Kia was eating breakfast when the alarm sounded, three long blasts on a horn. She ran to her room and hurriedly put on extra layers, grabbed her bag and rushed outside. Dalton's house was the meeting place, for any emergencies, and he was already being briefed by Don, one of the villagers that was on guard duty.

"-but I don't recognize their jolly roger."

More people began to gather, and finally Dalton turned to us. "Everyone! There is a pirate ship heading our way!" He stopped as everyone around began to mutter or yell out angrily. "All those that can, grab a weapon and come with me! We will ensure pirates cannot come into our country again."

Everyone moved, running to get weapons or additional clothes for the weather. Dalton had refused to give Kia her own weapon until his training with her was completed, so when she went to ask for a rifle, Dalton handed her a small hammer. She was certain the look she gave him portrayed her displeasure, but he ignored it.

Minutes later, they trudged out into the snow, heading toward the river's end, where the ship was moored. As they neared the place, Dalton sent half of their number to the left, so that they could surround the ship. They spread apart from each other, and all together headed forward in a large circle as quietly as they could.

Kia could see the sails, and the Straw Hat's jolly roger, and felt a thrill run through her. As the villagers snuck in, the Going Merry came completely into view. She could see the crew members on the deck speaking to each other, and she knew her eyes were lighting up in awe.

"YOU CAN GO NO FURTHER, PIRATES!" Dalton suddenly yelled from beside her. He had refused to separate from her. "Leave immediately! You are not welcome."

"This is how pirates are normally greeted Luffy, not like on Whiskey Peak," she heard someone say. If she had to guess who it was, she would have said Zoro, but she couldn't be sure.

"We have someone who is sick! Please, we need a doctor!" Vivi called out to them.

"Yeah, right." Several villagers began yelling back or muttering, and one man said, "like we'd fall for that again!" which caused several men to look embarrassed, and made Kia snicker. Dalton gave her a glare, which stopped the laughter, but she couldn't wipe the smile off her face. She looked back at the Straw Hats and saw Luffy staring at her, and she couldn't decipher the look, and stepped closer to Dalton.

Gerald, who was standing on the other side of the ship, aimed his pistol and yelled, "Leave or we'll shoot!"

"Just great, they already hate us and we haven't even said hello," Sanji said in mutter, though his voice carried to everyone. Gerald glared, and fired, shooting the deck inches from Sanji's feet. Kia instinctively stepped forward bearing her hammer, though what she would do, she wasn't sure. Dalton held his arm in front of her, to keep her from moving.

Sanji threatened the man, and crouched to attack. Gerald shot again just as Vivi ran over to hold Sanji back. Vivi fell and the crew yelled out her name in horror.

Kia didn't remember throwing it, but her hammer flew through the air and hit Gerald, knocking him out. Several villagers turned their glares to her, and the pirates looked at her in surprise, and Dalton ordered the pirates not to move.

"They didn't even do anything!" Kia hissed at him. He stopped, surprised, as she had never been angry with him before. He took a moment, and reassessed the situation. Vivi and then Luffy begged him for help.

"Follow me, I will take you to our town," Dalton finally said, and turning to the men, "If you are on guard duty, please return. If not, you are free to head back. I'll take responsibility for the pirates."

"Responsibility for Kiana you mean," someone nearby muttered.

"Say that again…" Kia said lowly. She was full of adrenaline, and ready for a fight. She glared at each of them as they started back towards town. Most of the Straw Hat pirates came ashore to follow as well. She waited until everyone was moving, then followed in the back. She knew she wasn't doing anything to endear herself to the villagers, but they were quick to judge, and refused to look at the bigger picture, which was a constant source of frustration for her.

She looked ahead to see Dalton speaking with several members of the pirate crew. She reminded herself not to refer to them by name, even in her head. It would be very easy to give herself away, and she wasn't ready to try to explain anything. She thought as she continued to follow Dalton, as the villagers broke away and went about their business.

"Dalton, I'm looking forward to the election in two days! Everyone I've spoken to says that they are going to vote for you!" John, one of the eldest villagers said in passing.

Dalton froze, then panicking replied, "I'm sure that can't be true, I'm just an ordinary citizen!"

Once inside Dalton's home, he sent Kia to build a fire, and helped get the sick woman situated on the bed. He continued to give information to the crew as Kia pulled off her jacket and scarf, and started to stack kindling and wood. I'd need to build a pretty big fire to warm the house up quickly, she thought.

"I'm Dalton, captain of the island's security squad, and that's Kiana," she didn't turn, merely held up a hand and waved to them behind her.

"Will you tell us about the witch or whatever she is? We need to find her, Nami's fever is getting worse!" Vivi stated.

"We have to find that witch NOW!" Sanji demanded.

"She is nearly 140, and quite eccentric. See the mountain, there in the middle? The tallest one? On the top, is a castle, and that is where Dr. Kureha lives." Dalton sighed, then continued. "Every now and then she comes down, finds people to treat, then takes whatever she wants from them as payment. Oh, and she like pickled plums," he added.

"She sounds really mean," Usopp muttered.

"She sounds kinda like a pirate," Luffy replied.

"How would an old woman get down a mountain like that?" Vivi asked incredulously.

"One rumor is she rides a sleigh through the night sky," Dalton said. "Others say they see her with a strange creature- "

"Dalton…" Kia said, rolling her eyes. Neither of them said anything further as Luffy walked over to the bed and began lightly slapping Nami's cheek. Once she opened her eyes, he told her that they've got to climb a mountain to get her to the doctor. His companions all begin to argue with him, but she didn't hear what they are saying, because she was too busy beating herself up.

Kia had been trying for the past week to get the ropeway back up and running, even enlisting people from other towns, and they had made good progress over near the East side of the mountain, but it wasn't ready.

She wanted to prevent Luffy from having to scale the mountain, but she had failed.

She tuned back in as Sanji said "I'm going too!"

Dalton asked them to go to the East side of the mountain, in order to avoid the Lapins, and began to explain the danger that they are. Kia headed to the kitchen and came back with a bag and an old sword.

"They don't have time for that!" she said loudly, interrupting Dalton, and handing the bag to Sanji, said, "here's some dried meat, it should help you regain some strength, and you can use this to carry her."

"Hey, thanks!" Luffy said with a grin. "You're the best!"

"And so cute too!" Sanji smiled at her, and Kia made a shoo-ing gesture with her hand, even as she smiled back at them. The two of them got Nami situated and took off running, Sanji berating Luffy for jostling Nami on his back.

Usopp and Vivi declined to return inside, so Dalton and Kia stayed with them, though she went back in to retrieve her jacket and scarf. As she came back outside, she could hear Dalton telling them about the Blackbeard Pirates' attack on the island. Kia braced herself, she knew what would come next, as it was the one thing that the two of them didn't agree on. She would argue continuously with Dalton about it, both of them unable to change the others' view.

"There was only five of them, but they destroyed the entire country," Dalton was saying. "What's more, some, like Kiana, believed it was good for the country."

Kia glared at Dalton's back, then turned and strode away. She knew that they were going to take Usopp and Vivi to find Dr. Kureha soon, so she ignored the chance to argue again, and went to get the sleigh prepared. As she left she heard Usopp say, "That's crazy! How could she think that?"

Dalton was a good guy, and Kia knew he would try to explain why she felt the way she did. It was simply really. If the pirates hadn't come, Wapol would never have left. True, bad things happened, but having Wapol gone was the best thing to happen to Drum Kingdom in a long time.

Once Dalton's rams were hitched to the sleigh, she walked back to the small group. She could hear Wapol's name as she came near, and found it impossible to be annoyed at Dalton for bringing it up.

"But, when we ran into him yesterday, he said he was a pirate! Not a king!" Vivi exclaimed.

Kia chose that moment to butt in. "He's only pretending to be a pirate while he tries to find his way back here, to reclaim his throne, " she said disgusted.

"Kiana, you don't know that for sure," Dalton replied calmly. "Wait, yesterday?" He asked Vivi, alarmed.

"Oh, I get it. So he and those men were kicked off the island because they were no match for the pirates?" Usopp asked.

"No." Dalton said flatly. Kia could see how upset he was, so she took over the explanation.

"As soon as he saw how powerful the pirates were, he grabbed all his men, and all the doctors and ran away. He left everyone here to the mercy of the pirates," she said.

Vivi was also fuming. "What kind of king could do that?!" she raged.

"The kind that is NOT welcome back."

"Our people have come together, to build a new country," Dalton said.

"So say whatever you want about me," Kia said, with attitude towards the men. "But something good came from those pirates attacking the island. The country cannot afford for Wapol to come back now."

Usopp looked at Dalton and Kia and asked, "Who are you guys?"

"What do you mean?" Dalton asked as he and Kia looked at each other.

"Well, Dalton, you don't speak like any old citizen, you speak as someone who was military. And Kiana, well… you act as if you don't belong here." She was taken aback, and he explained. "You say this island or the people, not my island or our people."

"You're right," Dalton said with resignation. "Kiana is not originally from Drum Kingdom, and I used to serve as captain of the guard, under King Wapol's father, and also Wapol. During that time, Wapol created many new laws, exiling all but twenty of the doctors from the island. These twenty MDs were to serve only him, and the people in need of medical care had to beg the king and hope that he would show mercy on them."

"That's not a king, that's a TYRANT!" Vivi yelled, appalled.

"They say Dr. Kureha is headed to Gyasta," Dalton said. "Ice skating is popular there."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Usopp growled.

"Dalton!"

The four of them looked over at the doorway and Don limped in the door, covered in blood.

"Please, help us! They killed everyone!"

"Who Don?" Dalton asked, holding the man to keep him from falling. He lowered him gently to the floor. "Who is they?"

"It was… Wapol… and his men," Don said before going limp.

Dalton paused for only a moment, then sprang up and ran out the door. Kia jumped up to follow him, but was stopped by Usopp grabbing her arm.

"Let go, I have to help!" she said, squirming to get away. People gathered around, curious to know what was happening. She raised her voice, yelling as loud as she could. They needed to know, and they needed to get to Big Horn as quickly as possible to help Dalton.

"WAPOL HAS RETURNED! FOLLOW DALTON TO BIG HORN! PROTECT THE COUNTRY! HURRY!"

Everyone scurried, rushing to grab their weapons, racing after Dalton's trail, eager to help him. Kia turned back to Vivi and Usopp. "Come on. Get back in the sleigh."

"What good will it do for us to go back to Big Horn?" Usopp questioned.

"We're not," she replied, firmly, still looking in the direction Dalton had gone. "I'm taking you to Gyasta."

"We should have seen the sign by now." The sleigh was moving quickly, and based on the position of the mountain, Kia knew she had gone too far. The rams were nervous also, and she wondered what was going on. She pulled on the reigns, and the rams stopped, though they still skittered nervously.

"Kiana? What's the problem?" Usopp asked.

"Do you feel that?"

Vivi gasped, "It's an avalanche!"

"Run!" She yelled at them, as she cut the harness so the rams could run free. She caught up quickly to the other two as they ran for their lives. Kia didn't know much about surviving an avalanche, but knew they needed to be able to breathe once covered by the snow. Peeling off her jacket, she held it overhead, yelling for Vivi and Usopp, and moving as far to the side as she could. They slid down beside her, and they pulled the jacket over all their heads just as the snow hit.