Chapter 308: The Marines Arrive
The twenty doctors truly deserved their reputation as some of the finest physicians in a kingdom renowned for medicine.
After the initial shock, several recovered quickly.
Or rather, they forced themselves to set aside everything they believed a human body should look like and approached Axel's condition as a medical problem.
Following a brief discussion, one of the senior doctors spoke.
"Before we can consider treatment, there's something we need to understand."
Axel looked at him.
"How are you keeping a body in this condition alive?"
Axel thought for a moment.
"My ability."
The doctors waited.
"I'm forcibly maintaining my body in its current shape."
That answer did not surprise them as much as it might have surprised ordinary people.
The Grand Line was filled with bizarre Devil Fruit abilities. Their own king, Wapol, possessed one.
As far as the doctors were concerned, an unusual supernatural ability was a perfectly reasonable explanation for an otherwise impossible medical condition.
Another doctor stepped forward.
"Then how did your body become like this?"
He pointed toward the medical images.
"This doesn't resemble damage caused by trauma."
"Your tissues appear to be rejecting their own structure."
"Blood vessels are ruptured in countless places. Some of your organs seem to be shifting or breaking apart from within."
The doctor hesitated.
"It's difficult to understand how you could still be..."
"Alive?" Axel finished for him.
The room became quiet.
Axel showed no offense.
"You're right."
"This condition was caused by my ability."
"My body is only maintaining a human form because I'm forcing it to."
He glanced around at the twenty doctors.
"So, can it be restored?"
The doctors exchanged looks.
Their earlier confidence had already disappeared.
Before discussing treatment, there was a far more important question.
"Will the damage continue?"
Axel looked toward the speaker.
The doctor explained,
"If whatever caused this remains active, then even if we repair your body, it may simply deteriorate again."
"In that case, none of us can help you."
Axel answered without hesitation.
"No."
As long as he avoided using that particular power again, the same kind of damage should not continue.
The doctors conferred briefly.
Then one nodded.
"In that case, we can begin."
Another stepped forward.
"Among the twenty of us, we have surgeons, vascular specialists, pharmacologists, physicians specializing in recovery, and several others with different fields of expertise."
"We'll divide the work."
"For the first stage, we want to treat your arm."
Axel glanced down at it.
"A trial?"
"Exactly."
"If we can successfully repair one section of your body, we can study the results and determine whether the same treatment can be applied elsewhere."
"The arm is also safer than experimenting directly on the chest or abdomen."
"If something goes wrong, we have more options for correcting it."
Axel nodded.
"Reasonable."
"We'll also need more information."
The doctor pointed toward another image.
"Your blood vessels are clearly damaged, yet your blood continues flowing through them as though the vessels were intact."
"That means your ability is compensating for the damage."
He paused.
"We need to know whether that effect will remain active if you lose consciousness."
Axel understood.
"Because some Devil Fruit abilities stop functioning when the user is unconscious."
"Yes."
The doctor's expression was serious.
"If yours behaves the same way, then putting you under anesthesia could be fatal."
"If your ability stops maintaining your body while you're unconscious..."
He did not finish.
There was no need.
Axel chuckled.
"So the treatment itself might kill me?"
The doctors looked at one another.
Finally, one answered honestly.
"Yes."
Axel did not seem bothered.
"That's fine."
The doctors stared at him.
"If something genuinely dangerous happens, my body will reject it automatically."
His Reflection did not depend on conscious thought for every threat.
If something crossed the threshold his ability recognized as dangerous, it would respond on its own.
Losing consciousness would not suddenly leave him defenseless.
His calm response left several doctors speechless.
For someone paying one hundred million Berries for treatment, Axel was strangely relaxed about the risks involved.
No pleading.
No panic.
No desperate warnings.
He had simply gathered the best doctors available, paid an absurd sum, provided what information they needed, and then placed himself completely in their hands.
For the doctors, that feeling was unexpectedly familiar.
Once, before Wapol had gathered them all into his service, this had been what medicine was about.
A patient came to them because they needed help.
The doctor did everything possible to save them.
Simple.
Direct.
Human.
Years of serving the king had dulled that feeling.
Now, unexpectedly, this strange white-haired patient had brought some of it back.
One of the doctors straightened.
"Then leave it to us."
Another nodded.
"We'll do everything we can."
Axel looked at their suddenly serious expressions and more or less understood what had happened.
He chose not to comment.
If they were motivated enough to genuinely devote themselves to treating him, there was no reason to spoil it.
The treatment began.
...
Nearly a month passed.
Then Drum Island was thrown into turmoil once again.
A Marine vessel appeared off the coast.
Soon afterward, armed Marines landed on the snowy shore.
Drum Kingdom's guards immediately surrounded them.
One Marine stepped forward and shouted,
"We are Marines under the command of Colonel Hina!"
"We have come to apprehend a wanted criminal!"
Dalton emerged from the line of guards.
As captain of the royal guard, he frequently supervised the coastal defenses personally.
He looked over the arriving Marines before speaking.
"We are the guards of the Drum Kingdom."
"Please provide proof of your identities."
"If your credentials are genuine, we will cooperate with an official Marine operation."
It was a standard precaution.
There had been cases elsewhere in the Grand Line where pirates attacked Marine vessels, stole uniforms, and disguised themselves as soldiers to approach unsuspecting islands.
Such incidents were rare, but Dalton had no intention of gambling with the safety of his country.
The Marines did not object.
A tall woman stepped through their ranks.
She had long pink hair and carried herself with the unmistakable confidence of someone accustomed to command.
The surrounding soldiers naturally opened a path for her.
She took out a cigarette, lit it with visible impatience, then pulled out an official document and tossed it toward Dalton.
"Hina is Colonel Hina."
Dalton caught the document.
He examined it carefully.
It was an authentic Marine appointment document.
Such papers were closely guarded, and Marine officers were expected to destroy them if capture became unavoidable precisely to prevent pirates from impersonating them.
Dalton handed it back.
"I am Dalton, captain of the royal guard."
He nodded.
"Welcome to Drum Island."
Hina took a drag from her cigarette.
"No need for the welcome."
"Hina came here to arrest someone."
Dalton's expression remained neutral.
"A criminal?"
He already suspected who she meant.
Hina exhaled smoke.
"Monkey D. Axel."
Dalton's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Hina's target has a bounty of four hundred million Berries."
She looked toward the snowy interior of the island.
"According to information provided to the Marines, he is currently somewhere in this country."
Dalton inhaled sharply.
Four hundred million.
He had already known Axel was dangerous.
He had known the youth was hiding something.
But he had never imagined the bounty attached to him would be that high.
His first concern was not Axel.
It was Drum Island.
Dalton looked past Hina at the Marines behind her.
"Are these all the forces you brought?"
Hina glanced at him.
"If that man truly has a bounty of four hundred million Berries, are you planning to arrest him with only this many soldiers?"
Dalton's expression grew heavy.
"If a criminal of that level begins fighting seriously, this country may not survive the battle."
He did not fully understand what power normally accompanied a bounty exceeding one hundred million Berries.
But four hundred million was enough to tell him that ordinary soldiers were nowhere near sufficient.
Hina extinguished her cigarette beneath her boot.
"Of course these aren't all the forces coming."
Her expression sharpened.
"Hina has met that kid before."
"He wasn't this troublesome back then."
"But according to the latest information, his current strength is beyond what Hina can deal with alone."
Dalton listened carefully.
"More Marine forces are on their way."
"Hina arrived first because this island lies close to the waters under Hina's jurisdiction."
Dalton was silent for a moment.
Then he said,
"If possible, I would ask that you wait until he leaves Drum Island before attempting the arrest."
Hina's eyes narrowed.
"This kingdom cannot withstand a large-scale battle."
Dalton continued.
"If you confront him here, innocent people may be caught in the destruction."
"No."
Hina's refusal was immediate.
Dalton frowned.
"Why?"
"Because the island is precisely where we have the best chance of capturing him."
She looked toward the sea.
"If he reaches open water, Marine warships may not even be able to approach him."
Dalton's expression tightened.
Hina continued,
"And Drum Kingdom is a nation affiliated with the World Government."
"Cooperating with the Marines in the apprehension of a wanted criminal is part of that relationship."
Dalton did not answer immediately.
The wind pushed snow between the two groups.
Finally, he spoke.
"I understand."
"But this is not a decision I have the authority to make."
Dalton looked toward the distant royal castle.
"I will report the situation to King Wapol."
"His Majesty will decide how the Drum Kingdom responds."
....
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