"That Wicked Wapol!!!" A roar, long suppressed, thundered across the wind-scoured peaks of Drum Island.
The people of Drum had endured Wapol's endless decrees, laws made and broken on a whim, his cruelty, his corruption. Life in this frozen land was already harsh, yet they still clung to one last belief: as long as a King stood above them, they still had a country. A King meant a nation, and a nation meant they weren't just homeless wanderers lost in the snow.
But a man who fled at the first sight of pirates, abandoning both his people and his country, could no longer be called a King.
"From this day forth… he is no longer our King!! This land has no right to call itself the Drum Kingdom anymore! Without a King, without the doctors we once took pride in, how can this place still claim the name Drum?"
On their way down the mountain, the people's anger boiled over. Some wept bitterly as they shouted, their grief mixing with rage. Dalton's face was stone, but deep inside, his fury seethed like molten fire. If Wapol ever dared return, Dalton would gladly tear him apart with his bare hands.
The people of, no, the people of this nameless land, disappeared into the snowstorm.
From a sheer cliff wall, a round aperture opened in silence. A young girl, Ross, peered out, watching their retreating silhouettes.
She cared nothing for Wapol's fate. What echoed in her mind instead… were the villagers' whispers: "Chopper N. Giorno" and "Jolyne Kujo."
The opening sealed shut.
Inside the hollowed mountain shaft, Ross clung to the vertical cylinder. Her hands and feet pressed against the curved inner walls, surfaces slick and ungraspable, yet wherever she touched, the stone yielded, sinking inward to form four neat hollows for her to grip and step upon.
Whiz, those four hollows slid downward in perfect alignment. Ross descended as if riding an elevator, her voice echoing through the cylindrical shaft:
"Those terrifying pirates…" Her words dripped with hatred. "That girl has vanished too…"
Snow crunched beneath Liam and Robin's boots as they trekked through the white-shrouded forest. Robin glanced back once, her eyes lingering on the towering Drum Peak where the palace loomed through the storm.
When Liam had first carried her down from the summit with Geppo, they had looked back briefly. In the blizzard before the palace gates, only Dalton still stood. Dr. Kureha and the girl named Ross were gone, vanished without a trace.
"She seemed to despise pirates," Robin murmured at Liam's side.
"Wouldn't you?" Liam replied flatly.
"That's true." Robin chuckled softly. "So… are we really pirates?"
"I, Liam…" He tapped his temple, frowning. "Branded with that so-called 'pirate' label, but… the rest slips my mind."
His past life's memories were already fading, hazy with each passing day. Without B.I.B. here, would he have dismissed it all as nothing more than a dream?
He gave a crooked smile.
Robin smiled back, then raised her eyes thoughtfully. Mimicking Liam's tone, she began:
"I, Liam… branded a pirate by others. When I fight, I don't hold back; there are still some lying in hospitals because of me. I've humbled arrogant Marines who thought themselves untouchable, and after that, they never dared cross me again. If a restaurant's food isn't worth the price, I'll walk out without paying. But even someone like me can recognize true vileness… abandoning those you're meant to protect. That's what Wapol did, isn't it?"
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Liam burst into laughter, his wide grin splitting his face. He snapped his fingers with a crisp crack and exclaimed, "NICE!"
"Robin-nee, you're amazing! You remembered the line I forgot!" He threw a massive arm around her shoulders, roaring with amusement.
Robin tilted her head with a small smile. "You flew off with Geppo in front of Dalton, making it look like you were chasing Wapol. You're betting that once word spreads we've left, Wapol will come crawling back, aren't you?"
Liam jabbed a finger at her, grinning slyly. "Exactly, little sister Robin. Wapol's trash. Strip him of a crown, and he's nothing. He'll slink back here sooner or later, scrambling for power…"
"And when he does," Robin replied, her smile faint but sharp, "you'll be the one to punish him. Isn't that right?"
Liam pressed his arm more firmly around her. "I don't think the 'hero' role suits me…"
"What's wrong with being a hero?" Robin teased, brushing her hand against his rough stubble.
"Acting like a hero? That's fine. That comes naturally sometimes." He caught her hand and rubbed it against his chin, smirking. "But being seen as a hero? That's trouble. Big trouble.
Heroes… they're expected to always do good.
Me? I want the freedom to do bad, too. If I feel like doing good, I'll do it. If I feel like doing bad, I'll do that instead. The only thing I'll follow… is what I want~~."
Robin pinched his nose lightly, chuckling. "If you're really a pirate, you must be the strangest pirate alive."
"I'm not just waiting for Wapol to crawl back…" Liam said as the two of them moved deeper into the snow-clad woods. "I'm lingering here because there's someone else. A fun little guy. It'd be a shame not to snatch him up and play around, don't you think?"
"Hm?" Robin tilted her head. She was about to ask what he meant when she spotted it. Near a tree, a familiar shadow rippled across the snow.
Snow swirled through the air as the black battle armor turned toward them, its narrow eyes glowing faint white. Robin raised a hand in greeting, quickly noticing B.I.B. floating silently under a snow-dusted tree.
And there, nestled in the withered grass at the forest's edge, a small reindeer lay curled up as if in peaceful sleep.
The little deer that once ate the Human-Human Fruit… Robin thought as she followed Liam forward.
They made no effort to hide their approach. Every step crunched through the snow, creak, creak.
But when only a dozen meters remained, the reindeer's eyes snapped open. Sharp, wary, they flickered with fear as it leapt to its hooves.
"Chyu?"
The little reindeer froze at the sight of the two figures closing in. Memories of humans, their sneers, their cruelty, flashed through its mind like knives.
Panic surged through its body. With a shiver of terror, it bolted, hooves tearing furiously at the snow.
But B.I.B. stretched out a hand and caught the reindeer effortlessly.
"Chyu! Chyu!!" The little creature flailed wildly, hooves lashing the air in panic. Terror and bewilderment coursed through its mind. Why am I flying?!
Two enormous shadows loomed over it, blotting out the snow-filled sky.
"So fluffy… and so cute," the man murmured in admiration.
The woman's tone was gentler, but piercing. "You've eaten quite a number of creatures with… unusual traits, haven't you?"
"Chyu?!" The reindeer's pupils shrank, fur bristling in sheer alarm. It thrashed harder, yet the invisible grip on the scruff of its neck lifted it off the ground like a kitten. Kicking, squirming, there was nowhere to run.
The man's hand reached toward it.
The reindeer squeezed its eyes shut, trembling uncontrollably. The drawn-out waiting was worse than pain itself. Unable to endure another heartbeat, it cried out:
"Wūwaaah!! Don't eat me!!! …Eh?"
With a thud, it crashed into the snow, stunned, hooves sinking into the frost. It froze there, clutching its own muzzle with trembling hands, eyes wide in disbelieving horror.
"I… I can talk again?"
The reindeer was gone.
In its place sat a hulking creature, massive, fur-covered, like a snow monster pulled from stories whispered at cabin hearths. And at the center of its brutish figure, one startling detail stood out: a bright blue nose.
The blue-nosed beast blinked down at its hands. Not hooves. Fingers. Human hands.
"How does it feel?" The man's voice carried to him again. Startled, the creature glanced up to find Liam watching with a faint smile.
"Without the Human-Human Fruit… how does it feel?"
"Human… Human Fruit?" the snow monster repeated haltingly. Rising to his full height, he loomed taller than Robin, nearly matching Liam's size. His face, though rough and unrefined, bore an odd innocence, confusion etched upon it like that of a lost child. "What… what is that?"
Liam tilted his head, smile sharp at the edges. "Still not getting it? Then let's try again…"
His left arm rose, sheathed in B.I.B.'s black gauntlet, glowing faintly with blue flame-like markings as it reached toward the creature's chest.
"No!" the blue-nosed monster yelped, flailing his hands instinctively. Sweat beaded across his brow as panic surged. "Wait, stop! Ah! I remember! It was you! You did something to me, and then I… I, "
His expression twisted between fear and realization. "The Human-Human Fruit… I remember now. I ate something long ago… and ever since then, I've been like this. That fruit… it was called the Human-Human Fruit…"
Robin's voice came calm, almost academic. "According to the encyclopedia, an ordinary Human-Human Fruit grants its user human intelligence. That must be why you're able to speak as we do."
The blue-nosed creature hesitated, then asked timidly, "Who… who are you? You're not afraid of me? You don't… hate me?"
Robin chuckled softly. "Why? Are you supposed to be frightening?"
On Kujai Island, on Rusukaina, she and Liam had seen beasts and monsters aplenty, many of them fearsome, many of them hunted, some even devoured. Compared to those legends of flesh and fang, this timid blue-nosed creature, even if he truly looked like a snow monster, was hardly terrifying.
(To Be Continued…)
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