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Several days later:
The World Government-affiliated nation of Drum Kingdom.
This winter island, where it is always winter, is the most famous 'medical nation' on the Grand Line.
Yet, ironically, by this day, only two doctors remained in this once-renowned medical nation.
"Ahhhhhh!"
Outside Kester Town, in a treehouse nestled among the branches, a blue-nosed reindeer wearing a pink Marine hat was frantically running in circles, his panicked cries echoing through the air.
"Hey, Chopper. Glug glug You idiot tanuki, what's all the racket about?"
In the room, an elderly woman dressed in an avant-garde style and wearing sunglasses was drinking plum wine from a bottle.
"I'm not a tanuki! I'm a reindeer!" Chopper retorted, his eyes wide with indignation, before immediately realizing his mistake.
"Dr. Kureha, all the Rumble Balls I just finished improving are gone! They're all gone!" He said anxiously.
"Ah, those little trinkets." Dr. Kureha, however, remained unconcerned. "Maybe the rats ate them?"
"How could that be? I clean the house every day! There's no way rats could get in—it must have been a thief! I know! It must be Wapol! He found out I wanted to avenge Dr. Hiluluk and sent someone to steal them!" Chopper huffed angrily.
As he spoke, he seemed to remember Dr. Hiluluk, the quack doctor who had died because of him two years ago, and he couldn't help but burst into tears.
"What are you crying for? You're such a weakling!" Dr. Kureha shook her head. "How many times do I have to tell you? Hiluluk made his own choice, his death wasn't your fault."
"As for Wapol..."
Even the usually carefree Dr. Kureha's voice turned somber at this point.
Wapol, the tyrant who ruled this country.
It was precisely because he had issued the decree banning doctors that this once-prosperous nation had fallen to its current state.
"Forget it, forget it," Dr. Kureha sighed, setting down her wine bottle as she watched Chopper still sobbing. "I'll help you look too. Then we can go give that asshole Wapol a piece of our minds."
She coaxed the child like this.
But in her heart, she knew all too well that this kingdom had no hope of resisting Wapol.
After all, though Wapol was a tyrant, he was also a legitimate king under the law of a World Government-affiliated nation, protected by the government's authority.
Unless outsiders were willing to take responsibility, the cost for the citizens of this nation to overthrow him would be far too great.
"Okay!"
But Chopper clearly didn't know what Doctor Kureha was thinking. At that moment, he was just happy that she was willing to search with him.
And so, the master and apprentice began searching the house together.
But just as they were rummaging through the rooms...
"Hong long!"
A sudden, massive tremor nearly made them both fall over.
"It seems to be coming from the direction of the Main Peak," Chopper said, clutching his Marine Hat and twitching his ears.
He exchanged a glance with Doctor Kureha, then hurried out of the treehouse.
Then...
"Eeeeh?! Eeeeeh?!"
Chopper's eyes suddenly widened and his tongue shot out like a spring. Doctor Kureha also took off her sunglasses, disbelief flashing in her eyes.
Before them stood a colossal snow-covered mountain—Drum Mountain, the heart of the Drum Kingdom.
At its summit stood a massive black castle, that was Wapol's castle.
But now, Chopper and Doctor Kureha could see that the castle was collapsing!
The castle was collapsing!
To be precise, the entire structure had been cleaved apart as if by some gigantic blade. The Castle had been sliced into countless pieces, which were now plummeting to the ground as massive fragments.
"Hong long!"
Even from such a great distance, the heavy, thunderous sound and the trembling of the earth made it clear to one human and one reindeer that... the scene before them was real!
'The castle... it's actually..." Chopper was stunned into silence.
But Dr. Kureha reacted swiftly. "Chopper... hitch up the sled! We need to investigate!"
Chopper nodded, instantly transforming into a sturdy reindeer and darting behind the treehouse.
Not long after, he came running back in a panic, pulling a sledge.
"Let's go, Doctor!"
"Idiot! We're doctors... what's the difference between a doctor going out without a medical kit and a warrior going to battle without a weapon?" Dr. Kureha scolded while shaking her head.
But just as she turned around to go back inside and fetch the medical kit, her body suddenly froze.
"What's wrong, Dr. Kureha… eh?!"
Chopper also turned his head in confusion, then stiffened as well.
For at that moment, they both saw it...
Someone had been standing at the entrance to their treehouse the whole time, without them noticing,.
He wore a Rat-Face Mask, dressed entirely in black, and leaned against the door, pulling on his gloves.
"Good day, you two." A calm voice came from beneath the mask.
"Y-you-you-you... who are you?!" Chopper, unable to speak properly, instinctively hid behind Doctor Kureha.
"You're hiding the wrong way." Zishu pointed at Chopper. "Your body is completely exposed."
Chopper: "Eh?!"
Seeing this, Doctor Kureha could only let out a helpless sigh. She pulled out a bottle of liquor, bit the cork off with her teeth and took two swigs.
"Welcome, traveler. You don't look like a patient. What brings you here?"
"Indeed," Zishu nodded slightly. "I've come to buy something from Dr. Chopper."
"D-Dr. Chopper?!" Chopper's fur bristled at the sound of the title. This was the first time anyone had ever called him "Doctor."
"D-don't think calling me that will make me happy, you asshole!"
Although he said that, the way he was grinning from ear to ear meant the words had absolutely no credibility.
"Buying something?" Dr. Kureha, standing beside him, wasn't in the mood for jokes. She took another sip of her wine, subtly shielding Chopper behind her. "We're doctors, not merchants. We have nothing to sell you."
"No, you do." Zishu shook his head at her words. He extended his hand, revealing several yellow medicinal pellets in his palm.
"Blue Rumble Balls!" Chopper's fur bristled instantly. "So it was you! Waaah!"
He clearly wanted to say more, but Dr. Kureha clamped a hand over his mouth.
The old woman's gaze fixed on Zishu. "You want them?"
"More precisely, the formula," Zishu nodded. "A drug that can control the wavelength of Devil Fruit form changes. It's a genius invention and would be very useful to our organisation."
He spoke grandly, but his admiration was genuine.
The Rumble Ball was indeed a stroke of genius—not only could it alter Zoan Devil Fruit transformations, but later developments showed it could even allow the Mink Tribe to enter their Moonlight Lion Form during the day.
"To have earned your praise... that's truly an honor for my foolish son."
Hearing this, Chopper beside her began excitedly performing his signature "Stop Praising Me, You Asshole" seaweed dance. Dr. Kureha, however, nodded solemnly. "So, what do you intend to offer in exchange for it?"
She exhaled a puff of alcohol-laced breath and gently shifted Chopper, whom she had been holding, to her side.
"Beli? Treasure? Or... our lives?"
From this position, she could toss Chopper away at any moment.
Upon hearing this, Zishu chuckled. "Don't be so tense, Dr. Kureha. Though my reputation may be tarnished lately, we're not bad people."
Without waiting for her reply, he extended his hand under her wary gaze.
"Besides, I think you'll prefer this to Beli or Treasure."
As he spoke, he took out an object.
It was a human head.
It had dark purple hair, an oversized mouth and a face frozen in wide-eyed disbelief, as if it could not comprehend its own death.
It was immediately clear that both Dr. Kureha, whose pupils constricted in shock, and Chopper, who whimpered in recognition, knew him well.
It was the tyrant of the Drum Kingdom... Wapol!
"So you were the one who destroyed the castle..." Doctor Kureha murmured.
Zishu didn't deny it.
"I know you have a grudge against him, and I'm aware of the situation in this kingdom."
He held up the one-fifth of Wapol in his hand beforre speaking. "This is my trade, the freedom of this country."
He spoke softly, stating the terms of the deal that was destined to be made:
"I will take this head and ensure the world knows Wapol died by my hand. The World Government won't trouble you for this. You're free to choose a new king."
"..."
Doctor Kureha fell silent.
She picked up her wine bottle again, tilted her head back, and took a long, gulping swig.
"I'll accept this deal on Chopper's behalf."
She made her decision decisively.
"A wise choice." A hint of amusement seemed to creep into Zishu's voice.
"Then I'll return in half an hour to collect the formula."
As the words fell...
"Buzz!"
He stepped forward. A phantom door appeared out of thin air and he vanished without a trace.
"Woooo!"
Witnessing this, Chopper's eyes widened even further, despite his mouth being covered.
"Stop overreacting. Of course he's a Devil Fruit User—aren't you one too?" Dr. Kureha sighed and released Chopper.
"Ha ha! Dr. Kureha, do you know him? He actually killed Wapol and stole my Rumble Ball formula!" Chopper blurted out a barrage of questions.
Then...
"Thats way too many questions!" Dr. Kureha punched him on the head.
As Chopper clutched his throbbing bump, wailing, "Ow, that hurts!" the doctor calmly put her sunglasses back on.
"Don't ask so much," she said. "The less you know about dangerous people like that, the better."
'Yes...' That distinctive mask, that overwhelming power, and that suffocating presence...
It was enough for her to guess that he was a member of that organization that had recently risen to prominence on the seas, the third member of that group!
"If anyone finds out, the world will tremble again, won't it?" Dr. Kureha murmured softly, raising her wine bottle once more.
"Never mind," She muttered, shaking her head.
She turned to gaze at Drum Mountain in the distance.
'The world trembling? What does that have to do with me?'
What mattered was that this Kingdom was finally free of shadows.
"'Freedom,' huh?" she chuckled. "Sounds like a word that could keep you young forever."
(End of Chapter)