The constant boom of artillery fire from the coast of Drum Island echoed up the mountainside, a sound that carried clearly to the clinic atop Drum Castle. In the cozy room, a blue-nosed reindeer and a doctor with a penchant for anachronisms both heard the terrifying noise. Chopper's ears twitched. He knew, with a sinking feeling, that Luffy and the others must have arrived. A pirate crew fighting on the shore of his home? It could only mean trouble.
"Something must have gone wrong down there," Doctor Kureha said, pushing her glasses up her nose as she listened. "There's no benefit for the people of this country in fighting pirates."
Without a moment's hesitation, Chopper transformed into his Walk Point beast form. The small reindeer was surprisingly strong, easily pulling the sled on which Kureha and her medical supplies sat. There had to be wounded people on the shore, and as a doctor, Chopper couldn't just stand by. He had to help.
"Why would a giant be there?" Kureha squinted into the distance. A colossal, muscular figure stood in the shallows, a pale, almost naked giant with pointed ears. In its massive, white-glowing hand, it held a much smaller human form. The silhouette was oddly familiar to her.
"He looks just like the giants in my books!" Chopper exclaimed, his eyes wide with curiosity. This was his first time seeing a member of the giant race in person. The sheer size of the creature captivated him, much like his fascination with robots. He had an urge to run up and touch its colossal body.
But then, the reindeer's keen sense of smell picked up a horrifying scent: the thick, coppery smell of blood, carried on the frigid wind. When they finally reached the shore, the sight that greeted them was a scene from a nightmare. Chopper felt his stomach churn.
He had seen death before, of course. As a doctor's apprentice, a cadaver was a necessary tool for learning. He had seen patients with gruesome wounds, but nothing compared to this. The beach was a smoking ruin.
Artillery craters pocked the sand, and countless bodies lay scattered around them. People screamed, their pleas for help mingling with the moans of the dying. Shrapnel had shredded their flesh, some lucky enough to have only lost a limb, while others were not so fortunate.
One man lay with a shard of metal lodged in his eye, another with his throat torn open. The truly unfortunate had their heads or torsos ripped apart. It was a scene of utter carnage, a true hell on earth.
A young man in a straw hat was trying to help, but his efforts were... unhelpful. He was holding up a severed arm, trying to find its owner. "Mister, is this your hand? Doesn't look right. How about this one?"
He tried to press a detached limb onto a man's stump, using too much force. The injured man screamed in agony. "Stop! Just stop, please! Go help someone else!" The poor soul's arms were both gone, his internal organs ruptured. If Luffy continued his "treatment," the man would surely die.
"You, with the straw hat! Don't touch the wounded! That's a doctor's job!" Chopper cried out, his voice sharp with urgency.
Luffy's head snapped up. His eyes widened at the sight of a small reindeer with a blue nose and a pink hat, standing on all fours. "Whoa! The reindeer can talk! That's amazing!" He ignored the suffering man on the ground and bounded toward Chopper. "What a magical creature! I wanna ride you!"
Chopper transformed again, shifting into his powerful Heavy Point. He was now a two-meter-tall reindeer-human hybrid. He caught Luffy's head in one large hand, keeping the overly eager pirate at a safe distance. "Don't cause trouble! I have to treat the wounded!"
Luffy's excitement only grew. "You can transform, too?! Be my nakama!" He was completely forgotten about Chopper he had just saw in the Sky Screen. He just saw a cool, transforming creature and decided it would be fun to have on his crew. The future of their voyage was going to be interesting.
"Doctor Kureha! Chopper!" Two citizens were carrying a man in a tattered green coat. It was Dalton, the former guard captain, who had sacrificed his body to protect the citizens. He had taken two direct shrapnel hits to the back, but he was still conscious and able to speak. A truly tough man.
"Mr. Dalton, you're seriously injured! We have a stretcher in the sled. Let's get him on it!"
While he quickly bandaged a soldier's arm to stop the bleeding, Chopper directed the uninjured citizens to help with the rescue efforts. There were simply too many wounded for him to handle alone.
Kureha pushed up her sunglasses and looked out at the battle in the sea. The pale, muscular giant was still in the water, locked in combat with Wapol. The corpulent king had fashioned a metal weapon, hooking it onto the giant and nearly pulling himself into the sea. "My Ship! Damn giant! I'll enslave you for the rest of your life!"
Eren, in his Attack Titan form, had managed to grab Wapol. He could have easily crushed him, but Wapol's Baku Baku no Mi (Munch Munch Fruit) was a truly disgusting and effective ability. The king opened his mouth and bit off the giant's thumb, swallowing it whole. Then, like a disgusting cockroach, Wapol began to scuttle all over the Titan's body, biting off pieces of its flesh.
"You can't hit me from behind!" Wapol taunted, opening his mouth wide and biting a chunk of flesh from the giant's lower back, exposing the pale bone of its spine. He had eaten so much of the Titan's meat, but he felt nothing in his stomach. The giant's body wasn't a true, solid entity.
The wounds didn't bleed. Instead, hot steam billowed from the gashes Wapol created. In less than a minute, the chunks of flesh he had bitten off were completely healed.
Then, an immense amount of steam burst from the giant's body. The temperature rose to a horrifying degree. Even with his armor, Wapol couldn't stand the heat. "It's so hot! What's with this steam?!" he cried, his hands and feet feeling like they were melting.
The unbearable temperature forced him to abandon the giant. He landed directly on the heads of his two subordinates, Chess and Marimo, who had just surfaced from the water to breathe.
"Catch me!" Wapol screamed.
"NOOO!" Chess and Marimo cried in unison.
Fortunately, Wapol's hippo mount emerged from the water and nudged the two men aside, catching the falling king. Had it not been for the hippo, Wapol would have crushed his men or drowned them.
As the two subordinates climbed onto the hippo's back, the Attack Titan lumbered towards them. They had lost their ship and now had nowhere to run.
"Please don't kill us! Drum Kingdom is yours now!" Wapol pleaded, his bravado gone. "You're so talented! Being a pirate is a waste! Be my personal guard captain!"
Eren, in his transformed state, was not interested in Wapol's empty offers. He would never serve a coward like him. The giant's massive palm descended, and with a swift motion, he swatted the trio and their hippo, sending them flying in a parabolic arc toward the center of Drum Island.
Support me at [email protected]/goldengaruda and check out more chapter of this or more early access chapter of my other fanfic translation.