Off the coast of Calebari Island, the sea breeze carried a faint, briny tang.
The Spade Pirates' flagship floated in a wretched state, looking as if it had just survived the apocalypse.
A crater yawned amid the deck, looking for all the world like a meteor strike.
The mainmast had snapped in half, lashed together with frayed hemp and splintered planks.
The gunwales were worse—twisted metal and jagged wood everywhere you looked.
All courtesy of the green monster they'd met half an hour ago: the Hulk.
For a moment, the ship had teetered on the edge of becoming a coffin for them all.
But pirates, bless their outrageously thick skulls, took near-death as a cue to party.
As long as no one was dead and the ship still bobbed, it was a glorious day.
Besides, they'd just gained a legend—a miracle-working doctor.
"Cheers!"
"To our new sawbones—and to not drowning!"
"Woohoo! Feast time!"
A bonfire crackled on the battered deck.
Water still leaked below, yet the Spade Pirates' revelry burned hotter than the flames.
Great slabs of meat hissed over the fire; barrels were axed open, foam spilling like geysers.
Ace clutched a roast shank bigger than his own head, his cheeks bulging.
"Doctor Famous Ancient Chinese Physician—welcome aboard the Spades!"
He hoisted his cup, words slurred around a mouthful of meat.
Opposite him sat the man of the hour—Bai Yu, alias the "Famous Ancient Chinese Physician"—sipping clear sake with a faint, unruffled smile.
He drank like a gentleman, not a buccaneer, savoring one calm sip.
His airy composure made the roaring rogues around him look like rowdy children.
In a shadowed corner of the feast...
Bruce Banner hunched over a mug of warm milk, eyes flicking nervously.
The drunken singing and back-slapping felt galaxies away from his world.
Especially when his gaze snagged on the splintered crater in the planks—his handiwork.
Or rather, the "big guy's."
No matter how many times he saw that destruction, the terror and guilt bit just as deep.
"Doctor Banner, loosen up!"
Deuce wandered over, cup in hand, bandages peeking from beneath his shirt but color back in his face.
"Thanks to your... er, green friend pulling his punches."
He tried a grin to break the ice.
Banner answered with a strained smile, adjusting his glasses.
"Just don't toss me skyward again... and the Hulk stays quiet."
Ace, mid-bite, froze.
He scratched his head, his trademark sheepish grin flashing.
"Ahaha, my bad—next time I'll be gentler!"
"Still, that green goliath was incredible!"
"Wish I could fight him—"
Deuce kicked his shin before he finished.
"Shut it, Captain! Want to sink us for good?"
Ace yelped, quickly pivoting.
He pointed at the hulking figure behind Banner.
The T-800 stood like a statue, face unreadable in the gloom.
A slab of meat rested in its hand, untouched.
Red optics flicked side to side, scanning every potential threat.
"Does the big guy eat?"
Ace asked, curious.
Banner waved both hands.
"No, no—he's my bodyguard; he doesn't consume..."
The sea wind mingled with the scent of roasted meat and burning wood.
Spade parties were chaos incarnate—equal parts joy and mayhem.
Planks groaned underfoot, threatening to give way at any second.
Yet the pirates swigged on, cheeks ruddy with grog.
"Famous Ancient Chinese Physician!"
Ace trotted over, half-gnawed bone in hand, grease on his chin.
Eyes sparkling, he pressed:
"You said you're chasing some... immortality recipe?"
"What herbs are missing?"
He stopped chewing, waiting wide-eyed.
Immortality—the grandest, maddest rumor on the seas.
The physician set his cup down.
Calm as moonlight, he spoke as if discussing the night breeze rather than defying death.
"Three sovereign herbs—each rarer than the last."
His voice, soft but clear, threaded through the clamor.
"First: Deep-Sea Bodhi Heart."
"Blooms only ten thousand meters down, forged by alternating volcanic fire and abyssal cold—five centuries to flower, five more to fruit."
At "ten thousand meters," the Fishman crewman gulped; even his kind avoided those depths.
"Second: Cloud-Palace Celestial Dew."
"Found only on the legendary Sky Island, drinking sun and moonlight—rootless, soilless, vanishing if it touches earth."
Ace scratched his head, blank.
Sky Island? Wasn't that a bedtime story?
"As for the third..."
The physician paused, his gaze deepening.
"Pure-Gold Blood."
"Not metal, but a single drop of heart-blood from a millennium-old Sea King the size of a warship."
Silence crashed over the deck.
Only the crackle of burning wood dared speak.
That's insane.
Most sailors never even heard whispers of such things, let alone gathered them.
"T-that's impossible,"
Deuce muttered, suddenly sober.
"If it were easy, the First Emperor wouldn't have emptied his empire chasing it."
Bai Yu chuckled, amusement flicking in his eyes.
"And besides those three, forty-nine supporting rarities—each worth a kingdom."
On Bai Yu's system screen, Astonishment Values exploded.
[Astonishment Value from Portgas D. Ace +66!]
[Astonishment Value from Deuce +55!]
[Astonishment Value from Spade Pirates +233!]
Exactly the effect Bai Yu wanted.
Bragging costs nothing—might as well go epic.
Whether these things existed?
Who cared.
As long as the legend sounded grand enough.
"So... where do you even start?"
Ace finally asked, worried for his new friend.
Like hunting a single raindrop in a storm.
"Seek them one by one, and I'd die of old age before finishing."
The physician rose, his violet cloak snapping in the wind.
He turned southward, eyes on the horizon.
"Thus, I will head to one place."
"A market of every treasure, vice, and vanity the world has to offer."
Ace blinked, then realization lit his face.
"You mean—"
"Sabaody Archipelago."
Bai Yu spoke the name like a promise.
If you want fireworks, light the fuse where the money and fools gather.
Besides, it's the gate to the New World—
Celestial Dragons, Supernovas, Admirals... a field of ripe wheat waiting for the scythe.