That night, at Cricket's house.
"There isn't a single external wound on his body, but his heartbeat is extremely irregular, and his internal organs have sustained varying degrees of damage..."
Taking off his stethoscope, Chopper looked at the unconscious Sorcerer lying on the bed and spoke in an incredibly heavy tone. "Sherlock's body is currently extremely weak! He needs proper rest."
Upon hearing their doctor's diagnosis, the expressions of the Straw Hat crew and Rovick grew even grimmer. Even the Chestnut-headed old man and the Saruyama Brothers felt their moods sink along with them.
"Chopper, if he isn't injured, why is he still unconscious?" Nami looked worriedly at Sherlock's bloodless face, her brow furrowing slightly. "Could it be mental exhaustion, like what happened back in Alubarna?"
"Exactly. He must have taken Insomna again, and in a massive dose this time!" Chopper nodded with a serious expression. "However, although Sherlock is unconscious and very weak right now, his life isn't in danger. He just needs to rest for a while."
"Whew... well, that's good."
Luffy let out a long sigh of relief, and then a bright smile returned to his face. "Once Sherlock wakes up, we'll let him have a huge feast, and then he'll definitely be cured!"
"Idiot!" Nami raised her hand and gave her dimwitted captain a sharp bop on the head. "You think everyone is a bottomless pit like you?"
"No, Nami-san, what Luffy said actually makes some sense this time..." Sanji twitched a curled eyebrow and spoke in an odd tone. "He's not as obvious about it as this moron, but in every sense of the word, Sherlock is a huge glutton! He's second only to Luffy!"
As the chef, Sanji was the one who knew the daily food consumption of everyone on the Merry better than anyone else.
"..."
Hearing the curly-browed cook's words, Nami and the others were stunned for a moment before they all failed to suppress their laughter. Even the usually cold and distant Robin allowed her lips to curl into an elegant arc.
For a moment, the originally heavy atmosphere lightened, becoming more relaxed.
"I'm sorry, this is all my fault for not taking the medicine back from him last time." The blue-nosed reindeer spoke with a face full of self-reproach. "Otherwise, Sherlock wouldn't have..."
"There's absolutely no need for you to apologize, Chopper." Zoro sat with his arms crossed, speaking with righteous conviction. "You only gave him the medicine. Choosing to take it was Sherlock's own decision. I'm sure he thought it through carefully before he did."
Cough, cough... In reality, a certain "sister-complex" protagonist who was never honest with his own feelings hadn't actually thought about it at all at the time.
"By the way, just what kind of enemy did he run into?" Usopp wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "Sherlock is so strong, yet he was forced to use a forbidden drug. Just what kind of holy terror was the enemy?"
At those words, everyone turned their heads simultaneously to look at a certain blue-haired man who had carried the Sorcerer back.
"I had never heard of that man before, but his strength was terrifying! He wasn't even on the same level as the President or those others..."
Recalling that darkness that seemed capable of devouring everything, Rovick still felt a lingering fear in his heart, even though he had been standing very far away.
"The situation at the time was very complicated..."
Rovick then proceeded to describe the previous scene in as much detail as possible. After hearing the blue-haired traveler's description, the atmosphere in the room suddenly became eerie.
"Donquixote Doflamingo?" Cricket said in shock. "You guys actually got involved with that Warlord? That's incredible."
"Who wants to be involved with a Warlord of the Sea?!" X3
The Cowardly Trio instantly turned pale and gray. After the events in Alabasta, Nami and the other two had essentially equated all Warlords with that fierce and tyrannical "Sand Crocodile." They were the kind of existence they would rather never meet.
"He's also one of the Seven Warlords?" Luffy tilted his head in confusion. "Is he strong?"
"Isn't that obvious? It's not like you haven't seen one before. Someone who can become a Warlord is definitely no ordinary person! Just like that Sand Crocodile and Hawkeye..."
For some reason, whenever the Warlords were mentioned, Zoro would always recall those eyes as sharp as a hawk's, and the scar on his chest would begin to ache faintly.
(Donquixote... Sarsalian... Could it be that the 'old friend' you mentioned was him?)
Robin, who was sitting to the side, looked toward the unconscious Sorcerer, a mysterious light flickering in her beautiful eyes. As clever as she was, she had already guessed the gist of the situation.
"The Warlords, the Marines, powerful nameless pirates..." Sanji pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and blew a smoke ring, a bitter smile on his face. "Really, I don't usually feel it when we're hanging out, but thinking about it now, this guy with the glasses is just too mysterious."
"So mysterious that it's almost like... like he belongs to a different world than us..."
Everyone froze. Then, except for Robin and Luffy, everyone else subconsciously fell into deep thought.
(It really does seem that way. Even though we usually get along so harmoniously, thinking about it now, that harmony is actually a bit strange...)
Nami and the others discovered that it was as if a thick fog had suddenly drifted between them and Sherlock. The image of the refined, gentle man with glasses in their memories was gradually becoming blurred and unfamiliar.
And that layer of fog was the secret the Sorcerer had been hiding in his heart!
"That's right, Rovick, didn't you meet Sherlock five years ago?" Nami had a sudden flash of inspiration and asked the blue-haired man. "Do you know anything about Sherlock's past?"
"Five years? You have to realize that the blonde secretary by the President's side has followed him for nearly ten years, but even she knows nothing at all about the President's past."
Rovick gave a helpless, bitter smile and continued, "However, compared to five years ago, the President's changes have been quite significant."
"Changes?" Usopp's brow furrowed, and he asked tentatively, "Did he become an even bigger eater?"
"I don't mean it that way!" The blue-haired traveler rolled his eyes. "I remember his secretary once told me this: It's as if the elegance and etiquette of the nobility are etched into his very bones. Sherlock has been wearing a cold mask since who-knows-when. No one knows what he's thinking, and no one knows what he truly wants..."
"Five years ago, the President gave me the impression of a cold machine with extremely high efficiency."
"Whether doing business or socializing with others, he would only ever choose the optimal method, not the method he liked. It was as if everything he did wasn't for himself, but simply to make the Goldglint Trading Company grow stronger."
"But now..." At this point, Rovick gave a meaningful look to a certain Straw Hat boy who wasn't interested in his story at all and said softly, "I really can't believe that the President would one day go out to sea to be a pirate, and on such a 'den of thieves' as this... If it were five years ago, the President would absolutely never have made such an irrational choice."
(Hey, hey, hey, what's wrong with our ship? What's with that look of disdain?) XN
Zoro and the others complained inwardly with lines of frustration on their foreheads.
Rovick didn't notice the change in the expressions of those around him and continued, "I think the fact that the President could make such a decision means that in his heart, he is already willing to be your comrade."
"In that case, as his comrades, I think you could just ask him directly if you have questions."
(Of course, whether or not he's willing to tell you is another matter entirely.) This was the second half of the sentence that Rovick didn't say aloud.
"Hee hee hee! That's right! Sherlock is our comrade after all!" The dimwitted captain grinned and laughed. The others' eyes lit up as well, and they secretly resolved to find a good opportunity to grill this glasses-wearing man who was full of secrets.
(Heh, some things can't be found out just by asking.)
The Devil Child, who was also hiding many things, shook her head gently. In certain respects, her status within the Straw Hat crew was strikingly similar to the Sorcerer's.
Both of them seemed to get along harmoniously with their partners, but in reality, a barrier existed.
The difference between Robin and Sherlock was that although Robin's barrier was thick, it was slowly dissolving at a speed she herself hadn't even noticed.
As for Sherlock's barrier—though it was as thin as a cicada's wing, it was indestructible.
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