Chapter 87: Medicine

Muret had learned medicine under an ordinary old doctor back in her town. Through sheer self-study and hard work, she eventually opened her own small clinic. Years of practice had given her a wealth of experience—certainly more than enough to teach Bellamy the basics.

When it came to medicine in this world—setting aside Devil Fruit abilities—Bellamy knew Chopper's teacher, Dr. Kureha, was undoubtedly among the absolute best. The Pirate King's own ship doctor, Crocus, was another legendary name. Other so-called 'famous' doctors seemed several tiers below them, in Bellamy's estimation. As for Trafalgar Law... purely based on conventional medical skill, he was still a bit green at this point.

If the opportunity ever arose, Bellamy definitely intended to send his own ship's doctors to study under Kureha or Crocus. Honestly, he wouldn't mind recruiting those legendary doctors themselves, but that felt like a long shot...

Learning a new skill was always a pain. Especially when you weren't particularly interested in it to begin with.

Medicine was vastly more complex than something like navigation. With navigation, even if you didn't crack a book, you could gain experience quickly just by sailing out, braving a few storms, and gambling with your life a couple of times. Medicine wasn't like that at all. The subject was far too intricate to master in a day or two.

Bellamy could foresee a long period of painful study stretching ahead of him. But perhaps, after enduring it, there might be some unexpected rewards.

As Bellamy gradually delved into his medical studies, he slowly began to notice parallels between this world's medicine and the modern medicine of his previous life. The curriculum involved a lot of repetitive experiments and biological dissection. However, something puzzled him. The 'observation' aspect seemed to be missing a crucial component.

It was then Bellamy realized Muret had never even heard of a microscope.

As far as he knew, given the 'black technology' available in this world, creating a microscope should have been trivially easy. They almost certainly existed somewhere, but perhaps they weren't widespread. Without microscopes, observing cells, bacteria, or viruses was impossible. This meant Muret's foundational theoretical knowledge had significant gaps. And Bellamy had no way to simply explain the concept of 'cells' to a practicing doctor with words alone.

"Heh. If I actually wanted to be a doctor, I bet I could become a famous one pretty easily, huh?"

As time went on, the advantages of being a transmigrator were beginning to manifest in various ways. The collision between the knowledge systems of two different worlds could easily generate powerful sparks. Bellamy hadn't even properly crossed the threshold into medicine, yet he could already see a wide-open path for innovation in this field.

Not that he had the slightest interest in actually becoming a doctor, of course.

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Half a month later.

A News Coo winged its way leisurely across the calm sea.

"Coo!"

Bellamy took the day's newspaper from it, tossing the bird a 100 Beli coin.

"SHOCKING! BOUNTY: 200 MILLION BELI! PIRATE SUPERNOVA 'FIRE FIST' ACE ENTERS THE GRAND LINE!"

"Damn, that was fast," Bellamy muttered. "The year's only half over, and Ace is already on the Grand Line." It felt like only a little over a year since he'd first seen news of Ace setting out.

"That guy... he's going to challenge Whitebeard soon, isn't he?" I really want to see him in person... the Strongest Monster in the World.

"Just you wait, Whitebeard," Bellamy grinned predatorily.

Ace himself didn't matter much, but Whitebeard... Bellamy didn't want him to die like that. If the man had to die, it should be spectacular, a blaze of glory. As the World's Strongest Man, his end should befit his title. To die ravaged by illness, weakened and humiliated... That would be the ultimate mockery of everything Bellamy himself aspired to achieve.

But Law's Ope Ope no Mi alone wouldn't be enough to save Whitebeard then. And relying on Muret's conventional skills? Even more impossible. After half a month of structured learning, Bellamy had gained a basic grasp of this world's medical limitations. Without Devil Fruits, the standard medical practices of this world stood no chance of saving Whitebeard or Ace during that battle.

With the Ope Ope no Mi, if immediate surgery were possible, there might be a slim chance. But on a chaotic battlefield like the Summit War at Marineford? Impossible.

However... what if you added another ridiculously overpowered healing-type Devil Fruit into the mix?

Princess Mansherry of the Tontatta Kingdom. User of the Chiyu Chiyu no Mi. Her power could heal any injury or illness in a living being; even her tears possessed restorative properties. But the truly game-breaking aspect of her Fruit was the ability to restore anything, organic or inorganic, to its original state by sacrificing her own lifespan.

The Ope Ope no Mi plus the Chiyu Chiyu no Mi... With those two combined, as long as a person still drew half a breath, there was likely no injury in the world that couldn't be healed.

If Roger had known about abilities like that back in the day, Bellamy was certain the Pirate King wouldn't have simply turned himself in to die from his illness. Whitebeard's accumulated ailments? Compared to the power of these two Fruits, they were practically trivial.

The crucial point, however, was that they didn't know!

People who hadn't witnessed it firsthand couldn't possibly comprehend just how reality-bending the Ope Ope no Mi truly was. And knowledge of the Chiyu Chiyu no Mi's ultimate power was even rarer. Even those who knew would never advertise such an ability openly. After Doflamingo captured Mansherry, he'd locked her away deep within the royal palace, hoarding her power like a secret weapon.

Fortunately, Bellamy knew. He not only understood the insane potential of both these Fruits, but he also knew exactly where to find their users.

"Just wait," Bellamy murmured, eyes gleaming. "When the Summit War comes... I'm going to give everyone a very big surprise."

"Gyahahahaha!" Bellamy suddenly threw his head back and laughed, a wild, almost unhinged sound, still clutching the newspaper.

The crew members nearby exchanged glances. They felt completely unfazed by their captain's sudden outburst; if anything, they felt a strange, inexplicable urge to start laughing right along with him.