Madam Pomphrey was an expert at her job as she easily and swiftly removed the bandages from my right arm letting me see how bad the damage truly is. From my elbow down the skin was blackened with weeping cracks like angry red lightning bolts carved into the flesh. The pain flared up fiercely as she held my arm up to unwrap it and even more so when she went to wrap it with the new clean bandages after sterilizing the wounds. Still I grit my teeth and refused to scream at the pain, something she seemed both concerned and appreciative of.-
The left arm was the same as the right and felt just as bad to get cleaned and rewrapped. Finally she removed the bandage over my right eye and I could have sighed in relief as I saw a brief reaction to the light from it even if only faint. She carefully cleaned around the eye socket with that stinging solution before gently opening the eyelid to observe the eye within. She didn't say anything before closing it and replacing the bandage but her expression was far from positive leaving my hope embittered.-
Finally was the potion that smelled strongly acrid like it would dissolve metal if poured over it. I didn't resist and let the liquid be poured into my mouth and had to stop myself from violently spitting it out as the most horribly metallic taste filled my mouth. It was like iron and copper shavings flowing down my throat. -
"Not the worst reaction to a raw potion I've ever seen. You have strong self control for your age. You must have had a terrible time of it at that orphanage." she said with a pitying look.
"I prefer to pretend that part of my life never happened. I'm glad to be rid of it." I said honestly.
"I suppose that's fair." she said with an understanding nod before leaving with the tray.
I was fairly certain it was an effect of the potion but sleepiness began to make my mind slow before I slipped into the dream world. I dreamt of being a great pirate in Whitebeards world. Laughing with crewmates whose faces were blurry and drinking with the old man himself. It was a good dream, calming and peaceful. When I eventually woke up I felt noticeably better.-
Not completely better by any means but the pain wasn't a constant piercing thing in my mind. Now it was a dull throbbing thing that was much easier to ignore. Extending my observation haki I was surprised to find that Madam Pomphrey was nowhere to be seen. This didn't exactly narrow down what time it was but gave me an opportunity to contact Whitebeard without risk. Spending the fifty system coins I initiated the contact with the system. The world greyed out around me as a white screen appeared before the image changed to one of Whitebeard mid drink from a sake bowl big enough to hold a person.-
"Hmm? What happened to you?" The man asked with a hint of concern as he set down his bowl.
I smiled bitterly "Overconfidence got the better of me. This was the price." I said honestly.
He nodded in understanding "So what do you need?" He asked with an amused expression at my surprise.
"Ugh, getting read like a book sucks. Well whatever. I need both some information and depending on that possibly a favor as well." I said frankly.
"So long as it's nothing troublesome I don't mind. What do you want to know brat?" he said curiously.
"First I need to know if Straw hat Luffy has defeated Crocodile in Alabasta yet. If he hasn't my favor is for you to the sky island of Skypeia and find the guy called Enel there. He's an arrogant fellow with the Goro Goro no mi that terrorizes the people there while calling himself a god. I want you to capture him and trade me his fruit, haki and physique. After that do whatever you want with him, release him or kill him it makes no difference to me. So long as he's your prisoner and you technically own him the trade should go through without issue." I said seriously.
He leaned forward at that "You said something interesting there brat. You can get the fruits out of anyone without killing them so long as I technically own them?" he asked for clarification.
I nodded "That would work yeah. By owning someone you also by extension technically own all they have including their devil fruit, soul, body, abilities and even skills. Why?" I said a bit confused by his interest.
"Gurarara! I think I have an idea how you can pay me back for this favor then. Seas are overrun with nobody pirates that have fruits wasted on them. You help me get those fruits for my crew and we can run a sort of credit system for trading. How's that sound?" he asked with a grin.
I froze for a moment as I thought about it and indeed this was actually a fantastic idea. One of the biggest problems with devil fruits was not being able to guarantee it's appearance on a fruit near you after it's wielder was dead. Additionally most people considered a fruit lost if someone else ate it. This was actually one of the reasons some people didn't eat any of them they found as they had their hearts set on a specific fruit or none at all.-
This idea however would solve this problem easily. Whitebeard merely had to capture the current user of a fruit and then trade the fruit to me through the system before I sent it back effectively obtaining the fruit at little cost. This would not only let Whitebeard fill his crew with devil fruits of their choosing but also allow me to gain a steady supply of the fruits and other trade items from that world as well.