[Lami? Why isn’t she—no, it’s only natural for her to be here.]
Law still froze for a moment when he saw Lami. As the only relative he had left alive in this world, his feelings toward her were extraordinarily complicated.
“Doctor Uncle, could you please stop spacing out? Time is precious. If you want her contact information, you can ask her for it after work.”
While Law was briefly distracted, the child in front of him had already picked up the examination equipment himself. After slipping a disposable cover over it, he opened his mouth and bit down.
The reading on the counter beside him soared, and a proud smile appeared on his face.
“Great! My bite force is even higher than last year. I’ve already reached the recruitment standard for a trainee in the Musketeer Squad.”
The racial makeup of Onigashima was extremely diverse. In fact, it resembled a true Totto Land even more than Charlotte Linlin’s Totto Land did. Even Lunarians and Giants, races absent from Totto Land, had sizable populations here, and there were even former Celestial Dragons.
From the perspective of a collector, the only one missing here was the Buccaneer race.
Compared with ordinary humans, the physical examinations for Minks included special tests such as bite-force measurements, depending on the species of Mink.
Lami herself obviously would not take part in such specialized tests. Rather, she was the teacher leading the group.
After the Arceus Cult fully developed, looking after children became part of their duties. Even the children of pirates were entrusted to them.
The pirates knew their own limitations. They were experts at boarding battles and beach landings, but education was beyond them.
“What are you staring at? She’s already gone.”
The doctor beside Law patted him on the shoulder. Lami had already led the group that had just completed their examinations far away, yet Law was still staring after her.
“I wasn’t—”
“Oh, come on. There’s no need to hide something like that. The men who want to court her could form a line from Onigashima all the way to Kuri, though not a single one has succeeded.”
For some reason, Law suddenly felt relieved upon hearing that. But before he could even breathe out that sigh of relief, his blood pressure rose even higher.
“Of course, if you want her contact information, I can get it for you too. Hey, hey, don’t be so impatient. That look in your eyes is scaring me…”
“Ahem. You’re seeing things. This is only the first time I’ve met her. Why would I harbor such improper intentions? But what did you mean about her contact information?”
“Hmph, didn’t you say you weren’t interested? Looks to me like you’ve already fallen in love at first sight… Forget it, I’ll stop teasing you. Lami is responsible for the Arceus Cult’s external communications. You can find the monastery’s number in the public telephone directory.
“If you call at the right time, Lami will be the one who answers.”
The doctor working alongside Law inexplicably felt a chill. When he had spoken about Lami just now, something about Law’s gaze had seemed wrong. At that moment, he had looked more like an assassin than a doctor.
Before they could say anything else, however, a commotion suddenly erupted outside.
“Someone come quickly! Miss Lami has fainted!”
Clatter!
There was a loud crash as several objects fell to the floor. Law had already vanished, leaving only the other doctor standing there in a daze.
“Wait, are the doctors of the Beasts Pirates really this fiercely competitive now?”
The physical examinations here were relatively complicated. In addition to health check ups, there were also physical tests. Law had not completely lost his reason, at least, since he had not used the Op-Op Fruit to teleport and had instead run outside.
That dash alone had triggered the speed detector near the doorway. Looking at the recorded burst speed, which was even faster than that of an average warrior, the ordinary doctor began to question his entire life.
“Miss Lami, how do you feel?”
“I’m fine. I just have a bit of a headache. It’s nothing serious.”
“To be safe, you should still undergo an examination.”
There was certainly no shortage of doctors in the hospital, but Lami woke up on her own before they arrived. She had only briefly lost consciousness, and the entire episode had lasted less than a minute.
Had the doctors not refused to let her leave, she felt she could have simply gone straight back.
“I’m fine. Things are quite busy right now, so don’t waste your time on me.”
Her ability already allowed her to monitor the condition inside her own body. Alolan Muk’s control over viruses meant she had never even caught a cold. She merely assumed she had been overworked lately.
“Wait, Miss Lami. Your health is important. We’re already in a hospital, and a simple examination won’t take much effort, will it?”
Although the doctors did not want to let her leave, they had no justification for stopping her if she insisted. Instead, it was Law, who had just rushed out, who blocked Lami’s path.
“I said there’s no need—”
[Lami, you can’t eat any more ice cream! You’ll get a stomachache!]
[You can’t eat candy before bed! You’ll get cavities!]
Lami’s eyes met Law’s, and a young yet familiar voice suddenly echoed through her mind.
It was precisely that voice that caused another stab of pain in her head. This time, she had no reason to object and followed the doctors behind her into the treatment room.
“Sister Misu, I need to know exactly what she experienced in the past. Miss Lami’s examination results are already out. There is absolutely nothing wrong with her data. She couldn’t possibly be any healthier.
I have never seen anyone’s data look so perfectly flawless.”
“She’s healthy. Isn’t that enough?”
“No. People don’t get headaches for no reason. There must be an underlying cause. The reason I’m unwilling to ask the patient directly is that patients always lie and try to hide the truth.
“If even you, her mother, refuse to explain the cause honestly, then one day in the future, this hidden danger is bound to erupt!”
“Why are you so fixated on this?”
“I don’t understand religion, and I don’t understand combat, but I’m a doctor. What I have to do is use my abilities to cure the patients in my care. I only came here because I learned that this place had the conditions I needed. Do you want her to miss the best opportunity for treatment because you chose to conceal the truth?”
Inside one of the hospital’s offices, Misu was arguing with House, Lami’s current attending physician. House believed that her condition had been triggered by some form of psychological stimulus. He needed to know exactly what that stimulus was in order to treat her more effectively.
Although Lami suffered from amnesia, that information had always been classified. Misu brought Lami in for regular physical examinations, but the hospital’s doctors did not know about her memory loss.
House had inferred from her past medical records that something was being concealed, but Misu refused to give him an answer, leaving him deeply frustrated.
Only after his repeated insistence did Misu finally give him a somewhat indirect response.
“Lami and I are both survivors of Flevance. I don’t want her to remember that past.”
“Do you intend to hide it from her for the rest of her life?”
“Do you want her to remember the sight of her biological parents dying beneath the executioners’ blades?!
I’m sorry. I lost my composure.
If you weren’t in Wano Country, I wouldn’t say anything, but the records here in Wano Country clearly document what happened in Flevance back then. Even I can’t remain calm…”
House was also concerned about Lami’s condition; he was simply approaching it from a different perspective. Once she had calmed down, Misu also felt that her earlier outburst had been rather abrupt.
“It’s all right. But I think I understand part of the situation now. You’re not her biological mother, and she lost the memories of a certain period of time, correct?
In that case, her sudden fainting may indicate that those memories have already begun to return. Sooner or later, she will remember those events. Rather than allowing this to become an unstable factor, it would be better to deliberately trigger the memories in advance under controlled conditions.
The human brain is the most complicated thing there is. Even the most accurate machine cannot compare to it. With the current level of medical science, we still cannot predict what effects something like this might cause.”
After leaving those words behind, House departed as well.
There had not been the slightest abnormality in the physical examination report. Even Audino’s auscultation had shown that she was healthy. Once every impossible explanation had been ruled out, whatever remained had to be the correct answer, no matter how strange it seemed.
Thus, House made a preliminary diagnosis.
He had more than one patient under his care and could not remain delayed here indefinitely.
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