Solomon had meant no malice at all, but from the listener’s point of view, the only possible reaction was utter disbelief.
Right after Bonney, horrified by the kind of thing only a bright-eyed madman could say so casually, fled into the church confessional and hid there, silence settled between Solomon and Kuma.
"Hmm... Was that scarier for Bonney than I expected?"
"No, it’s terrifying to me too, Solomon. Making a human body out of a doll and moving a soul into it... honestly, that’s hard to believe."
"But it’s possible! Summoning is my specialty, sure... but there’s no way someone with Grand Caster credentials like me couldn’t do it."
Grand Caster? What was that supposed to mean? Kuma tilted his head at the unfamiliar title, then decided it was probably just Solomon’s way of expressing pride as a mage.
"Kuma. I definitely have the ability to cure Bonney. Of course, the method might look bizarre by this world’s standards, but if you think of it as a kind of Devil Fruit power, it’s not really that different, is it?"
Kuma thought for a long time.
It was not that he distrusted Solomon.
It was simply that, as Solomon himself had admitted, the method was so far beyond common sense that it was hard to accept.
After agonizing over it for a long while, Kuma finally shook his head with regret written across his face.
"I’m sorry. In the end, the patient’s own wishes matter too, and Bonney herself is this frightened..."
"...Hmm. It can’t be helped. Work involving the soul can produce variables depending on the subject’s emotional state, so if Bonney isn’t willing to take part, I was planning to discard that method anyway."
Solomon did not mind. He had suggested it because replacing Bonney’s body with one made from a doll would have been the easiest way to cure her immediately, but it was not as though that were his only option. There were other ways to heal her, even if they would take more time.
"All right. Then I’ll give up on treating her with Magecraft alone. Now, as a doctor, I’ll examine Bonney’s condition properly through ordinary medicine."
Kuma did not refuse that much. Still, it took quite a while for him to persuade Bonney, who had locked herself inside the confessional, and bring her back before Solomon.
"If you so much as look like you’re trying to pull out my soul, I’m kicking you again!"
Bonney had been badly frightened, and now she put every ounce of strength she had into the kind of childish bluff only a kid could manage.
Romani took out a simple medical kit he had stored in subspace and examined Bonney here and there like an ordinary physician.
"Well?"
Kuma wanted to know Bonney’s exact condition.
"...I’ve definitely never heard of an illness called Sapphire Scales before. Even with the medical knowledge I learned in Mary Geoise, where this world’s finest doctors are gathered, I’ve never seen symptoms like this. Of course, that doesn’t mean there’s no way to treat it, but if I try to cure it safely through conventional methods, there simply isn’t enough time."
"Huh!? Then does that mean I might not be able to go traveling with Dad even after I turn ten?"
Kuma, still hiding the truth from Bonney, did his best to soothe her and tell her not to worry, because there was no way that would happen.
"It’s not impossible to cure. But if we proceed with standard treatment, the disease will worsen faster than a remedy can be developed. If I use Magecraft, I can narrow that gap, but Bonney may suffer a great deal during the treatment process."
Kuma bit his lip. As a father, even if it meant watching Bonney endure painful treatment at his side, if it would let her recover, then he was prepared to bear all her crying and pain with her. He was about to ask Solomon to proceed with a treatment that incorporated Magecraft.
But Solomon refused.
"When I say it would hurt a lot, I mean by an adult’s standards. For a small child, even I can’t make promises. She might fail to endure the pain and die from shock. I brought it up because it was possible, but honestly... as the doctor, I don’t feel right about using that method."
Treatment using only Magecraft was rejected because the patient refused it.
Treatment using only medicine was rejected because of the time limit.
Treatment combining both was rejected because the variables that might arise during the process would be too hard to control.
Three strikes.
In other words, Solomon’s treatment had ended in complete failure.
Kuma was disappointed, but Solomon’s diagnosis still gave him new strength in the hand that was clinging to hope.
"If I knew more about science, there might be another way. I’m sorry. Or... how about going to the Future Country, Baldimore, and asking Vegapunk for help?"
"Vegapunk?"
"They say he’s a true genius scientist, a man five hundred years ahead of the future. He’s considered far too important, so the government keeps him under extremely tight protection. Under normal circumstances, meeting him at all would be difficult. But you still have that Vivre Card I gave you before, right?"
Kuma carefully pulled out the Vivre Card Solomon had given him.
"This?"
"If you do manage to meet Vegapunk, show him that. Once he sees even my mark, he won’t remain uncooperative."
"...Vegapunk, Vegapunk. All right. I’ll remember that."
At that moment, Kuma’s next destination was decided: the Future Country, Baldimore. Since this was someone Solomon personally vouched for, Kuma reignited the spark of hope, convinced he would find an answer there.
"I’m sorry I can’t go with you. For all that I’m like this, my position makes it hard for me to stay away from the Holy Land too long. If you’re going to look for Vegapunk, it would be best to hurry. I heard he’s been preparing to move to Egghead lately, so security should be somewhat weaker than usual."
Solomon was casually leaking top-secret information, but to him, the World Government’s secrets mattered far less than helping his friend and his friend’s daughter dream of a happy future.
"You’re leaving, Uncle Sol?"
"Yeah. The place I live has too many nagging old fussbudgets."
"You seemed kind of sketchy, but you’re the first one besides the scammers who said you could definitely cure my illness!"
After staying at Kuma’s church for a few more days, Solomon shared a hopeful embrace with Bonney, who could not hide how reluctant she was to see him go, and promised they would meet again.
"Take care, Kuma. Let’s meet again later. I hope you manage to find Vegapunk. I’ve cast wind-guiding Magecraft on you, so you shouldn’t have to suffer from bad winds while sailing."
"Thank you. Thank you is all I can say, Solomon. Yes... when we meet again, I hope it’s after Bonney has finally been freed from this awful Sapphire Scales."
After exchanging a firm pat on the back with Kuma as well, Solomon parted ways with the father and daughter, promising a future reunion.
When Solomon arrived at the port of the Sorbet Kingdom, he hailed a Marine ship passing nearby.
"W-what!? A Celestial Dragon? Why would one be in a backwater kingdom like this?!"
When he called over a random sailor unloading supplies from the warship and showed him the World Government crest carried by the Celestial Dragons, the hoof of the dragon that runs across the sky, an uproar broke out around the harbor.
"Sorry, but could you call the person in charge?"
Solomon knew he was inconveniencing Marines in the middle of official duties, but it could not be helped. If he returned to the Holy Land by using transportation from the lower world again instead of something under the World Government, some poor unrelated person might end up punished by the government for it.
What a thoroughly irrational organization. The World Government. Despite being one of its highest-ranking figures, Solomon did not think very highly of it.
The Marine officer commanding the warship turned out, surprisingly enough, to be someone Solomon already knew.
An Admiral, one of the greatest military powers of Marine Headquarters.
A faint glimmer passed through Solomon’s eyes, which had been calm until then.
"Well now, we meet again, Saint Solomon."
Codename Kizaru.
Marine Admiral Borsalino.
Kizaru had only stopped briefly at the Sorbet Kingdom to resupply while sailing on an operation, and now he found himself facing an unexpected guest. Even through his sunglasses, his annoyance was obvious.
Solomon himself had not thought much of it, but during their first meeting, Kizaru had been forced to hastily alter the details of his mission because of Solomon’s sudden appearance, and some resentment from that still lingered.
Even so, whether Kizaru liked it or not, there was no way for him to refuse Solomon’s summons.
This world was one in which absolute obedience to the orders of the World Government, ruled by the twenty families of the World Nobles, was mandatory.
And among those World Nobles, Solomon of the Manmayer family was an especially sensitive figure, one whose importance stood on an entirely different level.
Kizaru maintained his usual slippery attitude, but inwardly he was clearly tense.
What if, just like last time, this man made some absurd demand again?
Kizaru waited in a respectful posture for the command of the eccentric Celestial Dragon before him, and when he finally heard what Solomon wanted, he felt relieved that the outcome was better than expected.
All Solomon asked was to board the ship and be dropped off at Mary Geoise along the way. He made no other request that would put Kizaru in a difficult position.
But because of that, Kizaru let his guard down.
"Saint Solomon. I beg your pardon, but it will be difficult for us to head to Mary Geoise at top speed right away. We are currently on official business and must make a brief stop in the territory of one of the Seven Warlords."
"A Seven Warlord?"
"That’s right. On the Calm Belt lies the Island of Women, the base of the Kuja Pirates. We’ve been ordered by Marine Headquarters to notify the infamous Pirate Empress, Boa Hancock, to attend the meeting being held this time."
If an ordinary Celestial Dragon had heard that, Kizaru’s words would have been dangerously close to insubordination.
A mere Marine, nothing more than a dog of the lower world, daring not to prioritize a Celestial Dragon’s request.
Any other Celestial Dragon would have flown into a rage at that, but Solomon was far removed from the ordinary sort. He did not find Kizaru’s words arrogant, rebellious, or unpleasant in the slightest.
"Permission granted. You don’t need to change this ship’s course just because of me."
"Thank you for your understanding."
With Solomon aboard, Kizaru’s warship resumed its voyage toward the Island of Women.
Unfortunately, Solomon had absolutely no idea what kind of chaos was waiting to unfold at that place he had agreed to visit so casually.
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