After listening to Nako's words, Nojiko's gaze swept past the dozens of severely wounded behind him, and her delicate body couldn't help but start trembling.
Could it be that she had to watch these people die with eyes wide open?
"Genzo, is there really no other way? There are hemostatic herbs on the island; we can make hemostatic medicine ourselves…"
Genzo shook his head, remaining silent. The meaning was self-evident.
Nojiko's voice also came to an abrupt stop at this moment.
How could she not know how naïve her idea was?
Arlong regarded wealth as his life. Every resource on the islands that could be exchanged for money, he would never let go.
Rare medicinal herbs had long been placed under the control of the fishmen.
Not to mention the difficulty of obtaining these herbs, such an act would definitely alert the fishmen, plunging these refugees of Hesha Town into a situation of utter catastrophe.
Nojiko lowered her head, eyes scattered, sinking deeper into despair the more she thought.
Even if they managed to obtain herbs from the fishmen, so what?
Could these patients before them really wait until the moment the medicine was made?
They were already full of deathly gloom; without the support of medicine, perhaps they wouldn't even survive through the long night ahead.
In Nojiko's eyes, tears were already swirling.
The voices of Genzo and Nako's conversation fell into the ears of the dying patients behind them, who were barely clinging to life.
They looked at each other, perhaps there was fear of death in their eyes, but there was absolutely no dissatisfaction with Genzo and Nako's decision.
Daring to take the risk of being punished by the fishmen to help them, such kindness could never be forgotten. How could they resent them?
A burly man with only short stubs for hands struggled to sit up.
To protect the villagers, he had both his hands cruelly torn off by the fishmen.
Even with a slight movement, from his bandaged arms, blood gushed like a flood breaking a dam, uncontrollably pouring out.
Seeing this, Nojiko exclaimed in alarm, "What are you trying to do?! Lie down quickly!"
The burly man shook his head, voice choked, yet stubbornly said, "Doctor, you should save the little remaining medicine. Don't waste it on us."
"We already knew long ago that we wouldn't live much longer."
He looked at the children who had been treated first and now seemed to be peacefully asleep, and his tired eyes were filled with gentleness.
"As long as they can be safe, we'll have no regrets."
"Thank you for your help. You've already done your best!"
Those who still had the strength to speak chimed in one after another.
"Yes, you've already done more than enough."
"Your village has many people too, there are bound to be injuries normally. You should keep the medicine for yourselves."
"Doctor, don't worry about us. Just… let us die!"
Their words struck Nojiko's heart fiercely.
She wanted to argue back, but when she saw those patients calmly facing death, every word became pale and powerless.
Genzo turned his face away, gritting his teeth tightly, the joints of his clenched fists cracking audibly.
"Those damn fishmen!"
Tears finally burst from Nojiko's eyes. She held the hand of a thin old man beside her, her voice trembling.
"No, you won't die. We'll definitely find a way."
Suddenly, she remembered the scene of Jotaro stopping his bleeding before.
His injuries had been more severe than these people, yet he was able to clot his wounds at a speed visible to the naked eye.
That moment, there was no better word than "miraculous" to describe it.
'That's right, that person must have a way!'
"Genzo, maybe these people can still be saved!"
Seeing hope still existed, Nojiko became extremely excited.
"What way?" Genzo asked in some surprise.
Nojiko thought for a moment and decided to tell Genzo about saving Jotaro, after all, this concerned the life and death of dozens of patients.
"An outsider?" Genzo stared with wide eyes and swallowed his saliva.
If Arlong found out about this, they'd definitely be implicated. But now wasn't the time to scold Nojiko.
He asked urgently, "What you said, is it true? That person really has a way?"
Nojiko nodded.
"That kind of injury would be fatal even to a fishman, but he's still living just fine."
"The most crucial thing is, he has more than ten such fatal wounds on his body."
"When I first brought him home, I used up all the hemostatic medicine at home, but I still couldn't stop his bleeding."
"I was prepared for him to die and even fetched a shovel and hoe that night."
"But the next day, he woke up like nothing had happened."
"I personally saw him stop the bleeding at a speed visible to the naked eye and even form scabs."
This kind of thing, Nojiko had absolutely no need to lie.
Though it sounded a bit fantastical, this world was vast, with strange people and occurrences everywhere. Genzo decided to take the risk and try.
"You said, he's still staying at your house? No time to lose, quickly go invite him over! No matter what request he has, we can agree to it, as long as he can save these people!"
Genzo solemnly said as he held Nojiko's shoulder.
"I understand," Nojiko nodded, "I'll bring him here right now."
Coming out from the cave, Nojiko's mood had already calmed, but the tight frown on her brow showed that new worries had arisen.
Although Jotaro could use miraculous methods to stop bleeding, he himself was also seriously injured now.
'Would he really agree to help these people? What if he refused?'
Honestly, even if Jotaro refused to her face, Nojiko wouldn't feel any resentment.
With his injuries, under these circumstances, anyone would put their own life first.
How could she expect him to treat others?
But if they didn't rely on Jotaro, all these innocent refugees would die.
Nojiko's heart was deeply conflicted. She took a deep breath, and the next second, her eyes suddenly widened.
"You… you… why are you out here?! Didn't I tell you to stay at home?! This island is very dangerous!"
Looking at Jotaro approaching as if no one else were around, Nojiko's chest heaved up and down.
Jotaro didn't take her words to heart at all and spoke casually, "I roughly know what's happening on the island. Those fishmen are pretty easy to talk to."
"What! You met the fishmen?!"
Hearing this, Nojiko was shocked, her face drained of color, and she quickly pulled Jotaro into the cave.
Seeing her poke her head out, looking around, Jotaro said in a deep voice, "Don't worry, no one followed me."
Nojiko said with annoyance, "Why did you run out here?! You met the fishmen, they didn't do anything to you?"
Jotaro said, "I got permission to move around the island."
"Oh, permission, huh…" Nojiko suddenly understood and nodded, but soon her eyes widened in disbelief. "Per… permission!?"
"How much money did you spend!?"
Her beautiful eyes scanned Jotaro up and down.
When she dressed his wounds before, she had checked his body, he didn't have a single coin on him.
That's also why Nojiko worried about Jotaro's background.
Because Arlong only cared about money. If Jotaro were a rich man, that'd be fine. But if he were a poor man and they found out, he'd definitely be executed on the spot.
As an outsider, wanting to move freely in Cocoyashi Village meant paying a protection fee, an astronomical sum.
'Where could he have gotten that kind of money!?'
"I don't know."
Jotaro didn't take the fishmen's permission seriously at all, so he naturally didn't care about these things.
His calm expression made Nojiko feel even more that this man was mysterious.
Glancing back into the depths of the cave, Nojiko gritted her teeth and said, "I want to ask you for a favor."
Seeing Jotaro only gaze at her with his light green eyes without replying, Nojiko lowered her head and hesitated for a long while before speaking.
"I know this request is too much. After all, this matter has nothing to do with you, and you're also injured…"
"But right now, this is the only way I can think of. Only you can save them."
The moment Nojiko opened her mouth, Jotaro already guessed what she wanted.
"You want me to use Ripple to help those refugees from Hesha Town?"
Nojiko said in surprise, "You already knew?"
Jotaro couldn't be bothered to explain. He just simply said three words, "Take me there."
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