"I'm challenging you to a duel!"
The moment the words left his mouth, even the speaker himself froze in surprise.
The surroundings instantly fell silent, as if someone had pressed pause. Then a burst of laughter erupted—far louder than before!
"Hahaha! Doctor Davis wants to duel Captain Gade!"
"Captain Gade, you're finished! You offended the ship's doctor—be careful next time you get injured, he'll give you the bitterest medicine possible!"
Gade scratched his head and laughed good-naturedly.
"Ah, sorry, sorry! I really didn't mean it! As for the duel… let's skip that! How about… I wash your clothes instead?"
"Oh? What's going on here? Everyone seems pretty happy."
Sami stepped out of the captain's cabin after hearing the commotion.
"Captain! Doctor Davis says he wants to duel Captain Gade!"
A crew member who loved stirring up trouble answered immediately.
"A duel?"
Sami's gaze moved between the two men, whose size difference was enormous. A playful smile appeared on his face.
"Bare hands against blades?"
"Hahaha! Captain! Even if Doctor Davis had a sword, he probably couldn't beat Captain Gade fighting bare-handed!"
"Hmm, that's true," Sami nodded. "The gap is too big. Compared to ordinary people, Davis's strength is actually decent. But compared to the combat crew on this ship, it's still far behind. If he used a gun, he might have a small chance. In pure hand-to-hand combat… there's no chance at all."
This analysis only confirmed the huge gap between them and triggered another wave of laughter.
Standing nearby and watching everything, Hiriluk subconsciously glanced at his thin arm.
Even though we're logistics personnel… we're still members of the pirate crew. No one can guarantee we'll never have to fight.
Build muscles like Gade?
That would take far too long.
Isn't there some other way to improve real combat ability?
Firearms… that's a good direction.
Range and firepower could make up for many shortcomings.
The captain even said so—using a gun gives a chance.
But if they used firearms for real combat training, the risk of casualties would be far too high.
What if the damage of bullets could be greatly reduced?
For example… making bullets non-lethal?
Anesthetic.
The thought flashed across his mind like a meteor.
If we could modify lead bullets into special anesthetic rounds, then anyone hit would simply collapse from anesthesia instead of being seriously injured.
Wouldn't that allow us to simulate real shooting while keeping everyone safe?
That way, not only the logistics group—even the combat group could conduct more realistic firearm training, gaining both shooting and evasion experience.
Hiriluk's eyes grew brighter and brighter.
He felt as if a door to a new world had opened.
The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. Soon his mind was completely filled with ideas about anesthetic bullets.
From that day on, driven by the dual motivations of improving the crew's training safety and proving that the logistics group also possessed combat intelligence, Hiriluk devoted himself entirely to developing anesthetic rounds.
The first material source he thought of… was Captain Sami.
He requested samples of Sami's paralyzing venom for research.
However, he quickly discovered that the biological toxin was extremely unstable. Under high temperatures it lost its activity rapidly, making extraction very difficult.
The first attempt ended in failure.
So he shifted his attention to the mushroom samples and notes brought back from Rongrong Island.
Tolperis Umbrella Mushroom…
A rare species that released anesthetic spores at night…
According to the notes, it had once been used to create anesthetic blow darts.
This is it!
Hiriluk immediately began extraction experiments on the mushroom, trying to combine its anesthetic components with gunpowder and bullet heads.
At first, things were relatively mild.
Paper calculations, boiling compounds, small-scale tests.
No one paid much attention—after all, Hiriluk often tinkered with strange medical formulas.
Until…
BOOM—!!!
"Enemy attack?!"
"Artillery fire?! Where did that come from?!"
"All hands on alert! Battle stations!"
The crew training on deck instantly shifted from relaxed to combat readiness, reflexively grabbing nearby weapons.
Aldo even rushed to the ship's railing with his spiked club, scanning the sea like a hawk searching for enemies.
Sami also rushed out of the captain's cabin, believing they had been ambushed.
But looking across the sea…
There was only one ship.
Theirs.
Then everyone followed the trail of smoke and the strange smell—
Straight toward the ship infirmary, which was pouring out thick smoke.
The door suddenly opened from inside.
Even more smoke rolled out.
Then Hiriluk stumbled out, his hair still emitting thin wisps of smoke.
Coughing repeatedly, he waved his hands frantically to disperse the smoke while revealing a soot-covered face.
"Cough cough… I-it's fine! Everyone relax! I was… conducting an experiment! Cough… just a small accident!"
He wiped the black ash from his face and forced an extremely awkward smile.
Everyone: "..."
Back to the Present
"Cough… cough… damn it. I messed up the proportions again! The stability still isn't right!"
Hiriluk waved away the last bit of smoke and sat dejectedly on the floor, sighing at the pile of charred experimental equipment and pungent residue before him.
Leon, who was fishing nearby while sitting on a mooring post, raised an eyebrow.
"Hiriluk, judging from the noise you're making, it sounds less like you're developing anesthetic bullets… and more like you're building an anesthetic cannon."
"Planning to knock out the entire ship just to prove the logistics group's strength?"
Hiriluk pushed up the cracked glasses that had been damaged in the explosion.
"What do you know, Leon! This is science!—No, medicine! A groundbreaking invention that will improve combat training safety across the entire ship! Someone like you who only uses cold weapons wouldn't understand!"
"Whether it's groundbreaking or not, I don't know,"
Aldo walked past carrying his spiked club, dramatically waving a hand in front of his nose.
"But ever since you started working on this thing, my ears have gotten a workout. Now whenever the lookout shouts 'enemy attack,' the first thing I do is check whether smoke's coming out of your infirmary again! Hahaha!"
"But honestly, Hiriluk—if this entertainment program of yours ever stopped, the brothers might actually miss it!"
"Hahaha!"
The surrounding crew burst into laughter.
A deckhand responsible for cleaning the deck came over with a bucket, still laughing, and skillfully washed away the stains splashed outside the door.
Clearly, Hiriluk's medical experiments had already become an indispensable form of entertainment during the Swordfish's voyage.
Everyone had grown used to the occasional strange smell—and the ship doctor's ever-changing soot-covered face.
Faced with everyone's teasing, Hiriluk looked unconvinced.
"Just wait! I've already figured out the direction! I'll succeed soon!"
Aldo grinned with his spiked club over his shoulder.
"Alright, Hiriluk. If you actually pull it off, training's going to get a lot more interesting."
Even Leon put away his fishing rod and walked over to pat him on the shoulder.
"Take it slow. If you need materials, I'll help you find them at the next island."
Even Sami leaned over from the upper deck.
"Alright, clean up the infirmary first. If you need materials, you can request them next time we dock."
"Yes, Captain!"
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