“You said my brother wasn’t dead, right?” Shuri asked as she tried to confirm Dio’s word.
“I didn’t say that, but T’challa might be still alive! Although the chance is slim, we shouldn’t give up hope that easily.” Dio said solemnly.
But it was clear in Steve’s eyes that it was a bad idea to blindly give false hope to the family as they would only experience another despair as they saw T’challa’s body later.
“Steve, I know what you are thinking, and I hope that you would know better! After all, you’ve already experienced such a miracle. Steve nodded in response as he couldn’t say anything, to begin with. That way, Shuri and the rest of the Wakandan on Dio’s ship hoped that T’challa really survived the fall!
They finally reached the bottom of the cliff, and Dio slowly navigated through the water current.
Dio knew that the water current wasn’t promising, seeing that it was covered with jagged rock, and the water itself had so many whirlpools.
A normal person would never survive such a fall, but Dio knew that with T’challa’s training as the Black Panther, he would be able to survive the fall, at least barely!
Dio also used the Dark Battleship’s searching device to help track T’challa’s fall. As they traced the river bank and the surrounding water, Shuri was excited that they couldn’t found T’challa’s body, meaning that T’challa’s probability of surviving was higher!
Steve, who also searched for T’challa’s trace old-school style, finally reported that he found some footprints dragging something like a cart in the nearby riverbank.
“It has to be someone that saw T’challa! The person might also save him from his death!” Ramonda said hopefully.
Dio nodded and quickly followed the river bank to see where it would lead.
Apparently, it wouldn’t take long as they immediately found a small village near the foot of the mountain. It was the Jabari Tribe!
Ramonda immediately recognized someone being carried by a cart in the middle of the village, and it was T’challa!
“It’s T’challa! It’s T’challa, my child!” she shouted joyfully.
The fisherman of the Jabari Tribe immediately took a fighting stance, but as soon as they saw Ramonda and Shuri, they lowered their guard.
“I saved him. I have to bring him back to Tribe Chief!” the fisherman that brought T’challa with his cart said solemnly.
“Thank you, warrior of Jabari Tribe! Thank you for saving my son!” Ramonda said as she bowed down to the fisherman.
The fisherman smiled happily as he suggested that Ramonda and the others followed him to the chief’s house.
…………………….
“How is he?”
“His situation is bad! He must be treated immediately. We have to take him to my laboratory. I will treat him there!” Shuri said urgently.
“Your laboratory? And how would you plan to go there? He wouldn’t survive the trouble of the journey with such a risk!” Dio said as he surveyed T’challa’s body with life magnetism overdrive.
Ramonda immediately cried again as she saw her son in a helpless state.
“We have to find another way! How about the Heart-Shaped Grass?” Dio said as he tried to lead the plot to where it should be.
“Heart-Shaped Grass? What does it have to do with our current situation?” Shuri asked curiously.
“Doesn’t black panther have a healing factor? He might survive that way!” Dio said confidently.
Shuri’s eyes immediately brightened with hope but dimmed not too long after.
“Heart-Shaped Grass was cultivated at the back of the Hill in the Palace. We clearly can’t go there!” Shuri said with a sad expression.
Dio was startled as he heard Shuri’s word. The story was all messed up!
Dio tried to think of the reason where it was started and finally realised that Shuri and Ramonda originally wanted to ask M’baku, the Jabari Tribe chief, to fight against Eric, using the Heart-Shaped Grass as a bargaining chip!
That means, now that Shuri never thought about the Jabari tribe, she never considered making M’baku the next Black Panther!
This was the fundamental change to the original plot! So, knowing that T’challa would never get back the Heart-Shaped Grass the original plot intended, Dio had no other way besides healing T’challa back to shape himself!
“Bring him inside the Dark Battleship; I will heal him myself!” Dio said as he sighed exasperatedly.
This is why Steve and the rest of the Avenger didn’t seem concerned with T’challa’s condition as they knew that T’challa would never die as long as Dio was still here looking after him. But the Wakandan still looked troubled as they were confused with Dio’s request.
“Relax, that guy would definitely heal him back to shape! He could save someone from death’s door as long they are still breathing!” Steve said solemnly with a smile on his face to Ramonda.
Shuri and Ramonda didn’t have any other option but to trust Steve’s word, so they returned to the Dark Battleship with T’challa’s weak body. Inside the battleship, Dio immediately took out the small snail, placed it on top of T’challa’s body, and delightful golden light brimming with life immediately merged into T’challa’s body!
But at the same time, Dio knew that it wasn’t enough! T’challa’s condition was so grave that vital energy alone wouldn’t save him.
But at the same time, Dio discovered small purple energy residing inside T’challa’s body that devoured the life energy that Dio transferred!
Dio immediately realised that he was looking straight at the origin of Black Panther’s power!
