"The idea is quite good, but why should we believe you'll be able to carry it out? And why should we believe that those doctors who go to the Red Line won't be toyed with and discarded by you people like trash?", Facing Rosse's proposal, Dr. Kureha still had no intention of giving in.
The idea, indeed, she thought was very good.
But in the nearly 120 years of her life, the cruelty of the Celestial Dragons had already carved itself deep into her memory.
All the things that had happened in the Holy Land, none of them were new to her.
Back then, Drum Kingdom had also sent a group of doctors to the Holy Land. But none of those doctors came back alive. All of them died there.
What a tragedy that was.
Doctors could save others, but not themselves.
"I'm not negotiating with you. I'm simply stating a fact. As for whether anyone will be made to suffer, that depends on who breaks my rules first," Rosse didn't care in the slightest about Dr. Kureha's attitude. He was only responsible for informing them.
When studying on the Red Line became a major trend, a few individuals wouldn't matter at all.
"The dean of the intermediate medical school will be chosen between the two of you. As for the dean of Rosse University Medical School, that will be Stella."
"Stella, huh… if it's that child, then that's fine."
Hiriluk recalled the last time Rosse had come, both Stella and Sora studied medicine very seriously and treated them with great respect.
Unlike Sora, who could remember everything she heard, Stella had no foundation, and learning had been very difficult for her.
Of course, in Stella, Hiriluk saw the reflection of himself, someone with little talent.
The difference, though, was that Stella had Rosse behind her, a powerful benefactor, and she had eaten the world's second-ranked medical fruit, the Healing Fruit.
With the help of that fruit, even if Stella didn't know much medicine, she could still become a renowned doctor in this era.
But Stella had always been diligent and eager to learn. A year had passed by now, she must be even more remarkable than before.
"Lord Rosse, if Dr. Kureha is unwilling, I'm willing to serve as dean of the intermediate medical school and cultivate medical talent for the World Government," Hiriluk declared solemnly.
"Pfft! You and your third-rate skills? You're fit to be a dean? You're no different from that little girl who relies on her fruit ability, don't go misleading others," Dr. Kureha couldn't help mocking him.
"Then why don't you be the dean? If people with skill like you refuse, then it falls to the talentless like us to take it up. I believe that someday, among my successors, someone with true talent will appear and take my place," When Hiriluk said those words, his face shone with boundless longing.
Perhaps he truly believed he could leave something behind for this world.
"Then it's settled. Hiriluk will be the dean. If Dr. Kureha is willing, you'll be the vice dean," Rosse's lips curved slightly upward as he made the decision right then and there.
Perhaps Dr. Kureha's medical skill was unmatched in the world, but being dean required more than skill.
Especially in an age when everything was just beginning, technique wasn't the most important thing.
The one who could plant hope in the hearts of students was the better choice.
That wasn't something Rosse could do himself, but he could still pick the right person for it.
"Hey hey, I haven't said I agreed yet! Celestial Dragon, why did you choose Hiriluk?", Dr. Kureha looked at Rosse curiously, with little sign of reverence.
She was almost 120 years old, half a foot in the grave, how could she still fear a so-called Celestial Dragon?
Rosse merely glanced at her, "You're not suitable."
"How am I not suitable?", Dr. Kureha laughed angrily. It was the first time she had ever been denied by a layman in her own field.
"You may be able to save critical patients, ten, a hundred, maybe even more. But compared to that, Hiriluk can elevate the entire profession of doctoring. Perhaps because of him, the world will no longer have people dying unexpectedly from small illnesses," Rosse said calmly.
That was his assessment.
Dr. Kureha could only ever be a divine physician, while Hiriluk had the potential to teach and inspire others.
It wasn't that Dr. Kureha couldn't teach, but if she did, it would only be through the old master-apprentice method, able to train a few at most.
Their personalities were different, and naturally, the results they led to would be different too.
"Him? You think he could invent some universal medicine that cures every disease?", Dr. Kureha's expression turned complex. It was the first time she had ever heard such a humane statement from a Celestial Dragon.
But in these words, she had been reduced to a mere contrast to Hiriluk, and that made her uncomfortable.
Hiriluk's medical skills were mediocre at best, full of naive fantasies about saving the world and the nation.
Even though she knew him and respected his conviction, comparing him to her was absurd.
"Whether a universal cure exists or not is open to debate. Even the so-called most powerful fruit, the Operation Fruit, can't heal everyone in the world. But what if a hundred thousand people graduate from the intermediate medical school every year? They don't have to be brilliant, just at the level of an ordinary Drum Kingdom doctor."
"When these people are sent all over the world, wouldn't that, in a sense, be the same as a universal cure?", Rosse smiled faintly as he casually painted a grand picture.
From his position, achieving this wasn't even that difficult.
And medicine itself was an essential part of society, an area he very much wanted to expand.
There were many ways to attain immortality in this world, but those mystical methods might one day be broken.
If medical science advanced far enough, perhaps there would be hope to achieve eternal life through scientific means. That was why Rosse wanted to develop medicine.
Hadn't Roger died of an incurable disease? And Whitebeard, in his later years, could only survive on IV drips.
To Rosse, at this point, humanity was no longer his greatest enemy, time and illness were.
"T-this… could that day really come?", Hiriluk stood frozen, as if listening to the voice of a god.
He had always shouted slogans before, but now, at last, he had found direction.
Just as Rosse said, if 100,000 people graduated from his medical school each year, then before long, every inhabited island would have doctors, every place would have pharmaceutical factories, and anyone who fell ill would have a chance to be healed.
Such a future was too beautiful to imagine.
"Lord Rosse! Please give me this chance! I will never disappoint your expectations, I will make that golden age come to pass!", Hiriluk wept and knelt on the ground, looking up at Rosse with utter devotion, even begging to be commanded.
Seeing this scene, never mind the others, Kaido was genuinely shocked.
Back in Wano, the mining incident had already shaken him a lot.
'But this? I could have ordered people around like this?'
Not only were they willing, they were desperate to offer up their very lives.
If anyone dared attack that medical school, Hiriluk would probably die defending it.
'Damn it!'
'All that talk about ruling through violence, ptui! Even dogs wouldn't bother with that garbage,' At this moment, Kaido understood.