Chenos frowned as he looked at the whip marks crisscrossing Hancock's body, the skin torn open and raw.
They were "just" external injuries—normally the kind that would heal on their own.
But this place was a prison.
A cage.
Here, even a small wound could easily become infected. And once infection set in, it was practically a death sentence.
There was no need to hope for treatment.
The Celestial Dragons would never care about a slave's injuries, much less provide medicine or bandages. Even though Hancock was a Devil Fruit user, in their eyes she was still nothing more than a lowly slave—no different from the rest.
I have to do something.
But inside the cage, there was nothing.
No clean water.
No cloth.
No way to disinfect or even properly bandage the wounds.
What could he do?
"Chenos, I'm really fine," Hancock said softly. "If I rest for a couple of days, it'll heal. Don't worry."
Chenos didn't answer.
He was deep in thought.
Then—
His eyes suddenly lit up.
A memory surfaced—one that had once left him deeply shaken when he'd first seen it.
Bartholomew Kuma.
The Tyrant Kuma.
A man who had pushed Devil Fruit development to terrifying heights.
His Paw-Paw Fruit didn't just repel physical objects—it could repel air, people, shockwaves…
Even pain and fatigue.
That ability alone had been monstrous beyond reason.
Though Kuma's fate was tragic—turned into a mindless slave, reduced to a mount for the Celestial Dragons—Chenos had always felt there was something more behind Oda's portrayal of him. Something yet unrevealed.
But that wasn't the point right now.
What mattered was this:
Kuma's fruit gave Chenos inspiration.
If Kuma could develop his Devil Fruit to the point of repelling pain and exhaustion, then there was no reason Chenos's Rebound-Rebound Fruit couldn't do something similar.
Especially since one of its core abilities was absorption.
What if… I absorb her injuries?
If this worked, it wouldn't just help Hancock.
It would become a healing method.
A massive boost to his survivability.
Imagine it—
In battle, an enemy beats him to the brink of death.
Then Chenos absorbs all his own injuries in an instant—full recovery on the spot.
And then fires all that accumulated damage right back at the enemy.
Anyone facing that would lose their mind.
The enemy struggles desperately to kill him, only to hand him an even more terrifying attack in return.
That kind of ability was absolutely worth developing.
Plan confirmed.
Do it.
Chenos reached out, grabbed Hancock's hand, and gently placed his palm over the wounds on her arm.
Hancock's face instantly turned crimson.
"C-Chenos! W-What are you doing?! I—I'm not ready yet!"
Chenos froze.
"???"
Then realization hit him.
Ah.
So… she misunderstood.
And apparently… she liked him too.
Chenos couldn't help but smile.
"Don't think too much," he said gently. "I'm just trying to see if my Devil Fruit can help heal your injuries."
"Ah—!!!"
Hancock realized her mistake and instantly lowered her head, her entire face burning red. It was so intense it looked like steam might start rising from her head.
Her shy, flustered expression was so cute that Chenos nearly laughed out loud.
After indulging in that moment for just a second, he refocused.
He concentrated fully on the wounds.
From previous uses, Chenos had already noticed that his Devil Fruit ability had two clear aspects:
Absorption and Reflection.
When using absorption, an invisible absorbing barrier enveloped his entire body. No matter where an attack came from, as long as it didn't exceed his absorption limit, it would be nullified.
But that was an inefficient use of the ability.
Most parts of his body weren't being attacked, meaning the absorption barrier there was wasted. Worse, it diluted the defensive strength at the point actually being struck.
In the future, he might try concentrating the absorption in a specific area.
But that wasn't today's goal.
Right now, he needed to understand how to absorb damage itself.
Chenos activated his absorption ability and carefully attached it to Hancock's wound.
His eyes flashed.
He could feel it clearly now—the absorbing force had wrapped itself around the injury.
All it would take was a single thought.
"Absorb."
The moment he activated it, Chenos let out a muffled groan.
Cold sweat instantly beaded on his forehead.
A wound appeared on his own arm—at the exact same position as Hancock's injury.
Hancock had just felt her arm suddenly lighten, the pain disappearing. She looked up in surprise—
And saw the wound on Chenos.
"H-How…? Chenos! Are you okay?!"
She called his name twice before he reacted. The sudden pain had hit him like a real whip strike, sharp and violent, almost knocking him unconscious.
So this was what Hancock had endured.
Not a "few lashes."
This had been a brutal beating.
If Hancock hadn't grown up on Amazon Lily with a naturally strong physique, this alone could've killed her.
"I'm fine," Chenos said, forcing himself to breathe evenly.
"My ability can heal you. I just don't know how to use it properly yet… that's why the injury transferred to me."
He fell silent again, thinking.
The experiment had proven one thing:
His theory was correct.
The Rebound-Rebound Fruit could absorb injuries.
But something wasn't right.
Instead of storing the absorbed damage as energy—like other attacks—it had directly manifested on his body.
That didn't make sense.
If damage absorption worked the same as absorbing bullets or impacts, the injury should have been stored inside him, ready to be reflected later as a powerful attack.
So why did it immediately affect him?
Chenos stared at the wound on his arm.
Then—
A thought struck him like lightning.
Could it be…
That there's a difference between tangible damage… and intangible damage?