Chapter 76

"Yup, definitely smells like a hospital," Vash said after exiting an underground tunnel he found in the basement of Doctor Vegapunk's Laboratory. "Why do you have this underground path, Vegapunk? You have a nurse fetish or something?"

Vash looked around at the room he was in. It looked like a hospital storage room where medicines and other medical tools were kept. He was about to inspect the shelves containing medicine when he heard a door open somewhere.

"I mean, can you believe it? Five years of being a couple, poof! Erased with one fuck up."

"Well, she cheated on him! Of course he would dump her ass!"

Vash crouched low, hiding behind shelves of medicines. He was thankful that the storage room was big and allowed him some space to maneuver and hide. He peeked around the corner of the shelf he was hiding with and looked for the two who came in. He followed the voices, and Vash found two male nurses wearing the proper white attire.

"If it were me, I think I'd forgive her. Have you looked at Josie? I'd give anything to be with someone that hot!"

"And that, my pathetic friend, is the reason why you're single."

"Ohh, shut up. Anyway, what did the doc want again?"

"WBEs. The patient is allergic to the medicine that would cure his Red Snow Fever."

"Ohh, right. Good thing we have these."

"You go ahead and get a box of it. I'll get the syringes."

Vash watched one of the nurses carry a box of a medicine he never even heard of before. Vash's curiosity was piqued. He waited for the other nurse to exit the storage room before checking out the medicine they mentioned.

…

"That's the last of them," Terzo said as he cut down the last marine in the base.

In response, Augur said nothing. Instead, he raised his rifle at Terzo who retreated a few steps at seeing an ally aim at him.

"Oi, oi!"

Augur shot his rifle. But it wasn't Terzo he shot at. Terzo turned around to see a marine whose head exploded after Augur shot him.

"Not all of them," Augur said to Terzo, smirking slightly. "Come now, Terzo. You think I'll shoot a crewmate?"

"Don't ever do that again!" Terzo said, but he was secretly relieved. "C'mon, let's just finish up here."

"Agreed," Augur said before pointing at a far wall where bazookas were displayed. "Those are seastone bazooka nets, I believe."

"You expect me to carry those?" Terzo asked, disgruntled at Augur for overestimating his strength. "Man, Hepha's hammer would be useful right about now."

"Just take the ammunition," Augur said. "I'm sure Captain Ace would find use for seastone tools."

"Good call," Terzo said before taking a sack that was placed on the ground. That sack contained all the seastone cuffs they found so far.

Since Augur ate a Devil Fruit, he couldn't stand even touching seastone. So, he relied on Terzo to do it for him. Terzo was about to loot more when both him and Augur were surprised at a sudden arrival.

"Enel?" Terzo and Augur were visibly shaken at seeing Enel's horrible condition. His whole body has turned purple. It was obvious that a horrible poison was at work. More than that, his body was riddled with slash wounds. Those patterns were very familiar for Terzo and Augur…

"D-Don't… come any closer," Enel said, struggling to even walk. He was carrying two things with him. First was Teach's arm, the second was a sack similar to the one Terzo was carrying. His gold rod was nowhere to be found.

"What happened?" Augur asked, walking closer to Enel to help him stand up properly. Enel stopped him by raising his arm.

"Is that… Teach's arm?" Terzo asked, recognizing the claw weapon on the arm that Enel carried.

"Don't… come any closer," Enel repeated, almost wheezing at every word. "Poison. Could be… spread…"

Augur didn't care about the possibility of being poisoned. He stood beside Enel and helped him stand.

"You… fool," Enel said. "I… only wanted… to finish… Captain's task…"

Enel threw the sack he was carrying on the ground. Its contents spilled out, revealing the unconscious Transponder Snails Enel picked up.

"We need to get you treated," Augur said, his usually calm and stoic voice showing signs of panic that he tried to eliminate. Staying calm was always the best move, after all. "Let us hope Vash has already returned to the Ashen Dragon."

"...fine, you fool," Enel said before looking at Terzo. "Terzo… please… get a different sack… and take the snails… to Captain… for me…"

Terzo was shaking. Seeing Enel carrying Teach's arm gave him all the clues he needed. Of course, Augur reached the same conclusion Terzo did. Teach betrayed them, and Enel did his best to make him pay for it.

"I will," Terzo said, before taking a cloth bag that was on the ground.

"Let's go," Augur said, leading Enel out of the room. When they made it out, Augur felt Enel stumble.

"Sorry, Augur… I… don't think… I can walk," Enel said. "I don't feel… my legs…"

Augur felt stupid for making Enel walk. He would have used his Devil Fruit to travel and make it easier for Enel, but he was exhausted. Augur's victorious battle with the Vice Admiral leading the marine base almost depleted his stamina.

"Don't worry, Enel. I ate a Devil Fruit, remember?"

Despite the fatigue crawling up on him, Augur decided to push through and give his everything to save his crewmate. He looked up at the ceiling and had an idea. With his rifle on his other hand, Augur aimed up at the ceiling. Hepha's upgrade on Senriku, Augur's rifle, made it possible for Augur to mentally modify Senriku as well as its ammunition. He set the exploding bullets as his ammunition and fired at the ceiling.

The ceiling above Augur and Enel exploded with a loud boom. Debris fell around them, but there wasn't much. The exploding bullets were powerful enough to reduce what it first contacted into rubble. Most of the debris was also pushed upwards, leaving little to fall around Augur and Enel.

Augur didn't stop firing and continued shooting exploding bullets up the hole he made. His accuracy made the holes made by the exploding bullets to be perfectly symmetrical. Augur stopped firing when the booms stopped resounding. That meant that there was no longer any target. When the smoke cleared, Augur looked up to see the snowy sky of Karakuri Island.

With a popping sound, Augur warped himself and Enel out of the marine base using the hole he made. They reappeared in the sky above the marine base. Augur looked around and was disturbed to see how the snow falling on the island effectively acted like a mist, obscuring the distance. Augur couldn't warp as far as he could. For now, he warped with Enel to the rooftop of the marine base.

"Damn it," Augur said, expressing his dissatisfaction with the weather. "Sorry, Enel. I'm afraid getting you to Vash to be treated will take longer than I thought."

…

"Oi, you bastards! Don't shoot the medicine!" Vash shouted at the marines chasing him. "Don't you know how precious these are?"

Vash's little adventure in the hospital he found himself in proved to be a fruitful venture. He found a miracle medicine, one that he never would have imagined already existed.

WBEs, or White Blood Enhancers, are medical tablets that strengthen the body's immune system for a short period of time. With it, it's possible for someone to heal from severe diseases by just resting to let their bodies fight the disease. Foreign organisms and substances like virus, bacteria, venoms, and poisons are included in the ones the WBEs are made to solve.

Vash was riding a sled pulled by huskies. Around a dozen crates of WBEs are in the back. Unfortunately, one of those crates was shot up by the marines chasing him riding on similar sleds.

"It's really him! Stampede Vash!"

"That means, the Royal Aces are here! Gol D. Ace's crew!"

"Why haven't we heard anything from the base?"

Vash was able to hear the marines shout at each other. While they were doing so, Vash loaded one of his guns. His other hand was busy with the reins, so Vash could only shoot one bullet at a time.

"He's aiming at us!"

The marines panicked after seeing Vash turn around to aim at them. Vash shot a bullet. The snowy ride was shaky and bumpy, so Vash's shot wasn't accurate… it hit a marine right between his eyebrows.

"Man down!"

"Shit! He got Bobby!"

"Fuck, I missed," Vash said, clicking his tongue in disappointment. He realized he shouldn't try to shoot the marines down. Instead, Vash opted to make chasing him difficult. "Sorry! Believe me, I was aiming for his shoulder!"

Vash modified the bullets into the same exploding ones that Augur requested of Hepha. Once again, Vash was thankful that they had someone as capable as Hepha in their crew. 

"He's aiming at us again!"

"Fire! Shoot him down!"

"You fucking pirate! Bobby's wife is expecting!"

Vash ducked down for a moment, letting the bullets shot by the marines whizz past over his head. It was a short volley, considering how there were only around six marines who shot at him. He got back up and assessed the damage. Thankfully, none of the medicines were shot.

"See ya!" Vash said with a grin, aiming at a huge tree that he was about to pass by soon. Vash shot the exploding bullet near the base of the tree's trunk. The bullet hit accurately, shattering the bottom part of the tree's trunk. As a result, the tree fell down. Vash effectively cut off the path that would allow the marines to directly chase him. "That should throw them off for a while…"

…

Tanya was already finished with the introduction portion of Eri's training when the others returned. Surprisingly, Hepha, Doppol, and Mihar returned at almost the exact same time.

"You guys done already?" Tanya asked. Hepha, Doppol, and Mihar replied with either a grin or a nod.

"Oi, Hepha. Is that… a Devil Fruit?" Doppol asked, recognizing the strange fruit Hepha had in her left hand.

"Yup!" Hepha said. "Pretty neat find, huh?"

"What did Ace ask you to get, anyway?" Mihar asked. "I forgot to ask you earlier."

"Ahh, that. It's this thing here," Hepha said before taking the DFOB Machine out of her pocket for everyone to see. "It's a DFOB Machine. It's the machine used to make objects 'eat' a Devil Fruit."

"Fascinating!" Tanya said. She was the most intrigued by the machine in Hepha's hand.

"What about you guys?" Hepha asked, turning to Doppol and Mihar. "What did you two find?"