Chapter 59: The Spider and the Surgeon

The sickbay aboard the Titan’s Glory was quiet, filled only with the steady hum of medical equipment and the soft lapping of waves against the Adam Wood hull.

Trafalgar Law, stepping effortlessly into the role of the ship’s primary doctor, adjusted his spotted hat and leaned over the examination table.

Lying beneath the crisp white sheets was the small, fragile-looking girl we had pulled out of Gild Tesoro’s subterranean vault.

Law pulled back from examining her vitals with a deep frown.

“It’s not just the trauma of the kidnapping,” he diagnosed, looking over at where Robin, Gammamon, and I were standing.

“She’s showing severe signs of malnutrition.

Her body lacks basic caloric energy, which is why she’s been in a comatose sleep for an entire week.

Her system simply shut down to preserve her organs.”

Just as Law finished speaking, the little girl stirred.

Her eyes fluttered open.

For a second, she just stared at the wooden ceiling, but then the memories of the dark vault, the pirates, and the terrifying golden city came rushing back.

She bolted upright, her breathing turning into rapid, panicked gasps as she scrambled backward against the headboard, terrified of her surroundings.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” I said softly, holding my hands up, but my imposing frame only made her pull her knees tighter to her chest.

Gammamon, sensing the fear, trotted forward.

He intentionally kept his posture low and non-threatening.

He reached into his little pouch and pulled out a beautifully wrapped piece of premium chocolate we had snagged from the casino.

“Here,” Gammamon smiled, his large green eyes completely devoid of malice.

“Chocolate makes everything better.

I promise you’re safe now.”

The girl hesitated, but the sheer, innocent sincerity radiating from the digital triceratops made her slowly lower her guard.

She took the chocolate with trembling fingers.

Robin approached the bed next.

She sat down smoothly on the edge of the mattress, exuding a warm, incredibly comforting ‘older sister’ aura.

She didn’t press or demand answers.

She just offered a kind, gentle smile.

“No one is going to hurt you here, sweetie,” Robin said softly.

“My name is Nico Robin.

What’s your name?”

The little girl took a small bite of the chocolate, her eyes darting between us before she shyly mumbled, “May.

May Parker.”

I froze in the doorway.

My brain completely misfired.

I took a slow step forward, my eyes wide as I looked at the reddish-brown hair and the distinct, incredibly familiar facial features.

“Wait…

is your full name May ‘Mayday’ Parker?”

The little girl blinked, looking up at me in surprise.

“Yeah.

How do you know my middle name?”

“And your parents…” I swallowed hard.

“Your parents are Peter and Mary Jane?”

May nodded slowly, clutching the chocolate wrapper.

“Uh-huh.

Do you know my daddy?”

I was completely, utterly speechless.

Fifteen minutes later, the entire crew, including Law and Bepo, were gathered in the main galley.

Sitting in the center of the large dining table was the encrypted Den Den Mushi.

I had used Koala’s urgent line to patch directly through to my sister, Jasmine, at the Revolutionary Army’s hidden base.

“Victor Bhai, what’s going on?

Is it Alister again?” Jasmine’s voice carried clearly through the speaker, laced with a familiar sisterly concern.

“No, Alister is currently rotting in a Marine cell,” I said, rubbing the bridge of my nose.

“Jasmine, you’re going to want to sit down.

We have Mayday Parker on the ship.”

“…What?” Jasmine paused.

“Victor, that’s not funny.

Are you sure?”

“Oh, I’m absolutely sure,” I said, pointing up.

Currently, the six-year-old girl was happily walking upside down on the galley ceiling.

And she wasn’t alone.

She was giggling as she played an impromptu game of tag with The Trapper, my massive, terrifying Jade Spider construct.

“You’re telling me a six-year-old child isn’t screaming her lungs out at a giant, glowing green spider?” Jasmine asked, skepticism coloring her voice.

“She’s a Spider-Person, Jasmine,” I said.

“Spiders are basically her family crest.”

“If I may,” Robin chimed in gracefully, taking a sip of her tea.

“The little one told me a rather fascinating story about how she arrived in this world.”

The crew leaned in.

“According to May,” Robin began, “a wizard named Dr.

Strange was visiting her father for some ‘hero business.’ He absentmindedly left a magical artifact called a Sling Ring on their coffee table.

May, who possesses a genius-level intellect for her age, was watching a pirate-themed television show.

Having seen her ‘uncle’ use the ring to open gateways, she decided to borrow it.”

“She wanted to visit the pirates on TV,” I groaned, realizing the sheer, childish logic of it.

“Precisely,” Robin smiled.

“She mimicked the hand movements perfectly.

A portal opened.

She grabbed her Sling Ring, stepped through to meet her fictional friends, and accidentally ended up in the New World.

A random pirate crew found her wandering on an island, threw her in a dark room, and eventually sold her to Gild Tesoro for a quick profit.”

Brook let out a long, rattling breath.

“Yohohoho…

a magical ring that opens doors to other dimensions?

This world is truly vast!”

“Wait,” Law interjected, staring at the girl on the ceiling.

“Who is her father?

You act like he’s a legend.”

“Her father is unanimously recognized across multiple realities and dimensions as one of the greatest, most selfless superheroes to ever exist,” I explained, leaning against the table.

“He saves people.

It’s what he does.

And now his daughter is stuck in a completely different dimension on a pirate ship.”

“We have to get her home, Victor,” Jasmine said firmly through the snail.

“Her parents must be out of their minds with worry.”

“Agreed,” I said.

“So, let’s open the floor.

Ideas?”

The galley erupted into a collaborative brainstorming session.

“Perhaps my soul could guide her spirit back?” Brook suggested, raising a bony finger.

“I can detach from my body, after all!” “That would leave her physical body here, Brook,” Law pointed out dryly.

“My Room allows for teleportation, but it’s bound by geographic limits and my own stamina.

I can’t cut through the fabric of reality.”

“I could turn her hollow and fly her up to the stars!” Perona offered cheerfully, holding up a ghost.

“No ghosts,” Bepo shuddered.

“What about the dimensional portal hidden at the end of the Grand Line?” Jasmine suggested from the snail.

“The one Damien’s notes mentioned?”

“Too risky, and it takes too much time to get there,” I vetoed.

“Plus, Damien’s portal is calibrated to our Earth.

If she steps through, she might just end up in our old world, not the Marvel Universe.

She brought the Sling Ring with her.

That’s the key.

We just need the fuel to power it.

It requires dimensional energy, which no one in this world possesses.”

“Victor!” Gammamon raised his hand, his eyes lighting up.

“What about your Box?”

I blinked.

“The Box…”

“When we crashed in the Calm Belt, you hid the big box Damien gave you!” Gammamon reminded me.

“He’s right,” I realized, a grin spreading across my face.

I looked at the crew.

“When I arrived in this world, I came in a crate made of a highly specific, supernatural material called Sun Wood.

It absorbs pure starlight and acts as a universal replacement for almost any form of energy.”

“So the Sun Wood could act as a substitute for dimensional energy to power her ring,” Jasmine concluded.

“Exactly,” I nodded.

“Goal set.

We need to swing back to the Calm Belt to retrieve the Box.”

With the multidimensional crisis temporarily tabled, the mood in the galley shifted.

The whimsical, chaotic energy faded, replaced by the heavy reality of our current situation in the New World.

“Before we do that, we have another major problem,” I said, my tone turning serious.

I looked directly at Law.

“Alister only had the alchemical weapon disk in his possession.

The Digivice and the vial of Compound V were stolen by a pirate crew that attacked the North Blue town he woke up in.”

Law’s eyes widened slightly.

“God-tier superpowers and a digital monster in the hands of a random North Blue pirate?”

“Do you know anything about it?” I asked.

“You were operating in the North Blue right before you were captured.”

Law tapped his tattooed fingers against his sword hilt, thinking deeply.

“I don’t know the specific culprit.

But there is a highly connected, deeply entrenched underground information broker operating out of the North Blue known as ‘The Spider.’ If anyone knows which pirate crew suddenly acquired unexplainable, world-breaking powers, it’s him.”

“Then we’ll pay the Spider a visit,” I decided.

I looked at my cousin.

“Law, what about you?

You’re free.

You have the pseudo-protection of a Warlord.

What do you want to do now?”

Law went quiet.

He looked around the galley, at Robin, Brook, Perona, Gammamon, and me.

He was a man who had lived his entire life expecting a knife in his back.

But looking at the people who had just breached Impel Down and robbed the richest man in the world just to save him, his cynical exterior finally gave way.

Steeling himself, Law decided to trust his newfound family.

“I was born in Flevance.

The White City,” Law began, his voice tight.

“The World Government knew the Amber Lead we mined was toxic.

They let us mine it anyway to line their pockets.

When the sickness spread, they quarantined the borders and ordered an extermination.

I watched my parents get shot.

I hid under the dead bodies of my classmates to escape the borders.”

The galley was dead silent.

Even Mayday had dropped down from the ceiling and was sitting quietly next to Robin.

“I joined the Donquixote Family because I wanted to destroy everything before the sickness killed me,” Law continued.

“But Donquixote Rosinante Corazon, kidnapped me.

He took me to every hospital he could find.

When they all called me a monster, he cried for me.

He fed me the Op-Op Fruit to cure my disease…

and his own brother, Doflamingo, murdered him for it.”

Law looked up, his silver eyes burning with a cold, unrelenting fire.

“My ultimate life goal…

the only reason I am still breathing…

is to kill Donquixote Doflamingo.”

I stared at my cousin for a long moment.

Then, a sharp, dangerous grin spread across my face.

“Law,” I said softly.

“I currently hold absolute, indisputable blackmail over Doflamingo’s life.

He thinks I’m an upstart, but I’m the one holding his leash in the Warlord system.”

Law’s eyes widened in sheer shock.

I extended my hand across the table.

“You have the tactical brilliance.

I have the overwhelming firepower and the political immunity.

Let’s form an alliance.

The Amber Alliance.

We will completely, systematically dismantle the Heavenly Yaksha’s underworld empire piece by piece, and then we will put his head on a spike.”

Law stared at my hand.

A dark, genuine smile slowly formed on his face.

He reached out and gripped my hand firmly.

“The Amber Alliance,” Law agreed.

“Good,” I said, releasing his hand.

I stood up, looking around at Law, Bepo, and the rest of my crew.

“But there’s a catch.

Law, you’re strong, but your current level isn’t enough to survive the upper echelons of the New World.

If we’re going after a Warlord and his executives, we need to be flawless.”

I crossed my arms.

“Starting immediately, every single person on this ship is undergoing a brutal, mandatory training regimen led by me and Gammamon.

We are going to push your Haki, your Devil Fruits, and your physical limits until you reach your true potential.

Nobody skips.”

Brook gulped.

Bepo whimpered softly.

“Understood,” Law nodded, the fire in his eyes burning brighter.

The next morning, the sun broke through the clouds, illuminating the deck of the Titan’s Glory.

A solitary News Coo swooped down, dropping the latest edition of the World Economic Journal onto the breakfast table.

The front page featured a massive, sprawling picture of me standing in the courtyard of Impel Down, with the massive, unconscious body of Jack the Drought being hauled away in chains.

The headline screamed: THE BEASTMASTER STRIKES!

WARLORD COSTA DELIVERS A BILLION-BERRY YONKO COMMANDER TO JUSTICE!

“You’ve certainly made an impression, Captain,” Robin smiled, sipping her coffee.

“Look at the secondary article,” I pointed.

Below my picture was a detailed, dramatic retelling of Vice Admiral Garp’s clash in the East Blue.

THE HERO’S SACRIFICE: GARP SAVES THE EAST BLUE FROM FALLING ISLANDS!

The article detailed how Shiki the Golden Lion had cowardly dropped the enslaved floating islands from the sky to distract the Marine Hero.

It praised Garp for prioritizing the lives of the citizens below, shattering the landmasses before they could wipe out entire towns.

It confirmed that while Shiki and his executives had escaped back into the shadows, thousands of enslaved people had been freed.

“He saved them,” Gammamon cheered, eating a pancake.

I smiled, leaning back in my chair.

The world was shifting rapidly.

Kaido was undoubtedly hunting me, Alister’s stolen superpowers were loose in the North Blue, and we had a Spider-child to get back to her dimension.

“Finish your breakfast, everyone,” I called out, cracking my knuckles.

“Training starts in ten minutes.

The New World isn’t going to wait for us to catch up.”

Word Count: 2226

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