Chapter 8: A Vast Yet Surprisingly Small World

Alongside food, water, and other supplies, the most important thing Thomas or, more accurately, Astolfo acquired from Coniston was their approximate location within the South Blue. The World Government strictly regulated accurate maps, but it was possible to purchase hand-drawn charts that gave you a rough idea of where you were in relation to nearby islands.

According to the information Astolfo was able to acquire, they were only around 1200 kilometers from one of the few named places in One Piece, Baterilla Island, the birthplace of Portgas D. Ace. More importantly, they were only 2500 kilometers away from Reverse Mountain, the intersecting point of the Four Seas and one of the two entrances to the Grand Line.

With the Golden Hind's exceptional speed, they could theoretically reach Reverse Mountain in around twenty hours. The same journey would take an ordinary caravel around 10-15 days, depending on whether they sailed for 24 hours a day, so it wasn't an exaggeration to say the Hind was one of, if not 'the' fastest sailing vessels in the world.

After learning how close they were to Reverse Mountain, a lot of the pressure that Thomas was feeling abruptly disappeared. He originally expected it to take months to reach any significant destination in such an expansive world, but the Hind's speed, auto-pilot functionality, and ability to fly were bound to make even the most treacherous seas fairly easy to cross. Even the Calm Belt wasn't much of an impediment as it was only 200km wide. So long as Thomas could store enough Mana within the Equivalence Engine to sustain two hours of flight, they could cross over the usually impassable stretch of sea and enter the Grand Line whenever they pleased.

Based on Drake's calculations, it would take the current Thomas around three days to store enough Mana within the engine to sustain two hours of flight. Broken down into a quantifiable value, that meant they could fly five minutes for every hour he spent charging the engine, assuming they didn't have to operate the cannons. With no upper limit to the amount of Mana the Equivalence Engine could store, this meant they could store an average of twenty hours of flight per month, enough to travel more than 2400 kilometers without landing.

With the width of the Grand Line known to be precisely 1400 kilometers, 1800 if accounting for the two Calm Belts, Thomas only needed to store fifteen hours of flight for the Hind to span the entire strip of sea. In other words, he would only need to pump Mana into the Hind for 22.5 days, and they could simply fly over the Grand Line and into the East Blue. With well over a year to reach the Conomi Islands before Luffy, that gave Thomas a surprising number of options...

Though he was fairly certain that Benienma, Astolfo, Drake, and just about any Heroic Spirit could fodder someone like Arlong, Thomas didn't want to leave everything to his Servants. Arlong's Bounty was a mere 20,000,000 Belly, so if Thomas couldn't defeat someone like him, he would struggle to defeat even the henchmen of more powerful Pirate crews. Fortunately, he had at least ten months to train and prepare himself. Thus, after returning to their private island, Thomas focused his efforts on filling the Equivalent Engine and summoning his remaining five Servants. Everything else would follow after that...

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Heeding the suggestion of Drake, the fourth Servant Thomas focused on summoning was fated to be their Doctor. Heroic Spirits couldn't contract normal illnesses, but they could still sustain injuries, fall victim to poison, and bleed to death. Thomas, on the other hand, was susceptible to colds, viruses, and all manner of parasites that might be lurking within the food they consumed. Benienma was very thorough, especially with fish, but it was better to be safe than sorry in a world like One Piece.

To Thomas's surprise, it took nearly seven full days before the Doctor's Card to trigger a summoning. According to Benienma, he was gradually increasing the amount of Mana he channeled into the cards, so Thomas wasn't too surprised when a man whose very existence screamed 'Caster' popped out from the magic circle. What did surprise him was the man's identity, as Thomas 'immediately' recognized the witch-doctor-like man as Assypuss(Asclepius), the literal God of Medicine...

While Thomas was staring at him with a look of utter disbelief on his face, Asclepius took a moment to take in his surroundings, remarking, "I'll need a sterile working environment..." before narrowing his eyes at Benienma. The latter had been watching over Thomas to ensure he didn't overexert himself, so she was sitting off to the side with a large picnic basket and a thermos filled with tea.

Though she sensed the power of an opposing Pantheon within Asclepius, Benienma just gave a slight bow as she asserted, "Benienma is pleased to meet a new comrade, dechi. Welcome to the Wild Hunt Pirates, mister...?"

Revealing what Thomas already knew, Asclepius replied, "Asclepius, Son of Apollo and Coronis..."

Completing Asclepius's remarkably deep, borderline baritone introduction, Thomas recovered enough of his senses to add, "He's also the Greek God of Medicine, the man who 'cured' death. No wonder it took seven days to complete the summon..."

Though it was difficult to see the changes in his expression due to his mage-look hood and his beak-like mask, Asclepius frowned as he stated, "I did not become a God by choice, nor do I care about such insignificant labels. I am a Doctor, nothing more, nothing less. Now, bring me a patient or tell me where I can find one."

Adopting a wry smile, Thomas replied, "I'm familiar with a few diseases that desperately need a cure, but we need you here as our Ship Doctor. I could also really use your help learning how to properly utilize my Mana..."

In response to Thomas's words, Asclepius's peculiar green and gold eyes started to glisten. As they did so, Thomas had the uncanny feeling he was receiving a full-body CT scan. It felt uncomfortable but luckily only lasted a few seconds before Asclepius stated, "How peculiar...your body has no signs of Magic Circuitry or Mana Pathways. By all rights, you shouldn't be able to channel, much less contain Mana. And yet it saturates your entire body..."

Nodding his head, Thomas explained, "I consumed a Devil Fruit known as the Mana-Mana-no-Mi. At the cost of my ability to swim in the sea, I can generate and emit Mana from my body..."

Raising his brows ever-so-slightly, Asclepius muttered, "How curious..." before abruptly manifesting a golden, branch-like staff entwined by a mechanical black and gold snake. He then tried to point it at Thomas, but Benienma appeared between them, hand on her katana as she said, "You forget yourself, dechi..."

Instead of getting angry or upset, Asclepius uttered a faint "Ah..." before retracting his staff and calmly explaining, "I merely wished to perform a more thorough examination. I assure you, my methods are non-invasive, and I would never willfully harm a patient..."

Understanding Asclepius's nature much better than Benienma, Thomas stated, "It's okay, Beni. Despite looking like the Grim Reaper's nephew, Asclepius's only interests are advancing medicine and curing all diseases. He might even be able to find a 'cure' for my inability to swim, so I don't mind letting him examine me in exchange for lessons..."

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Furrowing his brows slightly, Asclepius remarked, "I am not a patient man, nor do I have any interest in teaching. Also, while I may be a Caster, I am not a Mage. My Artes are singularly focused on producing medicines and curing diseases. You are free to peruse my notes, but I will not teach you anything. I would rather spend my time researching and developing cures than teaching someone less capable than myself how to do the same job, only worse..."

"..."

Though he knew what kind of person Asclepius was from his event and Bond dialogue, Thomas had underestimated how abrasive the man could be in real life. Unfortunately, while it was possible to use a Command Seal to try and force Asclepius to teach him, the silver-haired man's status as a God made him uniquely resistant to compulsion and control...

Exhaling a defeated sigh, Thomas replied, "Fine...just make sure not to run when no one is looking. I don't mind if you take time to research and cure diseases during our journey, but your reason for being here is to serve as our Ship's Doctor. If you leave, you'll be violating the contract you agreed to when you answered my call..."

As 'most' Gods within the various Type-Moon franchises were unable to tell lies or break contracts, Thomas just wanted to remind Asclepius that he hadn't been summoned to become a wandering Doctor. If he wanted to travel around and cure every disease in the world, he would need to do so 'after' they reached Laugh Tale.

Seeing through Thomas's intentions, Asclepius's eyes showed a moderate amount of contempt as he coldly asserted, "I will not break my vow. Now, stand aside, Demon. Anyone who gets between a Doctor and their patient is deserving of a fate worse than death..."

Instead of responding to Asclepius's words, Benienma turned and looked up at Thomas. When the latter gave a slight nod, she eased out of her Iai stance and returned to her original position. However, instead of putting her sword away, she kept it at her side, closely monitoring each and every one of Asclepius's movements...

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Following Asclepius's summoning, Thomas decided that his next focus would be summoning the First Mate. He suspected he would have better odds of summoning a Caster with the Second Mate and Musician Cards, but failing to find a Magic instructor wasn't the end of the world. So long as he had a powerful swordsmanship or martial arts instructor, he should be able to gain more than enough strength to defeat Arlong.

Fortunately, Thomas's fifth summoning took considerably less time than Asclepius's. More importantly, the person that popped out was easily one of his Top-3 waifus from the Fate Series, Miyamoto-fucking-Musashi.

Standing at 167cm tall, Musashi was a fairly petite yet remarkably well-endowed woman with fair skin and silvery, slightly pink hair styled in a wild ponytail. Her predominately blue eyes flickered with pink, green, and purple specks. As for her outfit, it consisted of a sleeveless blue kimono with a very short skirt, a red obi bearing a sakura pattern, predominately black leg and arm warmers, and a headpiece that resembled a pinwheel shuriken. She also had on a pair of modified, high-heeled ninja tabi, but the things that stood out most, besides her breasts, were the two katana on her hip. One was a full-length katana with a blue and golden hilt, while the other was a slightly shorter wakizashi. Even while sheathed, the set of swords gave the impression they were being held to your neck...

Waiting until Thomas was finished checking her out, Musashi surprised him by tapping her shoulder with her katana. Not even Benienma saw her draw it, so the atmosphere 'froze' despite the playful smile on her face as she said, "The name's Shinmen Musashi-no-Kami Fujiwara no Harunobu. However, as my Master, you are free to call me Musashi."

Swallowing hard, Thomas eyed the sword in Musashi's hand as he asked, "Mind telling me what you drew your sword...?"

Without any hesitation, Musashi replied, "Oh, this? I was curious to see how you and the little bird girl would react. You were both staring at me so intensely that I thought you might want to fight. Guess I jumped the gun a bit..."

Following Musashi's words, the lower half of Thomas's shirt promptly fell. He had no idea how she had done it, but she cut cleanly through the front and back of his shirt without him noticing. It was an unfathomable display of skill that simultaneously frightened and excited Thomas as he eagerly inquired, "Can you please, please, please teach me swordsmanship...?"

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(A/N: Assypuss? A fitting name for an indignant cunt xD...)

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