This was already the two of them's countless sparring session.
Looking at Marco, Renji shook his head helplessly. "Still a little weaker than you."
"You…" Marco's mouth twitched slightly when he heard Renji sigh like that.
Three months.
Just three months.
Renji had gone from barely reaching Yonko-commander level to surpassing Jozu and reaching the peak of that tier, even showing faint signs of surpassing Marco himself.
The thought instantly raised Marco's sense of crisis several levels.
He silently vowed to train harder from now on and stop slacking off. Even if Renji would surpass him eventually, he would delay that moment as much as possible.
"Looks like everyone's having fun."
At that moment, a voice sounded.
Turning toward the sound, they saw Thatch being pushed out of the cabin in a wheelchair.
His body was intact and he had not become a one-armed swordsman, thanks entirely to the skill of the Whitebeard Pirates' ship doctor.
Of course, even though his arm had been reattached, its flexibility had dropped greatly.
Fighting was out of the question. At best, he could eat and drink normally.
"Thatch."
Renji walked over, motioned for the nurse to leave, and took over pushing the wheelchair.
As the saying goes, injuries to muscles and bones take a hundred days to heal. Thatch had suffered a critical wound and even had his arm severed.
Now his body had mostly recovered, but he still needed time to rest before returning to normal.
"What are you doing out here instead of resting in your room?" Renji asked.
"It's too boring!" Thatch complained helplessly.
Blackbeard's betrayal had affected him deeply, but after three months he had come to terms with it.
He couldn't let one person's betrayal make all his friends watch his gloomy face forever.
"Every day in that room I just eat and sleep. I'm practically turning into a pig!" Thatch protested. "I know patients are supposed to rest, but is that even a life? Every day it's just porridge. Not a single piece of meat. I can't even drink alcohol. How am I supposed to endure that?"
Hearing his complaints, many people around them nodded in agreement.
"Exactly, who can live without meat?"
"Alcohol is the essence of grain. The more you drink, the younger you stay!"
Thatch's complaints quickly had an effect.
His attending doctor slowly walked out of the cabin and nodded after hearing everything.
"Very good," the doctor said calmly. "For the next half month, you'll only eat porridge and pickled vegetables. The rest of your nutrition will come from liquid meals, and you're not allowed to go out for walks."
"What?!"
Thatch froze instantly.
The surrounding crew immediately protested.
"This is abusing a patient!"
"Don't think we won't hit you just because you're a doctor!"
"Oh?" the doctor replied calmly. "Everyone on this ship is someone I know, and I assume you'll all get injured someday too."
The smile on his face was gentle and friendly, yet it somehow made everyone feel a chill run down their backs.
The protests instantly died.
Looking at the cloudy sky above them, someone awkwardly said, "The weather is nice today."
"Yeah, it really is."
"I feel like reciting poetry. Oh sea, you are full of water…"
The topic changed instantly.
No one cared how awkward the transition was.
After all, they were pirates.
Even pirates in a Yonko crew were injured frequently.
Offending the doctor was obviously not a wise choice.
"Hey."
The doctor took Thatch's wheelchair.
Cold sweat instantly appeared on Thatch's forehead.
"What's going on? Doctor, I just came out!"
"You said a couple of days ago that my condition was improving and that I should go outside for fresh air every day!"
"Oh," the doctor replied calmly while pushing him back toward the infirmary.
"There were some mistakes in the earlier examination. You'll need to stay in your room for another…" He paused briefly before finishing, "…year."
"A year?! What kind of illness needs a whole year of rest?!"
Thatch looked completely desperate.
"Doctor, you can't retaliate against me! I'm your patient! Aren't doctors supposed to heal people?"
"Exactly," the doctor replied without stopping. "I'm doing this for your own good. Your abdomen was severely injured and your arm was completely severed. With injuries that serious, how could you not rest properly? If you ended up disabled because of my carelessness, how would I face Pops?"
"Doctor! Doctor! I was wrong! Please let me go! I was just complaining!"
The door closed with a loud bang.
Thatch's voice disappeared.
Everyone wiped the sweat from their foreheads.
"Sure enough, you can't offend the doctor."
"Even without revenge, they can always find ways to say it's for your health."
Life aboard the Moby Dick was peaceful.
Renji's rise had stabilized the entire territory of the Whitebeard Pirates.
But the rest of the world was not so calm.
On the Grand Line's Banaro Island stood several figures.
Marshall D. Teach wore a dark expression.
Behind him lay an unconscious man.
It was none other than Portgas D. Ace.
Teach had always hidden his true strength, already surpassing ordinary Yonko-commander level fighters. Now he possessed the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit and had gathered several capable new companions.
Under such circumstances, Ace had no chance of capturing him.
"Since you refuse to become my companion," Teach said coldly as a sinister smile spread across his face, "you won't mind if I trade you for some benefits… Captain Ace."
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