In front of everyone, a figure emerged from the back of the gigantic Titan's neck. Without its driver, the twenty-meter-tall, pointed-eared behemoth stumbled and fell to the snowy ground, leaving several red lines under Eren's eyes. He watched the massive form with a sense of morbid fascination.
"So cool! Eren's transformation is so cool!" Luffy exclaimed, jumping onto the fallen giant's body.
As Luffy stood on its back, the Titan's flesh began to emit a large amount of steam. Its massive form was slowly disappearing at a speed visible to the naked eye. The muscles and skin melted away, revealing a skeletal structure that then dissolved completely into the snow, leaving only a faint, giant-sized outline on the ground.
"This Devil Fruit ability is truly bizarre," Dalton sighed, propped up on a stretcher. His own Ushi Ushi no Mi, Model: Bison felt pitifully mundane by comparison. It gave him strength, but it was nothing like the world-shattering power he had just witnessed.
Doctor Kureha, who had lived for over a hundred years and seen more than her fair share of strange sights, still found herself staring. The ability to transform into a giant was new to her. Still, she quickly recovered her composure. In the grand scheme of this strange world, with its impossible islands and unbelievable powers, a Titan-shifting Devil Fruit was just another Tuesday.
After the brief spectacle, everyone brought the wounded into the Drum Castle. What was once the home of King Wapol had been slightly renovated by Tony Tony Chopper and Kureha. The abandoned rooms were converted into wards, and the castle's old weaponry had been sealed away and repurposed as a giant bird's nest.
Once the patients were settled, Luffy immediately began complaining about being hungry. With Sanji, the crew's personal chef, out of commission, the Captain—who normally ate five meals a day—was forced to eat only three, and even then, he was often still hungry.
Nami's cooking skills were second only to Sanji's, and she was known to charge the crew for every meal she prepared. But even she had fallen ill, leaving the entire crew to survive on rations and whatever scraps were left.
After they had devoured the last of the leftovers, they had asked the captain of the Arabasta royal guard, Igaram, to cook. His food was… passable. However, the palettes of the Going Merry's crew had been spoiled by Sanji's masterful cooking.
Luffy, unable to stand the hunger any longer, took off into the depths of the castle, ignoring the shouts of his crewmates. He was on a mission to find a kitchen. His internal monologue had a singular focus: food. He even lamented that his hunger had reduced his fighting ability, causing him to take longer to rescue the people on the coast.
"Let him go. He's been starving these past few days," Usopp said with a weary smile. He remembered how Luffy, who had been sharing the men's quarters with him, would wake up in the middle of the night, driven mad by hunger. The refrigerator was locked, so Luffy would keep him awake for hours, talking about food. The more he talked, the hungrier they both got.
"But the castle is so big, will he even know where the kitchen is?" Vivi asked, concerned.
"Don't underestimate our captain's nose," Usopp chuckled. "It's more sensitive than a dog's when it comes to finding food."
Usopp gently placed Nami, who he had been carrying, onto a hospital bed. The navigator was delirious with fever, muttering "money, money, money" over and over. Even at death's door, her priorities were crystal clear. Sanji, whose physical constitution was far stronger, was also out cold. He was muttering about "beautiful women" and puckering his lips as if to kiss. His body was covered in dried blood from repeated nosebleeds.
Doctor Kureha gave both Nami and Sanji a dose of an antidote. With the unique brew prepared by the old witch herself, the delirious episodes quickly subsided. Their breathing became steady, and they fell into a peaceful sleep.
"Let them rest. When they wake up tomorrow, I'll give them another injection of the antidote. After three to five days of observation, they can be discharged," Kureha said.
Under Usopp's grateful gaze, Kureha left the ward to tend to the other critically ill patients. Most of the first group of patients needed amputations, and many of those with severe internal organ damage were in critical condition. Wapol was truly a cruel king to his own people.
Eren didn't get a chance to rest. Doctor Kureha had requested his assistance, and he couldn't refuse. She needed him to transform into his Giant form to bring the next batch of patients up the mountain, and she would need help from the two doctors he brought up with him.
Meanwhile, after finding the castle kitchen, Luffy had a feast, stuffing his face with rice balls. He eventually remembered his friend and, in a rare moment of selflessness, gathered food for them. He then proceeded to get completely lost in the castle, wasting a considerable amount of time before he returned to the group.
By the time he arrived, Zoro was the only one not in the ward. Tony Tony Chopper, in his Hybrid form, was using a stethoscope to check Nami's heartbeat. He confirmed she likely had myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle. She had arrived just in time; any later and the navigator's life would have been in danger.
While everyone was focused on Nami and Sanji, Luffy, with his typically scattered mind, turned his attention to Eren. "Eren, you're sick, right? Let this little tanuki take a look, you can't die!"
"I'm a reindeer, not a tanuki!" Chopper protested.
Everyone ignored him, including Luffy, who took off the small doctor's hat and antlers. Chopper's appearance in his Hybrid form was indeed a spitting image of a tanuki, so it was no wonder Luffy had made the mistake.
Doctor Kureha, holding a bottle of wine, cast a curious eye toward Eren. He had used his Devil Fruit power multiple times that day, but he didn't seem to be tired or even sweating. She didn't believe for a second that this "little monster" could get sick.
"Ah!" Princess Vivi covered her eyes as Eren, following Luffy's bizarre request, took off his shirt, revealing his lean, muscular body.
But Eren's skin was different from a normal person's. He had pale white patches below his neck that were distributed all over his body. This wasn't albinism; it was something far more specific.
"How could the Amber Lead Syndrome reappear?!" Igaram gasped in alarm. "Princess, please hide behind me! Be careful not to be infected by him!" As a captain of the Arabasta royal guard of the Arabasta Kingdom, he had heard the rumors about the decimated "White Town," and while he wasn't sure if the disease was contagious, he wasn't about to risk the princess's life.
"What's the Amber Lead Syndrome? Is it a terminal illness?" Luffy asked, picking a piece of vegetable from between his teeth. He had just given the food he brought to his friends, but they had no appetite, so all the food had ended up in the rubber man's stomach.
His simple, yet brilliant, mind immediately deduced the truth. If the disease was contagious, Eren would have infected them all a long time ago. They had been on the same ship for weeks and had eaten together every day. It wouldn't have waited until today to manifest.
Usopp, who had heard about the disease from the newspaper, was trembling with fear. But with Nami and Sanji still incapacitated, he couldn't just run away. He simply clutched the railing and tried to breathe.
"If this disease were contagious, you would have all been infected long ago," Kureha said as she walked up to Eren. She touched the white patches on his skin. They were calcium deposits, a telltale sign of the affliction. "This 'Amber Lead Syndrome' is a form of heavy metal poisoning. You've all been deceived by the newspaper."
The old witch sighed. "I never thought there were still survivors from that White Town." Kureha knew the truth about the Flevance Kingdom, and it was a dark, horrific story she never wanted to recall.