?" Dr. Kureha adjusted her sunglasses, her gaze sliding past the guard captain and locking onto Ace. She took a slow drag from her glass, her lips curving. "Well, look at you, kid. You don't have the face of a patient seeking medicine. What, did you scale the peaks just to ask an old woman the secret to her youth?"
"No. I came to deliver a piece of clearance," Ace said, pulling a heavy wooden chair over and sitting down casually. "Wapol is dead. We left his corpse in the drifts of Big Horn Village."
Clang!
The stone mortar slipped from Chopper's hooves, shattering against the wooden floorboards as the herbs scattered. His round eyes went wide with absolute disbelief. The tyrant who had hounded Dr. Hiriluk to his death... was gone?
Before the room could process the silence, a chaotic commotion erupted outside the threshold.
"Yahahaha! Is this what passes for winter in the lower seas? Watch my lightning clear the path!"
"You idiot, Enel! If you melt all the packed drifts, how am I supposed to build an vanguard snowman?! Take this! Chop-Chop Snowball Barrage!"
"Hey! Both of you, drop the static! Look at that massive white fur rabbit—it looks like a bear! It's so cute, I'm keeping it as a ship mascot!" Carina's excited voice carried through the wind.
The door swung open again, and the remaining officers of the Eclipse Pirates crowded into the small clinic, a swirl of frost trailing in their wake. Jeno entered last, his massive hands pinning down a giant Lapin that was kicking and struggling with desperate ferocity.
"Captain, the snow outside is perfect for training," Leona said, patting the frost from her leather gear as her vertical pupils scanned the room. "This rabbit has decent muscle tension. Should we process it for dinner tonight?"
"Waaah! There are more of them! A whole pack of monsters!" Chopper shrieked, his hooves tightening around the wooden pillar.
"Eh?" Carina's sharp eyes instantly cut through the clutter of the room, locking onto the shape behind the post. Her purple eyes lit up with sudden excitement. "What a cute little tanuki!"
"I am not a tanuki! I am a reindeer! A reindeer!!!" Chopper snapped, his little hooves waving in furious protest as he jumped into the open by reflex, before realizing his mistake and scrambling back into his terrible hiding posture.
"A reindeer that speaks?" Buggy leaned in, his large red nose twitching as he inspected the creature.
"Why are you surprised? A mortal with a face like a budget clown can speak, so the bar isn't that high," Enel shot back from the corner, his tone dismissive.
"What did you say, Long-Ears?! You want to test my blades?!"
Dr. Kureha watched the bickering line of high-bounty outlaws filling her clinic, a slow, amused smile touching her lips as she took another sip of her wine. "Truly a lively bunch of bastards. So, what do a collection of billion-berry rookies want with a retired physician?"
Ace ignored the noise behind him. He walked over to the wooden pillar, dropping into a low squat until he was at eye level with the trembling reindeer.
"Chopper."
Ace's voice was steady and quiet, stripped of the commanding dominance he used for the world outside. It held the calm warmth of an older brother. "You've spent the last five and a half years studying under this old witch, haven't you? You've mastered the craft."
"H-how do you know my name?" Chopper whispered, his small head peeking from the edge of the timber. Looking at the dark eyes of the tall man before him, his instincts failed to find any malice or threat.
"Because my ship requires the best doctor on the sea." Ace reached out, his large hand gently patting the brim of the pink top hat. Chopper froze at the contact, his eyes wide, but he didn't flinch away.
"We have strength," Ace continued, gesturing vaguely to the crew behind him. "My own flames can seal physical trauma in seconds. However..." He looked back at Enel and Buggy's ongoing argument, a small shake of his head accompanying his smile. "If we contract a foreign plague, ingest an unknown toxin, or face the extreme biological strains of the New World's climate, Haki and fire won't keep us alive. This crew lacks a sovereign of medicine."
Chopper's breath hitched, a complex, heavy light swirling in his dark pupils. "But... I am a monster. I am a reindeer who ate the Human-Human Fruit. I have a blue nose... The humans shoot at me. They chase me with pitchforks."
"A monster?" Ace withdrew his hand, pointing a thumb over his shoulder at the crew as a booming laugh left his chest.
"Chopper, look at them closely. That lunatic with the earlobes down to his chest is a walking lightning storm. That red-nosed idiot who can separate his limbs is a professional coward. The giant mechanic over there just ate three tons of structural tin for breakfast. And we have a Mad Monk who grows to the size of a cliff face when he gets angry."
Ace met Chopper's gaze again, his eyes burning with an absolute, unyielding sincerity.
"On this ocean, every single member of the Eclipse Pirates is a demon in the eyes of ordinary men. The World Government itself calls me 'The Outlier.' In our ranks, no one will ever point a rifle at you because your nose is blue or your fur is different. On the contrary... if your medicine isn't sharp enough to stitch these idiots back together after they cause trouble, that's the only time they'll complain."
Ace extended his right palm, opening it upward in a silent invitation.
"You've spent five years turning pages in this room. But if you stay buried on this frozen rock, your dream dies with you. You will never become the cure you promised to be. Only by setting sail, by facing the rare plagues of the Grand Line and harvesting the exotic herbs that grow at the ends of the earth, can you truly become the Panacea."
"Chopper, come with me. This ship of monsters is your rightful destination."
Chopper stared blankly at the open hand. In his mind, the memory of Dr. Hiriluk laughing beneath a canopy of artificial cherry blossoms merged seamlessly with the steady, reassuring smile of the captain before him.
"Can I... can I really?" Chopper's vision blurred, large tears spilling over his fur. "Even if I'm clumsy... even if I'm a monster reindeer... can I truly belong on your deck?"
"What kind of nonsense is that, Chopper!" Sabo walked over, throwing a heavy arm around Ace's shoulder with a grin. "If Ace gives the word, you're crew. And between brothers, the word 'monster' doesn't mean a damn thing."
"Gah! The ship doctor is secured! Hooray! Gah!" Berries, perched on Carina's shoulder, flapped its wings in an excited circle.
Looking at the kind, smiling faces reflecting in his eyes, Chopper couldn't hold the weight any longer. He burst into loud, ragged sobs, lunging forward to grab Ace's outstretched arm with both hooves.
"I want to go! I want to be the doctor! I want to become the Panacea!!!"
Watching the weeping reindeer bury his face into Ace's sleeve, Dr. Kureha turned her back to the room, taking a long, deep gulp of her plum wine. The corners of her eyes beneath her shades had grown damp.
"Hmph... a brainless, ungrateful son," she muttered into her glass. "But I suppose following a pack of bastards who spit on the World Government will keep you from getting bored, little reindeer."
Ace rubbed Chopper's fluffy head, pulling himself up to his full height.
"Welcome to the crew, Doc." He looked back at his officers. "We rest on this winter island for the night. Chopper, take your time. Say a proper goodbye to the woman who raised you."
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