One Piece: Blue Scale Admiral

Akainu coughed, signaling the medic to re-insert the needle.

This time, the needle did not break and successfully pierced the vein on Akainu's hand.

Crimson blood flowed through the IV tube, the other end of which was connected to Rorschach's arm.

Then, the medic's face revealed a smile that made Akainu's expression darken.

He rubbed his hands together excitedly, chuckled strangely, and raised the scalpel he was holding towards the unconscious Luo Xia...

"Hehehe, I think this will be an interesting surgery."

Chapter 7 Awakening

"...A total of 187 villagers died, and 17 survived...all of them are women, and they are in a very unstable emotional state and have been given sedatives."

"37 pirates died, including one wanted criminal named Jericho, nicknamed The Ripper, who was the captain of the Ripper Pirates and had a bounty of 1600 million Berries."

"Preliminary investigation and questioning indicate that this incident was a unilateral massacre of the village by the Ripper Pirates, using extremely cruel methods..."

In a hazy state, Luo Xia seemed to hear many voices ringing in his ears.

The intervals between the sounds were rather long, and he couldn't hear them very clearly, as if he were hearing them through a thick wall.

Rorschach is having a very long dream.

In his dream, he came to a beautiful, heavenly world.

There were two kind and gentle old people watching over him with loving eyes.

That world has no hunger, no pain, no despair, and no resentment.

A simple, ordinary life.

Fishing, collecting seashells, weaving bamboo baskets, sitting on the beach and enjoying the sea breeze.

"Luo Xia, it's dawn. Let's go out to sea with Dad today. Dad will take you to catch oarfish. Dad will tell you, that kind of fish is very expensive. Last time, the village chief was lucky and caught three. Guess how much he sold them for?"

"Twenty thousand Berries for one, three for three, that's a total of fifty thousand Berries!"

“Our family doesn’t earn that much money in a year.”

"But Dad, it's 20,000 Berries each, so three would be 60,000 Berries, wouldn't it?"

"Oh? Really? Hahaha, my son can do math? What a genius! If you ever have the chance to go to Meruz Town, you'll definitely make a name for yourself there..."

"Luo Xia, here, this is a bamboo basket that your mother wove for you. What do you think? I even added a little flower. When you grow up a bit, you can take it to the beach to collect seashells, fish, and shrimp."

"Mom, I'm a boy, I don't like Xiaohua."

"How could that be? Mom made sunflowers, just like the sun, the most radiant flower, perfect for a man."

"But I want a bamboo knife..."

“Rorschach…”

“Rorschach…”

"My child..."

Outside the cabin.

Akainu frowned and looked at the army medic Desmond Doss, who was standing in front of him, covered in sweat, with a somewhat unfriendly gaze.

"Doss, did you really treat that kid properly? Why hasn't he woken up after seven days?"

The young military medic, Doss, in his early thirties, held a roll of bandage in his hand, constantly wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, and stammered an explanation:

“My treatment plan is absolutely fine. The surgery was also very successful. General Sakazuki, weren’t you there the whole time that day? After the wound was sutured and the blood transfusion was completed, the guy’s vital signs returned to normal.”

"His body is recovering very quickly, and he should have woken up long ago. The reason he hasn't woken up yet is either that there's something wrong with his brain, or... he doesn't want to wake up."

"You haven't done anything to him these past few days?"

"No! Absolutely not! I really didn't do any medical experiments on him. I'm innocent."

"is it?"

Akainu looked at the little girl who was covering her mouth and chuckling with suspicion.

When Yun Que saw her father looking at her, she immediately and without hesitation began to tattle.

"I saw Dr. Dawes drawing blood from that person!"

"I...I didn't! Don't talk nonsense, Hibari! People will die!"

Doss's face immediately turned ashen, and he hurriedly turned his head to blink frantically at Lark.

Suddenly, the temperature on the deck seemed to drop considerably, causing Doss to shiver involuntarily.

A huge shadow loomed over him. Just as he was about to explain, he felt someone lift him up by the back of his collar, and then, flailing his arms and legs, he was thrown high into the sea with a splash.

"Swim around the warship 100 times! You're not allowed to come aboard for dinner until you've finished!"

Akainu's roar echoed from afar on the deck.

"No! I'm just a frail ship's medic, I'll die, Admiral Sakazuki!"

Ignoring the howling and wailing coming from the sea, Akainu frowned and looked towards the cabin.

Bang!

There were dull thuds coming from inside the cabin, sounding like someone was hitting flesh with great force.

Bang!

The voice was deep and powerful, mixed with heavy breathing.

With Akainu's keen hearing, he could even hear the grinding sound of the upper and lower teeth rubbing together.

"This kid..."

"General Sakazuki, this...?"

Some naval soldiers also heard the sound and ran up to Akainu, asking for instructions.

"You all wait outside."

Akainu strode toward the cabin, then paused, and ordered in a low voice, "Go prepare some food."

"Yes, sir!" The soldier respectfully accepted the order and left.

Has that strange person woken up?

Hibari blinked and followed Akainu into the cabin.

She was no stranger to Rorschach.

These days, out of curiosity, Lark has been following Dawes around every day, sneaking into the rest area to observe Rorschach.

In Yun Que's opinion, Rorschach's appearance was somewhat similar to that of a naval officer she remembered.

They were all so thin they were skin and bones, like walking skeletons.

The only difference is that the skull's face doesn't look as scary, and its skeleton is taller and more robust.

Although both were emaciated, Lark could tell that Rorschach wasn't actually bad-looking; he was just too thin.

It is likely caused by long-term malnutrition.

Although she is young, she is very thoughtful.

I had already noticed from my father's subtle attitudes that he seemed to be somewhat interested in this person.

This made Lark even more curious about Rorschach.

In her memory, her father, Sakassky, was as rigid as an old scholar.

Their daily routine consisted of either setting sail to fight pirates or being on their way to fight pirates.

In the vast Naval Headquarters, apart from his old subordinates and Uncle Borsalino, he would hardly speak a few words to anyone else for years.

As my grandfather once said, Sakazuki is like a rock in a latrine, both smelly and hard.

If it weren't for his own exceptional abilities, given his personality, he would have been suppressed to the point of being unable to hold his head up long ago.

Lark had never seen his father care so much about any naval soldier.

In order to uncover the truth, Hibari unleashed her ultimate special move.

behave in a spoiled manner.

As it turns out, even the toughest man can't resist the charm and pleading of a cute little girl.

Especially a man like Akainu, who became a father in his thirties and has personality flaws.

And so, Hibari learned, as he had hoped, that Rorschach was the 'hero' who caused the tragic deaths of the entire Ripper Pirates.

This discovery made Lark even more impressed with Rorschach.

After that fleeting glimpse of Red Leaf Island that day, Hibari had nightmares for five days straight.

In particular, the way the pirate captain named Jericho died caused Hibari to develop a severe psychological trauma regarding the bean products in the warship's mess hall.

The lighting in the ship's cabin rest area was somewhat dim.

As soon as Hibari followed Akainu inside, he heard one dull, heavy blow after another.

As the two entered the rest area, they saw a tall, thin, white-haired figure sitting hunched over on the bed, gritting his teeth and repeatedly slamming his fist into his rumbling stomach.

Bang!

Bang!

The force of the hammer blows was so great that the bed beneath them creaked as if it were about to fall apart.

cluck cluck...

Bang!

Luo Xia, his hair disheveled and eyes bloodshot, gritted his teeth and punched himself hard.

Seeing this, Hibari hid behind Akainu with some fear, peeking out a small head to secretly observe.

Akainu watched silently.

Bang!