How to Pick Up Girls in a Hot Springs

A Wounded Dragon
In his three years of pirating, Tabart had come to learn one rule: nothing was ever normal. Whenever that word—normal—passed through his mind, he needed to completely disregard it. It was a word that he had long since forgotten due to the various things he had seen. There were people who could bring others back to life, talking fox people, people capable of turning into blue demons, and even men who could grab the air itself with their bare hands. His most recent case of normal was finally getting accustomed to the fact that his head bodyguard, Peterson Mort, was a centipede with sociopathic tendencies. But even for Tabart, this was everything but normal.

Following his brief trip to Impel Down after freeing Helen from the World Government's clutches, in exchange for a few minor favors, he had returned to Mary Geoise temporarily to make a request from the CP-0. He tasked them with retrieving the Shichibukai, Bimore O. Jack. The World Government had acquired data of massive fleets of pirates mobilizing towards the Calm Belt, and they suspected that Impel Down was the next target of another attack. From their data, it was the Dragon Pirates who were among them; they were last seen leaving the territories of Wano, therefore it was expected that they had some connection to the Yonko, Daddy L. Legs. There was a big battle about to break out, and Tabart had to prepare himself appropriately. It was another big test for him, and one of the biggest to date. Unlike his activities on Spicy Pot Island, if he failed here, the World Government wouldn't be able to cover for him.

Surely, he had gotten stronger, but there was a blatant weakness that Tabart had to get resolved. The Cipher Pol tipped him off, and supplied him a. Tabart trusted it since it came from the Cipher Pol; they were the best intelligence agency in the entire world who had agents stationed in every aspect of society. They were also very helpful in ensuring Tabart's dominance in the Underworld. But, even he scoffed at the idea of a turtle pose. Now, he didn't.

He was welcomed with open arms as he docked on the island turtle, a massive beast the size of several islands whose shell had been decorated with various vegetation and lush forest. He was graciously escorted to a beautiful town, and then to a beautiful spa, and resort. The resort itself was massive and was host to various restaurants, shopping centers, and what appeared to be a small carnival. But, Tabart wasn't here for any of that. He was here for the spa, one that he told could help him in getting back what he needed for the upcoming battle.

He was brought into the spa, and escorted to a lobby where he was told that he would be meeting with the head of the spa herself. They told him to consider it an honor: "she doesn't just meet with everyone" they told him. That only made him more nervous.

The spa was truly lovely, various flowers growing along the walls and the outside columns of white marble! It was a sight to see and frankly, not many ever saw it. Granny had employed former slaves as her employee's though it was not to taunt them or to degrade them. Granny would heal their scars, even the ones from long ago that were branded into them would be erased from their bodies as if they were never put there.

When news came to her that one of the world nobles wanted to come to this island, she was hesitant and it wasn't like granny could do anything to stop a world noble. After consideration and thoughtfulness she decided to just let it happen and see what he may need, perhaps she would get something she needed out of this. Nonetheless, people were uneasy around those that are associated with nobility and slavery! They hated them with deep passion and who was granny to blame them? It was disgusting, especially slavery.

Granny was a small woman, only standing at about 5'4 with curly white hair and pale skin. Her outfit was simple as it was just white robes with golden lining on them as if she was some sort of priestess. Her eye color was enchantingly golden, as if they'd been kissed by the goddess of the sun herself and with that, she walked to the front of the spa to see the world noble and Warlord; Tabart. "Hello there, Lovely to see you.. How may I help you today?"

"Oh, I'm well!" Tabart replied casually, turning around to face the woman. During his brief wait, he had been observing the decorative fauna.

The woman was exactly what he expected. A small, seemingly delicate, older woman who appeared to believe in some deities of sorts. Therefore, he was far more comfortable than he once was.

"I'm Benjamin Tabart, though I suspect that you've already received information that I was coming...But anyway, I heard the rumors about your spa. You know, that they can heal anything."

"You've heard correctly, I'm sure you aren't unfamiliar with the concept of a devil fruit? The powers of devils produced in the forms of bitter tasting fruits." The concept itself was entirely crazy, to think that a piece of fruit could hold such immense power and even then you were gambling on the ability with all having the same cost, the ocean rejecting you.

"Long ago, I ate the Chiyu Chiyu no Mi and became a Healing Human. This power gave me the incredible ability to heal people in various ways but it had a limit, a few of them actually and after a while, I awakened the fruit. The second time in the fruit's history, owning it for 64 years and It's given me the power to do more than you could imagine though back to the topic.. You're here for what exactly?"

She was curious, though she had her own ideas of what he might be here for whether it be getting himself healed or maybe someone he knew. Either way, it was going to be a long and complicated process.

Tabart nodded, before lifting his arm up into the air. He rolled up his sleeve, revealing a bandaged arm.

"This right here," he begun, taking his other hand. He knocked on his arm, in which an audible thud echoed, as if knocking on a hollow tree. "Is why I'm here. This is a wooden prosthetic forged from my devil fruit powers. It isn't attached to my nerves or anything, so I have to use my devil fruit to control it. Everytime I want to grab something, I have to manipulate the wood in a specific way. It's been quite beneficial in honing my powers, but now, it's holding me back."

He dropped his arm. "I lost my arm a long time ago to an enemy of my past, and I want it back. That's why I'm here."

The elderly woman walked over to the counter, grabbing a teapot and pouring a golden liquid into a small porcelain cup. Her eyes locked with his as she took a drink of the liquid, smiling warmly as she did so. Her personality was hard to decipher as she mostly smiled but it was as if her words carried sharp edges that could cut a person. Nonetheless, after a few seconds of silent drinking of the elixir, she put it down and looked up at him. "Why should I heal you?" It was a simple but important question, what made him different from the others who asked to be healed?

"People from around the world have come here, asking for various things such as healing an incurable disease or giving them the ability to walk again. Some people have pure hearts and can truly impress me while others have sins that will forever cling to their cold bodies.. So, its a simple question.. Why should I heal you?"

Tabart grimaced. "What's that supposed to mean, exactly?"

"It means what I said, everyone has a reason they want to be healed and the reasons differ depending on the person. How does me using my healing abilities on you benefit me?" Granny's spa was a unique one indeed, though the healing spa was in a secluded building as for people not to abuse or try and steal water from there. Most people needed special access to use them or for it to be an emergency. Trust was something granny had not grown used to yet, after being alone for so long she realized that it could be broken or severed even after years of growing it.

"I don't think it does," Tabart responded. "I didn't even think about how it benefits you. I still am not. I don't know what you want in exchange: money, fame, power? You look like you have all of that already, because here I am, one of the strongest beings in the world, asking you, an old woman, for help."

He chuckled. "You would've thought my pride would have prevented that eh? But, when a man has something to protect, he discards all of that pointless shit. So, I'm sorry. I didn't bring you any gift if that's what you're looking for. I wasn't thinking about anything except my family. They need me to be strong, otherwise I won't be able to protect them."

"A gift isn't needed, though I don't have fame, or money, or power." Granny walked to behind the counter, pulling out a tub of golden glowing liquid. Her eyes moved to tabart, as if she was pondering on something and thinking about what would happen if she did help him. With a long sigh, granny took a small syringe with a long thin needle and sucked up the liquid into the air tight tool. "You're a very bright young man, you will do something to change the balance of this world." As she said this, granny quickly stabbed the syringe into his cut off nub. "Enjoy."

"Ow! What the fuck?!" Tabart jumped. "W-What did you just stab me with?!"

"You're trying to grow an entirely new arm, my tears would take too long to make the entire cellular system, new bones, red blood cells and then the nerves.. Though if i inject my tears straight into your immune system they act as magical antibodies that will find any wounds in your body and repair them, including injuries like a missing arm and instead they will form together to turn into the needed cells such as red blood cells or bone tissue." Granny was known as a great doctor even before her fruit, studying medicine in her hometown and wanting to be a doctor but this was the next best thing!

"A-Ain't you supposed to tell me that before you stab me with it?" Tabart replied. "Like, ain't that the purpose of informed consent! What's the side effects of this? Am I going to possibly die?! Oh god, I didn't plan this all the way. I didn't even think something like that could even work. What am I going to tell Frida!?"

Tabart paced around the room.

"Wait, it's going to grow back?! Is it gonna get smashed against this!?" he cried, lifting his wooden arm into the air. In that moment, he pulled it off, leaving his nub.

"This is terrifying you know!"

"My fruit works in different ways depending on the method I employ, this particular one will make your arm grow rapidly as if it's being born again and when it catches up with your body's natural healing process then it will stop and it will be as if your arm was never removed from your body." Granny put the syringe and jar back into the counter, humming a tune as she did so. "There are no side affects from my fruit and when if I told people before I stab them then nobody would want to be stabbed with it, though I only use this method in the regrowth of limbs or damaged nerves, I'm not surprised that you didn't believe in this either as most people think even in a world of devil fruits that a magic lady who can heal anything with her tears sounds crazy." Granny hummed, placing a plate of cookies on the table in front of him along with some cold milk.

Tabart continued pacing until the cookies and milk came into sight, and then everything about his arm, the syringe disappeared. In fact, he didn't even remember what she said in the first place. The only thing that he thought at the moment was...."Oh shit, cookies!" Tabart jumped, grabbing a cookie from the plate and casually dipping it into the milk.

He took a bite, smiling gently. "Mmm! That's good.....um, what should I call you?"

"Most people just call me Granny." She chuckled, taking a sip of her tea. "You'll need to stay here for a few days while you heal or else you could cause more damage to that arm of yours.. I have a room you can stay in, it used to belong to my granddaughter but she no longer lives here, only visits!"

"Gotcha," Tabart replied. "I figured that'd be the case. But, I really feel bad about taking this all for free....Can I at least offer you some money or something?"

"I get money from a lot of people who donate, nobody gets anything here for free my dear, you'll owe me in the future but till now, all you can do is rest." Granny shuffled over, kissing his forehead as she threw a pair of PJ's at him. "Get changed and come back out here, then we can go to your room." The clothes she threw at him were silk lined with soft alpaca fur and on the top left front had the name 'Tabart' sewn into it.

"Wait, shouldn't...Um..." Tabart looked around. "Shouldn't I get changed in the room? Like, shouldn't you escort me to the room and then have me change; we're sort of just standing in the middle of the lobby ya know."

Tabart looked at the pajamas. "Also, how does this have my name on it already?"