Knock, knock, knock.

“Oh, Brook. What is it?”

“Captain, I’ve got the basic information on the kid.”

“You can deal with it, Brook. I still need to handle the situation with the meds. I feel our future is bleak here.”

“Don’t get too sad, Captain. I’ll try to talk to the doctor on the island about it, and we’ll definitely find medicine to cure your and the others’ illnesses.”

“Alright, give me a brief summary of the kid.”

Knowing their predicament, Yorki, the captain of the Rumbar Pirates, couldn’t help but sigh. Patiently reading what Brook wrote on the paper was a bit too much for the captain, but he appreciated the hard work of his vice-captain. He continued to read the report and speculate on the child’s background.

“What makes you think the kid’s a noble?”

“His clothing is made from good fabric, and he has several currencies hidden within his belongings. I believe he might be one because he had a book with an unknown language in his possession. Not to mention his upbringing, which shows naivety—there’s no way a commoner could have the caution he displayed.”

“I see… But as you know, there’s no way he could be a spy sent to us. We’ve only just arrived in the New World. Don’t you think it’s foolish to actually send a spy on our rookie pirate crew?”

“Even so, there’s a need to maintain our caution.”

“I don’t disagree, but you’re thinking too deeply, Brook. Relax—not everyone is cunning. You need to slowly understand the boy before making a judgment. We also still need to deal with our problems here…”

Brook couldn’t help but sigh forlornly as he looked at his crewmate sleeping on the bed. Who would believe that a quarter of his mates would be affected by an unknown disease, as even the captain needed to tend to them?

“Be careful not to get infected, Captain.”

“I can’t promise you that. Just hurry up and get them on land so we can check their condition.”

“I’ll tell the boys. Please take care.”

With that, Brook closed the door and returned to the party. Looking at the wasted Lynn, Brook could only dispel his apprehension as the kid showed fear even in his sleep.

That alone told Brook the kid had a story.

But who didn’t?

Everyone had their own story; all they could do was deal with it one way or another.

Still, Brook did his best to judge the kid’s character and tried to find the nearest town on the sea to save his crewmates.

Looking at the horizon, Brook took his violin and slowly swiped the instrument, playing a melancholy tune.

As time passed, Lynn learned more about the Rumbar Pirates.

The kind and fun-loving crew were pirates who did more good than bad. The worst thing they did was pillage merchant ships, but they never killed anyone, and they always left some supplies for the merchants. Despite their battles with other pirate groups, killing and pillaging weren’t in their vocabulary.

Pirate battles, however, were anything but tame. It was a battle royale where even allies could get hurt. Whenever they engaged in such battles, they did it on the enemy’s ship, careful not to damage their own vessel.

Sometimes, a crewmate would grab Lynn from his hiding place and teach him how to kill. Witnessing it live made the modern boy throw up—the smell of blood and the sound of carnage overwhelmed him, showing him the cruelty of a world far darker than his own, where bullying seemed like a children’s game in comparison.

After seeing it for the third time, Lynn steeled himself.

“Graaa! Where’s the bastard that wants to taste my blade!”

“Calm down, kid… You’ll get injured. Go back to our ship and prepare the mop…”

Brook sighed as he stared at the boy who wanted to enter the fray and get killed. Grabbing the kid with one hand and tossing him to the back, the vice-captain displayed his mighty swordsmanship, influencing Lynn to train with a blade.

“Teach me, Vice-Captain!” Lynn pleaded while carrying a mop and bucket, as well as first-aid kits, to tend to the injured.

It had been a while since Lynn joined the crew. Aside from being a cleaner, he had also become the crew’s doctor. The rough men had a hard time caring for their injuries—bandages alone weren’t enough. The modern child, occasionally injured by bullies, understood how to treat wounds.

“Yeouch, Lynn! Watch out for that wound—it’s still stinging.”

“Jeez, how can a big guy like you cry over alcohol to clean your injury?”

“It hurts! Yeouch!”

“But weren’t you the one who yelled, ‘Get me the booze, I’ll kill you all and get drunk!’? This is the booze you asked for—why don’t you just get drunk already?”

“What kind of booze is dabbed on the wound? Argh! Just get it done already.”

The man whimpered as the cotton touched his wound, then sighed in relief when the bandage was neatly tied around his arm.

“So, can you teach me, Vice-Captain?” Lynn asked, staring at Brook with puppy eyes.

“No, but I can teach you an instrument. How about that?”

Brook bluntly refused but smiled as he made the offer. Although Lynn looked dejected, he accepted the deal and trained with Brook. Sometimes, Brook taught him swordsmanship, but he would always return to teaching instruments like the piano, violin, guitar, and cello.

Make no mistake, Brook didn’t deny Lynn because of suspicion. Lynn’s muscles simply hadn’t developed enough to endure high-intensity training. Without a safe place to train, Brook couldn’t just tell Lynn to swing a sword. There was a lot of danger, and Lynn had plenty of work to do while resting after training. That’s why Brook taught him an instrument that required few muscles to power and increased his dexterity.

As a kid from a different era, Lynn was smart and dexterous, but he was also a crybaby. They were once ambushed by enemy pirates and suffered casualties. Lynn cried day and night for weeks, mourning their dead comrades while playing music for them. The other crew members might have been sad, but Lynn’s way of grieving was different from those who had already become accustomed to loss.

As they continued to sail, more casualties occurred, and Lynn never got used to it.

The dwindling number of crewmates made the ship more silent. As the epidemic in the hull intensified, the groans of the sick grew louder, and even the captain caught the illness. They never saw the illness, but they knew it would kill them if they did nothing. The number of sick increased, and others began to show symptoms. Only Lynn remained unaffected, so he was the only one who could tend to the more severe patients.

No one forced him—he volunteered. Lynn had the intuition that he might already have been vaccinated against the sickness the others had contracted.

As he wasn’t a doctor, Lynn could do nothing but care for them and hope for the best.

Every death filled him with grief, and each day, the number of infected grew.

Finally, the captain made a decision.

“162 cm, you’ve grown up, brat! Cough,” said the captain as he marked the wall, smiling at the kid in front of him—their ship’s little doctor.

“Woah! This is great! I’ll beat Master Brook in a flash and look down on him!”

“Hold your candy there, kid. There’s no way you’re going to suddenly become a 2-meter-tall monster like our vice-captain!”

“What? I’m still young and have time to grow! Unlike you guys, who are already very old, mind you.”

“Watch your mouth, kid! I’m still young!”

“You’re twice my age! Don’t be shameless—accept your age, uncle!”

“Alright, alright, stop the banter. I brought you all here not to show off our little doctor’s growth or to witness your drama. I have an important announcement to make.”

The captain stopped his crewmates’ quarrel, addressing them as the man begrudgingly stared at Lynn, while the other person ignored him.

Brook snickered at their childish behavior but focused on what the captain had to say.

“Several months after our little doctor arrived, the others and I had a discussion. Our disease’s progression is slowing down, and thanks to his brains, we can see that no one else will get infected. However, the cure has stopped working…”

Using his knowledge from several medical books he had read and what he learned from the internet, Lynn had been able to treat injuries and even create his own medication. This showed just how capable Lynn was. Using this knowledge as his foundation, he studied under the tutelage of doctors from settlements they visited.

Unlike the crude pirates, Lynn was smart—way smarter than they could ever understand. Once he was taught something, he could grasp ten more things. After a year of sailing with the pirates, he had already learned more than he had in middle school. The experience helped him get closer to his friends, and the fact that people died because of his lack of knowledge drove him to desperately learn and understand medicine better than before.

The doctors overseeing the settlements they reached referred to him as a genius. Despite this, he was still unable to create modern-day medications. His way of using herbs and medicine was akin to oriental practices: using combinations of plants, he created medicines with fewer side effects. Lynn could identify symptoms and treated the illness by addressing the symptoms.

But the patients with him weren’t lucky. If the medicine failed, it meant he would lose them forever.

He wasn’t their true doctor but a substitute who worked hard to reach their level of expertise. Even with his smart brain, he was still a child lacking experience in dealing with illness, so he needed to learn as much as he could from other doctors.

Even with all this, his medicine had limited effectiveness against the unknown disease.

“I’m sorry, Captain. I tried…”

The atmosphere became silent.

Even though they knew the situation, hearing it made them feel despair. Their only way of survival was to die or be left on land to rot.

The captain patted the boy’s head and smiled. Even though his skin had become wrinkled and rough, he tried to be positive, staring at the child whose dark bags under his eyes showed just how hard he worked.

“Don’t worry, Lynn. No one’s blaming you. You’re our best chance at survival. No matter how much of a genius our little doctor is, we can’t continue to burden you on our journey…”

“But! I definitely will find the cure for your disease!”

“No, Lynn… We know you’re amazing, but you can’t expect us to let ourselves become a burden to our crewmates. Because of your fame, dozens of towns and countries have sent their most famous doctors to check on us, but none can heal us. Fearing our disease infecting them, they even forced us to continue living on the ship.”

“As your captain, I will never be the one to hold your leg! Cough, cough!”

“Captain…”

“From now on, Rumbar pirate captain will be you, Brook…”

Brook nodded in acknowledgement, Brook said.

“I see. Is that why you chose to sail back, huh?”

“Indeed, we choose to return…”

“Then, I pray for your safety, captain.”

“Thank you, Brook…”

“Hic, hic…”

Patting Lynn’s head, the captain said.

“It’s alright, your medicine will help us survive… We wish to at least return to our hometown and have a great last day there. Take care of them for me, Genius…”

“Aye, hic, aye, sir.”

“We’ve already prepared the necessities for our departure, theirs are also there already. Since we’re close, it shouldn’t take us any time to reach our destination. Mates, thank you for the memories, and please visit us when you’ve achieved the end of your journey!”

With that being said, the former captain took his leave. Leading the crew towards the other boat, the captain jumped and waved his hand as he opened the sail. Slowly, distancing himself from his former crewmates, he exited the Grand Line.

“Greet Laboon for us!”

“Take care, Captain!”

Character Status: Lynn Sadogashima

• Level: 1
• Class: [Unknown]
• HP: 50/50
• MP: 20/20
• Attributes:
  • [STR]: 20 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ (Intermediate)
  • [VIT]: 25 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ (Intermediate)
  • [AGI]: 20 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ (Intermediate)
  • [INT]: 60 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ (Advanced)

Passive Skills:

• [Dexterous Hand

Active Skills:

• [Locked]: Magical skills yet to be discovered or unlocked. These powers have the potential to be trained and enhanced.

Techniques:

• [Swordsmanship Lv. 2]: Beginner
• [Herbology Lv. 3]: Intermediate
• [Medics Lv. 2]: Beginner
• [Music Lv. 1]: Novice

Technique Levels: 1: Novice, 2: Beginner, 3: Intermediate, 4: Advanced, 5: Expert, 6: Master, 7: Advanced Master, 8: Grand Master, 9: Advanced Grand Master, 10: Unknown