After carrying Yosaku's body up onto the ship's deck, Johnny began telling them what had actually happened.
"About three days ago he was still fine. But then suddenly his condition worsened. His teeth started falling out, his old wounds that had almost healed started bleeding and opening back up again. I truly didn't know what to do." Johnny's voice began to tremble. "A few minutes ago we stopped to rest... and then suddenly a cannonball from this ship came and hit us."
Remembering the incident, Johnny clenched his teeth. His shoulders trembled gently while tears slowly wet his face.
On the other side, Luffy and Usopp froze in place. Their eyes went wide, mouths fell open, and cold sweat immediately poured down their foreheads.
Without saying a word, both of them dropped to their knees in unison.
"W-we... we are truly sorry!" they shouted together.
"Saying sorry won't fix anything..." Johnny sat beside Yosaku while trying to hold back his tears. Snot had begun running from his nose as he stared at his companion lying there weakly. "Right... buddy?"
The atmosphere on the deck suddenly went quiet. Only the sound of waves hitting the hull and the soft blow of the sea breeze could be heard.
Nami watched Yosaku's condition for a few moments before finally snapping at them.
"Are all of you idiots?!"
"What did you say?" Zoro exclaimed.
Nami paid no attention to him at all. Her gaze turned to Luffy and Usopp who were beginning to panic.
"Luffy! Usopp! There should still be some limes in the kitchen. Bring them here now!"
"Yes, Ma'am!"
Luffy and Usopp immediately saluted, then ran scrambling toward the kitchen.
Not long after they returned carrying a bucket full of limes.
Nami immediately had them squeeze all of them and feed the juice to Yosaku.
"What is that for?" Zoro asked in confusion.
"He has scurvy," Nami answered while sighing.
"Scurvy?" Johnny repeated.
"Since we haven't reached the critical stage yet, he'll be alright within a few days."
"Is that really true?" Johnny exclaimed. His face immediately filled with hope.
Nami nodded gently.
"The cause is simply nutritional deficiency from plants. In the past many ships couldn't carry fresh fruit and vegetables on long journeys, so this sickness was common."
While Nami explained, Luffy who was squeezing the limes suddenly got an idea.
He picked up the squeezed lime pulp and began putting it into Yosaku's mouth.
Usopp who saw that immediately blinked in confusion.
"Luffy... what are you doing?"
"Wouldn't he recover faster if he ate the fruit too?"
Usopp went quiet for a moment.
"...That actually makes sense."
Without thinking any further, the two of them kept pushing lime pulp into Yosaku's mouth until it was completely full.
Luffy then turned toward Nami with shining eyes.
"Nami, you're amazing! You look just like a doctor!"
"Yeah, I think you're pretty amazing too," Usopp added while nodding in agreement.
The vein at Nami's temple immediately twitched.
"You should both know things like this too!!"
Suddenly...
"Blech!"
Yosaku vomited all the lime pulp from his mouth, then immediately sat bolt upright while drawing a long breath.
"Yosaku!"
Johnny immediately embraced his companion with a face full of joy.
"You're alive!"
"Hahaha! Of course I am!"
Several seconds later, the two of them immediately started dancing on the deck with tears still flowing down their faces.
"I'm Johnny!"
"I'm Yosaku!"
Both of them struck poses they considered extremely cool.
But a moment later...
Thud!
Yosaku collapsed back to the floor. His body twitched violently before coughing up a little blood from his mouth.
Nami immediately grabbed her own forehead.
"Of course that was going to happen, you idiot! Quickly bring him somewhere to rest!"
Johnny hurriedly lifted Yosaku's body back up and carried him to the kitchen to rest, while the others could only sigh watching the behavior of the two bounty hunters.
That evening, everyone gathered in the kitchen. The light of the oil lamp swayed gently with the ship's rocking, while the aroma of warm food still filled the room.
"This should be a lesson for all of us..." Nami opened the conversation while writing something in her notebook.
"Good food really is important, isn't it," Usopp murmured while pondering. "So we need someone who can take care of all our nutritional needs. Otherwise, sooner or later we'll end up like Yosaku..."
Nami kept writing for a few moments before raising her head.
"Come to think of it... the person who has talent for that kind of thing..."
"Is a sea cook!" Luffy finished quickly. He bit into the bread in his hand, then stood from his chair. "Yosh! Let's go find a sea cook!"
Usopp also stood while clenching his fist.
"That's right! That way we can eat well every day!"
"If you're looking for a cook like that, there's a place you need to visit," Johnny said enthusiastically.
"Where is that place?" Luffy asked with a smile full of enthusiasm.
"The place is actually near the Grand Line. It's about two or three days from here, so a lot of rough people stop there." Johnny glanced toward Zoro who had his eyes closed. "I even heard that the Hawk Eyes that Big Bro Zoro has been searching for all this time was there before too."
Zoro's eyes immediately opened. His hand gripped the hilt of his sword more tightly. Even without saying anything, the look in his eyes was answer enough.
Without wasting any more time, they changed course toward Baratie with Johnny as their guide.
Two days later.
In the distance, a gigantic ship in the shape of a fish slowly entered their field of vision.
Luffy and the others stared at it with amazement.
"What do you think, everyone?!" Yosaku called out while pointing toward the floating restaurant.
"Amazing!"
"What a big fish!"
"How beautiful!" Nami exclaimed while admiring the ship's unique shape.
While they were busy admiring Baratie, a Marine ship slowly approached from the other side. The ship moved without a sound until it was finally level with the Going Merry.
Usopp, Johnny, and Yosaku immediately panicked. Luffy, Zoro, and Nami on the other hand stayed calm. Luffy even tilted his head while looking at the ship with curiosity.
Not long after, a man with pink hair in a luxurious suit stepped to the railing of the Marine ship's deck. One of his hands rested on the railing, displaying brass-knuckled fists.
His eyes surveyed the Going Merry from end to end.
"Hmm... I've never seen that Jolly Roger before."
His gaze then shifted to the pirate crew.
He raised his iron-clad fist.
"I am Marine Lieutenant Ironfist Fullbody. Who is your captain? Step out and state your name."
Luffy stepped forward without feeling the slightest pressure.
"Yo! I'm Luffy! We just made our pirate flag a few days ago!"
Fullbody's eyes swept the deck again before stopping on Johnny and Yosaku who were hurriedly trying to hide.
His eyebrow rose.
"You two... I think I've seen you before." He thought for a moment before chuckling. "If I'm not mistaken, you're bounty hunters who only catch small fry."
Johnny and Yosaku spontaneously emerged from their hiding spots.
"Wh-what?!"
"So you've finally gotten caught by pirates, have you?" Fullbody laughed briefly. "How amusing."
Johnny and Yosaku's bodies trembled holding back their anger.
It was at that moment that the gentle voice of a woman was heard from behind Fullbody.
"Come on, let's go."
A woman wrapped her arm around his affectionately.
Fullbody only glanced briefly before nodding.
"Alright."
Feeling looked down upon, Yosaku immediately pulled out several wanted posters and threw them into the air.
"You think a small-time bounty hunter would be chasing people like these?!"
The wanted posters scattered and flew on the sea breeze.
But Fullbody didn't even turn. He kept walking as though he hadn't heard anything.
"That damn bastard! He's completely ignoring us!"
"Next time we meet, we'll beat him up!"
Nami, curious, walked over. She crouched down and picked up one of the posters that had fallen near her feet.
"What's this...?"
Johnny only then noticed Nami.
"Ah, that's a wanted poster of Big Sis Na—"
He immediately covered his own mouth, afraid of being scolded for almost calling Nami "Big Sis."
But Nami hadn't heard him at all.
Her gaze was fixed on a wanted poster with a picture of a fish-man.
Slowly, the expression on her face changed. Her fingers gripped the paper more tightly until the edges began to crumple.
Luffy who saw that change furrowed his brow slightly.
Something was different.
Nami's mood that had been still relaxed a moment ago suddenly turned so gloomy that even Luffy could feel it.
He had just been about to ask when Usopp's panicked shout shattered the quiet.
"Hey! They're aiming a cannon at us!"
BOOM!
The cannon's explosion shook the air.
A cannonball shot straight toward the Going Merry.
"Gomu Gomu no Fusen!"
Luffy's body immediately expanded like a balloon.
The cannonball hit his stomach, then bounced back in the direction of Baratie.
BOOM!
A loud explosion echoed.
A large hole immediately appeared in the restaurant's roof while black smoke rose high into the sky.
Nami snapped to attention. The wanted poster was still gripped tightly in her hand when she ran toward the ship's bow.
"What happened?!"
Usopp didn't answer. He only raised a trembling hand and pointed toward Baratie now billowing with smoke.
Luffy stared at the large hole in the restaurant roof for a few moments.
"...Ah, damn."
***
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End of Chapter 25