After Shuza left, Mia asked Pons: “May I ask for your name, sir?” “My name is Pons.” Pons was addressed in Mia’s soft, gentle voice.
While he was not so besotted as to lose his composure like the others, he could not deny that it made him feel quite refreshed and at ease.
“Mr.
Pons, I will go and prepare a bowl of congee for you.
I hope it will help restore your strength.” With that, Mia left the ward.
Now it was Pons’s turn to be baffled, ‘Congee?
Would drinking a bowl of congee really replenish all the stamina I had lost over the entire morning?
Surely they should at least give me some nutrient injections or something!’ But Pons knew nothing about medicine, so he was in no position to voice any opinions.
And since Zephyr had specifically designated Mia to treat him, her medical skills must be quite remarkable, right?
The moment Mia left the ward, Pons could immediately feel the resentful glares from the other injured sailors fixed upon him.
Pons, however, completely ignored those stares, ‘What effect could the stares of you lot possibly have on me?
Lie there in your beds and stew in envy…
I’m the one getting the tender care of an adorable young lady!’ About forty minutes later, Mia returned, using a cloth to protect her hands as she carried a steaming hot bowl of congee into the ward.
She walked up to Pons’s bedside, placed the bowl on the nightstand, and said: “Please drink this while it’s hot.
It should help restore some of your energy.” Though Pons wanted to trust in Mia’s medical expertise, he could not help but harbor doubts, ‘Could a simple bowl of congee really replenish his stamina?
Had she mixed something strange into it?’ In the end, Pons decided to ask Mia directly: “Um, Nurse Mia, if I may ask…
how exactly will drinking this bowl of congee restore my stamina?” But his question drew complaints from others.
Someone snapped at him: “What’s your problem, kid?
Are you questioning our Mia-chan?” “Mia-chan went out of her way to make congee for you…
you should be grateful, not picky!” Mia, however, ignored the commotion.
She simply explained to Pons: “I am a user of the Medicine-Medicine Fruit.
I can infuse food with medicinal effects, turning ordinary meals into items with various therapeutic properties.
For this bowl of congee, I infused it with a ‘stamina-restoring’ effect.
To be honest, I don’t actually have much knowledge of medical science…
it’s only because of this fruit’s ability that Vice Admiral Tsuru discovered me and assigned me to work as a nurse at the naval hospital.” Pons’s eyes widened in surprise: “That fruit is amazing!
So you can easily cure all kinds of difficult and complicated diseases, right?” Mia gave a wry smile: “It’s not nearly that miraculous.
My fruit’s power is limited.
For treating illnesses, I can only handle minor things like colds at best…
for more serious conditions, the ‘medicinal effects’ I can produce are simply insufficient.
The same goes for external injuries…
I can only treat relatively light wounds.” Even so, Pons said to her: “Even with those limitations, that is still an incredibly useful ability.
Besides, Devil Fruit powers can always be developed further over time…
who knows, maybe your abilities will become stronger and more practical in the future!” “I’ll take your kind words as a good omen,” Mia smiled and said.
“Now, I need to go attend to the other patients.
Please drink your congee when you can.” After Mia left, another patient immediately turned his gaze toward Pons and asked: “Hey bro, you don’t look like you’re in bad shape.
How about letting me have that bowl of congee instead?
It was made by Mia herself!” Pons was not about to let that happen.
He quickly picked up the bowl and downed it all in one go.
‘Hiss…
a bit hot, but still drinkable.’ The congee was just plain white congee with some egg drops and chopped green onions…
nothing special in terms of flavor.
But as he drank it, Pons could clearly feel his stamina rapidly returning.
‘The Medicine-Medicine Fruit, huh?
What an incredible ability indeed…’ Pons marveled inwardly once again.
After finishing the bowl, however, his stamina was not fully restored.
By his own estimation, he had recovered about half of his total energy.
That seemed to be the current limit of Mia’s Medicine-Medicine Fruit ability.
Still, recovering half his stamina was not bad at all.
If he lay in bed and rested until the afternoon training began, he should be able to regain a bit more energy as well.
He could only hope it would be enough to get him through the afternoon session…
With that thought, Pons lay back on the bed and drifted off to sleep.
He did not know how long he had been asleep when he vaguely felt someone shaking him.
He woke up in a daze.
Mia was standing by his bedside…
she must have been the one shaking him.
Seeing that Pons was awake, Mia said to him: “Mr.
Pons, the afternoon training session is about to start.
You should head to the training ground soon.” Pons started slightly and quickly glanced at the clock on the wall.
The time read 1:51.
The afternoon session started at 2:00…
he had less than nine minutes left.
“Thank you for waking me!” Pons scrambled out of bed and hurriedly left the ward.
It was a good thing Mia had come to wake him up.
If he had overslept and been late for the afternoon drill, that would have been an absolute disaster…
and a laughingstock to boot.
Though the afternoon session was one hour shorter than the morning one, it was no less grueling in terms of intensity.
When the two hours finally ended, Pons felt as though his entire body had fallen apart.
Still, no matter how brutal it had been, he had managed to survive his very first day of training.
After the formation was dismissed, Pons was so unsteady on his feet that he wobbled with every step.
Doll, seeing him in such a pitiful state, quickly came over and supported him.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Doll asked Pons.
“Thank you, Doll…
I should be fine…” Pons said.
“Could you take me to the naval hospital, please?” He could go lie down in a ward again, drink another bowl of Mia’s congee, and his stamina would likely be restored once more.
But before Doll could respond, Zephyr’s voice cut in from the side: “You’re neither sick nor injured…
why are you going to the hospital?” “Ah?
Well…” Pons was stumped by the question, ‘Wasn’t it you who sent me to the hospital this morning to be treated by Mia?’ As if reading Pons’s bewilderment, Zephyr continued: “I sent you to the hospital earlier so that you wouldn’t be too worn out for the afternoon session.
Is there any need for that now?
Can’t you just rest in your dormitory overnight and recover?
Hospital beds are valuable medical resources…
do you really think we can let someone who isn’t sick or injured occupy one?” “My apologies…
I was being shortsighted…” Pons had no choice but to abandon his plan to visit the naval hospital.
Sigh.
When his whole body felt like it was about to fall apart, not being able to enjoy a bowl of Mia’s congee was indeed a source of great regret for Pons.
The sensation of having his stamina continuously replenished with just one bowl of congee was truly an exhilarating experience.
Then Zephyr added: “Starting tomorrow, unless you are injured during training, you are not to go to the hospital to have Mia treat you after the morning session, either.
Today’s special treatment was only because it was your first day of training.
Otherwise, if everyone followed your example and went to Mia to recover their stamina after every drill, the hospital would be overwhelmed.” Zephyr’s logic was sound enough, but Pons could only feel that, starting tomorrow, the difficulty of training was about to increase yet another notch for him.
Without Mia’s congee to drink, Pons, exhausted as he was, had no appetite for anything else.
He went straight back to his dormitory and collapsed face-down onto his bed.
…
Before he knew it, more than twenty days had passed since Pons had first arrived at Marine Headquarters.
He had finally begun to adjust somewhat to the intensity of the training.
The five-kilometer “warm-up run” in the early morning had finally been completed within the required time limit of fifteen minutes.
And now, Pons was about to face his very first mission since joining the Marines…
the liberation of Brock Island, which had been seized and occupied by the Whitebeard Pirates.
Pons was first summoned to a meeting.
The gathering included a number of officers of the ranks of commander and captain, and was presided over by a Vice Admiral named Tires.
Vice Admiral Tires stood two meters and seventy-five centimeters tall, with a stocky, powerful build…
but his head was that of a fox.
Pons had previously encountered Tires within Marineford.
The first time he saw him, Pons had mistaken his head for that of a dog or a wolf, and for a moment he had even wondered if Komamura Sajin from Bleach had also transmigrated into the world of One Piece.
Later, Pons learned from others that Tires was a user of the Fox-Fox Fruit, Mythical Zoan type, Model: Inari Okami.
However, unlike most other Zoan-type users, who only transformed into their animal forms during combat, Tires almost always wore his fox head…
it was said that he only reverted to his human head when he was completely alone.
According to his own explanation, he did this to keep his combat instincts sharp.
But most of the male Marines believed it was simply because he wanted to attract the attention and affection of young female Marines…
many had already witnessed Tires crouching down to let pretty female officers pet his fluffy head.
‘How utterly enviable…
no, wait…
despicable!
Truly despicable!’ For such shameless behavior, Pons felt he had no choice but to condemn it harshly.
Many others suspected that the whole “Inari Okami fruit” claim was just a gimmick Tires had made up to make himself more popular with female Marines, and that he had actually just eaten an ordinary Fox Fruit.
Pons tended to agree with that notion…
after all, Mythical Zoan fruits were extraordinarily rare.
One could not just stumble upon them so easily.
During the meeting, Tires addressed the assembled officers: “Approximately ten days ago, Brock Island was seized by the Whitebeard Pirates.
The islanders have been forced to accept Whitebeard’s rule.
As Marines, we cannot allow pirates to expand so brazenly.
By order of Fleet Admiral Sengoku, I have been appointed to lead a force to subdue the Whitebeard Pirates and liberate the people of Brock Island from the terrifying shadow of those evil pirates!” Pons was somewhat taken aback by this, ‘The Marines were actually going to proactively attack the territory of an Emperor?
Or was it that Brock Island had only been taken by Whitebeard ten days ago, so the Marine believed that the enemy had not yet fully established their foothold…
and that they had a chance to retake it?’