Whether it was a coincidence, mutual influence, or the elusive thing called "fate."
The powers of Devil Fruit users are often closely related to their personalities.
Dalton, the captain of the Drum Kingdom's guard, was just like that.
The Ox-Ox Fruit, Bison Form, a Zoan-type Devil Fruit – this power gave Dalton great strength, but he still kept his special qualities.
Friendly, honest, and straightforward.
Right now, he was wearing his most formal armor, standing on the dock, alone, ready to greet the important guests from the desert country.
He felt this was a bit rude, but he couldn't help it.
After all, Wapol, the current king of the Drum Kingdom, didn't really care about this meeting.
After getting a message from Alabasta, Wapol just picked his nose and waved his hand again and again.
"Okay, okay, I get it!"
"A sudden visit is so annoying, I don't want to deal with them!"
He looked at his three ministers.
They were the kingdom's advisor: Chess, the kingdom's officer: Kuromarimo, and the guard captain: Dalton.
"Who of you will go and greet them? Chess?"
The archer, dressed like a second-rate circus performer, shook his head again and again, "Have you forgotten, Your Majesty? Kuromarimo and I promised to go with you to feed the woolly hippos!"
"Oh, right..."
Wapol scratched his head, stuck out his big metal belly, and turned to Dalton with a smile: "Then I'm asking you to go, Dalton!"
Dalton was surprised.
"If I may be honest, Your Majesty, I assume you saw the news from a few days ago. This is, after all, a special emperor, and a princess from another country."
He quickly stopped him and said, "Is it rude to not greet them personally, just to feed your pets?"
"What's rude about it? It's not like I asked him to come!"
Wapol frowned and said loudly, "Even if I'm rude, so what? We're both member countries of the World Government, are they going to start a war?"
Dalton was speechless and could only force himself to say, "Then Your Majesty, how many guards should I bring?"
"You need to bring guards?"
Wapol put his hands on Dalton's shoulders, smiled playfully, and said, "You're my guard captain, after all. Me personally sending you to greet them, that should be enough respect! Hahahaha!"
Having no choice, Wapol spent two days worrying about it but couldn't come up with anything, so he had to come alone.
…
Embarrassing.
So embarrassing!
Dalton felt a bit sorry for the old king who had passed away as the Drum Kingdom's wind blew.
For the medical country to only send one person to greet a foreign royal family.
If it wasn't handled well, this could turn into a conflict between countries!
But Dalton didn't expect a hand to suddenly pat his shoulder.
He turned his head and saw even more people.
They were the common people of the Drum Kingdom.
It turned out that Dalton was very popular with the residents of the Drum Kingdom.
After hearing about Dalton's situation, some people gathered on their own from various villages to the dock, wearing traditional Drum Kingdom clothes, and stood with Dalton.
"Dalton, just tell us if there's a problem. You're not being a good friend!"
"I heard we can see a princess this time?"
"Stand up straight! We can't let people from other countries look down on us!"
"..."
The crowd gathered and talked.
Dalton was touched, but also worried.
This group of simple people was far from good enough to be the "honor guard" for a country's leader.
It was more like they were here to watch the fun than to welcome the guests!
Dalton had seen information about the emperor who was about to arrive in the newspapers –
Ryan Rowan of the [Golden Dawn] from eight hundred years ago.
Dalton didn't know what kind of person he was. If he was an arrogant World Noble, the residents' actions might anger them.
But looking at the residents who had come to help him, Dalton couldn't bring himself to send them away.
As Wapol had criticized Dalton:
His biggest weakness was that he was too kind.
Oh well.
Dalton breathed out a puff of white air.
If he really was an arrogant and rude visitor, he was confident that he could protect the people behind him!
…
Dalton felt relieved as soon as he saw Rowan.
He was a man who looked to be around thirty years old, giving people a young and energetic feeling, but with some seriousness between his eyebrows.
Looking into his eyes, Dalton was sure that they were not filled with violence and arrogance, but with the proper spirit and authority of a ruler.
As expected.
After a brief greeting, Rowan didn't care about the unnecessary welcoming ceremony. Instead, he began to admire the beautiful winter island scenery around him.
Dalton took a breath, reached out his hand, and bowed slightly.
"To get to Drum Kingdom Castle, you need to ride a sleigh to the bottom of the mountain first, and then take a cable car. Please follow me."
"Thanks for your trouble."
Rowan nodded with a smile. Every word and action fit the etiquette of a country's ruler.
This behavior reminded Dalton of the kind old king, and he liked Rowan even more, and felt much more relaxed.
"Drum Kingdom has many interesting sights and animals. If you're interested, I'll introduce them to you along the way."
"Of course."
Rowan held his scepter and walked side by side with Dalton.
He had always loved and been curious about this world, both in the past and now.
The group walked through the crowd of onlookers and boarded several large sleds that Dalton had prepared for them.
Rowan, Crocodile, and Vivi rode up front with Dalton, while the accompanying King's army sat on the second sled.
As for the job of protecting the princess?
In Crocodile's words –
"Heh."
With two Logia-type Devil Fruit users on either side, there was probably no higher level of "protection" on this sea!
…
The sleds were pulled by several sled dogs, traveling along the road.
Along the way, they also saw a huge woolly bear with a hiking stick.
Dalton introduced it: "That's a Drum Kingdom-specific animal, a hiking bear. You need to nod and say hello when you see one."
Crocodile raised his chin in dismissal, as a kind of greeting to avoid trouble.
Rowan and Vivi found it quite interesting, and nodded slightly to the hiking bear.
Whoosh!
The sled sped past the hiking bear.
Crocodile suddenly noticed that Rowan nodded again in the direction behind the hiking bear, as if to say hello.
"Huh?"
Crocodile was a bit confused, but the sled was moving quickly, and there was no time to observe further.
So he could only ask Rowan, "What's wrong?"
"There are people in the woods, just saying hello." Rowan said with a smile.
"Tch, unnecessary..."
Crocodile picked up a cup of hot ginger tea that Dalton had provided and slowly drank it, "You really have too much time on your hands saying hello to hunters and such."
Then, Rowan's voice came to his ears.
"Oh, they're not hunters."
Rowan also picked up a cup of hot ginger tea and handed it to Vivi.
"Probably CP0, or CP9, maybe?"
"Ptooey!"
Crocodile spit out a mouthful of hot ginger tea.
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