16 Nanomanaging

After explaining my devil fruit powers, Crocus invited me into the Lifehouse and poured us a cup of tea.

"Well, you certainly made the right decision to mentor under me. If I had your devil fruit power, I would be unstoppable." I could see that Crocus started to wander off into a dream world, so I brought him back.

"So, when do we start? I'm in a bit of a time crunch." Crocus narrowed his eyes before he wordlessly got up from the table and walked upstairs. I could hear him grunt as he lifted something heavy and brought it back downstairs.

My eyes widened when I saw the absolute mountain of books the old man was carrying, "You start by reading all of these books. Come back to me when you've finished. Start from the top and make your way down."

I was left alone as Crocus walked outside to sit in his lawn chair and read the paper. With no idea what else to do, I stood on the table and grabbed the top book.

"Basic Medicine For Idiots"

Sighing, I knew the next few weeks were going to going be full of all-nighters and coffee. The first couple of books had general knowledge any soldier should know, but then things got complicated.

The first thing I learned about was the human eye, and after consoling the archives and practicing on my own, I created an extra eye on my palm.

That was all it took to almost quadruple my reading speed. It only took me three days to master the transformation. I still remember the look on Crocus's face when he opened to door to see me sitting on the floor surrounded by books.

Eyes covered my entire face as they moved individually, looking at the books my six arms held up. What I didn't account for was how straining it would be on my mind. Seeing out of five eyes was like being blackout drunk.

But I soldiered on, and like anything, I built up a tolerance. Crocus underestimated me, and it only took me three weeks to read every book.

The real mountain was memorizing an entire book of medicinal herbs. After polishing off the last book, Crocus gave me another pile of paper. They were tests on everything I had learned.

So far, everything I've learned I could have had the same experience in a library. Most of the time, I was inside studying while Crocus was outside.

That all changed when I finished the last test and handed it into Crocus to grade. Somehow he graded them all in one day, which was faster than any teacher I've ever had.

The day after, Crocus talked to me since I started to learn from him, "Well, I don't know how you did it, but you got all of them right. Now it's time to get some field practice."

I had no idea what he was talking about, but when the red line itself shook, I remembered one heartbroken whale. Sure enough, Crocus tranquilized Laboon and started to cut into the whale's blubber.

I mostly handed him his tools and carried away the tubs of whale fat, but it was amazing to watch him work. Little by little, we carved our way to Laboon's stomach, where we could meditate him directly.

To stop an infection, we used sterilized steel to cover up the exposed hole and create a safe passage to get to Laboon's stomach. It was grimy, smelly work, but I was used to it from my time in the pits.

"I have to say we make a pretty good team Crocus-San," I said as we sat out on lawn chairs, watching for any discomfort in Laboons behavior.

"I have done a surgery this large since my time with Roger. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to do it on my own."

"I think I'm going to start improving my body, and I'm going to need your help. Can I rely on you?"

Crocus, for once, put down his paper to look at me, "Oh, what do you mean improving your body." Sighing, I went inside the lighthouse and brought out a stack of bound papers with diagrams of my body.

"This is the main reason I wanted you to mentor me. I'm going to modify my body permanently. For it to happen, though, I'm going to enter a medically induced coma. So I need you to monitor my vitals while I work."

I handed over my notes, and Crocus's eyes widen when he saw the absolute scale of what I was going to do.

"I don't know about this boy. Some of the things you're trying to do, seem impossible. Like adding pumps to your veins to increase blood flow."

I shrugged, "Most of them are theoretical, but I think I can manage most of them."

"Okay then, after Laboon stabilizes, we'll start on you."

Three days later, I was lying down on a medical table and an IV strapped to my arm while Crocus stood over me.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" I nodded and swallowed the pills that would put me under. My eyes started to close, but before the medication completely knocked me out, I moved my attention into my cells, creating a quasi brain.

' Alright, let's get this over with.' Starting with my heart, I added more muscles and created a fifth chamber.

Then I moved on to my arteries and veins, carefully adding sphincter muscles with nerves so I could stop and start blood flow to any part of my body at will.

I didn't have a sense of time during my transformation, but the process was excruciatingly slow from my perspective.

When all I finished, I destroyed my second brain, sending my consciousness back to sleep. Waking up to bright lights and Crocus's face, I groaned, "How long was I out."

"About a year, I was worried when your heartbeat dropped to 20 Bpm, but your body temperature was the same, so I didn't take you out." Crocus replied while helping me off the table.

"Damn, it feels good to walk. But I want to see what this new body of mine can do."