chapter 97

It was morning before long, and I woke up feeling refreshed after a night of good sleep. 'Time to explore the island,' I think to myself as I get off my bed, lazily stretching as I do.

I then pick my gear, coat, and my sunglasses as I make my way to the black pearl's kitchen, only to find a warm breakfast already waiting for me.

"Thanks, Bob," I murmur to Bob, who was still busy with cooking for the rest of the crew, earning a simple nod as I take my meal into the upper deck to eat it.

It doesn't take me long to demolish my meal, and I quickly jump into the port after telling my companions I'll be and giving them some instructions.

I first began exploring the town, and although it was reasonably nice looking, it wasn't exactly stimulating. It was a stereotypical peaceful town, with streets that were full of shops and street vendors.

Although most people seemed to be happy enough with smiles on their faces, most of them would frown or look away with scowls as soon I came near them, and I came out expecting as much.

Still, it seems that pirate money was still good money as none of the shop owners and stall owners refused to take mine. The drinks, although diverse with some that I haven't tasted before, were not that great, but the foods were very delicious, and that's where I spent the most money, at food stalls.

Even in my past life, I loved street food, and the first thing I did every time I had the chance to travel to a new country was trying their foods. So I have to say, Swallow island's street food definitely gets a passing grade by my book.

Suddenly as I was strolling through the streets of Pleasure town, my senses flare-up, causing me to turn around, my hands moving quickly and catching rock that was heading straight to my head.

I turn my head to where the rock came from and see a bunch of children, with one child standing in front of the others, the boy's body still frozen in a throwing stance and his eyes wide in shock while looking at the rock in my hand.

I merely smile at the children as I put some strength into my hand, crushing the rock I was holding into fine dust, causing the children to sober up from their shock and begin fleeing in all directions.

'What a bunch of cute little shits,' I think to myself with a smile, shaking my head as I turn around to keep strolling through the streets.

An hour passed, with nothing interesting happening, so I decided to skip seeing the rest of the town and head straight into the forest since I couldn't find anything new.

I reach the outskirts of pleasure town with little fanfare and promptly go into the forest. 'How nostalgic, this forest reminds me of the deserted island where I met Wilson,' I think to myself as I walk through the greenery.

'Minus the Swallow-shaped mountain and plus a lot of gigantic predators, of course,' I smile at how peaceful the forest seems compared to that deserted island. Still, it wasn't like this forest didn't have any predators, but most were normal animals, and they were few in number.

When I say normal, I wasn't talking about their appearance, of course, but their sizes, as all the animals here were a type of some irritating Swallow hybrid or the other.

There were swallow-monkey, swallow-wolf, swallow-squirrel ..., etc. You name it, and this island has a Swallow hybrid of it. It was funny at first, watching so many different Swallow hybrids, but it quickly became dull and irritating.

'I can't even tell if this is weird or not because this is the world of one piece, and what's irritating even more is that I haven't seen one normal Swallow bird so far,'

'At least this island isn't apple-themed. I might end burning it to ashes if that was the case,' I feel my spine tingling because of the image of an apple-themed island that I just put inside my head.

Suddenly, Swallow island seemed a lot more pleasant when compared to the horrible image I created inside my head, which I will doubtfully be able to forget anytime soon.

'Might as well see what this island looks like from the top of that Swallow-shaped mountain.' I think to myself while shaking my head, trying to drive away the horrible image from my mind.

I would have done that if the sound of my transponder snail suddenly ringing interrupted me. "Hello," I briefly greeted as I answered the call.

"Hello, captain." came Laffite's voice from the snail as its face morphed to resemble Laffite's likeness. "Sorry to interrupt, but I managed to locate Doc Q, and he seems to be preparing to leave the island," he added.

"What do you want me to do?" Laffite asked with a curious tone of voice. "Tell me where you are right now and keep him busy until I get there," I answered in a resolute voice as I turned to make my way back to pleasure town.

"Will do, captain," Laffite replied in a cheerful voice and proceeded to inform me about his position, promptly ending the call after.

In truth, I wouldn't mind having Doc q on my crew. Not only is he an excellent doctor, but he's also strong, evidenced by the fact that Blackbeard accepted him into his pirate crew while refusing to consider someone like Jewelry Bonney.

Despite his chronic illness, he has also shown himself to have extraordinary endurance. He withstood a Gura Gura no Mi shock wave from Whitebeard (albeit not a direct hit) and later took a direct hit from Sengoku's shock wave in Buddha form, standing up with only a small amount of trouble.

Doc Q even survived Magellan's venom long enough for Shiryu to administer the antidote. He even seemed to endure it better than the rest of the Blackbeard Pirates, despite his illness.

In my opinion, Doc q might be the strongest out of all Blackbeard's crew if it wasn't for his sickly physique. Still, he had two problems, one of them being the most glaring, which is his love for explosive apples, and the other is his sickness, which might not be so incurable if I take him to drum island and get that person's help as well.

In conclusion, I wanted Doc Q in my crew, but I'll have to have to make sure he gives up this explosive apple thing, and if that doesn't work, then I'll have to kill him then and there, or he'll end up joining Blackbeard in the future.

I had nothing against Blackbeard. In fact, he was one of my favorite characters in the anime, but I don't see myself getting along with him in this life, so I might as well deprive him of one of his future crewmates, one way or the other.

With that reasoning, I quickly make my way to the location described by Laffite, who I find chatting with an oversized sickly-looking man with an unkempt appearance, lying on top of an equally sickly looking and broad white horse.

"So, you are a part of a pirate crew?" Doc Q asks in a wheezing tone, pausing between each word to gasp for breath. "I am," Laffite replied with a smile, nodding his head.

"And you - cough - want a poor sick man like me to meet your captain?" Doc Q asked again, his tone bewildered as he began coughing blood mid-sentence. "That's the gest of it," Laffite replies again, nodding his head.

"And what could your captain possibly want from me?" Doc Q asks, wiping his mouth to clean the blood staining his face. "I want you to join my crew, of course," I stated as I landed in front of Doc Q from the sky after using Geppo.

Doc Q heard my words and seemed to be taken aback by my sudden appearance, causing him to stumble and fall from his horse's back.

"I'm sorry, but can you help me up before we can talk any further?" Doc Q asked with his face planted on the ground with an exhausted look on his face.

"Sure thing," I say with a smile as I pick him up by the collar of his black fur, tossing him onto the horse's back. "Thank you, but as you can see, I've been born with a weak, sickly body, so I don't understand why you would want me to join your crew," Doc Q asked in a confused tone, and I was about to reply, but his horse suddenly collapses on the ground as well, causing me to stop.

"I'm sorry, but my horse is just as sickly as I am. Do you mind helping me again?" Doc Q asks, his face turning even paler.

"Sure," I reply with twitching eyes as I reach under the horse's stomach and help it back up.

"Thank you again. How about I give you an apple as thanks for helping me twice already?" Doc Q said, rummaging around the side of his horse, retrieving an apple basket which he shoved in front of my face.