OPSR Chapter 11 (Patreon)

“Ahoy!” I called out as I approached the orange grove again, this time with company. The two girls approached with smiles on their faces until they saw Alvida and Carmen behind me. Before they could ask, I answered their question. “This girl is going to be a new chef at our restaurant, and the muscular woman is going to be the restaurant's bodyguard.”

I smiled at them before asking. “Where’s Bellmere?” The smile started to fade slightly. “She went to talk about the village defenses with Genzo.” “Alright, well, do you know where to put some meat I bought?” “Sure, I help her cook from time to time.” Nojiko chimed in. “Oh? Would you mind learning a thing or two from me then?” “No, it’s just a hobby; learning to cook would take away from my training.”

She had already begun to bulk up now that she could train physically. It was a great time to give her the present I worked to get. “Alright, let's head inside then, you can give Bellmere her piece once she gets back. They looked confused at my wording as I unveiled a tiny piece of meat. I began cutting it into little cube sections as I explained.

“This is sea king meat. I bought a hundred pounds of it for two million bellies. Go ahead and eat pieces until you feel like you can’t eat anymore.” Both looked on in wariness; the meat wasn’t cooked, and it was barely enough for a single person to eat… If it were normal meat, that is. I kept explaining. “There are different tiers to sea king meat. This is D-grade, just slightly better than the worst rank meat. It’s packed full of energy; cooking it will only lessen the flavor and effect it will have on you. Just go ahead and see how many pieces you can eat before you feel full.”

The inch-thick cubes were tender and juicy, it was like eating meat butter, so smooth and delicious you wanted to eat more, cooking it would actually make the meat toughen up. Nami could only eat a single cube, while Nojiko could eat three. The sea king we were eating was only a small one; if it were one from the Calm Belt, it would give more energy.

The feeling was intense, and depending on the person, it could take a few weeks before they could eat another piece. The meat nourishes their body, making them stronger. The more meat you can eat at once, the stronger your body. And Luffy and his crew were eating giant slabs of it. This was also a method that the elite training Zeffer put his recruits through to test their potential.

It was expensive, supplying myself and those close to me was all I could do, and sea king meat was too rare to eat for every meal anyway. Eventually, I’d be strong enough to catch it myself, but freezing it also reduced the energy inside, reducing the effectiveness of the nourishment the meat provided. Some children who ate sea king meat would get sick as their bodies adjusted to the new energy.

I could eat ten, Alvida could eat fifteen, and Carmen could eat two for reference. Alvida could only eat more because of her age. The body would also adjust to the quality you ate, so sea king meat would slowly lose its benefit, until you improved to the next tier of quality. I could feel a shift in my body as I ate it; it nourished not only my body, but also improved my lineage factor, increasing my future potential on top of training my body.

The sea king's meat was only a small part bonus to their actual presents. “Now that we’ve tasted some delicious meat. I have a book for Nami about navigation and a prosthetic arm for Nojiko to try out. If I’d known you’d have started training, I’d have made some weapon attachments.” She looked sheepish before asking. “Well, if you don’t mind… If you do make a weapon attachment, can you make it an axe? So I can help prune the trees on top of fighting with it.” I couldn’t help but chuckle at her practicality.

…

Seeing Kaya was odd because she was outside playing. I could see that she would grow up to be frail, but at the moment, she wasn’t. She was outside playing with Usopp, who was a girl in this timeline. I thought about them and their relationship in the original timeline and knew it wouldn’t be the same. At best, Usopp would be the one ugly friend who played defense and keep away from all the male suitors Kaya would have.

If I fed her a piece of sea king meat, she’d most likely become sick from it, but it might still be worth the risk… But it wasn’t my place to make that choice. Her parents were still alive, Kuro wouldn’t become their butler for another few years, and then they’d die. I wanted to stop their death and guide her to the job I wanted her to have on my ship once I set sail. Chopper would be my doctor, but a good doctor always needs a nurse.

She smiled, laughed, and broke into a deep cough that made Usopp frown and move to comfort her. So, even as a child, she had this sickness. Her father was a merchant who also made many of the ships the East Blue used; the tiny island they lived on was only a small part of the property her family owned. My thoughts were starting to lean in a darker direction than what happened to her parents.

It might have been Kuro, or sickness got his wife then… He followed her afterward. Sometimes loved ones die close together because the one left just gives up on life. His wife was an incredible beauty, but she was even more sick than her daughter as she was wheelchair bound. I had only gotten lucky seeing her as she passed in front of the door, being pushed by a maid.

I wasn’t a doctor; there was very little chance that I could do anything about their sickness… But I was a scientist. Maybe I could find out what was really wrong with them before the worst happened again. The first step was introducing myself to them. “Hello there. I’m a travel-.” “Fuck off, whatever you're selling, we don’t want it.”

Usopp cut me off before I could even start. “Miss, does your friend speak for you? I’m a scientist. I might be able to do something about your sickness if I could understand it a little better.” I didn’t know what I could do, but just the effort to help was enough to get her to agree. Usopp looked at me from the corner of her eye as she asked. “Are you really a scientist? You don’t look like one.”

“Well, I’m currently traveling, I would look more like a scientist if I were in my lab, but… Before then, let me introduce myself. I’m Sanji, pleased to meet you.” “This miss you were talking to is named Kaya, and I’m Uchina.” I had no idea where her name came from, but Kaya was already worn out and needed to go inside anyway.

I hoped I could figure it out, but the chances were low. I walked in and she was already lying in bed. Dark eye bags, sickly white skin, and a soft sheen of sweat let me know just how sick she was. The tissues with blood in the trash bin nearby also didn’t help. I asked her some questions and pressed my hand on her lungs to see if I could feel anything, as I assured her. “I might not be able to figure out what’s wrong with you right now, but I w-.” She coughed blood directly into my face while my mouth was open from talking.