But how exactly was he supposed to injure old Ray?
He probably couldn't beat the guy in a fight.
And honestly, there wasn't much reason to even fight him.
On the whole Sabaody Archipelago, there really wasn't anyone who could hurt that old man.
Only the Marines arriving later might pose any real threat to him.
Eh, this ain't like the original story anymore.
If Vir shows up at Sabaody—
Then surely the Marines wouldn't just send yellow uncle alone, right?
If they show up in numbers, there's no way Rayleigh can handle them all on his own.
He's bound to get hurt in the mess...
And hey, Vir is a part of the Straw Hat crew now.
'Old Ray~ You don't mind protecting me too, right~?'
Vir thought mischievously.
Worst case, if Rayleigh's about to collapse, Vir could step in and hold the line for a bit so Old Ray can escape, then swap with Merry and run away.
Once Rayleigh's injured and needs treatment...
Vir could graciously offer to heal him.
Can't be helped, right?
He did help Vir, after all.
Returning the favor with some medical aid—completely justified!
With the plan set, it was time to move out.
With a crisp snap of his fingers, Yamato, drenched and waterlogged, suddenly appeared on the deck.
She had already sunk several thousand meters deep just now.
By this point, she was rolling her eyes back.
Her belly was puffed out like a balloon.
Almost as big as the two "balloons" above.
Gasping for air, Yamato groggily opened her eyes...
But she was on the verge of passing out again.
Yet the moment she saw Vir, she fought against her body's instincts.
She forced herself to stay awake.
But Yamato managed it.
Most of Vir's patients could pull that off.
"You~ Drowned, didn't you?"
Vir leaned in with a not-so-innocent smile as he looked at her.
His face looked warm and gentle, sure—
But Yamato felt like she was staring into the eyes of a devil.
Then immediately scrambled backward using both hands and feet.
"I'm fine! I didn't drown! I'm perfectly good!"
Yamato shouted with full energy.
"Vir~ stop scaring people~"
Even Merry, perched on Vir's shoulder, couldn't take it anymore.
She thought Yamato was pretty pitiful too.
All that suffering for no reason at all.
Hearing that, Vir just chuckled and straightened his back.
He turned toward Marco, who had already returned to the helm.
And shouted, "Oi, Marco! Let's set sail!"
As soon as his voice rang out—
The ship began moving.
Meanwhile, Yamato stared unblinking at the little creature on Vir's shoulder.
Her gaze was so intense Merry didn't dare meet her eyes.
"Who's that? What is that?"
Yamato asked with a confused look.
"Her name's Merry. She's a ship spirit. And now, she's one of the Straw Hat Pirates' combatants."
Vir casually explained.
That left Yamato even more confused.
Ship spirit? What the heck's that?
And something that small counts as part of the combat crew?
At that moment, Vir looked to Merry and said, "Merry, spit out the equipment for mixing meds that was stored on the ship."
"I need to start mixing potions. You can play with this country bumpkin for now."
As soon as he finished, Merry flew into the cabin and spat out all the medical apparatus.
Everyone else's gear had already been returned when they split up earlier.
Only the tangerine tree remained—moving trees around wasn't ideal.
Once everything was set up, Vir let Merry go play.
The little thing just loved flying around.
Staying here for boring medicine mixing would probably annoy her.
And honestly, she could be a distraction too.
"Teach that bumpkin something useful. She seriously knows nothing. At the very least, teach her the difference between men and women. She is a girl, after all. Think you can handle that?"
Vir looked at Merry like a commanding officer giving orders.
Merry gave a soft, lazy salute and responded sweetly—
Then turned around and flew off.
Vir couldn't help but shake his head and laugh.
Why did she give off sloth vibes...
Now, for the potion—Old Ray needed something extreme.
The kind that punches you in the face with its effects.
Vir planned to brew a powerful, all-purpose healing concoction.
One that could handle any injury—stab wounds, burns, slashes, internal damage, frostbite, you name it.
And it had to be potent.
Because who knows what kind of injury Rayleigh might get?
To make something like that...
The ingredients from this pirate world wouldn't cut it.
No matter how fancy you got with the local stuff, it could never reach the level he wanted.
So—he had to rely on the System Store to buy high-grade materials.
The Shop had purchase limits.
You could only buy the same ingredient three times.
That made Vir furious.
He spent a good while cussing out the system.
What kind of garbage System runs out of stock?!
Absolutely ridiculous.
And when mixing the medicine, he'd need to sacrifice one batch just to understand how the materials worked.
Sure, the descriptions were detailed.
But just reading words wasn't enough to guarantee success.
Wasting one batch was unavoidable.
Using ingredients from the System Store?
That was basically winning the jackpot.
The results were always insane.
Because let's be real—knowing how stingy this Scam System is, if it gives you something, it must be gold.
After buying the materials, Vir stared at the ingredient descriptions in deep thought.
Just look at this one:
[Explobloom (Probably Explodes)]
Effect: Contains immense life energy.
Review: "Oh boy... With a name like that, I dread to imagine the potion it'll make!"
Two hundred thousand.
Didn't work on strong people.
So the price made sense.
Vir wouldn't even dare look at the resulting potion for too long.
Just remember one thing:
The System doesn't kill people.
Vir had a decent guess about the final result already.
It would probably make Rayleigh lose his cool instantly.
He could easily net 800,000 to 1,000,000 negative points—plus a powerful ability.
And he'd still have enough to make two batches.
Meaning... another unlucky victim.
Who would that be? Who knows.
—was that he was broke now.
Only 20,000 points left.
He'd spent it all on ingredients.
But hey—it was worth it.
900,000 + days of meticulous brewing = explosive results.
Let's just hope Old Ray can handle it.
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