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Upon hearing Robin's words, the old man winced visibly in pain.
He pounded his head twice and let out a weary sigh. "I was just an ordinary citizen. I didn't know exactly what the royal family did back then. As citizens, we fulfilled our obligations and paid the Heavenly Tribute on time. But the royal treasury was always being raided by pirates. The king couldn't bear to tax the people again, so he borrowed from the Grand Chamber of Commerce in the name of the crown. It went on like that, over and over. The king could no longer sustain it and had to force the citizens to pay the tribute more harshly. Then, the pirates would raid the royal treasury again and again.
"How could such things always happen?" "There were no pirates raiding the treasury at all! The king was lying; he wanted to keep the tribute for himself!" "The king tricked us. The tribute was safe. He stole it and made us pay again." "The king colluded with the Chamber of Commerce to squeeze our wealth..."
Voices and memories from two or three years ago in this nation seemed to float back before the old man's eyes.
"In the end, everything collapsed. The citizens could no longer pay the Heavenly Tribute, and the King couldn't repay the money he borrowed from the Chamber of Commerce," the old man murmured. "The Igor Kingdom was expelled from the World Government as an allied kingdom member. Without marine protection, pirates raided the nation with impunity. Everyone either died or fled. But I'm old; I don't want to leave this land. I only hope that, before I die, the pirates won't…"
"About pirates," Liam interrupted, stuffing a huge roasted beast leg into his mouth. Chewing and working it with his jaw, he continued, "A pirate ship just landed over there by the shore."
He pointed in a direction.
"What?!" The old man snapped to attention and followed Liam's finger, incredulous. "That direction is several kilometers from the coast! How could you possibly see that?"
Robin interjected calmly, "He said he saw it. Then he saw it. You'd better trust him."
"Pig, it's time to go!" The old man cast a long, serious glance at Liam and Robin. He tugged at the giant eagle, which was struggling with Little Green. Then, he swung onto its back and shouted. The eagle flapped its wings and soared into the sky, heading toward the shore Liam had indicated.
Chewing on the meat bone, Rosé carefully peeked at the pirate called Giorno. Suddenly, the female pirate beside him looked over, resting her chin on her hand. She asked, "You said your hometown and people are sick. What kind of sickness?"
Rosé lowered her head, slowly chewing the crisp bone. "A rotting disease..."
"Rotting disease?" Liam scratched his head, puzzled. "Is that even a real illness?"
Rosé remained silent.
"..." Robin glanced at the downcast girl, then suddenly asked, "Did you decide to go to Drum Kingdom after encountering a doctor exiled from the kingdom abroad?"
Rosé felt as if she had been struck by lightning. Her eyes went pale as she stared at Robin. "Why...how...how could you know?"
You know that if you go to Drum Kingdom now, there's no way to study medicine. There are no doctors to teach you," Robin said slowly. "You weren't going to study medicine. Even though you knew the two of us were bounty-hunting pirates worth millions, you deliberately approached us. Back on our ship, you saw the pirate ship approaching alone but didn't hide. From the beginning, you didn't believe that medical skills could save your hometown. You just wanted to cling to the idea of 'trying to save my sick hometown' until you died."
"No! That's not true!" Rosé bit her lip. "It's not like that..."
"I've been curious from the start," Liam said suddenly.
Rosé looked up and saw him chewing on a thick beast bone, as if casually asking, "Kureha, the legendary doctor who lived over a hundred years, was famous across the Drum Kingdom. You spent a year and a half there; you couldn't possibly not know her."
Rosé swallowed hard, her breathing rapid. Giorno asked with a teasing smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, "She's swayed in front of you so many times... Why do you just ignore her? I've asked Kureha, and you never once tried to learn medicine from her."
Robin gazed at the sky and said, "Running tirelessly to save her country, only to die isolated and without help overseas . . . It's tragic, yes, but isn't that exactly what makes a good princess?"
"My country lost hope. I could only watch everyone, watch my father rot in pain..." The girl's voice trembled, and her reddened eyes glistened with tears. "How could you possibly understand this feeling of losing everything?"
"..." Robin pulled a complex smile across her face but remained silent.
"Enough talk. Let's get the supplies," Liam said, patting his butt as he stood up. "If we don't, that old man's probably going to keel over..."
......
"Wow, old man, the pet you brought...is it an eagle or a pig?!"
"Ha ha ha…"
The Iron Boots Pirate crew erupted into laughter. The old man had been knocked aside in front of them. His giant eagle had transformed into a wild boar and charged the pirates again and again. But after taking repeated gunfire, the eagle became battered and bloody.
The eagle lifted its head and let out a boar-like screech. The Iron Boots pirate captain lifted his iron boot, laughing, and kicked the pig-headed eagle squarely.
Blood splattered. The eagle with a pig's head fell to the ground.
"Never thought in this godforsaken place, there'd be such entertaining beasts."
The captain laughed loudly. But out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a man who looked familiar standing in a nearby tree.
"It's him..." The old man lying on the ground struggled to rise.
"Captain, that's..." The pirates under him also noticed. "Chopper...Giorno!!!"
"How is the JOJO Pirate crew here?!"
The Iron Boots Pirate Captain's eyes were bloodshot and his scalp was tingling, but he gritted his teeth and shouted fiercely. "What's there to fear? We're pirates too! If worst comes to worst, we fight!"
"Captain!"
Just as his crew rallied to fight with tears in their eyes and courage in their hearts, the man they had seen out of the corner of their eye vanished.
From behind the Iron Boots pirates, in the direction of their ship, Giorno's voice rang out: "Corpses don't talk. It just looks weird."
Liam walked calmly onto the Iron Boots' pirate ship. Behind him, the pirates erupted in sprays of blood, pop, pop, pop, as they fell one by one.
Rosé hurriedly followed, using her Flower-Flower Fruit powers, and arrived to witness the scene.
Dozens of pirates lay collapsed in a mist of blood. Giorno and Jolyne had casually Earth Walked from the pirates' ship. Rosé only then realized that when Giorno had previously mentioned "supplies," he had meant the materials aboard this pirate ship.
......
In the center of a large magic circle sat a boy with a cold face, wearing a black ceremonial hat and suspenders.
On his right shoulder perched a white dove.
Around the dove's neck was a small black tie that matched the boy's attire.
Dozens of people in cloaks stood around the circle.
They clasped their hands together, bowed their heads, and whispered prayers: "Oh pigeon demon, have mercy... Give us some money..."
..." The cold-faced boy and the dove on his shoulder exchanged a look of complete exasperation.
(End of chapter.)