After managing to soothe the frantic boy—who was indeed Pearl—I pieced together his story from his fragmented sentences:
He was on a ship with his father.
A massive storm struck.
He fell overboard.
His father jumped in and saved him.
They washed up on this island.
They've been living here ever since.
His father eventually became unable to move.
It was clear his father had pushed himself far beyond his limits to keep the child alive in this wilderness. Pearl led me to their "home"—a crude shack fashioned from large leaves and timber. Inside lay a man, unconscious.
"This is bad..."
His hair and beard were overgrown, making it hard to gauge his age, though he looked to be in his thirties.
He had a solid build, but the most striking feature was a set of three massive diagonal gashes running from his right shoulder down to his left hip.
With no proper bandages, they were wrapped in filthy rags. The wounds hadn't closed; they were festering, and blood seeped through the cloth.
"Hey, stay with me. Can you hear me?"
"Ah... I don't know who you are... but please... save my son... take care of him..." He was delirious, his body burning with a high fever.
I stepped outside and fired a signal flare, ordering a medevac team from the ship.
"Kid," I said to Pearl, "we're taking your father to my ship. We might not be coming back to this island. If you're coming with us, gather whatever you need. Now."
The boy gave a small, solemn nod and ducked back into the shack.
His father's survival was a coin toss. The wounds were deep, and the infection had a head start. All I could do was get him to the ship's doctor and hope for the best.
A few minutes later, Pearl emerged, dragging a heavy bundle of belongings behind him.
"By the way, kid. I never caught your name."
"Pearl."
I knew it.
In the original timeline, he was the "Iron Wall" Pearl, commander of the second unit of the Krieg Pirates.
He encased himself in massive shields said to repel battleship cannon fire—until Gin shattered them.
He was famous for his "jungle-bred" instinct and that bizarre habit of setting himself on fire when he panicked. Right now, though, he was just a quiet, frightened child.
"Pearl, did you ever eat a fruit that looked like this?" I asked, sketching the Kachi Kachi no Mi in the dirt.
"Papa gave it to me. It tasted... really bad," he answered simply.
Soon, my Marines arrived. We fashioned a makeshift litter and carefully loaded Pearl's father. I handed Pearl and his heavy bundle over to one of the soldiers and sent them ahead to the ship.
I stayed behind for a moment to sweep the shack. I found a few books, some handwritten notes, and a couple of weapons.
I stuffed them into a bag. If the father didn't make it, I'd need these to find the boy's relatives. If he did, these were their only memories.
Whether they stayed with me or returned to a normal life would be up to them once the dust settled.
Back on the Beatrice
The ship's infirmary became a battlefield. The doctor worked for hours cleaning the infection and suturing the massive gashes.
Pearl sat in the hallway, eyes glued to the infirmary door, while Gin sat a few feet away, awkwardly trying to offer a piece of dried meat as a silent comfort.
Surprisingly, the father's constitution was incredible. Two days later, the fever broke.
"Where... am I?" the man wheezed as I entered the room.
"A Navy vessel. My men found you on the island. Your son is safe; he's right outside."
The man let out a breath of pure relief. "Thank you... I am Aris. We were merchants... but we were attacked. I thought it was the end for us both."
"You have a strong son. He ate a Devil Fruit on that island—the Kachi Kachi no Mi. It's likely the only reason he survived the predators there."
Aris looked at his hands. "I found it in a cave... I didn't know what it was, only that it might give him the strength I no longer had."
Over the next week, as Aris recovered, I observed the two boys. Gin was already taking to his training with the Sergeant, his movements becoming sharper. Pearl, however, stayed by his father's side, though he occasionally watched Gin with curious, wide eyes.
One evening, Aris called me to his bedside. "Captain... I've seen your crew. I've seen how you train that boy, Gin.
This world is getting more dangerous by the day. I'm a merchant, but I can't protect Pearl from what's coming—not like you can."
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