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In the next second, the blood pool began to boil, thick steam rising out of nowhere. Through the haze, Vivi saw scattered fragments of the blood donors' memories—disjointed flashes of life, mostly pain and sorrow, with only fleeting glimpses of joy. She wasn't interested in the feelings of strangers. What mattered came after: when the fragments dissolved, the chaotic blood responded to some unseen signal. The once-murky pool condensed rapidly into a small, dense cluster of pure blood.
At the core of that pure blood was a single drop from Vivi's own heart.
With her eyes closed, she sensed a direct connection between herself and that blood, as if it were an extension of her own body. Though immature, she could control this small bowl of pure blood—order it, mold it. It was a new life form, born from her.
She gave it a name. "Isis. Grow up quickly."
"…Okay, sister…" came a soft, weak reply.
The pure blood contained too little energy. Though the form had taken shape, its body and mind were underdeveloped. It needed more—more pure blood, more time. Much more.
"From now on, you're my family. I'm tired of storing blood the old way—come." Vivi rotated the signet ring on her left pinky. The blood condensed into mist, swirling toward her ring before transforming into a vibrant red gemstone-like texture.
Vivi maintained her core survival principle: Isis's role was healing. When Vivi was injured and her self-recovery lagged, Isis could feed her a drop. Eventually, she might even take damage on Vivi's behalf. If her blood form solidified further, she could even carry Vivi through the sky. But for now, she was still too young.
With Isis, the need for refrigerated blood vanished. She was a walking blood bank, able to absorb, transform, and store blood. After each procedure, Vivi simply pressed the seal—Isis did the rest.
But the cost of forming Isis was steep. That single drop from her heart sapped Vivi's vitality. For days, she looked pale and weak.
Not wanting to risk a confrontation in this state, she kept her clinic closed and hid in Ah He's teahouse in Pickle Village. There, she spent her days urging Ayu to study medicine.
Ayu was so young—barely eight when Luffy arrived in Wano. Even if her fate remained unchanged and she still consumed that artificial, bug-like Devil Fruit, she couldn't possibly face someone like Kaido. At best, she'd be a mascot—cheering from the sidelines.
So what was the point of forcing her into battle?
Better to prepare her for a different path. Vivi decided that medicine might offer a way out of the chaos. It was a quiet power, one that didn't need strength to matter.
She'd already used hypnosis on several hefty sumo wrestlers, and they were more than capable of guarding Ayu in the Flower Capital.
"I don't want to read books!" Ayu protested, striking a ninja pose. "Ahem… I want to be a samurai! A ninja!"
She mimed throwing kunai with a dramatic "whoosh!"
Vivi lightly flicked her forehead. "Listen carefully, Ayu. One day, your friends might betray you. Your lover might betray you. But medicine? Medicine won't betray you."
Ayu blinked. "???"
"Don't get it? Doesn't matter. Come to These books—you're memorizing them like fashion catalogs."
Vivi's medical skill had started at Level 1. Among pirates, that was rare. Most didn't bother with healing arts. But if she wanted to improve, she had to study. With the Vampire Fruit, she'd treated dozens—her skill now approaching Level 3.
She kept reading, kept practicing. Teaching Ayu became a two-way lesson—study for Vivi, cramming for Ayu.
By the end of the day, Ayu staggered out of the teahouse like a zombie, her eyes spiraling like mosquito coils.
"Ow!" Komachiyo, ever her guardian, had been waiting. Like a parent picking up a child from school, the loyal beast immediately raced toward Biankasa Village, heading for Ayu's favorite beach.
"Komachiyo…" Ayu sat on the sand, hugging her knees. "Do you think I'm dumb? I know Sister means well, but I just can't learn all that stuff… Waaaah!"
Tears ran down her cheeks as her frustration poured out. Komachiyo looked back at her, ears perked with concern.
Ayu continued venting—too many unfamiliar words, too many confusing meanings. Even Vivi was learning as she taught. The whole thing was a mess…
But crying helped. Once her sadness ran dry, she kicked the sand with a huff. "Guess I'll just keep learning tomorrow…"
"Ow!" Komachiyo suddenly growled, startling Ayu. She froze, instincts sharp.
"What is it?" She squinted at the beach. Komachiyo had his eyes locked on something buried under the sand. As she stepped closer, Ayu's earlier kick had unearthed a strange sight: a person.
"Hey! Are you okay? Are you alive?" she called out, hiding behind Komachiyo's mane as she peered closer.
She had experience picking up strange people.
The sand shifted. A man groaned, his body slowly emerging. Shirtless, a tattoo reading A S C E ran down his left arm, the S crossed out. Around his neck hung a red bead necklace, and nearby in the sand lay an orange cowboy hat.
As Ayu stared, the man turned onto his back, stretched leisurely, and yawned.
He muttered to himself, "Why let others decide your life? You're the only one who should control it. Don't wanna study? Then don't. Next time your sister nags you, just come to me. I'll deal with her."
Ayu jumped to defend Vivi. "Don't say that! My sister's amazing—she's the best, best, best person to me! Don't talk about her like that!"
"…Huh. My bad then." The man smiled, unfazed. "Whatever."
He clapped the sand beside him, and the cowboy hat three meters away flew neatly onto his face.
Within seconds, he was snoring.
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