When consciousness finally returned to Gustave, all he could see was an endless void of black. He tried desperately to force his eyes open, but the darkness persisted like a suffocating blanket.
"Am I blind?" The terrifying thought crashed through his mind like a thunderbolt.
Panic setting in, Gustave attempted to bring his hands to his face, only to discover they were completely immobilized by some kind of restraint. He struggled against whatever held him, but his body felt as weak as a newborn's—every movement sent waves of exhaustion through his battered frame.
"Someone... help!" he tried to call out, but only the faintest whisper escaped his lips. His throat felt like sandpaper, his voice barely a shadow of its former strength.
What Gustave didn't realize was that Tom had wrapped him up like an ancient Egyptian mummy, leaving only his nostrils for breathing and a small gap at his mouth for the liquid nutrition they'd been feeding him during his ten-day recovery. Chu Zihang, Zhang Zhiwei, and Lin Jiu had all suggested removing the excessive bandaging, but Tom had stubbornly refused, pantomiming that complete immobilization was essential for proper healing. Since none of them were doctors—and Tom's medical interventions had arguably saved Gustave's life—they'd reluctantly deferred to the cat's expertise.
Gustave continued his muffled struggles, his weak cries for help barely audible through the layers of cloth.
On the deck below, Luffy had just finished changing his clothes when strange thumping sounds drifted down from the fourth floor. Curious, he pushed open the door to Gustave's recovery room—and nearly jumped out of his skin.
The mummy was moving!
"Uncle Gustave is awake!" Luffy's voice carried across the entire ship like a battle cry.
Instantly, everyone on the Bamboo Staff dropped their chopsticks and bolted toward the stairs—everyone except the Moral Lord, who continued serenely eating his lunch. Bell-mère, Nami, and Nojiko exchanged uncertain glances before following the commotion upward.
"Grandpa, don't you want to see him too?" Nami paused at the base of the stairs, puzzled by the ancient sage's apparent indifference.
The Moral Lord didn't even look up from his bowl. "The boy is fine—I calculated the precise moment of his awakening days ago. With so many people already rushing to crowd around him, my presence would only add to the chaos. Better to finish my meal in peace."
Though his reasoning seemed sound, Nami's curiosity won out. She hurried up the stairs—only to nearly collide with Po and Chu Zihang as they carefully carried down what looked like a walking skeleton wrapped in dirty bandages.
"Tom, hurry up and catch us a Sea King!" Luffy shouted, pointing dramatically at the blue waters surrounding them.
Tom's whiskers twitched with annoyance at being ordered around. For a split second, he considered using Luffy as live bait, dangling him from a fishing hook as poetic justice. But seeing Gustave's emaciated condition, the cat grudgingly decided to let it slide—though he did pull out a small notebook and pointedly scribble something down while glaring at Luffy.
With theatrical flair, Tom produced his impossible fishing rod and cast the line into the depths. Within moments, he'd hooked a massive crab Sea King over sixty meters long. The crustacean barely had time to surface before Po's Haki-infused fist sent it into dreamland with a single, precise blow.
The unconscious crab crashed onto Cocoyasi Village's beach with earth-shaking force, causing panicked villagers to rush from their homes thinking an earthquake had struck.
"Get me... over there... now!" Gustave's trembling finger pointed toward the fallen Sea King, his voice a desperate rasp.
Without hesitation, Chu Zihang scooped up Gustave and carried him to where Po was already extracting glistening white meat from the crab's shell. The young mixed-blood's training under Po had transformed his physique—while he hadn't yet mastered Armament Haki, he'd become proficient in three of the Six Powers: Soru, Rankyaku, and Shigan.
The moment Chu Zihang set him down, Gustave launched himself at the translucent crab meat like a man possessed. His teeth tore into the pristine flesh with primal hunger, devouring it at a pace that defied comprehension.
Nami and Nojiko stared in shock as the mountain of crab meat disappeared before their eyes. That single Sea King contained enough protein to feed their entire village for months, yet Gustave was consuming it in mere minutes.
As the meat vanished down his throat, Gustave's skeletal frame began to transform. Muscles swelled back to their proper proportions, his skin regained its healthy color, and strength visibly returned to his limbs.
"That's Seimei Kikan," Bell-mère whispered in amazement, her Marine training allowing her to recognize the legendary technique. "I'd only heard stories about it during my service, but seeing it in person..."
"Seimei Kikan?" Nami repeated the unfamiliar term, though even without understanding its meaning, the name itself sounded incredibly powerful.
Within minutes, Gustave had stripped the crab clean. He sat back with a satisfied burp, patting his now-normal stomach.
"Barely half full," he muttered while picking crab shell fragments from his teeth. "Tom, mind catching me another one?"
But Tom had already returned to his seat, pointedly ignoring the request as he resumed his interrupted meal.
"Stubborn cat," Gustave chuckled. "Fine, I'll handle it myself."
Closing his eyes, Gustave expanded his Observation Haki across the surrounding waters. His enhanced senses locked onto another large presence lurking in the depths.
"You'll do nicely."
With a casual wave of his hand, Gustave's electromagnetic field seized control of a twenty-meter crab Sea King, dragging it up from the ocean floor against its will. The creature barely had time to break the surface before a precisely controlled lightning bolt struck it down.
The electrical discharge left the crab's exterior charred black, but when Gustave knocked away the burnt shell, an incredible aroma wafted out. His awakened Rumble-Rumble powers now allowed him to remove the shell without damaging the delicate meat inside—a level of control that would have been impossible before his injury.
The battle with the Demon God had pushed more than just his Devil Fruit abilities to new heights. His Haki had strengthened considerably, and his overall physical prowess had reached true Admiral level. In fact, Gustave suspected he might now be stronger than Kizaru himself. At this rate of growth, he'd reach the absolute peak of this world's power within just a few years—and then the Moral Lord would finally begin teaching him the deeper mysteries of cultivation.
"Still tastes a bit plain eaten like this," Gustave mused, examining the pristine white meat. "Luffy! Is there any chili sauce left in the kitchen? If so, bring me everything we have!"
Eager to make up for his recent transgressions, Luffy shot to his feet like a rocket. "Coming right up!"
He returned moments later, practically staggering under the weight of an enormous jar. "Uncle Gustave, here's all the chili sauce!"
Gustave accepted the condiment with a grateful nod, then proceeded to dip generous portions of crab meat into the spicy sauce before devouring them with gusto. The combination of perfectly cooked seafood and fiery spices was exactly what his recovering body craved.