Chapter 253: Chapter 253: Marco, you…??
*Boom!*
A heavy thud echoed as Shiki crashed face-first into the ground, the impact shaking the earth beneath him.
At least it was his face that took the brunt of the fall—not his skull. Otherwise, they’d have had to switch straight to emergency mode.
Meanwhile, Jina was swiftly caught by Marco, who reacted in the nick of time. The two landed safely.
Jina blinked, momentarily stunned as she found herself in Marco’s arms. Then, flustered, she quickly struggled out of his arms.
In all her years, she had never been held like that by a man.
Even if that man was… well, an uncle-type…
Marco hadn’t thought much of it at first, but seeing her reaction, he suddenly grew awkward himself. His eyes darted around, his hand instinctively rising to scratch his head.
This was the same Marco—the usually stoic, deadpan man whose primary colors were yellow and green, who cracked dirty jokes without hesitation.
So why did he suddenly look like a bashful teenager?
The two didn’t exchange any words. Instead, they took an awkward step back from each other.
Jina even forgot to help her father up.
Marco, too, forgot that he was supposed to restrain the old man.
They just… stood there.
Soon, Vir arrived beside Golden Lion. As he passed Marco, he shot him a deeply unimpressed glance.
The message was clear:
Pathetic.
But Marco?
He didn’t even notice.
Too busy scratching his head.
Vir could only sigh in exasperation.
I’ve never seen a grown man—no, scratch that, an old man—act this damn pure before.
He’d never seen a grown man—no, scratch that, an old man—act this damn pure before.
Unbelievable. What a talent.
Deciding not to interrupt whatever weird atmosphere those two had going on (not that he could interrupt it anyway), Vir turned his attention to Shiki, grabbing him by the collar and hoisting him up.
Shiki was completely dazed.
He couldn’t even blink.
This level of paralysis was beyond anything he’d ever experienced. His brilliant mind raced, but no matter how much he thought, he couldn’t figure out what the hell was happening.
He hadn’t eaten any weird mushrooms or anything.
So what the hell was going on?
“Is it… you?” Shiki asked weakly, his voice barely audible.
Hearing this, Jina snapped out of her daze.
She turned and saw Vir dragging her father away, the old man limp as a corpse in his grip.
Panic surged through her.
She rushed forward, her face etched with worry.
She couldn’t tell what was wrong with her father.
“Let him go! What did you do to him?!” she shouted frantically.
Seeing her father in this state—she couldn’t just stand by.
It was only natural.
Vir didn’t answer her question. Instead, he asked one of his own:
“Do you want him to recover?”
Jina didn’t hesitate. “Of course I do! It’s all I want! But what does that have to do with you doing this to him?!”
“He didn’t want treatment, so I had to take some… measures.” Vir shrugged. “Relax. He’s just poisoned.”
With that, he ignored Jina’s stunned expression and walked past her, unceremoniously dropping Golden Lion onto the ground ahead.
“Old lion, didn’t I tell you? Patients who come to me only leave in one condition.”
A sinister grin spread across Vir’s face.
“You’re not healed yet, so what’s the rush?”
He crouched down, picking up the putty knife again and setting the bucket next to Shiki’s legs.
Time to get back to work.
Meanwhile, Jina was still frozen in place, her mind stuck on Vir’s words:
“Relax. He’s just poisoned.”
Just poisoned?!
Since when was poisoning not a big deal?!
That was extremely serious!
Yet Vir was acting like it was nothing, casually continuing his work without a care.
She couldn’t understand.
If her father was poisoned, why wasn’t Vir rushing to administer an antidote?
And more importantly—how had he even determined it was poison?
She hadn’t seen any signs of poisoning on her father.
How did this guy figure it out?
Who even poisoned him in the first place?
Her father was one of the strongest men in the world. For a toxin to completely disable him—even rendering his Devil Fruit powers useless—just how potent was it?
What kind of person could make something like that?!
And why the hell wasn’t Vir panicking?!
Just then, Marco walked up beside her.
Seeing her distress, he actually spoke up to reassure her.
“Don’t worry. That’s definitely Vir’s own poison. I forgot he had this trick up his sleeve.”
After their earlier… moment, Marco didn’t seem to dislike Jina as much anymore.
In fact, he was now actively comforting her.
Some might call that… simp behavior.
Jina’s eyes widened.
“What… what did you say? He poisoned him? Vir? He can make poison?!”
She fired off questions rapidly, but Marco just looked at her as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“Don’t all doctors know how to make poison? Vir says so.”
He said it completely matter-of-factly—though he’d conveniently forgotten that he himself was also a doctor.
Doctors know how to make poison?!
Since when?!
Poisons and medicine were completely different fields!
How could he just lump them together like that?!
Creating toxins—especially ones potent enough to affect a top-tier fighter—was far more difficult than medicine!
No known poison in the world could achieve something like this!
Jina’s worldview was crumbling.
Her brain was practically shrinking.
Her sanity was slipping.
Wait a second!
If he was the one who poisoned him… when did it happen?
She hadn’t seen anything!
No hints, no tells!
A poison this powerful had to have strict activation conditions.
It couldn’t just be something you inhaled or touched.
Jina desperately racked her brain, replaying every moment since they arrived.
But no matter how hard she thought, she couldn’t recall any suspicious actions from Vir.
Aside from his… unorthodox treatment methods, he hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary!
“You… when…?”
Golden Lion’s weak voice cut through her thoughts.
He, too, was struggling to comprehend.
He had no clue how it happened.
He was flying just fine before!
Everything felt normal!
Vir, still holding the putty knife, answered without looking up.
“When I pulled your swords out, the wounds on your legs came into contact with the poison on my gloves.”
“Then… why didn’t I feel… anything?”
Shiki asked again, barely holding on.
“Because that small dose alone wouldn’t do anything. In fact, it sharpens the mind. But once it mixes with a second airborne poison—boom! Total shutdown.”
Vir smirked.
“That second poison? I’d already released it… before you even got here.”
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