OP C06 - Summit War but without the war

A loud voice echoed through Marineford and stopped the short moment of silence when the Moby Dick appeared, "Hey hey, can I get everyone's attention before we start and lose all the cannon fodder?"

A tall, lanky man with a mask on landed next to Marco on the Moby Dick. Nobody sensed any malice from him, so the Whitebeard Pirates didn't stop him boarding the ship.

"Oh? What does some youngling like you got to say?" Whitebeard asked with a raised brow.

"Ah, I'll make it quick and point out four morons if that's agreeable with all of you?"

Dave's voice was weirdly magnetic at this moment, and nobody from the pirate's side said anything. The marines clamored a bit, but despite feeling a form of apprehension, not even Sengoku lifted his hand to start the attack.

"Okay, let's start with Squard. You moron actually intend to attack Whitebeard based on words from one of the worst marines in history? As if Adrimal Akainu would ever tell you the truth about a pirate or ever even consider working with one as notorious as your captain," Dave started as he looked at the man with the spider tattoo and weirdly lopsided, slim hairband on the ship directly next to the Moby Dick.

"He'd burn down orphanage after orphanage on Orphanage Island if he heard some three million belli rookie squated in the basement of one. What makes you think human garbage like him would get to meet and scheme with one of the most good-hearted pirates you know?"

Sengoku's bad feeling rose when he heard the words from this newcomer. Many marines in the lower rungs started clamoring because of the insult the masked man directed at one of their admirals, but most higher ranking marines kept oddly quiet. They wouldn't word it like that, but the mad dog was named as such for a reason.

Whitebeard on his side frowned when the man dared call one of his sons a moron but when he looked at the swordsman, Whitebeard saw the man paling in realization.

Before they could discuss it, Dave then started to shout so loud that the marines could clearly hear about the next moron, "Hey Garp! You're the second moron! As if you needed to be a marine to clean the seas of scum! Just because of a title, you stand next to your own grandson as he's executed because of his dad he never even met? Not even Dadan is as cold-hearted as you!"

Obviously, he oversimplified the statement, but he currently had the attention of thousands of people who were ready for war. Weaving long tales would quickly lose him his audience.

"Tell us! When you took away Ace as a baby, how many islands in the surroundings still had toddlers? I bet Cipher Pol and the marines killed every single pregnant woman they found in South Blue on the off-chance they might carry Roger's child! Absolute Justice, my ass you filth!"

This time again, Dave did not wait for people to start forming and communicating an opinion to interrupt him.

"And the third moron here, Fleet Admiral Sengoku! How much fucking brainwashing will this shit take so that the rank and file stay loyal to your cause? Zephyr and his merry band left after the five elders tucked on your doggie leash and allowed Doflamingo to get away with murdering a whole boatload of Zephyr's recruits and now you make one of your strongest men stand next to his grandson's execution? How many marines here aren't sons and daughters of a bandit or a pirate and that's your reason for being so vile in your method?"

The fact that Ace was Gold Roger's son was just announced, but Dave felt like the marines and the world had never considered this from another perspective. With this statement, Dave hoped to lower the morale of marines who were indeed sons and daughters of criminals.

Sengoku quickly realized what the man was doing and wanted to interrupt but he was too late.

Unpeturbed, Dave continued, "All the while you willingly allow that shitstain over there to be a vice admiral after he was responsible for Marine Captain Rosinante's death? Man, the world nobles must be able to tell you a bowl of shit is soup if Doflamingo is secretly allowed to be the boss of a giant marine base while running the biggest black market in the world after they murdered the one guy that was closest to being your actual son!"

Dave had pointed at Vergo, the vice admiral in charge of G-5 and secret Doflamingo pirate, without knowing if Sengoku was in the know or not. But it didn't matter, he just wanted to create some chaos and used a shotgun method and hope something would stick that would allow for a different outcome in the Summit War.

"What's he talking about?" Sengoku whispered to himself with a frown when he followed the finger of the young man.

Meanwhile some higher ranking marine's finally couldn't take it anymore. Some random commander from the G-5 base started shouting louder than anyone, "Stop spilling your drivel pirate scum! As if we'd ever believe you!"

On the side of the seven warlords - well, 4 and a robot, Doflamingo's expression turned icy as his sadistic smile slowly faded. But he quickly schooled his expression lest he gave even more information away.

Vergo on the other hand stayed completely still with his crossed arms as if Dave wasn't talking about him. This was outside anything he had ever considered could happen and he didn't have a plan for this scenario.

Sengoku raised a hand and quickly most marines stopped talking, "Why should I believe you?"

"Believe me? Are you telling me the smartest fleet admiral in history didn't know about an entire marine base being in the hands of a pirate? Vergo didn't even leave you suspicious of anything, seriously? No wonder there's so much filth running rampant in the seas with a marine flag on their ship!"

"Take that back!" "Nobody is allowed to stain the Marine's honor!" "How dare you!?" "What would a filthy pirate know?"

"What would a filthy pirate know!? Was I a pirate before CP9 abducted me to sell me into slavery based on that cunt Spandam's whim? Did I become a pirate when that asshole over there listened to a World Noble when he pointed to my mom and had her enslaved in the middle of the streets in Sabaody and later shot when she didn't smile for that pig?" Dave shouted over all the marines in indignation as he pointed to Vice Admiral Onigumo.

A look of realisation came onto the man's face. He remembered that day when he was still a Rear Admiral. It served as a profound memory in the vice admiral's mind as the green-haired lady smiled sadly at escaping her fate. She was happy and sad in equal measure and he always wondered why that was. Even as a man believing in Absolute Justice, that was the last time he willingly attended a World Noble.

"No you insufferable miscreants! For over a decade I only grew food for the poor and for me and my island until you all took it from me and branded me a criminal!" That never happened but enough of it was true that he didn't tell a lie that the more cunning men on both sides could pick up on.

Many could feel the anger in the man's voice but many more felt indifferent to it among the higher ranks. Only a select few like Vice Admirals Garp and Tsuru turned solemn hearing the words. Years of experience and their compassion allowed them to hear the truth in his words.

Dave then jumped down the mast and landed a short distance away from Whitebeard. He looked up at the mountain of a man as goosebumps started to form over his arms. He had to take a big gulp before he finally steeled his balls to insult the man, "And you're the last moron. You think Blackbeard would orchestrate all this and not plan to finish what the marines couldn't if you sound the retreat without you present!? Teach will not allow your family to live after what he has done. If it's not a trap right behind this island, they'll hunt you all down in your territory. And it's not like any of them would be his match. Not even Marco!"

He said the last part only barely loud enough for everyone on the ship to hear him. And Whitebeard's amused smile at the little guy calling him a moron while in his punching distance swiftly vanished.

"What's your name, boy?"

"Dave."

"Then how can I save my son, Dave?"

Dave started grinning and turned to the marines as he started shouting again, "You call these pirates vile scum! But their territories are the closest to actual paradise than any other islands in the grand line! What if the Whitebeard pirates simply fled now and threatened to destroy all marine bases for years to come if you dare lay a hand on Ace? Would you threaten them with killing all the civilians in their territory so that you can lure them in a trap? I bet that's what you would do with scum like Akainu as Fleet Admiral, right?"

The attempt to rile up the mad dog failed as Akainu only narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth at the implied notion of his 'bad moral compass', "But how long do you think it would take before Whitebeard finally fucks off into the afterlife? You marines would be left with only a few strong men and no foundation! Your entire plan relies on Whitebeard dying here because he is a sentimental old fool! Just imagine what he could do to the world in rage! And just imagine what he could do to Mary Geoise with his awakened devil fruit! After all, what would he kill there once he fully unleashes? Slaves you scum ignore that yearn for death? Cipher Pol agents who are worse than most pirates? You think those calling themselves gods who break a bone when they fall off of the slaves they are riding would survive Whitebeard here unleashing his conqueror haki?"

Whitebeard looked up to Ace in contemplation. He didn't like leaving his son behind one bit so he still wasn't on board with what this Dave guy implied. But then the giant felt Dave touch his knee and a sudden surge of vitality made him feel a little younger even if the amount was absolutely miniscule to a man of his power.

Yet, it was the most power Dave ever sent through the use of his devil fruit, but it was for a good cause - showing Whitebeard that he could delay his death a little.

The boy whispered to him, "Obviously that's just for demorilization and to divide their forces. You can still go ahead and punch until Ace is freed. His brother Luffy should be there somewhere or arrive at any moment. Maybe Garp will get his head out of his ass and actually help his kids."

"Obviously you don't know Garp, gurara!" Whitebeard answered, his laugh drawing everyone's attention to the infamous captain, then he quickly stopped laughing and ordered a little more quietly, "Stop using that power, boy!"

Whitebeard scrutinized the masked loudmouth and saw that his muscles slowly lost definition, his posture growing weaker as it looked like worms were running to his hands toward him. A man as seasoned as Whitebeard, even though he never heard of a power like that, figured out that his increasing health came at the cost of the boys' life and didn't want any part in it.

"Don't make me swat you to the next island," the towering geezer warned as he stepped forward to the front of his ship.

"Release my son or I will leave my territory and kill every Rear, Vice, and Admiral I cross path with for the rest of my life!" Whitebeard's cold shout rang in the hearts of every marine. Just like Dave had said, he didn't have to go through with it, but demoralizing your enemy when the odds weren't in your favor sounded smart enough.

A few more cunning marine obviously interpreted these words as 'just have to make sure he dies, then', but the lowly grunts were now quivering in their boots. The cold sweat of all these frightened marines flowed enough to raise the waterlevel in the bay for a fleeting moment before Akainu for the first time addressed the masses through gritted teeth.

"We will do no such thing, filth!"

And just as he was about to unleash a magma fist, Dave shouted once more, "Ah, so you want all your high-level officers to fight here as your precious new warlord of the sea Blackbeard raids Impel Down and frees all the scum from level 6? You don't believe me? I dare you morons to contact Magellan!"

A pregnant silence hung over Marineford. Someone was breaking into Impel Down? Ha! Who would believe that?

"Heh, you don't believe me - I get it. Obviously, it would be impossible for someone other than Shiki to break out. And it's not like Garp's other grandson over there first broke into Impel Down to talk to Ace and then broke out of it probably an hour or two ago," Dave once more shouted.

Sengoku looked to Ace and saw his stunned expression, and immediately every alarm bell in the fleet-admiral's head started ringing. He quickly took out a den-den mushi and tried calling the warden, then the vice-warden and then some other people whose numbers he knew from the top of his head but none connected!

"Kizaru! Quickly head to Impel Down to confirm their status! The calls aren't getting through!"

Whitebeard turned to Dave and whispered, "You're quite ruthless, boy. Want to become my son?"

"Maybe in another life," Dave answered with a melancholic smile behind the mask. "How about this, you survive this war and I'll let you stamp your mark over my heart and become your fleet's ally. Just don't die in front of Teach though, old man. He can steal the fruit from your corpse with the fruit he stole from Thatch."

"Gurarara, the cheek on you, brat! Tell me then. Clearly you have a good head on your shoulders. They are down one admiral - can't I just start punching now?"

Dave shrugged in response, "Sure, or you wait. Sengoku is currently forced to suffer two humiliating defeats or suffer making a deal with you. There's no way he can call back Kizaru once the man confirmed there had been two jailbreaks in a single day. And he was stupid enough to televise me telling him about it. So either he kills everyone in Sabaody or the world knows that Blackbeard broke into Impel Down and when the war happens anyway and you die, Blackbeard will come to steal your fruit right under their noses. The marines are in a lose-lose situation now unless they have a trump card we're all unaware of or they come to an agreement with you."

'I stopped the tsunami Whitebeard released and therefore Aokiji didn't unleash his ice age. Luffy, Jinbei, Ivankov and Buggy won't be able to jump their ship over the frozen wave to get in... how will they enter?'

Meanwhile, Sengoku just received a call from Borsalino confirming that the state of Impel Down was much worse than they thought. Yet, a man Admiral Kirazu didn't expect was holding down some of the new Blackbeard pirates at the front gate: Silvers Rayleigh.

"He wants to trade his freedom for Ace's? And to sweeten the deal he's stopping the escapees?" Sengoku mumbled after the full report from his admiral.

Rayleigh apparently made quick work of the prisoners that were poorly armed and more or less starved in level 6 while he barely kept a raging Blackbeard in check. Many casualties were among the prisoners and personell. Together with Kizaru, Rayleigh ended up in a stalemate with Teach and his remaining crew.

Though, Rayleigh did threaten that if Sengoku tries anything he would cut open Impel Down and kill any marine trying to stop the pirates. Sengoku was given five minutes to decide.

At that moment, Luffy, Buggy, Jinbei and Ivankov were falling down from sky, surely because Luffy used his rubber arms to catapult them over Marineford. They made a giant splash close to Moby Dick - yet luckily for the three devil fruit users, Jinbei quickly threw them on board before they drowned. They bickered for a while, and Dave gave Ivankov a hidden sign only a revolutionary would understand.

Whitebeard started talking with Luffy and Buggy like equals, shocking everyone - though for Buggy he only did that out of respect for Roger. Dave on the other hand decided to take a step back from this whole situation. He was pretty sure he did what he came here to do, so much has changed already.

And while he could fight Rear Admirals no problem, Dave did not want to get caught up in whatever happened next. Especially if 20 Kuma Pacifista still turn up to bring up the backline for the marines. His armament haki wasn't on the level of surviving that onslaught yet and he'd rather not show off more of his techniques that the marines could use to identify him.

Plus, he screwed Doflamingo by exposing Vergo openly - the man was probably already plotting Dave's demise the moment Whitebeard wasn't paying attention.

"Vat do you vant from me?" Ivankov asked in a voice as quiet as his giant head allowed.

"I got a message for you from the big boss," Dave whispered back, "we're on our own and the Kuma you see doesn't remember you. You still have a ship outside with a few more friends, right? We might need that to flee. I'd love to ditch now but I'm no match for Doflamingo and I pretty much just laid open one of his most important schemes. The fact he isn't slicing me into a million pieces right now is honestly baffling."

Ivankov stared at Dave with a lifted brow for a moment before he started laughing, "Mmmfufu, anything else, Mask-boy?"

"Yeah, don't die. We need you."

"Hee-haw! Has my beauty captivated you, boy?"

A few people on the ship turned to the two who were whispering the mast moments before but Dave just talked to the whole world and made an enemy out of the WG and the marines, how could this fluster him?

"You have many redeeming qualities, Iva. And beauty is certainly in the eye of the beholder but no I'm not attracted to you like this."

Suddenly, sand began to gather around Whitebeard until a hook landed on the ship and tried to impale the giant with Crocodile forming behind the hook. Yet, Luffy kicked the hook away and the two unlikely allies started bickering back and forth.

Sengoku watched all this with a calculating expression until he made his decision. He needed to head to Impel Down as quickly as possible before the world government loses any more face and the trade of Gold Roger's son to his first mate seemed reasonable enough to make sure this wasn't a total loss.

The fleet admiral could tell from the look in everyone's eyes that this show of weakness didn't sit well with anyone, especially his two remaining admirals. It would have all been fine if it wasn't for that masked man!

"I agree to Silver Rayleigh's parlay! The first mate's life of the Pirate King for the son of the Pirate King," Sengoku said through gritted teeth as he motioned for Ace's handcuff keys.

He handed them to Admiral Akainu who looked at all of this happening with a stony expression as he led the prisoner down to the rafters. Luffy and Whitebeard walked forward to the exchange. The admiral shoved Ace toward Whitebeard and threw the key to Luffy - and all hell broke loose.

Akainu unleashed a magma fist toward Luffy while Kuzan chose this moment to freeze Whitebeard to delay his response. Ace tumbled forward to receive the blow to Whitebeard and his entire right side was encased in ice. Meanwhile Akainu landed only a glancing blow on Luffy who hurriedly leaned back when he saw the incoming fist.

Not only was Luffy a little stronger than in canon at this time thanks to Dave's strengthening, this very fact resulted in him being a lot less hurt during his Impel Down jailbreak, meaning Ivankov didn't have to overdo his hormone buff on the Strawhat's captain.

Moira and Doflamingo also chose this moment to intervene, though Moira was intercepted by Boa Hancock who didn't stop stomping on Moira's face for daring to sneak attack her Luffy. Doflamingo, however, chose this moment to attack Ace just to wreak havoc on the battlefield. He was after all someone who benefited greatly from a shift in power. And he hoped this one attack would give him enough space to kill that masked guy on Whitebeard's ship.

His plan, however, failed spectacularly as Doflamingo's thread was barely intercepted by Whitebeard and left a bone-deep cut on the man's left arm. Yet, as if uncaring of this injury, the old man tugged at the string created by Doflamingo's devil fruit and buried his massive fist deep into Doflamingo's face. The punch broke his glasses, his cocky smile and most of his face as the warlord was hurtled through a couple of buildings.

Then, Whitebeard wielded his giant halberd and decided to clash with Akainu after throwing Ace toward the Moby Dick like a sack of potatoes. Marco caught the boy and immediately thawed the ice of Kuzan. Yet enough time has passed for the weakened Ace to be left with deep ice burns all over his side, mostly his arms and the exposed part of his legs.

As if his two admirals didn't try cheap-shotting Whitebeard and Luffy and as if they weren't still fighting, Sengoku lifted his den den mushi and told Kizaru and Rayleigh that their end of the deal was held up. He ordered over half of the present vice admirals and rear admirals to head to Impel Down as fast as possible - especially those already on the water for their bottling tactic.

Meanwhile in the fight between the two admirals and Whitebeard and Luffy, Whitebeard did his best to defend his son's younger brother. Wounds accumulated quickly because his one arm was barely usable and the big climax turned out to be both Akainu and Whitebeard losing an arm while Kuzan lost an eye to a conqueror haki clad downward swing of Whitebeard's giant naginata. In return, Kuzan managed to lodge two haki-clad icicles in Whitebeard's ribs and knee.

After that exchange, Whitebeard managed to bring Luffy on his ship and protected the rear as his fleet set sail back to their homes. Sengoku, seeing that at least Whitebeard was a man of his word sent even more marines to Impel Down in the hopes that the worst was yet to come.

All in all, the summit war was a lot more anticlimatic and this unsatisfying ending would have made for a terrible arc conclusion for Luffy's journey. He didn't lose Ace, prompting the two year time skip. He didn't almost die and he lost his haki trainer who was imprisoned in Ace's stead. One of his first releases of conqueror haki didn't happen here. He didn't get saved by Law, meaning their relationship was not as established as it should be on their next encounter...

Still, as he watched Whitebeard's fleet decimating the 20 pacifista who apparently didn't get the memo while the big fleet retreated and saw them meet up with Shanks, Dave was glad his crazy plan worked out. Blackbeard wasn't the sole winner of the Summit War and was missing one overpowered fruit in his arsenal, possibly even some of his more fearsome crewmates.

Luffy still didn't meet with Shanks in the end comically enough because exhaustion and the accumulated burns and bruises from his short fight with Akainu left him sleep-eating as nobody, not even Ace, could wake him as the rubber man ate his way through the kitchen.

Dave allowed one of the nurses tending to Whitebeard to brand his mark on the left side of his chest as promised after Whitebeard's wounds were tended to, though Whitebeard told Dave in confidence that he likely couldn't fight anymore without losing his life. Old age and these new wounds were catching up to him, Marco gave his pops a year at most if he didn't agitate his wounds - at least Dave's powers worked wonders in closing Newgate's newest battle scars and that meant Whitebeard would be in better shape for any unexpected circumstances.

He left Luffy a letter, urging the young captain to delay his journey for one or two years while learning haki from someone, maybe even Whitebeard, and let him in on the secret that Kuma had sent all his nakama to places where they could reliably get stronger.

The giant fleet, including the Red Hair pirates and the ships Ivankov and the other freed prisoners stole eventually split up with Dave following along with Ivankov.

"You're quite the little schemer, aren't you Davey-boy?" Emporio Ivankov asked when Dave finally lifted his mask and washed out the color in his hair.

Dave lifted his hand to show it was shaking and said, "In all my lives, this was the most nerve-wrecking thing I ever did! It's been a day and my hands are still shaking!"

"Vat a veird saying 'all my lives'... are you trying to tell me something, Davey-boy?"

Dave started inwardly sweating. Exposing his secret didn't really matter unless it reached the wrong ears, but did he really just reveal it by accident this quickly?

"I do. Dragon told me Lindbergh was near Water 7 about a week ago and asked him to retrieve some of the Treasure Tree Adam trees I've been growing. Do you think we can somehow meet up with them? I haven't been in the RA for a week and mostly got my ass handed to me by Sabo while Dragon watched, so I don't know how to contact any of you."

Ivankov narrowed his giant eyes at Dave and eventually shrugged with an exaggerated grin, "That's wonderful news Davey-boy. I'll get Inazuma-chan right on it, mmmfufuuu~!"

Three weeks. It took them three weeks to reach Baltigo, the RA HQ, while changing ships a few times and Ivankov and his newkama stayed for a whole thirty minutes before the G-army leader boarded the next ship to his kingdom to see what happened to it during his absence.

In these three weeks, they did indeed manage to meet up with other revolutionaries who helped them back to the headquarters of the RA and he personally showed them all the treasure trees he had growing in hidden places throughout his home island. He packed up all he had in his home, from his mom's exquisite tailoring tools to the money he had hidden - though he did leave more than half with the orphanage he used to live in.

The fact that he left over 100 million belli with an orphanage had left a deep impression on the RA members accompanying him, but he did it mostly to ease his own worries since he would no longer help them grow food on a regular basis.

Once he was on Baltigo, Dave noticed with a wry smile that this was a different island than the one he spent his first week with RA on. They were really on guard with him, weren't they? Well, it made sense.

The island itself, however, felt completely wrong to Dave's 'inner nature spirit' he had developed thanks to his devil fruit. Not a single blade of grass was growing on the island anywhere, something Dragon allowed him to change if it meant it was training to him.

He started by transplanting the Treasure Tree Adam 'saplings' as tall as Dragon they had gotten from his home island and quickly went toward growing food. It was hard with the soil that was essentially just a layer of white volcanic soil, but if he combined both devil fruit powers he had, Dave could even change this acidic soil into something food could grow out of. It gave him confidence that he could stop hunger on pretty much every island he would visit later, even if it was only for a short while.

Two weeks into his stay on the island where Dave learned more about haki from the various officers staying there as well as his own powers, a new guest arrived on the island: Nico Robin.

Luffy had contacted his friends and initiated a two year break just like in canon, though he took Ace with him as he rang the ox bell in the vastly less ruinous Marineford. And just like in canon, Robin was saved in one of the blues and brought to the revolutionaries.

"I did not expect to find you here, Link Dave," the raven-haired beauty said with a warm smile as they greeted each other.

"Career choice wise, this was the best I could do," Dave argued with a shrug. "Though, you coming here is a great coincidence!" Robin's eyes lit up, thinking Dave would finally act a little more familiar with her, but her smile became a little forced when Dave continued, "Usopp told me about your adventure in Skypiea and I want to go there to recruit members for my hospital ship. I need trustworthy individuals with no love for the WG and no bounties. Those are hard to find in the blue sea, but finding someone who dislikes tyrant in the skies? Sounds easy enough!"

Stunted as the feathery appendages were, who wouldn't want to see beautiful women with angel wings?

"You really know how to make a woman lose confidence in her beauty," Robin joked.

Dave looked her up and down and said, "Well, if someone like you really needs other people to tell her she's beautiful something is either wrong with you or the world."

"She's not here to get fucked by you, shithead," a woman with barely any clothing on in the color red, a short bob of purple hair and black shades with red tinted glasses said from behind Dave.

"Just making small talk with someone whose life I saved... more or less," Dave replied while scratching the back of his head. Belo Betty was shown to be brash and foul-mouthed, but this was their first time meeting and he really hoped it would have gone better.

Betty walked past him and ordered, "The leader said you have medical expertise. There's someone with a bullet lodged in his chest inside the ship. Go save his life. And you best hope you come through."

"Can you at least tell me if the ship's infirmary is stocked or if I have to get supplies first?" Dave shouted but Betty only lifted her middle-finger to him without looking back.

Dave unleashed his observation haki and noticed three people on ship scurrying from left to right inside a cabin while another was lying on a gurney. With his devil fruit powers he could make do, so he decided to just walk inside and give it his best. No scalpel on this island would be as thin, sharp and sturdy as something he grew out of wood and making tongs to grab the bullet from the wound was just as easy - and sterile enough. He grew the wood, not the bacteria and germs on it.

Once inside the infirmary with Robin on his heels to see him perform as a doctor, Dave saw that the wounded fella inside wasn't human and his eyes darkened. Not because he was racist or didn't want to save this polar bear mink but because he didn't know the first thing of their anatomy! His first job as a doctor turned out to be quite the challenge.

On first inspection of the wound by brushing and holding back a lot of fur, Dave started sweating and was very glad the quacks on the ship didn't randomly poke around in his chest to grab the bullet. Gently feeling it out with his fingers, Dave counted two arteries close to an obstruction that turned out to be this mink's... second ribcage? And that was where the bullet ended up.

In the end, Dave's future helmsman, information officer, and second in command survived. Yet despite getting saved, Lope, a distant cousin of Bepo sailing with Trafalgar D. Water Law, would never once stop bringing up that Dave got that bullet out without any anesthetics.