"...They are dead."
Pushing one ice figure of a pirate and watching as it sled off the ground, Darvy mumbled.
"Are all devil fruits like that? Eat it and you gain the power to kill people with a snap of a finger."
He clearly remembered the power that Xebec showcased. Perhaps it was thanks to him that Darvy was able to remain relatively unfazed in this horrifying scene.
Unlike him, however, the villagers were terrified. Watching at the frozen figures as if they were going to come back to life at any second, they slowly backed, pale-faced. Some covered the eyes of their children as they did so.
Lyon too seemed like no exception. He stared at the frozen figures with a fright. The book in his hands was dropped to the ground some time ago. He then looked at Darvy and wondered how Darvy was so calm and unbothered by this gruesome scene.
"...Haa."
Tatara sighed as she withdrew her hands. Darvy noticed this and commented,
"It's as if you are a plague doctor."
"Shut up."
With her hands clenched tightly, she turned and retreated back into the clinic, leaving Darvy by himself.
"She's feeling remorseful or what?"
"Guilty, perhaps."
Darvy muttered to himself, and Loris came with a grim expression on his face, responding.
"For taking lives as a doctor of all things."
"What's there to be guilty about? She killed scums who tried to kill her own people."
Loris shook his head,
"It's a matter of perspective, Darvy. Anyway..."
Looking around, Loris saw that everyone was frozen still. Darvy wondered if they were trying to mimic these pirate statues of ice.
"Seems like you and I will have to do this."
"Do what?"
Loris, with a serious expression, pointed his thumb to his back.
"Investigation."
"...Pirate ship, you mean."
"Exactly. Some information would be nice, and... loots as well."
"I'm a pirate, you know?"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever."
"Injured as well—"
Darvy then yelped as Loris lifted Darvy by the bandage on his body and hung him over the shoulder as if carrying a sac.
The two then moved away from the scene, to the outskirts of the island.
__________
"...Huh."
Darvy blinked as he stared at one scene of a shipwreck.
Wooden planks were lying here and there within the sand. The ship has fallen by the side, and numerous barrels have fallen out of the ship, open and empty.
"Speaking of which, those pirates did seem malnourished. They were in a desperate scenario, I guess."
Without words, Loris dropped Darvy off his shoulders and took out a flash light. Turning it on, he entered the ship and soon returned with a dark expression.
"Is something wrong?"
As Darvy asked, Loris pinched his brows.
"...I hope that my hunch is wrong, but... it seems that these pirates' shipwreck isn't solely because of the harsh climate. Anyway, there's nothing of a threat inside."
Loris gestured Darvy to come to where he stood. Bringing his tired body up, Darvy walked, and they went inside the ship.
There, Darvy saw that the inside of the ship seemed well-preserved, much to his surprise.
"This is not a normal ship. It was prepared to handle harsh sea; probably one of the most well-made ship I've come to see today."
"You saw many ships crashing onto this island, huh?"
"I sure did, kiddo. Didn't really had to deal with much threats though. There was no sign of life in most of the cases."
"And in a few cases where there were some?"
Loris chuckled as he looked at Darvy. He simply pointed—to the direction at which the village lied.
Darvy's eyes widened in a realization. Snorting, he muttered,
"So she was a pirate as well?"
"Perhaps. All I remember hearing from her is that,"
Loris shrugged.
"There was a division in a pirate crew that her parents belonged to. Two factions fought and theirs lost. At the last moment, their family managed to escape by a small boat, and ended up reaching this island. By the time they did so... she was the only one alive."
"...That sounds a little,"
"Yeah, suspicious, eh? You may be like oh, she ate her family! Well, it isn't like that. It's the simple case of she having survived just barely while others unfortunately didn't make it."
"I guess I was overthinking—"
Darvy stopped. His eyes, fixated on something that he found, seemed intrigued.
"...Huh."
"What? You found something?"
As Loris came to his side, Darvy explained what lied ahead of them—a wall with a visible dent.
"What's wrong with this? I already saw before bringing you here. It's just them bumping into a rock or something, no?"
"No, Loris. Don't you find it strange as well? You yourself said that this ship was meant to handle the harsh climate. Unless there was a rain of huge rocks or something similar to that, this kind of damage is impossible."
"Then..."
"These pirates were being chased."
Loris frowned.
"Chased? By who?"
"I don't know. Maybe other pirates?"
Loris looked around once more as if trying to think what to do next. To him, Darvy asked,
"Is there any way for enemies to track this ship down?"
"Not that I can think of, unless chasers had some kind of unique devil fruit ability."
Loris them grumbled,
"Damn it. I came here for loots, not some... truths that may trouble my sleep!"
"You said you're here for some information too. Technically, this is on you."
"Shut up, Darvy!"
Loris, stomping angrily, exited the ship. Out of curiosity, Darvy looked around again and saw a basket of fruits from afar.
'Devil fruit?!'
His hearts beat as he slowly walked up to it—only to stop and express disgust.
It wasn't a basket of fruits. Rather, it was the basket of... flies, digging into the spoiled food left in the basket.
"Fuck!!"
The flies all flew out of the basket and began to fly crazily in the ship. Flailing his arms, Darvy quickly retreated from the ship.
"Hahaha! What was that just now?"
Just outside, Loris was laughing at him.
"You went near that nest of flies, didn't you?"
"..."
"Let me guess, you thought they were fruits and wondered if you can see one of those so-called devil fruits?"
Darvy slowly looked to the side, feeling exposed. Seeing his reaction, Loris laughed again.
"Well, guess what? Devil fruits are extremely rare, and even if you were to find one, you don't know what power that they may have! Furthermore, even if you get the power you took a liking to, you forever lose a chance to swim!"
"Yeah, I know. I just thought,"
Darvy muttered,
"I can get a devil fruit that fixes this body of mine."
"...Look, Darvy."
And to that, Loris, losing his humour, said seriously,
"The only one who can fix your body is yourself. Nothing just magically comes to you, you have to work for it. And look."
He pointed at Darvy,
"I think you've gotten better than a month ago when I first saw you. If anything, I haven't seen you walking for this long—hell, you even ran out of the ship full of flies. Just take it slow and steady, yeah?"
Reaching into his pocket, Loris then threw something at Darvy. Catching it, Darvy raised an eyebrow,
"...Dried plum?"
"It isn't a devil fruit, but it indeed is a fruit. Instead of eating one devil fruit, eat thousands of fruit and become stronger than what devil fruit can offer you."
Loris chuckled dryly as if reminiscing something.
"As long as you believe in yourself, nothing is impossible."
For some reason, Loris looked sad in Darvy's eyes. As Darvy was left speechless, not knowing what to say to that, Loris casually slapped Darvy by the back and laughed, almost causing Daryv to fall face-first onto the sand.
"Well then, let's go back to the village! I'll get you some food!"
"I'm a pirate though—"
"Just listen to adults, kiddo!"
__________
Taking a bite out of the food on the table, Darvy couldn't help but comment,
"This is so good. Probably the best thing I tasted in my whole life."
"Ohoho, no need to flatter me like that!"
Loris's wife, Sirol, laughed as she waved off Darvy's praise.
Lyon, on the opposite side of the table, seemed to be trying his best to avoid looking at Darvy out of awkwardness.
"Well, it's my wife that you're talking about here! Of course it'd be the best!"
Loris nodded with his arms crossed, to whom Lyon looked at with squinted eyes.
"Yeah, says the—"
"H-Ha, ha, ha! No speaking as you eat, Lyon!"
"M-Mmmf!!"
Loris clasped his huge hand over Lyon's face, effectively shutting the latter's mouth.
As he ate and watched their amiable interactions, Darvy understood what it means to be a family. Wondering if this is what he may have had should his parents were alive, Darvy continued to stuff his stomach to prepare for the next day.
'Slowly but steadily, get stronger...'
It sounded like a far-fetched dream to Darvy. Nevertheless, it was a dream that he set and it was one that he couldn't give up. After all, whenever he thought of Xebec, his blood boiled.
'One day, for sure—'
"A-AHHHHHH!!!"
A horrified scream was heard from the outside, interrupting their meal.
Immediately, Loris stood up and exited his house to check what was going on.
Darvy too followed, walking through the opened door to the outside.
The site of scream was where the frozen figures of pirates lied.
"...What is this?"
One villager, fallen to his butt, seemed so shocked that he lost the control of his bladder. Not having noticed what he excreted, the villager's eyes were locked on the frozen figure in front of him.
There was an axe, cleaved right into the brain of said figure. The blood was oozing down from the figure's head.
"Where did this axe come from?"
Loris asked, and the villager stuttered,
"I-I don't know! It suddenly came from the sky and landed right on this one!"
Upon hearing this statement, Darvy's eyes widened. Loris too, having realized, turned and spoke to Darvy,
"...You said that these pirates were being chased."
__________
"Ho? To think there would be an island in the middle of this harsh sea... how interesting!"
A huge ship, luxurious to the brim, was anchored to the beach next to the shipwreck.
Then, a long staircase was unfolded from above, making a path downward from the ship to the sand.
An obese man, wearing a white robe-like garment and some fish bowl-like glass around his head, was found sitting atop a bruised and half-naked man.
As he raised a whip and slapped it atop the man, the man slowly moved, crawling down the stairs with the obese man atop his back.
"Saint Brysus!"
One man, staring ahead, then stated,
"There seem to be inhabitants on this island!"
"Inhabitants?"
The obese man's eyes gleamed greedily,
"Honhonhon! Now isn't that fortunate?"