Chopper looked at the medicinal herbs scattered on the ground due to his reckless rushing and remembered his duty.
He quickly picked them up, then mustered his courage and said to Giyu:
"I... I'll help check your wounds."
Giyu nodded, and Chopper carefully began examining the injuries on Giyu's arm, reapplying some ointment.
Although his movements were still slightly trembling from what had just happened, he gradually became more focused as he worked.
During the gap in applying the medicine, Chopper's curiosity could no longer be suppressed.
He raised his head, recalling what Doctor Hiruluk had said about pirates, his eyes sparkling with longing as he asked quietly:
"Are you... really pirates? What... are pirates really like?"
After asking, his gaze unconsciously drifted toward the Nichirin Blade leaning against Giyu's bedside, and he added: "And that... is that your weapon?Just then, familiar lines of text quietly appeared in Giyu's field of vision:
[Manual of Interpersonal Relationships (Trial Version)]
[Target: Chopper]
[Status: Curious, nervous, eager for approval]
[Likes: Medical skills, pirates, anything children like he likes too]
[Suggestion: Satisfy his questions]
Giyu's gaze swept over the text, then looked at Chopper, simply answering the question about whether they were pirates: "Yes.""
Then he thought about how Luffy and the others usually behaved, "Very noisy. But not bad."
As for the Nichirin Blade by the bedside, he pointed at it: "Yes, it's my weapon."
At this moment, Zoro, lying on the opposite bed, seeing Chopper so curious about pirates, suddenly felt like playing a prank.
He deliberately grinned, showing what Chopper considered a terrifying smile, and lowered his voice to say: "Hey, Chopper, right? Our captain is a great pirate with a bounty of thirty million Belly!"
"Th-thirty million Belly?!"
Although Chopper had no concept of what level this bounty number represented, the huge figure of thirty million and the inherent danger represented by the term "pirate bounty" itself...
It thoroughly frightened him, and the herbs in his hand almost dropped again.
Giyu looked at Chopper's frightened expression, then glanced at the obvious [Likes: Pirates] in the prompt. After a moment of silence, he looked directly into Chopper's eyes and asked a key question in return:
"Do you like pirates?"
"Of course not!!!!"
Almost the moment Giyu finished speaking, Chopper panicked again and jumped off the bed. His entire face turned red as he waved his hooves, excitedly denying loudly:
"How could I like pirates! I don't like them at all! Not even a little bit!!"
However, even as he vehemently denied it...
The text prompt in Giyu's vision seemed to flicker violently, and the line that had just read [Likes: Pirates] suddenly changed to:
[Likes: Reeeeaaaally likes pirates!!!]
The contrast between Chopper's expression before him and the text floating in mid-air made even the typically expressionless Giyu freeze in rare astonishment. He looked at Chopper, who was probably panicking and spinning in place, then glanced at that line of prompt text.
A feeling close to helplessness mixed with slight amusement rarely crossed his heart.
The corner of his mouth twitched upward imperceptibly, forming a slight curve without him even noticing.
Giyu spoke to Chopper again, his voice still calm but carrying a trace of imperceptible gentleness that wasn't there before:
"What else do you want to know about pirates?"
Chopper had been about to protest, wanting to say he didn't like pirates at all, but when he heard Giyu's words and caught the fleeting softness on his face, his panic suddenly subsided.
Zoro on the opposite bed watched everything, especially Giyu's barely noticeable smile.
He snorted softly, shook his head, and closed his eyes again, deciding not to disturb the peculiar exchange between this man and reindeer.
Just then, the door opened again as Dr. Kureha entered carrying her bottle of alcohol.
Seeing Chopper guarding Giyu's bedside and talking with him, her eyes behind her sunglasses flickered with understanding amusement as she teased:
"Oh? Chopper, are you watching over them for me?"
Chopper immediately straightened up like a student caught by a teacher, stammering in explanation: "I-I'm changing his bandages!"
Kureha smiled without exposing Chopper's lie.
Instead, she walked to Giyu's bedside, examined where Chopper had applied the medicine, and nodded: "Hmm, well done."
Then she carefully checked Giyu's temperature and pulse, her expression turning serious as she warned again: "Remember what I said - rest. Your body needs time, you can't rush this."
"Your current fever isn't just from old injuries and overexertion."
"You were bitten by an arctic parasite called Kaisuki. Its toxin keeps body temperature sustained above forty degrees and triggers inflammatory responses in internal organs. Most people would have collapsed by now."
She paused, looking at Giyu with probing eyes as she added:
"But in your case, the situation is relatively better. Your internal organs show considerable tolerance to this abnormal high temperature. It's as if your body has long been accustomed to operating under such extreme heat."
"However, don't think this is a good thing! The inflammation still exists. If not controlled promptly, these injuries of yours will never heal!"
Adaptation... extreme conditions...
Giyu immediately thought of activating the Mark, where the body constantly operated under high temperature and accelerated heartbeat. It seemed those powers that surpassed limits had subtly altered this body's tolerance thresholds.
So was this also one of the reasons why Demon Slayer Corps members who activated their Marks never lived past twenty-five...
Then Dr. Kureha seemed to remember something, her gaze passing through the window to the snowstorm outside, as if speaking to everyone in the room:
"Speaking of which... by my calculations, that straw-hat captain you mentioned, and that sick little girl, should be climbing up here soon? Climbing mountains in this devilish weather - what a bunch of reckless fools."
"But if it's a young girl who encounters the same situation as you, she'd suffer much more."
Hearing this, Chopper, who was helping organize the gauze, paused slightly in his movements.
The straw-hat... captain.
Chopper's heart swelled with intense curiosity, unable to resist imagining what kind of pirate could recruit two such formidable-looking individuals as companions.
Would he be brawny and muscular like Dalton? Or would he carry several swords like the two of them?
A yearning anticipation for pirates had quietly spread through Chopper's heart, stirred by Doctor Kureha's words.
While absentmindedly organizing items, Chopper would also prick up his ears, trying to discern from the howling blizzard outside when this pirate called Straw Hat Luffy might arrive.
But... I'm just a reindeer... with antlers, hooves, and a blue nose...
Being a pirate... is nothing but a dream...
-Support me in Patreon for more chapters 35+ chapters in there
patreon.com/LegendaryTL
Thanks!