Chapter 43: Blackbeard's Body Structure
"Hahaha, Ace, you got beaten so badly. And Yamato, your head is swollen like a pig."
On the deck of the Moby Dick, Ayaan, who was completely unharmed, looked at Yamato—tied tightly with seastone chains—and at Ace—covered in blood—and laughed openly, showing no mercy.
Ace was doing relatively okay. Whether Whitebeard had deliberately gone easy on him or due to his lower resistance to seastone, he was only handcuffed and not restrained further.
Yamato, on the other hand, had extremely high resistance to seastone. Since childhood, she had worn seastone handcuffs, which gave her an unusual tolerance. Ordinary handcuffs could only slightly weaken her strength. Despite being cuffed, she remained energetic and could fight for hours.
So, they had wrapped her up with layer after layer of pure seastone chains—making her look more like a cocoon than a person.
As soon as Ace spotted Ayaan, he asked anxiously, "Where are Deuce and the others? Didn't you escape?"
Ayaan answered nonchalantly, "Originally, Deuce suggested a plan to sneak in from the rear. But unfortunately, he was knocked out the moment he reached the coast. The whole plan collapsed. Seeing how badly outnumbered and outmatched we were, I figured it was smarter to just raise my hands and surrender."
"Wow, Ayaan, that's cold," Yamato muttered in frustration, still bound like a caterpillar. "You gave up that easily?"
Ayaan just shrugged with a grin. "Hey, I'm just the ship's doctor. You can't seriously expect the doctor to be the main combat force!"
"Oh… that's true," Yamato blinked. "You're so strong I keep forgetting you're technically a non-combatant."
At that moment, Ayaan turned to Whitebeard, who was sitting calmly on the deck, and said, "Captain Whitebeard, could you remove the seastone cuffs from my captain? I need to treat his injuries."
While Yamato's injuries looked worse, they weren't life-threatening. She had stopped fighting once Ace fell. Ace, however, had been seriously wounded in his prolonged battle with Whitebeard.
The terrifying thing about the Gura Gura no Mi is its ability to bypass defense. Even with Whitebeard holding back, the aftershocks alone had shattered Ace's internal organs. If Ace weren't so durable, someone else—especially an average person—would have landed straight in the ICU.
Whitebeard swallowed his drink and gave a casual wave of his hand.
Marco, standing nearby, caught the signal and tossed the key to Ayaan, who caught it deftly. "As expected from the Whitebeard Pirates—so generous," Ayaan quipped with a grin.
He wasn't directing that at Whitebeard. With his strength and confidence, that level of trust was expected. What really impressed Ayaan was how much faith the captains had in Whitebeard.
Clearly, in their eyes, even if Ace and Yamato were unchained, nothing could go wrong so long as Whitebeard was present.
Ayaan quickly unlocked Ace's handcuffs, then—without hesitation—opened his mouth and swallowed Ace whole.
Even Whitebeard, with all his experience, was momentarily stunned. Everyone else on the crew stared at Ayaan, wide-eyed and speechless.
Moments later, Ayaan spat Ace out again. The wounds all over his body had vanished. Only his lost blood and physical fatigue remained.
"What an incredible healing ability…" Marco murmured in amazement. His Tori Tori no Mi, Model: Phoenix (Bird-Bird Fruit, Model: Phoenix) allowed him to regenerate himself, but Ayaan could instantly heal others. That was an invaluable skill on any battlefield.
Marco glanced at Whitebeard, a thought forming.
Meanwhile, Ayaan casually untied Yamato and did the same with her—swallowed and healed her instantly.
With their injuries healed, neither Ace nor Yamato made a fuss. Both were prideful, but they acknowledged that the Whitebeard Pirates had treated them decently. They weren't the type to pick fights for no reason.
Then, Ayaan turned toward his true target—Marshall D. Teach—and smiled slyly.
"How about you, brother? Want me to patch you up too?"
Blackbeard's face remained unchanged as he put on a harmless smile. "No need, I'm good…"
"Come on, Teach. Just try it," Marco interrupted.
Whitebeard said nothing, but his curled lips showed amusement.
"Huh?" Teach looked confused.
Marco grinned. "What's the matter? Scared?"
Teach's face darkened slightly. "It's just a Devil Fruit ability—what's there to be afraid of? Fine, let's do it."
Ayaan's eyes gleamed. "Then here I come!"
Before Teach could even react, Ayaan opened wide and swallowed him whole. Due to Teach's large size, Ayaan's throat and stomach distorted unnaturally, but just a few seconds later, he spat him back out—fully healed.
Touching his back in disbelief, Blackbeard exclaimed, "It's completely healed! That's an insane Devil Fruit power!"
Ayaan smirked. "It's not just the ability of the Baku Baku no Mi . My medical skills play a huge role. Together, they allow me to completely restore both internal and external injuries."
Marco's eyes shone even brighter, but he didn't press the topic.
Although the Spade Pirates had started off as enemies, the Whitebeard Pirates didn't mistreat them after their capture.
In fact, Marco began treating them like honorary crewmates—as long as they didn't cause trouble.
Whitebeard admired Ace deeply and wanted him to join as a "son," but he was smart enough to understand how prideful young men were. Being overly forceful or talkative would only push them away.
So instead, Whitebeard simply showed kindness, strength, and patience—waiting for them to come to him on their own terms.