The Mad Doctor of One Piece - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

A ragged looking door was thrust open by a young man of seventeen. He stepped though the door into an equally shabby room with a rickety bed with a straw mattress and thin blanket on top. The young man observed the room and let out a bone weary sigh as he stepped into it and closed the door behind himself. Not that the door was likely to keep anyone with even an iota of determination from getting into the room.

The young man walks over to the shuttered window and swings it open. The room is bathed in light from the slowly setting sun reflecting off of the calm blue ocean. The view was the one redeeming feature of the cesspool the young man lived in. He watched the sun setting over the ocean for a while before he turned from the sight and began stripping the rags generously called clothing from his body.

What was revealed was a malnourished body as thin as a twig. So malnourished his ribs could clearly be seen. He carefully folded the shirt and carried it to a pile of similarly shabby clothing. As much as he hated his clothes, he had to treat them well as they were all he had. He could afford to ruin even a single shirt by throwing it on the ground. Not to mention it would also make washing it by hand even harder. He wasn't about to give his overworked body even more work!

With the shirt taken care of, he walked around to the side of his bed and gently sat on it. Today had been... well the same as any other day. He'd spent it looking for work and begging for money. He'd gotten lucky and got a job working on the docks unloading cargo. He dug in his pocket and pulled out two crumpled bills. Flattening them out he looked them over and shook his head. Even after living in this world for seventeen years, he still couldn't get over the fact that he was being paid with actual Belly. In this case, two-thousand belly for a full day's work, which was roughly twenty dollars in buying power. Not much.

The young man scoffed and pulled open the drawer to his little night stand, the only other piece of furniture in his room. The drawer contained a few more wrinkled bills of various denominations, his life savings. Leaving it in the rented room wasn't the wisest course of action but carrying it on himself at all times would be even worse. He'd learned long ago that the world was cruel and carrying his money on him was an invitation to get mugged. It was pretty much pure luck that the landlord of the place never bothered to look in his tiny room.

He closed the drawer and then placed his hands behind his head as he flopped down onto his back on his bed. He didn't even have a pillow to rest his head on. He stared at the ceiling while thinking to himself, 'Tomorrow I turn seventeen. I can't believe I've been in this world for that long. I can't believe I used to be so excited to be living in the world of One Piece. Watching Luffy and his crew made it seem so easy to live in this world, as long as you were determined and had a dream you could make it. Bullshit. I've worked my ass off since I was a kid and I'm still nowhere near having enough cash to buy a ticket off of this hell hole. It might not have been so bad if I was born in the East Blue, but nooooooo, I had to be born in West Blue.'

'It might not have been so bad if I'd been given something. Hell, it might have been better if I'd even been given parents to help out! Whatever bastard parents I have dumped me right after I was born. They only pinned my name to a blanket and left me on the doorstep. The fuck kind of named is Peter D. Dragon anyways?! Were they trying to be funny?! It's even worse when said in the proper order! Fucking Dragon D. Peter. It took all of five seconds before I was being called 'dragon penis'. Fucking kids.'

He continued to grumble and complain to himself until he fell asleep. He might bitch and moan to himself, but that didn't stop him from working hard and struggling every day. He wanted to make something of himself but he had nothing going for him in the world. Even if Garp was a dick about it, he trained Luffy to be strong, made sure he was fed and cared for, and even made sure he had friends his age. Peter had been doing chores since he could walk, working since his age hit double digits, and living off of scraps. The most help he'd gotten was as a child unable to fend for himself in any way.

Soon enough, the sound of light snoring filled the room. Time passed by while the moon rose in the night sky. Eventually, midnight came around and a silent change ripped through the room. Where there had been nothing a moment before, a small vial had appeared on the end table within Peter's room. The vial contained a strange liquid that was mostly green but had swirls of silver swimming around inside of it all on their own. The whole thing glowed with a soft green light. Strapped to the top of it was a small piece of paper. It sat there, glowing silently while Peter slept, unaware he had officially turned seventeen moments ago.

-----Line Break-----

Peter groaned as he woke with the rising of the sun. Years of being beaten if he didn't wake up on time had made it a habit at this point in his life. Alarm clocks did exist, they were just so expensive they were restricted to the rich. Like the nobles living on the other side of the island. Peter turned to sit on the side of his bed and tried to figure out what he was going to do for the day. It didn't take much thinking since his days were almost always the same, even if today was his birthday.

He let out a depressed sigh and climbed to his feet. There was no use putting it off. He needed to go beg for a job, or just plain beg. He turned toward where he kept his clean shirts but stopped. Something was wrong. Something was different. Years of having to watch his back to keep alive kicked in. He curled his hands into fists and began looking around for what had triggered his instincts. It didn't take him long to notice the vial of strange liquid right there on his nightstand.

Peter's eyes widened and his nostrils flared while his heart began to hammer in his chest and adrenaline flooded his system. Someone had gotten into his room, made it all the way to the side of his bed, and left something there without waking him up? That was horrifying! He was an extremely light sleeper by necessity. Just the smallest creak from his door opening should have woken him up!

Oh no!

He rushed over to the nightstand and ripped the drawer open. Seeing the dirty crumpled money still there had Peter relaxing slightly. Now that he was closer, he could get a better look at the vial and piece of paper and found himself staring at it weirdly. He'd never seen anything like the thick looking green liquid with the silver flowing through it. His first instinct was that it had to be some kind of poison. Though, honestly? If they could so easily sneak into his room it would have been a whole lot easier to just slit his throat than leave a vial of poison hoping he'd drink it.

He looked at the piece of paper tied to the top of the bottle and let out a sigh before grabbing it. Might as well see what it said. Imagine his surprise when he opened it up and saw that the writing wasn't in the local language, but in one he knew didn't exist in this world, English!

Congratulations on surviving 'Hard Mode' until adulthood! We were honestly quite surprised as you're the first to do so out of 7,920,432 participants! Really, well done! As a reward for your accomplishment we present to you the Essence of the Mad Doctor! Please enjoy your reward. We look forward to seeing what you accomplish now!

Sincerely, The ROB Conglomerate

Essence of the Mad Doctor

Perfect memory with infinite storage.

Beyond genius level intellect in the associated fields.

Can make potions that can do almost anything, from immortality, to regeneration or even cause someone to fall in love with a specific target.

Immunity to disease and poison mundane and magical.

Immense knowledge on occult and alchemical lore that updates itself should you find a way to travel to different worlds.

Supernaturally skilled at medicine, can cure just about anything with some research, already know how to tackle most ailments.

Master of life and biology, able to create homunculi that are superior to regular versions of their species in all areas including being ageless and perfectly loyal to you.

You may also create other creatures like sewn together Frankenstein abominations, chimera, or other mutated beasts.

Can conjure ingredients from thin air.

Peter's eyes jumped back and forth between the note and the vial of strange liquid, “Bullshit. There's no way...”

He frowned. There was a way though, wasn't there? First off, the vial appearing without waking him up. Then there was the note in English, a language he only knew because of memories from his past life. Even if someone from this world could sneak into his room and miraculously knew about English, what about the description of the Essence? He'd spent some time looking at Essences and while the Mad Doctor was pretty broken, it wasn't quite as broken as say the Essence of the Archmage, which made the one who drank it into a magic god instantly. Or, you know, any of the Essences that literally granted divinity. Compared to them, Essence of the Mad Doctor was mediocre.

Grabbign the vial and holding it up closer to his eyes, Peter studied it until he made up his mind. He could only see three possible outcomes. One, the potion was poison and he would die. Two, this was all a sick joke and nothing would happen. Three, it was real and drinking it would give him access to an unbelievable ability. Two out of the three meant he would survive while the third would mean death. Not that he would mind death all that much, really. He didn't want to die, necessarily, he just didn't have much to live for either.

With his mind made up, he popped the cork out of the vial and gave it a sniff. It smelled purple... which was extremely weird. He shrugged his shoulders, lifted the vial to his lips, and downed the entire thing like he was taking a shot of Tequila, which he really missed. The liquid was cool on his tongue and tasted like like the sound of bubbling liquid. The instant it hit his stomach, he felt different. There was no massive influx of information or mind splitting headache. Rather it was more like he was remembering something that had always been there.

For example, when he looked down at his chest and stomach, he knew he was badly malnourished, not a surprise. What was a surprise was he know knew, in detail, the damage the lack of a proper diet was doing to his body. He currently estimated that he would only live to the age of thirty, if he was lucky he'd reach his forties before succumbing. He needed something drastic to fix his health...

Just thinking that triggered another portion of his ability and he did get something like a rush of information. It was strange though, instead of a bunch of information all at once, he was presented with a list of different potions he could concoct that would cure the various issues of his body when drank. Nourishment potions, muscle re-builders, intestinal repair, and more. Even a potion that would give him all the nutrients he would need for an entire day.

Out of curiosity, he picked the nourishment potion. Suddenly he knew exactly how to make the potion as if he'd been making it his entire life. Equipment, ingredients, steps of production, exact effectiveness, and more were just there, in his mind, and ready to be used. It seemed so... simple. Like a child should be able to do it. There was a problem though. He didn't have the required equipment to make the potion, to make any potion.

He needed a cauldron, or just a big pot.

But first... He lifted his hand and suddenly he was holding a plain looking leaf. Only it wasn't any ordinary leaf, it was a leaf from a fully mature Mandrake, the kind whose scream could kill. Peter hummed in appreciation at the ability to conjure any ingredient he required for his work. He planned to abuse the hell out of this!

He chucked the raw Mandrake leaf into his mouth and began chewing on it. It tasted... well like a leaf. However, it had amazing medicinal properties and nutritional value. It wouldn't do much on its own, but it also wouldn't hurt his body in any way. He just didn't want to leave it laying around or let it go to waste.

Now that he had his new power, a whole new world of options had opened up before him! He tempered his excitement, not wanting to get ahead of himself. He needed to fix his body first. His body was his temple and it was in terrible disrepair. He needed to get started on that an to do so, he collected all of his savings and stuffed the money in his pocket. He grabbed a shirt and tossed it on before leaving his room.

Without wasting time, he made his way to the general goods store and bought a couple of things. The most important were three pots sized at one, three, and five gallons. He also grabbed appropriately sized wooden spoons, a small paring knife, and a cutting board. If one didn't know better it could be assumed he was going to cook things. Honestly? That wasn't too far off the mark as making potions had a lot in common with cooking. It was just more elaborate.

With his purchases made, Peter left the town and headed toward the uninhabited center of the island. In his youth he'd done a lot of exploring and found a spot that would be perfect for what he needed right now. Just two hours of walking led him to a small clearing near a gentle waterfall that fed into one of the smaller tributaries that made up the river that fed into the city. Behind the waterfall there was a nice cave that was tilted slightly up keeping it nice and dry.

It wasn't perfect, but it met his main needs, privacy and a place to sleep. The small river was just a bonus as it worked as a place for him to bathe. Originally, he planned to use the river as a source of water for his potions, but he realized water was an ingredient and he could conjure pure glacial water in obscene amounts whenever he wanted. Hell, he could conjure water heavily infused with mana or even mana so concentrated it became a liquid!

Peter set his pots and other objects to the side and began conjuring pieces of wood from nothing. Each piece he conjured radiated life and vitality to a high degree but he just calmly piled it all up. He was one hundred percent certain that if the Norse pantheon existed within the One Piece world, he would become their number one enemy for what he was about to do. After all, using piece of the world tree Yggdrasil for firewood? That had to be a grave insult.

Once he had the fire ready to light, he used two larger Y shaped branches and a straight branch to make an area he could hang the small one gallon cauldron from. He then conjured glass bottles of pure spring water and poured the water into the cauldron. Liquids all came in bottles and he kept those bottles to refill with potion when he was done. Sadly, they were just plain bottles with wooden corks so they weren't the best. They were, however, free and that was precisely within his price range.

Once the cauldron was filled with enough water, he conjured flint and steel. They, along with anything else he could imagine, were considered ingredients because of a simple potion most people might have heard of, a Potion of Iron Skin. One of the main ingredients for that potion? Iron! But, as the Mad Doctor, he could make alternative versions of that potion using any material he wanted, steel, Mithril, Adamantium, whatever tickled his fancy. That made all of those materials free to conjure whenever he wished!

He quickly lights a fire under the cauldron and calmly watches as the water warms up. Once it begins to steam he starts conjuring ingredients and dropping them into the water. Using one of the smaller wooden spoons, he carefully mixes the brewing potion in specific patterns to get the most out of the magical ingredients. He's also very careful to maintain the temperature of the water at just steaming and not letting it get to the point of boiling. It would be a lot easier using a gas burner that would give him more control, but his Essence given skill made it significantly easier to maintain even over an open fire.

It takes nearly an hour and over fifty ingredients, but soon his first potion is completed. What sits in the cauldron is a thick brown goo that reeks like sweaty socks. Nothing about his power said the potions of ultimate power he could make would have a pleasant scent... or taste. He knew that the potion he was about to ingest would have a horrific taste, but it was necessary if he wanted to reverse his malnutrition and get the body he would have had if he'd lived a better life.

Peter calmly filled the empty water bottles with the potion ending up with a half dozen full bottles. As tempting as it was to make himself immortal, or give himself a healing factor that would make Wolverine jealous, he couldn't until he fixed his base body first. Drinking either of those potions would, essentially, freeze him as he currently was. That might seem counter intuitive with the regeneration potion but the potion would 'think' that his current body was the right way for him to be. Sure, it would let him build muscle and become stronger, but it wouldn't fix his bones, repair his lungs, or heal any of the current damage to his body. In fact, if he drank it now then healed the damage with a potion later, the regeneration potion would revert him back to a damaged state.

As for making and drinking any kind of potion that granted him a permanent power boost? It'd most likely be more power than his body could handle and would cause him to simply explode. He was all about not exploding so he would take it step by step. His ultimate goal was to become an unkillable god, but that would take a long time. For now he was focused on the much more achievable 'healthy' status.

Peter looked at the bottle of thick brown goo that reeked of dirty socks and exhaled all the air from his lungs before lifting it to his lips and throwing his head back. His throat fought against him, as if rejecting the very possibility of swallowing the concoction. This left the potion sitting on his tongue. The taste was so foul it brought tears to his eyes. It took a supreme effort of will to force himself to swallow it and not spit it out and begin vomiting all over the place. He had literally eaten rotten and moldy food that tasted better than what he'd just swallowed.

As soon as he swallowed a few mouthfuls of the potion, he conjured a bottle of water and began to vigorously rinse his mouth out in an attempt to get rid of the flavor clinging to his tongue. He gagged and shuddered violently, but refused to vomit it up as that would just mean taking more sooner than he needed to. He was already hating the fact he would be taking another dose in the future.

Still, it was out of the way for the time being. That left him with a simple question, what now? The potion he'd just taken was already at work though it would take time to show results. While waiting for that, he could literally make anything. Though, perhaps he should look into his ability to create homunculi?

It takes all of five seconds for him to realize there's no way in hell for him to make a homunculus with his current limitations. He, basically, needed a fully furnished lab to be able to make one. The process required a tank to grow the body within a bath of specific nutrients. He also needed a blood sample of a specific race if he wanted to make something other than human. Which was actually as simple as thinking of what he wanted and getting it instantly delivered. Hell, he could use the blood of specific people to clone them!

That... was very very tempting to him. He knew all kinds of amazing people he could make copies of! Then they would be perfectly loyal to him and him alone. He could MAKE the perfect crew for sailing the seas! He didn't want to become king of the pirates or rule the world, but he did have a dream.

He wanted to wipe out the Celestial Dragons, the Five Elder Stars, and all the leadership of the Marines. He wanted to end the corruption and have the marines truly live up to the claims they paid false service to. No more bullshit like Buster Calls that killed as many innocent as guilty. No more psychopaths being given free reign to kill people in the name of 'justice' without due process. He wanted the world government to be more like the United Nations from his past life. Though with far more authority and military might, obviously.

With both himself and his homunculi immortal, they could keep things running until such a time as the people of the world could take care of things properly themselves. It wouldn't be anything remotely like a utopia, human nature made that impossible, but it would still be better than the way things were now!

With a goal to work toward, Peter dived into his mind and began trying to determine which potions he should make next.

-----Line Break-----

Peter stayed in the forest clearing for over a week. Food and water were easy to come by and food replacement potions were highly nutritious which helped with his Nourishment potions repairing the damage to his body. By the time he returned to the small coastal town he'd lived most of his life in, he was a different man entirely.

His hair was so black that it reflected purple and so healthy it would make any woman who saw it jealous. Thanks to a few things he did it was now naturally spiky with a single spike hanging down between his eyes. His eyes looked like chips of obsidian and sparkled in the light. His once stick-thin body was now healthy and rippling with muscles that most people only got by living at the gym. He's also grown a bit going from his previous five foot one inch to a nice round six feet.

The only thing even hinting at his previous stature was the ragged pair of shorts he was wearing that bit into his skin tightly. It was also the only stitch of clothing he was wearing as nothing else he owned even remotely fit. Sadly, his power didn't give him the ability to make clothing. He could make silk thread by the mile, but he had no idea how to weave it into cloth and then turn the cloth into clothing.

None of that would matter for long though as he opened the door to the towns pawn shop. One might expect the place to be gloomy and run by a greasy pig of a man, they would be wrong. The pawn shop was actually one of the better shops on the island. It had items from all four blues and even some from the Grand Line, all brought to their shore by sailors looking for a few extra Belly to spend. There was no telling what you might find in the place as the goods changed almost entirely after every few ships arrived.

The bell above the door jingled to announce Peter's presence and drew the attention of the young woman working behind the counter as well as the large man covered in muscles standing guard in a corner. They both eyed him with different looks. The man assessed him for threats in a rather professional manner while the woman gave him a once over before licking her lips. Peter was aware of how good looking he'd become over the last week and appreciated her gaze. Until he realized he probably looked like a bum and therefore an easy mark.

Still, the woman was a professional and didn't just dismiss him on sight because of his garb, or lack thereof. Instead she gave him a polite business smile and asked, “How can I help you today?”

Peter lifted his hand and dropped the small sack he'd been carrying in it on the counter with a loud 'thunk' of something heavy hitting wood. The woman, clearly curious, gestured to the pouch, “May I?”

At his nod she opened the pouch and dumped out several chunks of solid gold onto the counter. She let out a low whistle at the sight of the glittering metal, “Selling or pawning?”

“Selling.”

With a nod she got to work. Out came a scale and abacus so she could weigh it and calculate its value. As she did she informed Peter, “The shop takes twenty-five percent off the top. No negotiation.”

Peter had the instinctive urge to protest but crushed it with the knowledge that he could just produce gold whenever he wanted in whatever amount he wanted. Money literally meant nothing to him. Gold, silver, gems, and precious stones were all items he could procure as ingredients. Naturally things like gems would be uncut, thus lowering their value some, but making a thousand diamonds the size of ostrich eggs wasn't impossible for him.

He silently watched as the woman weighed the gold and used the abacus to calculate its total value. It took only a minute or so before she said, “The gold you have is worth five million Belly, minus our commission and you're looking at three million seven hundred and fifty thousand Belly.”

Losing over a million Belly sucked, but again, he could make as much as he wanted. Three point seven million was more than enough for him to buy the things he needed right then. His thoughts were interrupted when she spoke again, “If you want to take a look around the shop and pick up a few items, I'll give you a ten percent discount on them and take it right out of the gold. You can have the rest as cash after.”

Peter realized her game and chuckled to himself. Standard pawn shop practice, buy low, sell high. Even with a ten percent discount they were going to make a profit off of the sales and let even less cash flow out of their doors. Again, he had nothing against that. The shop probably had a few things he wouldn't mind owning anyway, so why the hell not?

Peter gave her a nod and started to walk through the door. His first stop, the section filled with clothing. It wasn't just common clothing either, but more high quality. No way the shop could make a profit on simple clothing. After looking for a bit, he collected a few pairs of pants in his new size, a few nice looking shirts, and even a long black leather coat. He was unlucky in the shoe department, nothing fit, so he'd have to head over to the cobbler to get a new pair made.

Aside from the clothing, he also collected some weapons. The first was a good sturdy knife with a shape that reminded him of a Bowie knife. The second item was a nice find, a forty-four caliber revolver from South Blue and several boxes of matching ammo. It was way over priced at half a million, but he could think of all kinds of nasty things he could do by making custom ammo for the weapon. He really only needed the shells since he could make his own explosive powder and bullets.

The last thing he got was a large suitcase to keep everything in. Once he had all of his selections, the woman went to work on her abacus once more and gave him a brilliant smile, “Your total come to just over two point five million Belly, I'll happily round it down to just two point five on top of your discount.”

After his agreement, she quickly retrieved what remained of his original five million in gold, one point two-five million Belly. He felt slightly ripped off, but it was still fine. He had over a million still left in cash now and could get more later. What was most important was he now had clothing that fit and enough cash to buy his way off of this shitty island! He even knew where he was going, Cross Island. An island said to have the best hospital with the best doctors in all of West Blue.

He didn't need to see a doctor, but he did need doctor's equipment for the next stage of his plan. What better place to get the equipment than on an island where no one will think twice about him buying anything?

Once he had the cash in hand he asked, “Do you have somewhere I can get changed?”

She gestured to a small alcove with a curtain. Peter quickly made his way over with a set of clothing and got changed. When he stepped out he looked like a new man. The jeans were slightly loose, but only enough to be comfortable rather than annoying. The shirt, plain black with a geometric graphic on the front, was a bit tight but that only made it cling to his muscles. Meanwhile, the black leather jacket was a perfect fit and hung from his shoulders down to his ankles. The only thing he was missing was some socks and a kick ass pair of boots.

Once he had everything packed away, minus the knife on his hip and the gun holstered on the small of his back, he left the pawn shop and made his way into a dark alley where no one would see him. He lifted his hand and a ring that had been invisible until that moment appeared. With a gesture there was a small popping sound as the suitcase of clothing vanished into a pocket dimension. What he had done to the ring was one of his favorite discoveries during the week.

-----Line Break-----

Peter looked over the massive collection of potions he'd made over the last five days. He'd really gotten into it and made all sorts of things but now he was wondering what he was going to do with all of them. He didn't have a bag or anything similar to carry them in. Even if he did, a bag would probably lead to some broken bottles. If potions mixed... well he had no idea what would happen but it probably wouldn't be very good!

He was still not done with fixing his body, but it would be done soon. This meant he couldn't just make a potion to give himself magic or anything, yet. He needed to figure out a way around that, especially if he was going to brew time sensitive potions that were only viable for a short time. Essence of the Mad Doctor didn't include a pocket dimension, sadly. So, the question was, how did he make himself a hammerspace without magic...

Enchanted items would be awesome for that but he didn't have the Essence of the Crafter so how was he supposed to make an enchanted item? It wasn't like he could just make an enchanting potion... Wait...

He focused on that thought. It wasn't long before he was grinning from ear to ear. He could brew potions that would enchant objects soaked in them. There were limitations, such as being limited to a single enchantment per item. If he used a potion to make clothing auto-cleaning, he couldn't also enchant the same clothing with temperature regulation. The second enchantment would overwrite the first. Still, it was one hell of a boost to his flexibility and utility!

He immediately conjured a rod of Mithril and then brewed a potion to enchant the rod with Telekinesis. Once the rod was enchanted it was easy to make a simple ring out of Mithril and a potion to enchant it with Telekinesis as well. The rod was then broken apart and turned into multiple rings, including one that became his storage ring.

-----Line Break-----

Peter smirked as he looked at the storage ring. He couldn't double enchant it, but he could do temporary things like dip it in a potion of invisibility to render it invisible until he used it again. It would have looked extremely off if he'd walked into the pawnshop wearing ragged shorts but sporting jewelry that looked like silver and was worth significantly more.

With his new stuff safely stored away in his hammer space with everything he'd made over the week, Peter left the alley and made his way toward the docks. He needed to find a ship so he could try and catch a ride to his destination, or at least to another island closer to where he wanted to be. While he was making his way toward the main office to see which ships were going where, he heard a voice shouting, “Hey! You! Guy in the black coat!”

Him? He stopped and turned to look in the direction of the shouting. He saw a man wearing a simple sailor's uniform running toward him. Once he got close he was hardly breathing faster than normal while sporting a wide grin, “Thanks for stopping! You wouldn't happen to be looking for any work, would you?”

Peter shook his head, “Not particularly. Just looking for a ride out of here toward Cross Island.”

The sailor looked him over skeptically, “Ya don't look sick. Yur not sick with somethin' are ya?”

Peter shook his head, “No, not sick. I'm a doctor and I just want to go there to get some better supplies and equipment.”

The sailor perked up, “A doctor you say? Even better! Ya see, my captain is lookin' fer a few extra hands on deck. I saw ya and figured ya looked like ya could handle the work. But if yur a doc, then we might be able to work something else out. And, wouldn't ya know, we're headin' the way yur wantin' ta go. Not right away mind, but it's on our route.”

Peter hummed at that. It seemed a bit too coincidental but if it was a trick, he wasn't too worried. With everything he'd done over the last week he was certain he could handle the majority of threats within the Blues. He had no idea how he'd stack up within the Grand Line but he planned to be a lot stronger before he got there. In short, if this was some shady pirate ship, he'd be able to deal with it.

“Alright. What's the name of your ship so I can find it after I finish shopping?” He looked down drawing the sailors attention to his bare feet.

The sailor chuckled and pointed to the biggest ship at the docks, a huge three masted galleon, “It's the Sea Mare, can't miss it. We be castin' off tomorrow mornin'. Be sure ta get there early if you wanna sail with us. When ya get there tell whoever ya meet that Renny invited ya.”

After that, they parted ways. Peter made his way toward the cobbler to get himself some boots. It was time to finish kitting himself out. He planned to hit a couple of the other stores to to get some stuff to up his potion making game. He fully expected to be damn near broke again when he finished. Oh well, easy come, easy go.

-----Line Break-----

Peter yawned as he lay down on the rather comfortable bed that was included in his cabin on the Sea Mare. It hadn't taken long for him to get everything he wanted in town, and he was right about being poorer for it now. Still, he had a quarter of a million Belly left and that should last him a good while. He'd sell more gold on the next island to get some more Belly in his pocket, if he felt he needed it.

He'd even gotten free passage on the Sea Mare once the captain heard he was a doctor. Though it was on the condition that he treat the crew and other passengers for free. Though he would get paid for the cost of any medicines or materials he used. It had required Peter to buy stuff he couldn't produce on his own, like gauze, tape, suture needles and thread, and so on so he could do his job. Sure he could make a potion to deal with just about anything, but he wasn't about to advertise that particular skill! The last thing he wanted was for rumors to find their way to the marines or world nobles!

So, he put together a basic kit in a classic black bag and was ready to treat just about anything common. Mostly he just expected things like abrasions, contusions, and lacerations. Maybe the occasional cold as well since the journey to Cross Island was going to take a few weeks. He was in no particular rush. Luffy hadn't even started his journey yet so the world hadn't lost its mind yet either.

Deciding he'd spent enough time just lazing about in his bed, Peter got out of it and opened his hammer space. He collected a few things, took care of his necessary morning rituals, and got ready for the day. For him, the day didn't have much to it really. Unless someone got sick or hurt, all he had was free time. Since that was the case, the obvious thing to do was to train!

Yeah, he might be able to cheat a LOT thanks to his Essence and it's bullshit, but it didn't stop him from having to actually put in some work. Now, there were potions that could make him stronger, faster, and so on, but there was a small problem with them, they didn't automatically give him control over his new abilities. He could make himself as strong as an un-nerfed Superman, but he'd end up destroying everything he touched due to his lacking control. No, it was better to work and earn the strength.

That didn't mean he couldn't cheat to make the work easier or give him more gains!

To that end, he pulled out a blood red potion and downed it with a grimace. Next was a forest green potion that almost made him gag, it was so foul tasting. They were both worth it though! The first potion was a muscle repair potion while the second was a stamina regeneration potion. Together they allowed him to work out for hours straight with no downsides! He'd be just as fresh after a thousand push ups as he would be rolling out of bed.

Truly, potions were awesome.

The last thing he retrieved was a ring. The ring was enchanted to allow him to control the amount of resistance his body had to move against to do anything. He'd contemplated making one for gravity, but he didn't need that yet. Resistance training would be extremely effective since he was basically a normal person. He took a breath and activated the ring...

“Nothing's happening.”

He frowned before realizing he needed to actually try moving. Annoyed with himself, he dropped to the ground and began doing some push ups. He immediately noticed the effect of the ring, it was too strong as he could barely move himself, so he lowered it to where he still had to strain but it wasn't nearly impossible to move.

He worked out for the first half of the day, push ups, sit ups, and especially squats. He fully intended to teach himself and then master the Rokushiki. Not because he had to or for any major reason, but because he wanted to! He was in the One Piece world dammit! Even if he could give himself the ability to fly it wasn't nearly as cool as using Geppo!

Besides which, he wasn't really able to make the potions and droughts that would allow him to modify his body heavily. It was entirely possible for him to make himself into a pure bred Saiyan, or give himself the genetics of Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama to become the ultimate Naruto-style ninja. He could give himself Kryptonian genetics and make himself genetically the son of Superman. The possibilities were literally limitless because their blood counted as an ingredient and could be summoned!

He just lacked the necessary lab equipment to make the complex concoctions that would let him do so. On top of which... well it might sound stupid but he didn't really want to give up his humanity. The human body in the One Piece world had nigh unlimited potential. Sure he wouldn't mind tweaking it a bit to make it more efficient and better, but he didn't see any reason to completely replace it.

He would definitely tack on a few things first chance he got though! He might not want to be a pure saiyan, but he wouldn't mind the Zenkai Boost or the ability to have transformations to boost his strength. He wouldn't mind having Sharingan eyes and Chakra to do ninja magic with. He wouldn't mind being able to absorb sunlight like a Kryptonian to replenish his strength. He just didn't want to stop being fully human.

None of that really mattered right at that moment though. He still needed better brewing equipment.

During the afternoon he took the potions again and only stopped working out when he had to treat a couple of small injuries and one case of sea sickness for another passenger. A simple potion he'd made for himself, just in case, was given to the individual to cure the condition permanently. He had no idea if he'd get seasick or not so he'd made the potion ahead of time just in case. As for the injuries, they were minor, nothing even requiring stitches, just some disinfecting and a quick wrap. Still, it proved his claims of being a doctor more than his ability to use big complicated doctor terminology had. You know, like calling a small cut a 'minor laceration'.

The rest of the journey to the next island on the trading ships route was spent in much the same manner. The weather in the blues was stable and the crew was well trained minimizing the risks of injury. No one got sick, either. This left Peter with nearly a week of not much to do but work out.

-----Line Break-----

“Hey, Doc! We'll be docking in a few minutes.”

“Thanks Mik!” called Peter in reply.

That was his nickname while on the ship, 'Doc', hardly original. Though he expected 'Doc' or 'Doctor' would be on his wanted poster in the future, just like Trafalgar D. Water Law ended up as the 'Surgeon of Death'. Peter was a fully capable surgeon himself, but he could do so much more on top of that. He was basically Law, Chopper, and Dr. Kureha (Chopper's teacher), all rolled into one and cranked up to Eleven.

He'd never admit it aloud, but part of him wanted to call himself Dr. Doom for the shits and giggles.

Soon enough the ship was docked and the passengers were disembarking, including Peter himself. He wanted to do a little shopping, sell a little gold, and see what this brand new town had to offer. He hadn't bothered to learn its name as it didn't matter to him, only Cross Island mattered.

It didn't take him long to sell off a lump of gold at the local pawn shop and find himself a few million Belly in the black once more. Sadly, nothing in the store caught his eye so he actually left it with that money in hand. Something that clearly annoyed the man running it.

His first stop was a weapon shop. While he had a knife of decent quality, it was nothing compared to even the lowest grade of Meito. He planned to hunt down at least a Wazamono grade knife, which would put it below Zoro's Yubashiri and on par with Tashigi's Shigure. Even so, it would be significantly better than the common blade he currently had.

As it turned out, the shop did indeed have not one, but three Wazamono grade blades. Unfortunately, they were all swords. Peter had zero skill in the use of a sword so they were useless to him. He didn't have the time or inclination to learn how to use a sword, that was the work of a lifetime. He was much more comfortable with knives, they were closer to the tool he had the most knowledge of how to use, a scalpel.

When it came to fighting for him, it was either going to be with his fists or with a knife. Thanks to his medical knowledge, he knew just where to punch or stab to deal the most devastating damage. Precision and skill would be how he fought. He doubted he would even be able to cut a mountain in half, but he was hoping to be able to punch it into rubble, eventually. As it stood, he only knew street fighting, brawling really, but he would make it work.

Aside from a knew blade, he kept his eyes open for any equipment he could use or anything else that was worthwhile to him. Sadly, the town didn't have very much to offer him. The place was mostly just a trade port where goods shifted hands between merchant routes. If he had his own ship and wanted to make money that way, he'd be in a small bit of heaven. Frankly, the island was all about bulk purchases. He could do that, but there was no reason to. Soon, he returned to the ship richer and with a few small items added to his storage ring. The rest of the journey toward Cross Island went similarly.

-----Line Break-----

Peter hummed as he worked on a potion in his cabin. Over the last five islands he'd been able to put together a small kit that would let him make slightly better potions than he'd been able to in the jungle. Granted it was mostly repurposed stuff not intended to work as chemistry gear, but it worked. Mostly.

It was also really easy to get permission to do some brewing. There was no way he was going to light a fire in his room on a wooden ship without permission. All he'd had to say was he was working on new medicines and the captain gave the go ahead.

While a small glass container hung close to, but not over, the flames getting the mix inside warm, he worked at a mortar and pestle to grind a bone into bone dust. The potion he was working on was by far the most complicated one he could only just barely make with his current setup, a Power Stripping potion. Though it acted more like a gas grenade.

Once finished and placed in a bottle, the potion could be thrown at someone or something with a supernatural power. One the bottle broke open the potion would react with the air and explode into a large cloud that hung around for a few seconds. Anyone or anything with a supernatural power caught within the cloud was boned. At full power the potion would permanently strip the power away. The one he was making wouldn't be pure enough for that but it would be strong enough to temporarily strip the power.

Naturally, he was making this to counter the powers of Devil Fruits. They were the main supernatural power in the world and having the ability to just shut them off at will would give him a huge advantage in dealing with them in combat. Just the surprise of losing their power could give him the edge he would need to win a fight. More importantly, it worked against Logia based powers. While rare, they were the one power he had no possible way of countering with just the skills and abilities he currently possessed.

Once he had the proper equipment it was entirely possible for him to permanently strip people of their Devil Fruit powers. It was even possible for him to make a potion that would allow him to extract their power! If he was being honest, there was one power among the Devil Fruits that he coveted. Not because it was the most powerful, or the most broken, but because it was the most convenient for himself. The Mera Mera no Mi, which should be in the hands of Ace, Luffy's brother.

He also had a plan to get Ace to willingly allow him to extract it, cure Whitebeard and rewind the old mans age a few decades. Two feats he could easily accomplish! He was certain Ace would willingly make that trade any day of the week. He just didn't have a single method or idea of how to get in touch with them and waiting for the war at Marineford was a terrible idea. He had no idea how far away that was and wouldn't have a rough idea until Luffy's first bounty poster went out. Even then he might not see it since it would be issued in East Blue. He might not know until after the events at Arabasta.

Hmmmm there was an idea. He knew Ace would show up at Arabasta before Luffy, if he could get there he could meet the man first. If he could convince Ace that he could cure Whitebeard he could completely circumvent the entire war. Or push it back. Either way would be good since he could easily return Whitebeard to the prime of his life where he would be strong enough to curbstomp the entirety of Marineford solo.

Well, it would all come down to what he managed to do and when. There was no telling if he'd reach Arabasta in time or not, or if Ace would actually put off his pursuit of Blackbeard to save Whitebeard. Ace was a total hothead and a bit of an idiot. Well, whatever the case may be, Peter was sure he could get his hands on the Mera Mera no Mi if he really put his mind to it.

He shook his head and pushed his thoughts to the side to toss the ground up bone into the gently steaming mix near the small fire. The potion instantly changed from a swirling gray to a pitch black. He removed it from the heat and began pouring the mix into four empty bottles. The color of the brew got him some odd looks, but he didn't pay any attention to that as he put the potions away.

His timing was almost perfect as just a few minutes later the man up in the crows nest called out, “Land ho! Cross Island on the horizon!”

Peter moved to the railing around the deck and looked toward the horizon. Soon enough he saw a black smudge, slowly it grew until he could recognize it as an island. A grin split his face as he pictured all of the things he would be able to do once they arrived and he went on a shopping spree. Thanks to oh so many pawn shops on the way, he was rolling in money and ready to blow it all. By the time he left Cross Island he would be more than ready to head into the Grand Line.

He couldn't wait.

-----Line Break-----

AN

9k words, I didn't feel like I needed to push it and this seemed like the perfect place to stop.

Now, as for why I wrote this? I dunno. I ran across a story where the MC was give both Essence of the Crafter and Essence of the Mad Doctor. I do love my crafting stories but using both seemed sooooo broken. Like instant god broken. But I've never really focused on just the alchemy/potions portion of crafting so Mad Doctor intrigued me. I thought about what it would be like in DxD but then it hit me, how fucking awesome would it be in One Piece? With the homonuculus ability he could just make the perfect crew, empower them, and sail the sea doing as he pleased.

Just imagine the BS he could come up with aside from stuff mentioned in the chapter. He could make a treatment to give himself the X-Gene and become a mutant. He could pull bullshit like giving himself the genetic ability of the Pokemon Mew and technically be capable of using ANY moves from Pokemon. Maybe grab some blood from one of the Gods in Anime and make himself a demi-god.

Or... ya know, stupid shit like: Oh noes, it's Enel and his OP lightning. I'mma drink this potion made with the blood of Zeus to make myself immune to electricity! Haha! Loser!

Though I am limiting it by the most obvious way possible, a lack of proper chemistry gear to brew truly complex potions. I will continue to do so for a while, just to make it slightly more earned when he goes full god mode on the One Piece world.

Maybe after that I can throw him into DxD just to curbstomp everything?

Anyway, let me know what you thought. And yes, I will see about getting some work done on Fabricator. But I also want to work on my original story. I've already written a few more pages for it and I would like to write some more to finish off chapter two.

Until next time.