Both Liam and Robin snapped their attention toward her.
"Everyone back home is ill," she continued, trembling. "I thought if I could learn medicine strong enough… I could save them. That's why I couldn't just run away. But… no matter how much I study, how hard I try… It's useless. I can't save anyone…"
Her shoulders shook violently. She hugged her knees, one hand covering her eyes. Tears slipped through trembling fingers, staining her clothes darker than the snow.
Dalton's body lurched as though struck. His fists clenched, his massive frame trembling. His ox-like eyes burned with tears. His voice cracked under the weight of shame. "Please… forgive this kingdom. We failed you. I… I'm so sorry."
Kureha reached for her flask, only to find it empty. She rested it on her knee silently, gaze lowered.
Meanwhile, Liam rubbed his chin, expression sharpening with dangerous curiosity.
"Tell me, Ross… you wouldn't happen to be, oh, some kind of princess from another country… would you?"
The words cut like lightning through the small cabin. Robin's eyes narrowed in sudden suspicion, while Kureha and Dalton both froze, stunned.
Princess? Impossible. Ridiculous. And yet, "I, " Ross's tearful eyes went wide. She gulped hard, darting her gaze frantically from face to face. "Wh-what are you even talking about? Me, a princess? H-hehe… that's ridiculous, r-right…?"
But her voice wavered. Too much. Too fake. Her shaking hands betrayed her.
Dalton and Kureha stared wordlessly, the same thought clawing at both of them.
She's been found out.
Before the silence could stretch, the cable car jolted sharply, bumping against its stop.
"Oh?" Liam rose smoothly, a grin tugging at his lips. "Looks like we've arrived."
Dalton's heart skipped. His eyes followed Giorno and his captain as they stepped out onto the snowbound platform, boots crunching against the ice. The storm whipped violently around them, but looming above, grim and vast, stood the fortress of Drum Castle.
For now, Dalton had no time to worry about whether Ros, or was it Princess Lôs, would face up to her truth. He immediately stepped after the pirates, determination in his stride.
Lôs let out a shaky breath of relief, until her gaze collided with Kureha's half-mocking smile, all too knowing.
"Care to come along and see?" Kureha's tone dripped with sly amusement, her cloak whipping in the cold as she stepped outside. "Moments like these, when a pirate of this caliber takes action, don't come around often."
"Pir… pirate?!" Lôs's eyes widened in stunned disbelief. She stumbled after them, rushing out into the storm.
Across the Kingdom
In villages scattered across Drum, word spread like wildfire. Citizens gathered in town squares, unease etched into every weary face.
"As much of a scoundrel as Wapol is… he's still our king!"
"Can we really stand by while pirates slaughter him?"
Trembling hands clutched newspapers and bounty posters, the ink wet with frost. Jolyne's sharp eyes glared up from one sheet, her bounty blazing across the page, 330,000,000 Berries. Beside it, Giorno's piercing gaze carried an even heavier weight, 400,000,000.
For the simple folk of this snowbound nation, such astronomical sums were blinding, terrifying. Pirates of this magnitude, walking freely through their homeland? The very thought sent knees buckling, teeth chattering.
"No!" a grizzled hunter barked, eyes fierce. "We are citizens of Drum! If our king is threatened, then so are we. How can we do nothing?"
And so, pride and desperation flared into courage. Hundreds, then thousands, rose up at once. Rifles, hunting spears, rusted blades, all gripped tightly in frozen hands. In waves, they surged toward the cable cars, carried by conviction and fury alike.
"Now is the time to unite!"
"If the king sees us fight beside him, maybe he'll repent, maybe he'll lift the cursed doctor ban!"
"We cannot allow pirates to trample our land!"
Their cries echoed through the storm as the cable cars ferried them skyward, toward the looming shadow of Drum Castle.
At the summit, they spilled from the gondolas into the stone square before the fortress gates, the air thick with smoke and snow. Weapons were raised. Voices roared:
"Down with the pirates!"
"Kujo Jolyne! Chopperna Giorno! Stop this at once!"
But the thunderous shouts faltered.
Silence swept through the frenzy.
Because before the gates of the royal castle, there was only one man.
Dalton stood alone, his massive frame rigid against the storm. His back was to them, his horns stark against the white sky. His gaze was fixed on the flag of Drum Kingdom whipping violently above the battlements.
"Dalton… what happened?"
"Are you alright? Did you drive them away?"
The villagers circled, only to pale in horror as they finally saw his face.
Dalton's rugged face was awash with tears. The freezing wind had congealed them into jagged icicles clinging to his lashes, his cheeks, his beard. His massive frame shook, broken sobs spilling from his chest.
"Dalton! What's wrong? Why are you crying? Where are the pirates?!"
Panic spread as the villagers stormed the castle, shouting, searching, calling out, yet everywhere was silence.
The king… the ministers… the soldiers… And the two pirates.
All gone.
"Where did they go?"
"There's no one here!"
"What in the world happened?!"
"Dalton, speak! Tell us!"
The old hunter, village chief and elder, clutched his head, his face twisted. "Could it be… the pirates abducted them all? Dalton, is that it, ?"
At last, Dalton's frozen eyes brimmed with fresh, scalding tears. His voice cracked, laden with grief:
"Our king… abandoned us. He threw away this kingdom without a moment's hesitation!!"------ Not long before, Liam and Robin had stood before the looming castle, half-buried in snow and wind.
"Oi~~ anyone home?" Liam's voice rang as he strode forward. "Your king Wapol, he here? I've got business with him!"
His words echoed through the blizzard. No reply.
"This can't be…" Dalton, battered and bloodied, stared at the unresponsive fortress. "The soldiers, the guards… they should've been ready! They had plenty of warning!"
The captain of the guard burst through the gates, his frantic cries resounding through the halls:
"King Wapol! Where are you?!"
"Your Majesty! The nation needs you, come out!"
Through the corridors thundered Dalton's black bull, hooves clattering. He halted at a faint, ragged breath. There on the stone floor lay a soldier in a pool of blood.
"Sotjel! What happened? Where is the king? Where are the ministers?!" Dalton lifted the man, tears streaking his broad face. "The pirates are already at the gates! Where is everyone?!"
"Wapol… the king… they…" The soldier's trembling hand clutched Dalton's collar with his last strength. "They all… fled…"
"Wh-what…?!" Dalton's bloodshot eyes shook with unbearable shock. "Then who… who did this to you?"
The soldier's lips curled in a bitter smile. "Idiot… how could I stand against pirates like those? You think the king would die for me? For us? He cursed us, 'You're my soldiers, aren't you? Then die for me instead!', and ran with the ministers and doctors…"
The memory of Wapol's shrill curses echoed in his mind. With one final tear, the soldier's hand went limp.
Dalton's roar tore through the storm: "Wapol, you bastard!!"
Before the silent castle, even Kureha, who had guessed at much, looked stricken. Her sigh carried into the shadows.
Robin glanced at Liam, only to find him laughing, not in surprise, but in mocking amusement.
From within the fortress, a chorus of grief and fury rose, shaking snow loose from the ramparts.
------
Now, atop the mountain, in the square before the castle, the citizens wept.
"What kind of king… what kind of king abandons his own country out of fear of pirates?!"
With a thunderous crash, Dalton fell to his knees, his enormous frame crumpling.
The old hunter placed a hand on his shoulder, sighing. "…And the pirates?"
"They're gone…" Dalton's face was hard as ice as he gazed at the sky. "They took to the air. Perhaps to hunt down Wapol and the cowards who fled with him."
------
Far away, in the snowy wilderness, a towering tree gleamed with light from within.
This was Doctor Kureha's home, a house carved into a massive hollow trunk.
The centenarian beauty sat alone, drinking in silence, when a noise stirred outside. She opened the door, and three silhouettes stood against the whirling snow.
Liam raised a hand in greeting, grinning: "Yo, granny. Cold out here, huh? Won't you invite us in?"
(End Of This Chapter)